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I went on a ton of errands yesterday (delivering copies of Retro Spec to local bookshops, buying cat food) and swung by the AT&T store with the intention of playing with the phone I've been researching the last couple weeks, the Samsung Captivate.
I didn't think I'd be eligible to upgrade until, like, January, because we got our phones in February 08. But I asked if they could tell me when I'm eligible, and apparently I already was. So now I own a Samsung Captivate.
I've been playing around with it. I've installed the Twitter and Facebook apps, a Bundesliga app, and Beer Cloud (and barcode scanner, so I can scan barcodes of beer and learn about them). So I'm already using my phone for evil.
I'm glad for the screen protector, because it's already covered in icky finger smear.
Important things: I'm digging Swype with predictive text; I just need to get better at hitting the right keys. The haptic feedback on keypress is kind of cool, but I may turn it off at some point. Possibly for comparison purposes. The screen is very bright, and I have it set to adapt to ambient light, so it's dimmer in the dark and brighter in the light. I haven't tried it in bright sunlight yet.
The seamless integration with my google account is simultaneously awesome and terrifying. All my Gmail contacts are listed in my phone now. It's frightening to realize how much google owns me.
The touch screen keyboard isn't as annoying as I thought it would be; I liked the full tiny keyboard on my Propel, but the touchscreen keyboard on horizontal is OK. It might be less OK if you have big fingers.
I also like the puzzle piece feature. When you get a text message (or miss a phone call), you drag this puzzle piece to the empty space, and it takes you straight to the app. It's kind of cheesy, but it's also kind of fun.
I've not really tested the speakers on it. It has an SD card slot and a decent amount of internal memory and plays MP3s, so I plan to do that at some point. It might be useful in car trips, though then I'd hook it up with the external jack (standard 1/8 inch).
It might take some getting used to, but I dig it so far. It'll be pretty useful at Dragon*Con, especially if I sign up for Boingo's mobile phone wireless ($7.95/mo -- beats $12.95/day at the Marriott!) in an attempt not to use more than the 200 MB of data in my plan.
I didn't think I'd be eligible to upgrade until, like, January, because we got our phones in February 08. But I asked if they could tell me when I'm eligible, and apparently I already was. So now I own a Samsung Captivate.
I've been playing around with it. I've installed the Twitter and Facebook apps, a Bundesliga app, and Beer Cloud (and barcode scanner, so I can scan barcodes of beer and learn about them). So I'm already using my phone for evil.
I'm glad for the screen protector, because it's already covered in icky finger smear.
Important things: I'm digging Swype with predictive text; I just need to get better at hitting the right keys. The haptic feedback on keypress is kind of cool, but I may turn it off at some point. Possibly for comparison purposes. The screen is very bright, and I have it set to adapt to ambient light, so it's dimmer in the dark and brighter in the light. I haven't tried it in bright sunlight yet.
The seamless integration with my google account is simultaneously awesome and terrifying. All my Gmail contacts are listed in my phone now. It's frightening to realize how much google owns me.
The touch screen keyboard isn't as annoying as I thought it would be; I liked the full tiny keyboard on my Propel, but the touchscreen keyboard on horizontal is OK. It might be less OK if you have big fingers.
I also like the puzzle piece feature. When you get a text message (or miss a phone call), you drag this puzzle piece to the empty space, and it takes you straight to the app. It's kind of cheesy, but it's also kind of fun.
I've not really tested the speakers on it. It has an SD card slot and a decent amount of internal memory and plays MP3s, so I plan to do that at some point. It might be useful in car trips, though then I'd hook it up with the external jack (standard 1/8 inch).
It might take some getting used to, but I dig it so far. It'll be pretty useful at Dragon*Con, especially if I sign up for Boingo's mobile phone wireless ($7.95/mo -- beats $12.95/day at the Marriott!) in an attempt not to use more than the 200 MB of data in my plan.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-28 07:04 pm (UTC)From:Yay, new phone!
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Date: 2010-08-28 07:40 pm (UTC)From:New phone! And Ben gets to be jealous, because he isn't eligible until October. That gives me a month to get used to this phone and play with it and let him figure out if he wants an Android or an iPhone.
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Date: 2010-08-28 09:57 pm (UTC)From:I've only had the thing a DAY, and I'm already using it for beer. Priorities!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-29 06:17 am (UTC)From:I should look through my list of apps to find cool ones to recommend for you. Currently my most used apps are GetGlue and Audible, but i don't think you're signed up on either of those sites.
Oh, and if you haven't already got it as part of the google integration stuff, you might want to check out "Chrome to Phone," though the main thing i use it for is looking up directions to various places and then sending them to my phone before the trip.