ATT Captivate: Release Date and Pricing

o well, i am looking into getting the phone... but i will be relocating next month so I needed to get a phone that is unlocked...
 
dekruyter said:
If the Captivate will be "locked" by AT&T, why bother paying $299 or $349 (whichever you can get at the store) when you can get it for $199 on contract. There is no "off-contract" rate plan discount or decrease w/ AT&T if you own your own phone.
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Phone are actually cheaper when bought unsubsidized if you do the math. Also some of us are not eligible for an upgrade yet (like myself) and this $350 deal is like a fucking dream come true.
 
SixtyWattMan said:
Phone are actually cheaper when bought unsubsidized if you do the math. Also some of us are not eligible for an upgrade yet (like myself) and this $350 deal is like a fucking dream come true.
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I agree on your upgrade comment...absolutely true, if you want or have to stay on your contract, then this is a GREAT way to upgrade.

But, you are wrong, in some cases, on the "cheaper when bought unsubsidized" comment....w/ AT&T everyone pays the same rate for a "smartphone"...whether you got is subsidized, or not.........so please show me the math.

Example:

Subsidized: $199 + $70/month (example rate)
Unsubsidized: $349 + $70/month (example rate)

Of the Big carriers, ONLY T-Mobile offers a discount for off-contract monthly rate plans, right?
 
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Let me add, for me, the Captivate beats the Droid X....the GPU/video speed tests won me over....and the screen. Also size, etc.
 
Main Target said:
The ability to change providers really...What happens if you are in a contract?

Or for me, I just bought an iphone 4 to sell for profit. I made money off this whole dealie.
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How can you make money w/ paying the ETF?...and the 1st & 2nd (pro-rated) monthly fees that AT&T doesn't wave if you cancel the plan?

Phone: $199
ETF: $325
Activation: $ 36
Plan: $140 (2 months..you need to keep over 30 days to keep phone)
Taxes: $?

In this example, you'd have to sell the iPhone 4 for at least ~700......I supposed you could make a hundred or two hundred...what a hassle.
 
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dekruyter said:
How can you make money w/ paying the ETF?...and the 1st & 2nd (pro-rated) monthly fees that AT&T doesn't wave if you cancel the plan?

Phone: $199
ETF: $325
Activation: $ 36
Plan: $140 (2 months..you need to keep over 30 days to keep phone)
Taxes: $?

In this example, you'd have to sell the iPhone 4 for at least ~700......I supposed you could make a hundred or two hundred...what a hassle.
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That's the ETF for the iPhone. I believe I saw a $175 ETF for this phone.
 
entropism said:
ls is the list command. And at least with HTC devices, I just delete the apk, works fine.
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Sweet. I'll try that tonight. I've rooted it but other than that I've just been messing with what comes on it... Haven't tried tweaking it much yet. I think I'll try the custom ROM, once I hear someone confirm it works on the Captivate anyway.

dekruyter said:
If the Captivate will be "locked" by AT&T, why bother paying $299 or $349 (whichever you can get at the store) when you can get it for $199 on contract. There is no "off-contract" rate plan discount or decrease w/ AT&T if you own your own phone.
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Because I don't have to pay a $150 ETF... I'm still under contract.

Blown 89 said:
TexUS: is that phone unlocked for T-mobile?
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No... Though I'd imagine there might be a way to unlock them. I mean once you root it you can do anything you want... That'd be a good question to post up on XDA.
 
That said, this phone is freaking awesome. Swype is sweet, as well all know, but the voice-to-text is wonderful (too bad the Swype keyboard didn't have a button for it though, you have to switch to the Android keyboard).
 
Bird222 said:
If you buy out of contract do you have to get the dataplan to make the phone work at all? As noted here http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035951670&postcount=49 Also, TexUs, what made you decided to get the captivate vs. the vibrant excluding price of course? Everything is pretty much the same between the vibrant and captivate, correct?
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ATT requires dataplans on any new smartphone.
Of course if you're a long standing customer and don't have a contract... "Well, either you can block data usage from my smartphone or you can lose my business as I go to TMobile"... Guess what they'll do? They'd rather have $$$ from voice and minutes than no money at all.

I was still under ATT contract. Going TMobile would've been $450 plus $150 to get out of (ETF) ATT. Expensive.
Whereas for $300 I stayed on ATT. It's a bit better shell than the TMobile version as well.
 
