So, I’ve crawled out of the dark ages and into the light of the smartphone era. I ordered the new Samsung Captivate for the AT&T wireless network to replace my old beaten up Motorola Razr dumbphone. I have never owned, much less used a smartphone, so what kind of culture shock am I going to undergo. Should I take a month off of work to get over the compulsion to play with it? What Android apps are really cool?
It should arrive either late this week or early next, so I have a few days to wait. I really liked everything that I saw about the Captivate, which is AT&T’s version of the Galaxy S. I’ve read all the reviews and such before ordering, and I like going with the Android platform rather than the iPhone. Not that I have anything against Apple, but the price and ability to customize were a big plus. I can add memory to get up to 48G total and still be well under the price of a new iPhone 4. This is the first time I have ever had a top of the line phone, and I’m as giddy as a little schoolgirl.
So, anybody else have this “phone” and have any good tips or info to pass on?
I like mine, but the GPS has some issues. There are various tweaks you can try, and for me it works acceptably well, but other folks have real issues with it.
I switched to it from an iPhone because I got tired of Apple’s dev restrictions. It’s not as polished as an iPhone and the app selection isn’t as large, but it meets my needs.
I use K-9 mail, tweekdeck (in beta), google googles, dropbox, barcode scanner, my tracks, angry birds (beta), bejeweled, google sky map, pandora, last.fm, the NPR app and KeePass password manager.
Check out this set of forums on xda for more info than you can use.
I have an older Android phone (HTC Dream/G1). Currently installed and used:
Baseball Stars 2009 and 2010 (the only apps I’ve paid for)
Amazon MP3 (preinstalled, but I use it)
Bank of America
Facebook
Fantasy (sports) Guru - works really well with Yahoo! fantasy sports
Google Maps
Citizen Live (sports) Scores
PdaNet
Pandora
Ringdroid (lets you edit mp3s to use as ringtones)
Where’s My Droid?
Visual Voicemail (think this is available to T-Mobile customers only)
WikiMobile
XKCDviewer
I am not exactly what you’d call a power user. This is my first smartphone too, although I’ve had it for 6 months.
Thanks for the info. You weren’t kidding beowulf573 when you said there was more info than you can use at the xda forums. Doesn’t mean that I won’t try and adsorb a bunch of it though. Once I actually have the phone in hand, I’ll have to start checking out new apps. I already know I will be adding Really Not All That Bright’s XKCDviewer recommend.
I went from a RAZR to an Android, and the transition was fairly seamless. You may want to run with a Gmail account for ease of synching.
Just run with it and you will never regret it. Don’t worry about having the latest apps, people will tell you about what’s cool. For example, PDAnet is a terrific tethering app for your netbook.
Last month I went from using a cheapass Nokia for calls, my digital camera, my iPod for music, audiobooks and games, and my Nintendo DS for ebooks, to my HTC Incredible for all of that plus texting, GPS, and internet access. About the only thing I can’t replace is the DS for its games.
I have had to try very hard to keep from gushing about this to everyone I know who all already have smartphones. But goddamn, it’s life-changing.
I’m taking a break from constantly updating the FedEx tracking of my phone which is currently IN TOWN and OUT FOR DELIVERY!!! to thank you all for your suggestions.
I switched from an HTC Tilt to a Captivate last weekend…I absolutely love it!!! One of my favorite things is the Swype keyboard; it’s surprisingly fast and accurate.
