feuervogel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feuervogel) wrote2010-09-18 12:45 pm
feuervogel) wrote2010-09-18 12:45 pm
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Further thoughts on my new phone
As I posted on August 28, I got a Samsung Captivate, their Galaxy S series phone on AT&T's network. After having it for a day, I was pleased with it. Now that I've had it a couple weeks, I thought I'd give an update.
Remember how I had trouble with the charger staying plugged in? Well, that was user error. There's a sliding cover on the USB-in port that I didn't realize existed, and if I slide it open completely, the charger stays in perfectly.
I still love how easily the google services integrate. Talk, mail, maps, contacts... all at my fingertips.
One problem I've had, which other people have had as well, though far worse, according to a cursory google, is that it turns itself off at random. It's only done it 3 or 4 times since I got it, which is more than it ought, but less than the 5 times a day reported by another user in the forums. If it does it again, I'll probably go by the AT&T store and exchange it for a new one before the 30-day period is up (Sept 26).
It's convenient to have so I can check email before bed, or twitter, or look something up on the internet without having to turn on my computer. At Dragon*Con, when I could actually connect to the wifi in the Marriott (I had better luck in my room than in the public areas, which is odd, because they only provide wifi in the public areas), it worked great. I also used the wifi at the ER.
I've installed a few more apps since then. In addition to Pocket Liga (for German football), Beer Cloud (for beer reviews), and BJCP (for beer style standards), I now have Leo (the German-English dictionary), a Bejeweled clone, poke a mole (like whack a mole), word search, twitter, facebook, and the weather channel forecast widget. I've also loaded about a GB of mp3s on it.
Music Player doesn't import your itunes playlists, but you can create your own. Since I primarily put music on when whatever's playing on NPR is boring (frex, Fresh Air interviews with people I don't care about; Back Porch Music when I'm not in the mood for it), this isn't much of an issue for me. I plug it into my 1/8" aux jack and tell it to shuffle all. One downside is that the music pauses when you get a notification (email, whatever) for a second or so. That may happen with iPhone as well, but I obviously don't have one for comparison purposes.
In summary: I still love my Android phone.
Remember how I had trouble with the charger staying plugged in? Well, that was user error. There's a sliding cover on the USB-in port that I didn't realize existed, and if I slide it open completely, the charger stays in perfectly.
I still love how easily the google services integrate. Talk, mail, maps, contacts... all at my fingertips.
One problem I've had, which other people have had as well, though far worse, according to a cursory google, is that it turns itself off at random. It's only done it 3 or 4 times since I got it, which is more than it ought, but less than the 5 times a day reported by another user in the forums. If it does it again, I'll probably go by the AT&T store and exchange it for a new one before the 30-day period is up (Sept 26).
It's convenient to have so I can check email before bed, or twitter, or look something up on the internet without having to turn on my computer. At Dragon*Con, when I could actually connect to the wifi in the Marriott (I had better luck in my room than in the public areas, which is odd, because they only provide wifi in the public areas), it worked great. I also used the wifi at the ER.
I've installed a few more apps since then. In addition to Pocket Liga (for German football), Beer Cloud (for beer reviews), and BJCP (for beer style standards), I now have Leo (the German-English dictionary), a Bejeweled clone, poke a mole (like whack a mole), word search, twitter, facebook, and the weather channel forecast widget. I've also loaded about a GB of mp3s on it.
Music Player doesn't import your itunes playlists, but you can create your own. Since I primarily put music on when whatever's playing on NPR is boring (frex, Fresh Air interviews with people I don't care about; Back Porch Music when I'm not in the mood for it), this isn't much of an issue for me. I plug it into my 1/8" aux jack and tell it to shuffle all. One downside is that the music pauses when you get a notification (email, whatever) for a second or so. That may happen with iPhone as well, but I obviously don't have one for comparison purposes.
In summary: I still love my Android phone.
Tech Support Suggestions
Another thing to consider would be Googling each of your Android App companies to make sure other users of those apps aren't having your problems. Some apps didn't take the Froyo upgrade very well and started causing compatibility issues. I think Android disables these Apps when that happens, but I haven't worked with your phone in particular, so it could be different.
Finally, and this is obvious but bears mentioning, check for software updates with your phone. Android updates outside of the tasty named ones do happen and it's possible that your phone might have some setting that forces it to reboot when it updates automatically. I don't think this is the case, but a 15 second check might solve the problem.
Beyond that, yeah, take it back to the store and get it replaced. You should be able to copy any files on it to a microSD card (if they aren't there already) and make the transition fairly smoothly.
Re: Tech Support Suggestions
Froyo hasn't made it to my network yet. I just checked for updates, and there weren't any found.
What happens is sometimes I'll notice it should have made noise (for a twitter @ or something) and it hasn't, then I'll hit the side button to wake the screen and get the "AT&T World Phone" power up screen. It's only happened a few times, but if it happens again before the 30 days are up, I'll definitely go in. Or maybe I should just do it anyway... hm. (user forum thread)
Re: Tech Support Suggestions