Samsung Vibrant -or- Sprint HTC EVO -or- Samsung Captivate ???

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vilhiem

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Ok ... I currently own the iPhone 3G and need a new phone.

I like the iPhone ... but these new phones look pretty cool too.

So, of these three ... which is best:



  • Samsung Vibrant
  • Sprint HTC EVO
  • Samsung Captivate
Some of the basics I need:
good battery life, functionality, reception, apps … and ability to sync with Outlook.
 
The captivate and the vibrant are practically the same phone, so the only thing you would need to worry about is if you like AT&T or Tmobile better. The EVO is a great phone, however, from what I understand, the battery life can be pretty horrendous. As in less than 10 hours. I own the Captivate, and with texting a lot during the day, a couple phone calls, mild internet browsing, and stuff updating every 30 mins (facebook, twitter, weather, etc...) I can usually get 18 hours out of a single charge. I would imagine the vibrant would be close, if not the same. Now, I don't use Outlook, so maybe somebody else can provide insight into that issue. Basically, I would figure out which provider you're more comfortable with, then pick the phone. Looking at the basics you require, the EVO doesn't totally fit, while the Vibrant/Captivate/Fascinate/Epic fit better. I say go try them out before you buy. I believe all providers offer some sort of 30 day refund, so you may want to look into that also.

Also, i'm not bashing on the EVO or anything. I'd love to own one, so my info comes from reading. I'm sure somebody who owns an EVO will provide better insight into its battery life.
 
Might want to include iPhone 4 in the list if you've got a collection of apps already.
the Captivate is the closet to the iPhone, so depending on whether you want to stick with AT&T or migrate to T-Mobile like xbox mentioned is probably your determinant.
 
I've had a Captivate since launch day, coming from an iPhone 3G, 3GS, then 4, and I really like it but there are a few significant issues. Most notably the infamously terrible GPS is still broken and even after updates that "fix" the GPS, most users aren't noticing much improvement (including me). Battery life isn't great although I've had trouble finding a solid Evo vs Captivate comparison (I'm considering switching to Sprint due to some recently horrendous AT&T coverage in my neighborhood).

Also, the Galaxy S phones (Vibrant\Captivate\etc) has a strangely slow charge. It takes a long time to charge, which is somewhat frustrating considering the average battery life.

I do love the screen and speed of the phone. If you're heavily invested in the app store and you like the iPhone, the iPhone4 is an excellent phone as well. I'm just a phone nerd and after two years of iOS, wanted to try Android.
 
The Captivate and Vibrant are great, but there are a few things you should know...

1) Battery life may be pretty poor initially but should improve after a week or two. For better battery life, be sure to turn OFF (weird, I know) the battery saving mode (Settings > Sound and display) and set the wifi sleep policy to never (Settings > Wireless and networks > Wi-Fi settings > Menu > Advanced).

2) The GPS may work well at first, but will start acting weird eventually. To make the GPS work a lot better, there are some settings you should change. Dial *#*#1472365#*#*. In Application Settings change Standalone to MS Based. In SUPL/CP Settings change the server to supl.google.com, the port to 7276, and turn off SUPL Secure Socket. Reboot the phone and enable use wireless networks (Settings > Location and security). Should work well enough now, but if it acts up restarting the phone usually makes it work better again.

3) After a while you may notice some sluggishness when opening and closing certain apps or performing disk intensive tasks. It's caused by Samsung's slow RFS file system. Install a lagfix. There are several out there. OCLF (in the market) is the easiest to install. Tayutama's is also good and pretty easy to install. Voodoo is the best from a technical standpoint, but it's also the newest so you may run into some problems and it's a little more complicated.

There's your crash course if you decide to go with a Galaxy S.
 
Thanks guys ... appreciate all the great feedback!

Made me laugh when I read GTG's comments on how to make the Captivate and Vibrant work better (i.e., it's ashame that with such a new phone that so much "tweeking" needs to be done to it).

Any thoughts on which one would "sync" with Outlook better (e.g., contacts, calendar, notes, etc.) ...?
One thing missing from all of the phones lately is bringing over Outlook's "categories" ... especially for the contacts (e.g., attorney, restaurant, etc.).
 
The Evo's battery life is fine. The reviewers made a few fatal mistakes when the phone was released and gave it a REALLY bad name. For one, they had every mail account set to sync every 15 minutes, and they also had Facebook contacts/calendar/pictures/status updates syncing every 2 hours. If you have any more than say, 100 friends, you're going to run that battery down REAL quick. I set the facebook updates for 1 per day and email to either push or once per hour, and I haven't had any complaints re: battery life since.

Edit: They also left 4G on in a non-4G area, asking for trouble, since it's constantly searching for signal.
 
i'd be wary to get a Galaxy S series as the phones are pretty much dead after the 2.2 update, it has great hardware however samsung's support is one of the worst in the industry.
I have a Vibrant, the phone is nice, but my nexus one is still the one i use most.
 
Be wary of any suggested Captivate GPS "fixes" - what GTG stated is one thing many people have done and it will show improvement, but it's REALLY random. Check out the XDA Captivate forums and you'll see countless threads indicating a number of different fixes, ranging from accessing an internal menu to modifying XML files to flashing modified ROMS, and none of them result in solid agreement that the GPS is "fixed". If GPS functionality is really important to you, don't invest in a Galaxy S phone until you see a general consensus that the GPS is improved.

Of course, the other important thing is service availability in your area. Smartphones are useless without solid data coverage. Also, if you don't have 4G service in your area, you'll pay $10\month extra for nothing on the EVO. I've had great luck with AT&T service until recently which is why I'm considering a jump to the EVO (and I live in a 4G area).
 
Anyone here have recommendations on which of these syncs well with Outlook ...?
 
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