OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/23969/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Tue, 21 May 2013 09:05:11 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Comment by kwag http://www.osnews.com/thread?447705 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447705 "Cons:
1 Battery life below par
2 Webcam removed
3 No camera flash
4 Uninstallable apps
5 GPS problems"

Answering to this post:

1: I'm at 50% battery at midnight, after removing phone from charger at 7AM, and using it all day with 3G constantly on, checking E-Mail, some browsing, and an average of 60 minutes talk.

2: Yes, that's a con.
3: Yep. Flash would be good to have.

4: For uninstalling ALL branded apps and rooting in a single whack, get this file and it takes less than a minute to root your Captivate ;)
http://www.peteralfonso.com/2010/08/unleash-beast-v02-samsung-capti...

5: No GPS problems here. Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kwag) Comments You CAN change the dock apps! http://www.osnews.com/thread?447712 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447712 Contrary to your review, you actually can change the dock icons, you just need to go to the app screen, hit the option key, choose 'view type' and choose 'customizable grid.' After that, if you press the option key again, you get an edit option. You can now drag any icon anywhere on the screen, including dock icons! (minus the home/apps icon) For example, I don't like the stock browser, so I was able to move that back and put the Dolphin Browser on my dock. The best part is, if you want your apps arranged differently, once you change the dock icons you can change the view type and keep the current dock configuration.

Also regarding the calculator app, have you tried rotating the calculator app into landscape to get scientific buttons? It works on my phone, which I bought from AT&T. I don't know if the review one was different or not.Edited 2010-10-30 00:34 UTC Sat, 30 Oct 2010 00:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (drap) Comments Calculator http://www.osnews.com/thread?447715 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447715
A reader tells us that rotating the phone into landscape will reveal the scientific version of the Calculator app. Pretty bad usability there, for weeks now we haven't noticed.


Like most things on Android, this feature is copied from the iPhone calculator. Sat, 30 Oct 2010 01:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Macrat) Comments RE: Calculator http://www.osnews.com/thread?447738 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447738 Hmm... I wonder what Steve Jobs would say about this "theft".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU Sat, 30 Oct 2010 06:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bill Shooter of Bul) Comments most annoying thing http://www.osnews.com/thread?447744 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447744 you'v forget to mention the most annoying bug with this phone !
it is the crappy file system samsung put inside this phone, which cause a lag when opening apps/switching between screens. there is various lagfixes from OCLF to voodoo and ULF ( on xda-developers). Sat, 30 Oct 2010 08:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ZiLu) Comments Will never buy Samsung again http://www.osnews.com/thread?447750 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447750 I feel some of these phone reviews should also contain a reference to how customers are treated/supported post-sale

Although not directly related to this phone I have previously had a Very bad experience with Samsung and their phone support.

The issue to which I refer was with the Samsung Pixon (8800) in which sending a contact to the phone from an iphone would instantly turn my phone off and resets the handset to factory defaults. This was 100% repeatable. Samsung's official advice to me via their support "Buy a Pixon 2". This is still an issue on these phones (maybe others).

For this reason I now boycott the brand as a whole (my tiny influence in a capitalist system) Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Adurbe) Comments RE: Will never buy Samsung again http://www.osnews.com/thread?447751 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447751 yea, me too, I9000 will be my last samsung phone . Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ZiLu) Comments Uninstallable http://www.osnews.com/thread?447754 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447754
* Uninstallable apps

You probably meant "un-uninstallable." Yeah, I know it's not a real word. Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (drstorm) Comments RE: Uninstallable http://www.osnews.com/thread?447760 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447760 Nor is “uninstall”, it’s supposed to be “deinstall”. *shakes fist at Americans* Sat, 30 Oct 2010 12:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kroc) Comments RE: Calculator http://www.osnews.com/thread?447761 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447761 Sometimes reviewers mistake their own quirks for usability issues.

For example, an early review of Red Hat Gnu/Linux famously panned its usability because it required Control-Alt-Delete to bring up a reset menu - obviously, said the reviewer, Control-Alt-Escape would be far more user-friendly.

