Anyone else getting a Samsung Galaxy S phone?

[Albo]

Is this true for you?

http://www.informationweek.com/news/...Sfeed_IWK_News

btw, found you..
http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Samsun...nce/m-p/420349

[Albo]

Wow, after reading all the problems with this phone, I'm having second thoughts.

Yea i know our house is in a crappy area for T Mobile reception but my wife's phone is acceptable to me. If this Vibrant phone was like that I wouldn't mind so much at all but it is worse with the data and GPS signal aquiring.
I don't even have to hold it at the bottom or tightly not to get a damn signal. I can hold it between my thumb and index finger not touching my palm at all and it's still the same. If I lay it down it seems to get a little better signal but not much.

Sucks as the rest of the phone is cool as hell.

Ok the battery lasted about 12 hours of pretty constant playing with it before it ran all the way down after it's first full charge. I am charging it again now while i listen to Slacker Radio on it. Pretty nice sound quality with it I must say.

I saw someone post on the Tmobile forum about a special GPS menu on the phone to get into by inputting a code. I set a setting on it that he said helped him get faster GPS lock. I rebooted it and went outside and it did seem to help. Took about half the time to lock on this time. Here is is his post...

I've had trouble getting my GPS to work properly as well. I've tried rebooting.. tinkering with numerous settings, etc. After some research across the net I've found quite a few different approaches and ideas. Using a mix of all of them, I've come up with a solution that works perfect for my Vibrant. **Not responsible if your GPS still doesn't work properly** Go to settings->Location and Security-> Enable "Use GPS Satellites" and disable "Use wireless networks". Go to Dialer and dial *#*#1472365#*#* - This is where you may cause harm if you're not careful. Only adjust the settings listed. Under "Application settings" Change "Operation Mode" to MS Based Go back Under "SUPL/CP Settings" edit the "Server" test, and remove the "http://" leaving just www.spirent-lcs.com That's it! Just so you know.. What is MS-Based mode of operation? In MS-Based mode, the network provides the satellite information to the device, based on a rough estimate of where the device is located, and the device acquires the GPS signals from the satellites and calculates its location. After the initial fix, the device operates like an autonomous GPS receiver, until the satellite information must be refreshed, at which time the device goes back to the network to update the satellite information. MS-Based mode is appropriate for applications that require the device location to be updated rapidly, such as a navigation application. Can the GPS work in autonomous mode? No, the GPS receiver requires the assistance of the network elements to acquire its initial location fix. Hope this helps! It has mine working like a charm.

here is a website explaining what MS-Based is http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/gp..._tutorial.html
So basically that setting just made it so I have to get a signal from TMobile's network to tell me where the GPS satellite is then it can lock in on it. If I get no signal from TMobile then i cant lock onto the satellite. I will keep that code handy so I can turn it back to straight non assisted GPS use when I can't get a signal from T Mobile. Using it that way just takes longer to lock onto the GPS.

I'll give the phone a week with me constantly messing with it to see how it turns out. If I don't like it by next weekend it goes back. If I do I'll keep it.

I read some people are saying that the signal strength issue is a software problem (like Apple was trying to say with the iphone 4) but I am starting to believe them. My signal meter drops to 0 sometimes yet I am still connected to Edge. In reality comparing it to my wife's phone, this phone seems like it is staying connected more than hers.
I wasn't judging it correctly as I had wifi enabled which on this phone gets rid of any Edge or 3G signal icons, where as on her phone having wifi enabled still shows Edge or 3G icons. So when I didn't see those I just assumed I had no signal since the signal bar was also at 0. If I turn off wifi there is the Edge icon and I am indeed connected to the network. It's hard to get 3G inside our house is why we see Edge.

Sorry for the rambling but I haven't had much sleep and this has been a crappy day with everything going on not to mention my disappointment with the phone. Some of these disappointments may be user error though just like me thinking I had no connection when I really did.

Still playing with the GPS...

The guy that posted the info last time had another thing to try...

this is something you may wanna *try* - use supl.google.com and port 7276 as opposed to the default. you can always revert if it doesnt help. Remember to reboot after making any changes.

Well I tried that and holy crap, it locks onto the GPS in 50 seconds now.
I see someone has tried this before with great success http://thenokiablog.com/2009/12/16/g...n-server-supl/

Alright I think I got enough feel for the phone to give my pros and cons...

