Samsung Captivate now shipping from AT&T, right on cue
By Sean Hollister 
posted July 18th 2010 3:22AM
posted July 18th 2010 3:22AM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted July 18th 2010 3:22AM
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@ChechenTDG - I just took a look at that and it seems like they really are selling it for only $230. My guess is that the price is incorrect, but if you want, go for it. You might just get a really, really great phone for an unbelievable price.
Also, LetsTalk does trade-ins of old phones. They have an estimator on their site. I did one for a Nexus One trade in and they end up paying you $3.11 and giving you the Captivate for free. Good deal.
@ChechenTDG That's awesome. I'm gonna call them to make sure there's no funny business going on.
@deanhatescoffee - Please comment if you find anything out. I just ordered one and the price didn't change right before I clicked buy, so I really hope it ships tomorrow without issue.
Now to decide if I'm actually going to keep it or not...
@MRCUR
I just canceled mine, the real price is $450. someone blew it.
@ChechenTDG
Biggest mistake I ever made was buying my HTC Tilt2 from letstalk.com. The phone had tons of issue. AT&T would have replaced it under warranty. Letstalk had the worst customer service and when you buy from them you have to deal with them and the msnufacturer. In my case both they and HTC were terrible. So bad that I'll ever ever buy an HTC product ever.
@jon - I'm not canceling my order, but it's already hung up on "Customer Attention Needed". I'd say there's a 1% chance they actually ship it tomorrow.
They did already take the $230 out of my checking account, FWIW.
@MRCUR
If you don't cancel it, let me know if it's legit or not if it's not too much trouble thanks.
@MRCUR I called LetsTalk and confirmed that they were selling it for $230 as a "special promo" price. I don't know what the promo was, but I ordered it anyway. My order is also saying "Customer Attention Needed" so I called them back about it. Their customer service department was closed, so I talked to Sales and they just referred me back to customer service. I'll call them tomorrow morning to see what the deal is. I've heard that LetsTalk puts orders on hold to make sure customers are legit and not resellers, but I guess we'll see when I call them tomorrow.
"Our recent hands-on showed it was a bit sluggish, so you might want to wait for our full review"
Yes, because sluggishness cannot be fixed by a firmware update. So, if it's sluggish, it's sluggish for life. Not even a Froyo update can possibly cure that. Unlike antenna design defects, which instead get fixed by software all the time.
@rav97
I was about to jump all over this. XD
/s = sarcasm
Engadget, you make it sound like everyone in the world is on att
Why doesn't this have a breaking tag? This is by far the best Android phone ever on AT&T.
@Engadget
When are u going to post full review of this phone?
On cue? really....
AT&T: ok ready..... Ship!
AT&T: Ok it's selling more than the Iphone, aaaand... stop shipping!
(:
I got in Friday at the Allen, TX store at Stacy/75.
Great phone except the GPS is so erratic that it is unusable. Same issues as seen with the European version. I will probably be taking it back and stay with the Nexus One I have.
What a bummer.
@gelasmus is your nexus one stock or have you done things with it? That could be a huge difference. The nexus one has had support for a while, and obviously this hasn't. I had NO trouble finding GPS on my captivate.
@jonathanp
The Nexus One is stock with 2.2 upgrade on it.
The issue with the Captivate Isn't with locking, but with tracking once you are moving. It is all over the place.
Oh, and I got it for 350$ off contract.
@gelasmus Yea i picked mine up for 350 off contract too. It could be an issue with the 2.1. I'd say at least wait and see what 2.2 has to offer once it is rooted and a custom 2.2 rom is thrown on there.
@jonathanp
I have thought about that. I guess I do have 30 days to decide.
In the meantime, I will be eyeballing the Streak. =)
@gelasmus Where did you get it for $350 off contract? I ordered one with LetsTalk for $230 off contract, but I'm afraid that they're going to cancel the order. Seems too good to be true. :(
No front facing camera, no dice. I'm going off to college soon and this phone to skype calling is an amazing idea for keeping in touch with my folks.
Looks like I'm waiting for the Dell Streak
@cyberXwarrior Not gonna happen since Skype for Android is only exclusive for Verizon.
@cyberXwarrior Maybe you can use fring or something else
oh epic where art thou?
I'll take one epic release date please, hold the fries.
can someone check out letstalk.com and see whats going on there with no-committment pricing for 229$ for samsung captivate ???? There are lot of discussions going on about it being a great deal !