Although I had never used Gnu/Linux before, I was incredulous, as was every other geek who knew that Control-Alt-Delete is hard-wired into every PC as the "non-maskable interrupt". That's why DOS and Windows have used it since day one.

I'm suspicious Apple has never been panned for "rotate calculator for scientific mode" usability issues, safely protected by the Job's Reality Distortion Field. It's not fair, but of course, life never is. ;-)

Me? I use the Free42 HP-42S RPN calculator on both my Ubuntu desktop and N900 phone. All keys in portrait or landscape. Fully programmable. Themes. Rocks! :-D Sat, 30 Oct 2010 12:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ricegf) Comments RE[2]: Calculator http://www.osnews.com/thread?447770 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447770 Who cares it's a NMI ? Shouldn't the OS be able to react to a keyboard interrupt in most cases anyway ?

(Calc OT : Meh, nothing beats a hardware HP-40G ;)

Cheapest programmable graphical calculator capable of doing some analytical calculations which I've encountered yet. Robust and relatively energy-efficient. Can run Zelda Link's Awakening. The sole annoying thing is its tendency to emit a loud BEEP when you turn it on and it's low on battery. Oh, and this days, its reliance on a serial port becomes problematic.)Edited 2010-10-30 13:21 UTC Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Neolander) Comments RE[3]: Calculator http://www.osnews.com/thread?447772 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447772 "Shouldn't the OS be able to react to a keyboard interrupt in most cases anyway ? "

Sure - if the OS is working properly. But the point of an NMI is to handle situations where the OS is not working properly, either by mistake or by exploit.

For example, pressing Control-Alt-Delete prior to logging in prevents the classic "malware that displays a login screen" exploit.

Another example, when the OS is hung, Control-Alt-Delete transfers control to the recovery routine regardless of other tasks. A maskable interrupt may well be, uh, masked.

But my point was that reviewers sometimes complain about a UI choice that is not only consistent with the mainstream (as apparently in the Android case), but that's hardwired into the standard architecture. Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ricegf) Comments RE[2]: Uninstallable http://www.osnews.com/thread?447787 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447787 Aaargh!

I don't know which one is grammatically correct, but deinstall sounds so, so wrong. Sat, 30 Oct 2010 17:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Stratoukos) Comments RE[4]: Calculator http://www.osnews.com/thread?447793 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447793
For example, pressing Control-Alt-Delete prior to logging in prevents the classic "malware that displays a login screen" exploit.

Of course, but this can also be done at the HID driver level pretty easily, isn't it ?

I mean, if I defined Win+L as my "login" shortcut and had the keyboard driver redirect it as a login request to the system process which takes care of logging users in and out, it shouldn't be exploitable either except if the keyboard driver is faulty.

Another example, when the OS is hung, Control-Alt-Delete transfers control to the recovery routine regardless of other tasks. A maskable interrupt may well be, uh, masked.

You're right. However, good kernel developers try to keep the portion of code where interrupts are masked absolutely minimal and have it checked and tested with extreme care. So normally, a hung kernel with interrupts masked shouldn't ever happen (and barely happens anymore).

But my point was that reviewers sometimes complain about a UI choice that is not only consistent with the mainstream (as apparently in the Android case), but that's hardwired into the standard architecture.

I see your point about keeping consistent with the mainstream. On the other hand, I'd argue that this only becomes a rule to follow when a technical solution is in universal use, which isn't the case with the Apple way of making a calculator application.

Currently, as shown by the reviewer not finding it instinctively, people don't have the "scientific calc == landscape mode" relationship hard-wired in their brain. So there's still time to find an ergonomically better, more discoverable solution to this problem. I think that's what reviewers point out.Edited 2010-10-30 18:09 UTC Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Neolander) Comments RE[3]: Uninstallable http://www.osnews.com/thread?447796 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447796
Aaargh!

