Samsung Captivate review– Another gorgeous AMOLED screen

Samsung Captivate is a huge phone and by it looks, I certainly think it will be a direct competitor to the iPhone 4. Samsung has recently launched a whole new line of Galaxy S handsets and Samsung Captivate is one of them. The big display is really gorgeous and I was drooling on it for hours in my labs. Samsung just sent me the phone but they didn’t tell me the price or the release date so I really don’t know much about it. The company did tell me that they are going to release it this summer so if you are planning to buy a cell phone, I would recommend you to keep your check book closed and wait to see what this phone has to offer.

I think, this phone is an excellent alternative to the iPhone. It has a gorgeous screen which is not as good as the retina display but still it will give you a great movie experience. The screen is four inches big. If you aren’t rubbing your eyes already, then let me tell you that the screen is based on AMOLED technology. For newbies, AMOLED screens give better picture quality than standard LCD screens. The power consumption is much less and hence the battery will live on for a long time. AMOLED displays can stand bright sunlight; a standard LCD, cannot. If you take a LCD phone in birght sunlight, all you’ll get is a blank screen. The only problem here is that the display is a bit high end and hence you have to pay a premium for these screens.

Samsung Captivate was running on Android 2.1 when I got it in my labs but AT&T and Samsung both told me that this phone can be upgraded to Android 2.2 when it finally comes out so don’t consider this to be a deal breaker. I woudn’t have complained anyways because there is not much to gain in the new iteration. However, hard core tech enthusiasts might still insist on an update.

There is no front facing camera on the Samsung Captivate so you cannot use this device for recording video calling. This again is a bummer because 4G technology is already here and video calling is one of the best features about it. Video calling was also there on 3G but on 4G, things get much better; the quality is really good. There is a camera on the back though and it is one of the best I have ever seen in a cellphone. The camera lets you shoot 720p HD videos with it which is really good. I again caught myself drooling on the video quality of this camera phone. You don’t get to see a lot of phones having such high resolution camera and it spent a lot of time in my labs playing with it. The great video quality is further complemented by the awesome screen.

Speaking of the features, the Samsung Captivate has social hub which blends all of your social networks inside it. This feature is really great.