@redeyeskranti
It's an error on the site. $450 is the correct price.
@jon yea...Apparently it was a price error and everybody's orders got cancelled...sad !
@redeyeskranti - It was a pricing error. It's now corrected and listed for $500 "phone only".
I did place an order for the $230 price, but it quickly went to "Customer Attention Needed".
I'm taking the plunge right now, at ATT !!!!!
I just got it about two hours ago, and i must say, it is amazing.
Ok the phone is really snappy! no lag whatsoever it's actually smoother than my evo.(could this be due to the FPS?) The Amoled screen kicks ass better contrast and better viewing in direct sun light.
The phone also comes with some good sammy earbuds ala skull candy design. They have good bass and sound quality.
This thing will rock with Froyo.
Does this phone have touch sensitive buttons? I'm not big on touch buttons, they always seem to lag or not respond to some presses.
Anyone else notice this?
@Awall: that was also my concern. still unsure why samsung didn't send the international model to AT&T where there's at least the hardware home button and its two, touch-sensitive buttons flanking it. that makes far better sense to me than relegating ALL your buttons to becoming touch-sensitive. yes, the international model looks like a KIRFY iphone 3gs, but it sure as hell spanks hard.
i'm coming from the tilt, so no more WinMo for me. almost defaulted to the 3gs, but glad i waited out. ordered through amazon, so let's see what happens!
@1230asdf Did you have the unlimited data plan before ordering? If so, was there a way to keep that plan cause I am not seeing that option. Only seeing the option to drop down to the 2gb plan.
Ok I'm sorry I could never go to a device without a flash I don't know if people our overlooking that fact or you just don't care its a great smartphone but come on Samsung its 2010 where's the flag Sent from my Evo
@lyrik08 Sure it lacks a flash, but this phones superior camera controls more than make up for it. I just put the camera through its paces and the exposure compensation tools on this phone are incredible!
I shot a picture of my brother in front of a bright window: without compensation he was a black shadow, but I bumped up the compensation and he was perfectly exposed. I am very impressed.
I have this phone and I love it.
I just ordered the captivate 30 mins ago from att.com. Going wit this phone instead of the evo4g (guess I'll need a new username) because of the faster graphics processor. What are the prospects for 3d gaming on android? what exactly is stopping big time players like EA Gameloft etc from really hitting the android market hard?
@adeyaa8
Yes, i also returned EVO. It's 4G radio power management has problem/defect and Sprint does not care to fix it (or can't, which means a recall).
What is stopping gaming on cellular networks? The networks themselves. They still have unacceptable latencies. The threshold is around 60 ms (means 1000/60 = 16 fps). They have 2-5 times larger.
But if networks will have great for gaming small latencies like LTE' promised 30ms nobody will pay them, all will use VoIP
That's why ;-)
This display reminds me the first gen plasma TVs with 854x480 resolutions. It's very bright but with hell visible pixelation. Pixels here are much more noticeable then in EVO/HD2 (not need to mention iP4).
When you watch movies (here this screen is a bit better then in all mentioned above phones, plus the cell's processor is faster) you tend to keep the screen closer then typical 12", at around 8-9". I take reading glasses +2. This way the 4" cellphone screen will look like 40" TV from 80" (2m) distance. Now imagine only 800 pixels on 40".
Imagined? That is good illustration why all cellphones need 1280x800, or even 1600x960 (doubed dots in each direction) with ideally not even 330 DPI but 450+ DPI. And then this NotYetSuper-AMOLED will be really SUPER one.
And they will be in a couple years i hope
who cares when you could chose the epic instead! we just need a release date *cough* sprint *cough* they're really losing ground fast with these new galaxy s phones coming out so early
Wow, great reporting Engadget. Thank you for letting the world know that the Captivate has shipped on it's scheduled release date. Now how about something useful like a REVIEW?
The first big Android phone and AT&T and still no review, I just don't understand how that's even possible.
Droid X is reviewed on launch day, but this phone is all but forgotten?
C'mon guys, review this phone already please.
Still waiting on *updated* review of this device :(......
Also any news on release date of the Streak?? IIRC today was supposed to be its release date...
I can tell you this is the best screen I have ever seen
It s fast fun easy to hold type and do anything on
ni know this because I am posting on one right now
Sorry, but why is engadget still missing a full review of this phone?