I don't know which one is grammatically correct, but deinstall sounds so, so wrong.


Come to think of it, as a native French speaker, deinstall sounds correct to me. I think Kroc is right here. Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JayDee) Comments Sideload apps with android ndk or sdk http://www.osnews.com/thread?447819 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447819 Sideload apps with android ndk or sdk Sun, 31 Oct 2010 05:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (justinamanzer) Comments Samsung Galaxy S ROCKS! http://www.osnews.com/thread?447824 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447824 *disclaimer: my first time using an android device outside the emulator*

I recently switched *from* Verizon *to* t-mobile to save money and decided to get the T-Mobile version of the Galaxy S, the Vibrant. I must say this phone blows every other phone I've ever used out of the water. This includes the iPhone.

After using an iPhone and owning an iPod touch, i found this phone to be naturally easy to use. The UI worked very similar to the iPhone in many ways, but it didn't rip off the iPhone. Many of the problems reported by users didn't exist on my Vibrant either. Many (but not all) Galaxy S users reported problems with GPS. Mine has worked great so far. I just took a trip from Newton, NJ to Bethlehem PA and used it both ways without issue. Thats almost 3 hours of continuous usage. I've also not had any of the lag issues that people have mentioned, but i've only had the phone for about 1.5 weeks (though i've installed quite a few apps). My only complaints about this phone are a) the lack of flash and b) Battery life could definitely be better. Usually with my usage, by the end of the day the phone is either a) almost dead or b) completely dead and thats with me using it for less than an hour daily. (including talk time) The only other real complaint i have is that froyo isn't out yet.

Overall it's an awesome phone. I'd recommend it to anyone using an iPhone or Blackberry. Sun, 31 Oct 2010 06:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (betam4x) Comments Not only for AT&T http://www.osnews.com/thread?447875 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447875 PureMobile, a retailer of Samsung cell phones, sent us in the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate smartphone, a version of the Galaxy S family that features a redesigned look specifically for AT&T.

The Galaxy S Captivate is also available for Rogers here in Canada with the same look. All that's different is the lack of "AT&T" at the top.

http://www.rogers.com/web/link/wirelessBuyFlow?forwardTo=PhoneThenP... Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (phoenix) Comments RE[4]: Uninstallable http://www.osnews.com/thread?447948 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447948 Actually, it's whatever the hell you want it to be, because English doesn't have an ultimate authoritative reference. English is for those with verve ;-).

Gotta love the OED--no definitions, just context usages. Mon, 01 Nov 2010 06:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (earksiinni) Comments Comment by _xmv http://www.osnews.com/thread?447992 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447992 Don't really like this review to be honest. I've got a GT-I9000 which is nearly the same as the Vibrant. (its the European version).

They share the flaws, pros and cons, and despite what the review here claims, here's what I think is a lot more closer to the truth:


- The phone lacks a notification LED (not a flash LED)
- The lack of camera flash is not an issue, the camera is very good in the dark (!)
- The GPS fixes fast but has other issues once you updated to latest firmware.
- Froyo betas are easily installable (with flash) and comes in a week officially
- THE MAJOR PROBLEM OF THE PHONE IS NOT EVEN MENTIONED: it has a software bug, after a while IT LAGS like hell. There are community fixes for this.
- Battery life is actually EXCELLENT, it alls depends on the app you install. I get easily 72H "real standby" (3G, data sync on) + minor usage so 750H of "total standby" (flight mode) is not out of reach.
Many, MANY apps install background services killing battery life (at least Steve Job has a good point on this one..) Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (_xmv) Comments "Webcam" not actually removed from all US models http://www.osnews.com/thread?447996 http://www.osnews.com/thread?447996 The version on Sprint does have the front-facing camera (Sprint Epic). Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jsight) Comments Firmware http://www.osnews.com/thread?448387 http://www.osnews.com/thread?448387 Do all these extra versions of the Galaxy S mean that it is going to take even longer to release firmware updates in the future?

Goody gumdrops. Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (hornett) Comments