I literally JUST picked one up at the Brentwood store in St. Louis MO. The corporate email thing is true and if you encounter someone who says no sales until the 18th at a corporate store, simply ask them to check with their manager about an email stating they are ok to sell. It worked for me.

Now, my beef is this, the corporate store charged me $499 + tax for it outright. Is this right!?
 
caw2007 said:
I literally JUST picked one up at the Brentwood store in St. Louis MO. The corporate email thing is true and if you encounter someone who says no sales until the 18th at a corporate store, simply ask them to check with their manager about an email stating they are ok to sell. It worked for me.

Now, my beef is this, the corporate store charged me $499 + tax for it outright. Is this right!?
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Hell no. The "official" word (ATT's Facebook page) was $349.
I bought mine for $299, and many are reporting the same thing.

I'd take it back and ask them to double-check the pricing.

Perhaps there's some pricing glitches through their system (maybe why $299/$349 is too good to be true??) and they just haven't caught it yet????? As I've heard the $499 story more than once before now.
 
caw2007 said:
I literally JUST picked one up at the Brentwood store in St. Louis MO. The corporate email thing is true and if you encounter someone who says no sales until the 18th at a corporate store, simply ask them to check with their manager about an email stating they are ok to sell. It worked for me.

Now, my beef is this, the corporate store charged me $499 + tax for it outright. Is this right!?
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Actually, it's what they told me as well when I called one near my house. I posted earlier in this threat when I heard $499, but i posted $399 instead... Maybe because it sounded so insane. lol

They said corporate stores will charge $499 for non-contract, but other authorized dealers can change their prices, which is why someone on this thread got his for $299.
 
XpediencY said:
Actually, it's what they told me as well when I called one near my house. I posted earlier in this threat when I heard $499, but i posted $399 instead... Maybe because it sounded so insane. lol

They said corporate stores will charge $499 for non-contract, but other authorized dealers can change their prices, which is why someone on this thread got his for $299.
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he said official AT&T store, not an authorized dealer ;)

TexUs said:
Yep, official ATT store... $299. :D

I just rooted this sucker, too. I can confirm root works I guess (though I haven't figured out how to remove the ATT pre-installed stuff yet). I rooted it and got no errors at least.
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I'm gonna try calling one of the other stores, and the one or 2 authorized dealers. maybe get lucky.
 
If you're out of contract and want the Captivate, wouldn't it make a lot of sense to buy the iPhone 4 for the contract price (-$200), sell it (+$700), and then buy the Captivate for the non subsidized price (-$300)? You end up netting a new phone AND $200 in your pocket. Am I missing something here?
 
GMSTBFLA said:
If you're out of contract and want the Captivate, wouldn't it make a lot of sense to buy the iPhone 4 for the contract price (-$200), sell it (+$700), and then buy the Captivate for the non subsidized price (-$300)? You end up netting a new phone AND $200 in your pocket. Am I missing something here?
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The $325 ETF, perhaps?
 
I just called one of the stores and they told me 499$ non contract

how the heck do you get it for 350 or 300? Do I need to go to a non corporate store?


edit: just called a 2nd store, non corporate and it was 499$ there also! Grrr....
 
Dude if the phone went up in price i will be pissed.

Wait....is the 300/350 going to use up my upgrade?
 
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Main Target said:
Dude if the phone went up in price i will be pissed.

Wait....is the 300/350 going to use up my upgrade?
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No, it's off contract.

Here's an interesting development though... ATT saw my receipt and emailed me asking what store I bought it from (I just replied back "Why"?, they haven't answered). HMMMMM... Lends to the fact that this might have all been pricing error.
 
Dude dont tell them. And Can you pick one up for me? lol.

Pretty lame though, considering they posted it on facebook and twitter.
 
Hell of a pricing error form a major company....quick, buy em @ $300 or $350 while you can. Of coarse, honest folks would return their phones, report the error, and pay the additional $150 - $200.
 
I know I likely won't get objective answers here, but I have some questions:

Some of you already have this phone?

I'm debating between this phone and the iPhone, antenna issues and all. Assuming I can get over Apple's hubris.

Currently I'm carrying a Nokia N85 and 64gb iPod Touch I got for free. I'd like to drop to only one device, except for when I fly which turns out to be way too damn frequently.