Pros:
Beautiful big screen and also smoothest touch screen I've ever encountered

Nice sound from the phone with music, movies or whatever

Generally very fast

Nice camera and camcorder (even without flash)

Nice interface (Touchwiz 3.0)

Love the hell out of the Swype keyboard

Now that I figured out it won't show Edge or 3G icons in the notification area when wi fi is enabled, it seems to be on par with my wife's Garminfone in signal reception. I seem to be able to get a Edge data signal a tiny bit better than she does while in our house which is in an almost dead zone for T mobile

Cons:
Had to go into secret menu for GPS to change some settings to get GPS to aquire quicker than deathly slow

signal meter on phone seems to maybe show a lower reading than you really have (for example it shows 0 bars yet it is still connected)

If you hold the phone with your palm against the bottom the signal meter drops about 2-3 bars. Move your hand away from the bottom and the bars return almost instantly

Compass or street view in Google maps under compass view or just arrow showing heading in Google maps doesn't update instantly (for example if I am facing North then immediately turn and face East it doesn't instantly turn the compass or Google Street view or google map arrow heading. It does get there although slowly and choppy, no excuse for one of the fastest phones out there)

Had a few lockups where I go into Google maps and then turn on the GPS indoors where it can't get a signal, I then turn off or on Wi Fi and I can't duplicate it but a few times it locked up in Google maps. I could exit out by hitting the Home button sometimes but if I went back into Google maps it would be stuck again in the same place. A reboot fixes it, I got stuck hard a couple times where even the Home button or power buttons wouldn't work and I had to pull the battery. Some bug with Google Maps and this phone I think, hopefully fixed with the next version of Google maps/Navigator.
The 2 hard locks both occured when I pulled down the notification bar while inside Google Maps and toggled GPS then enabled or disabled wifi (I don't remember) then it locked hard with the notification screen displaying on the phone.




So as of now it looks like I'll keep the phone. I think the Google maps lockup thing is just a bug that will be fixed. Google maps is in beta afterall. I stopped fiddling with the GPS and wi fi while in Google Maps and the lockups have ceased it seems.
I think the compass thing will probably be fixed too. The signal meter thing should be addressed too if it is showing a lower signal than you really have. The signal meter drop with the palm against the bottom is probably something that won't be fixed and is the biggest problem. I can live without touching my palm to it and it doesn't drop the signal completely out so the goods outweigh the bads I think.

Oh yea the battery seems to last about 10-12 hours until it dies and needs recharged if you constantly mess with the phone like I have been doing the last couple days. Man I have been giving this thing a workout trust me. The thing is probably ready for me to leave it alone and give it a rest.

Here's a video I shot today at my grand daughter's birthday party.



The original file is quite a bit sharper as I can see the drops of water on the side of the pool and there is less moire or whatever on the side of the house than with the Youtube file. It seems when it got uploaded to whatever file conversion Youtube uses, it got smoothed out and got rid of detail in the picture.

[Stoneyguy]

Picked up my Captivate yesterday. So far it seems like a great phone. I do hope the screen is as scratch resistant as the video showed. Also I didn't get a 2 gig microSD card with my phone, but it did come with a very acceptable pair of earbuds.

[nekrosoft13]

I have to say the T-mobile version looks much better, the ATT version looks square, like it was designed by the nokia team from early 90s.

Originally Posted by Stoneyguy

Picked up my Captivate yesterday. So far it seems like a great phone. I do hope the screen is as scratch resistant as the video showed. Also I didn't get a 2 gig microSD card with my phone, but it did come with a very acceptable pair of earbuds.

Can you let me know how long it takes for your phone to lock onto a GPS signal? Just turn on GPS then go into google maps and as soon as the GPS icon stops flashing in the notification bar then it is locked. Also could you download the free app GPS Test and see how many satellites it uses and what the accuracy is?
One last thing, can you bring up the compass and see how smoothly and quickly it updates? For example if I face North then turn East swiftly the compass doesn't move immediately. It is kind of choppy and takes it's time turning East.

[Stoneyguy]

GPS took 8 seconds to get signal. Didn't see a compass, so I DLed one by Snaptic. Didn't really see any choppiness, there was a little bit of lag when turning the phone around it but it's less than a second.