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AT&T Samsung Captivate hands on!

Published Jul 9th, 2010 5:45PM EDT
BGR

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We have just received our very own Samsung Captivate device and have put together some first impressions as well as some great photos. The Samsung Galaxy S is launching in some form or fashion on practically every U.S. carrier, and AT&T’s model, the Captivate, is pretty action-packed. As far as specifications, the device is powered by a 1GHz CPU, 2GB 16GB of internal storage, a 5 megapixel camera, Super AMOLED screen, and Android 2.1. As far as the hardware goes, the device is very, very thin, but comes across as feeling pretty cheap thanks to a, well, really cheap plastic casing. Samsung tries to add a little pizazz with the textured back battery cover, but honestly it gets lost in a sea of mediocrity. The display is top notch, though, very readable and usable in sunlight, with great colors. The blue default color scheme on here really pops with the contrasting deep black. As far as size, 4 inches of display seems like the perfect compromise between the gargantuan DROID X and EVO 4G and the smaller iPhone-sized handsets.

The Captivate seems very snappy, and it isn’t as molested as we’d figured it would be. You know, when mixing AT&T and Samsung together, well, we don’t tend to get pleasant thoughts about that collaboration. We’re not saying there isn’t enough AT&T-branded apps and content in here to make Andy Rubin nauseous, we’re just saying it’s more tolerable than we thought, and that’s a good thing for everyday usage. We’ll get started on our full review, but in the meantime check out some pretty pictures!

Click on over to our AT&T Samsung Captivate hands on gallery!

Update: After playing around a bit, it looks like AT&T has blocked the installation of non-Market apps, and we can’t find Google Navigation on here. Neither of those are big surprises, but hey, a guy can dream, right?

Update 2: We have received word from some AT&T sources and readers, and Google Navigation is actually supported on the Samsung Captivate. You have to update to the latest Google Maps through the Market, then enter an address to get driving directions to, and then you can click Navigate. There isn’t a separate Google Navigation application, but it can most definitely be accessed.

Jonathan S. Geller
Jonathan Geller Founder, President & Editor-in-chief

Jonathan S. Geller founded Boy Genius Report, now known as BGR, in 2006. It became the biggest mobile news destination in the world by the end of 2009, and BGR was acquired by leading digital media company PMC in April 2010.

Jonathan is President of BGR Media, LLC., and Editor-in-chief of the BGR website.

What started as a side project at the age of 16, quickly transpired into 24-hour days and nights of sharing exclusive and breaking news about the mobile communications industry. BGR now reaches up to 100 million readers a month through the website, syndication partners, and additional channels.