When playing mp3s the N85 sounds a little muddy compared to the iPod. How is the headphone amp on the Captivate?

The n85 screen (OLED) washes out completely in the sun. How does the SAMOLED screen handle sunlight? Does the screen compare favorably with IPS screen in the new iPhone?

The n85 camera is good enough that I've stopped carrying another camera. How is the camera in the captivate?

You guys have any pictures of this phone in the wild yet?
 
There are quite a few reviews out there that I think will answer your questions well.

Check out the one androidandme wrote, very good so far.

Do you watch movies on your device? The bigger screen might complement that on longer flights.
 
galaxy-s-desire-x10-2.jpg

Super AMOLED vs AMOLED vs LCD
Take your pick ;) The Super AMOLED is obviously superior to AMOLED. I don't think between the other two there's really a clear winner... They all equally suck in the daylight.

As far as the Captivate's sound... Head and shoulders above the iPhone I have. Apple's SQ SUCKS and always has. I find it pretty good, though this is just Day 2... and I've only got an hour of music listening under my belt.

Captivate camera is a 5MP... Not sure what else you want to know. No cellphone camera is ever an excuse for a real camera.

I'll try posting pics tonight.
 
T-Mo's website has them listed for $499 out of contract (with a $50 MIR as the 2-year "discount").
 
I picked mine up in St. Louis this afternoon as well. $200 with 2yr contract. $500 out of contract. $325 ETF. Looks like at least in St. Louis the $350 out of contract price and/or $175 ETF rumors are just a dream. I just used an upgrade on my family plan.
 
If they really end up being 500$ over here im just going to get the iphone under contract i think.

I really love the captivate but lack of flash is disappointing and so is the pricing issues
 
Main Target said:
There are quite a few reviews out there that I think will answer your questions well.

Check out the one androidandme wrote, very good so far.

Do you watch movies on your device? The bigger screen might complement that on longer flights.
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I didn't find an actual review on the Captivate at androidandme.com. Are you thinking about a review for another Galaxy S phone?

Watch movies? Not so much, maybe some Futurama. I do spend a lot of time reading ebooks though. It is a pain to get ebooks onto the iPod. It's easy on the N85. I might have to give a nod to the Retin... ( I can't, gay ass marketing BS) IPS screen on the iPhone for text quality.

TexUs said:
Take your pick ;) The Super AMOLED is obviously superior to AMOLED. I don't think between the other two there's really a clear winner... They all equally suck in the daylight.

As far as the Captivate's sound... Head and shoulders above the iPhone I have. Apple's SQ SUCKS and always has. I find it pretty good, though this is just Day 2... and I've only got an hour of music listening under my belt.

Captivate camera is a 5MP... Not sure what else you want to know. No cellphone camera is ever an excuse for a real camera.

I'll try posting pics tonight.
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My iPod sounds much better than my N85. I thought that this was a problem with the early iPods, but Apple made some changes so that they're better. I haven't done an A to B comparison with my Sansa Clip which is supposed to have one of the better built in amps.

I find the megapixel war frankly ridiculous. It's about the quality of the pixels, not the quantity. None of my displays are more than 2mp. The n85 has a 5mp camera w/ dual LED flash. Still shots have few of the obvious camera phone artifacts and once resized down to 2mp or less look really good... for a phone. As I mentioned earlier, they're good enough that I don't carry a regular camera anymore.
 
Damn, I try not to spend time on youtube in the office. Seems rude to my assemblers who don't have the luxury of an always on internet connection.


umcpgrad said:
at&t is horrible.
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10 pages of discussion and this is what you bring?

Can you expand your thoughts a little?

I need a GSM device that works around the country from rural areas of Iowa to Manhattan. I need a phone that works in Europe. I need a phone that works in South America. What are my other options than AT&T?

Trust me, if there were a better option, I would be on it.
 
Called the stores to see if they could sell it early. Mentioned the email from corporate. They said they havent gotten anything and could not sell it until Sunday. Called 2 nearby ATT stores.
 
retardude48 said:
Called the stores to see if they could sell it early. Mentioned the email from corporate. They said they havent gotten anything and could not sell it until Sunday. Called 2 nearby ATT stores.
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hah, same here.
 
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