The Samsung Galaxy S24
Duffer10's profile

Tutor

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5 Messages

Sunday, August 1st, 2010 1:54 PM

Samsung Captivate Problems

Trying Captivate after being Iphone user. Have done two factory resets. Besides the GPS not locking, slow to lock, and lossing lock, my biggest complaints are: 1) Slow screen scrolling 2) Yahoo mail app freezes or won't load at all. Yes have tried uninstall and reinstall. I wish email app on bottom bar would let you put in multiple email accounts. I have 2 Bellsouth.net and 1 gmail. 3) When holding phone in 1 hand and turning on or off, I have trouble NOT hitting the volume buttons. 4) When phone is in pocket, and slightest pressure is on any external buttons, the phone won't ring. It's the same as if you pressed button on incomming call to mute ringtone. 5) Sometimes if phone is off and want to turn on, holding power button does nothing. Will repeat several times until it finally turns on. 6) Settings, About Phone, System Tutorial, Begin button went to program once. Now nothing. This is even after factory reset. 7) Touch screen calibration seems to be off. Maybe only a few mm. But that enough to hit wrong icon. or url. There are more, but I will keep post short.

 

This complaint is petty, but it drives me nuts. Time on Splash screen. 24hr ( Military ) or 12 hr. I have set to 12 hr. Instead of saying 1:37pm, the clock will say 01:37pm. Come on Samsung. Get rid of the zero before the 1. Military would be 13:37.

 

 

 

Teacher

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11 Messages

13 years ago

Planorick,

 

Backup your call and sms logs if necessary. Backup your contacts onto your SIM.

 

Try the Factory Reset and not just a system reboot. This should get rid of everything you had on your device and bring it back to the state you got the phone. Then see if your problems persist.

 

Battery life does suck, even on my Captivate. That said, I have installed >180 really good apps but with only a handful running at any given time. Talk time does use up most of the charge, then there's the Phone Idle, whatever that is - I think it's the radio staying alive and looking for signals - that takes second place. Display comes in third; it takes the first spot when I'm not getting any calls and even when I've got the brightness down to 0%.

 

Try the app called MySettings (download from the Android market): it gives you easy and quick access to the most common settings.

 

Finally, I'm using my second Captivate after I returned the first one to Amazon within the 30 day period. The former kept randomly jumping back to home with the Home button being activated for no good reason. I suspect, although I'm not positive, it had something to do with the LauncherApp UI that I downloaded. Would completely stay away from UI changes (and I have) until the next Android update.

 

My current phone (I know I said 'finally...', still) did go through the phase where it randomly shutdown. Was extremely annoying when I missed calls (had the phone in my pant pocket or left it on charge at night, and it would turn off without telling me). Turned off the Battery conserver apps that I had running and I haven't had any major issues since then. I dont think that's the reason it stopped, though.

 

Would advice you to update all your apps through the AppBrain app. I do that once a week systematically, and that is also on my list of suspected mysterious solutions for issues I previously had.

 

Apologies for the incoherent response, but hope the suggestions help.

 

TL;DR:

 

1. Install AppBrain app and update all apps. This may help with random shutdowns and battery issues.

2. Install MySettings app and play around with the phone settings. This may help with battery issues.

3. If these dont work, try a factory reset after backing up your contacts onto your SIM, phone call logs and sms logs, if you need them.

4. Restart and start again.

 

Sans the SUCKY battery life (~6 hours OR 1% per minute) and the lack of FROYO OS update, this is a really really good phone.

 

Hope this helps.

Teacher

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11 Messages

13 years ago

While I'm online,


My Captivate's internal SD memory says it has a max of 13.340 GB when the advertised was 16 GB. Is this rights or can I request ATT/Amazon/Samsung to replace or provide me with extra memory?

 

Does anyone else find this troubling or is the 16 gigs number simply the total usable memory?

 

Thanks.

Guru

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637 Messages

13 years ago

 


@nostraticispeak wrote:

While I'm online,


My Captivate's internal SD memory says it has a max of 13.340 GB when the advertised was 16 GB. Is this rights or can I request ATT/Amazon/Samsung to replace or provide me with extra memory?

 

Does anyone else find this troubling or is the 16 gigs number simply the total usable memory?

 

Thanks.


 

I don't know the specifics of the micro-SD cards, but this is very common with drives and storage media.  There are two main reasons for it.

 

First, the drive or card has to be formatted.  That is, the raw jumble of bits needs to be turned into a usable filesystem that the phone (or for a drive or removable card, a computer) can make sense of.  That formatting actually uses some data.  On a hardware level, the card holds 16GB, but not all of that is usable.

 

Second, there are two conflicting definitions of a GB.  By the SI definitions, 1 KB = 1000 bytes, 1 MB = 1000 KB, 1 GB = 1000 MB, 1 TB = 1000 GB, and so on.  Drive manufacturers (I don't know about SD card manufacturers) typically like to use these definitions.  However, historically, because computers work well with powers of 2, another set of definitions has been used: 1KB = 1024 bytes, 1 MB = 1024 KB, 1 GB = 1024 MB, and so on.  If the software in the phone is using this definition and the the number printed on the card uses the other one, then the numbers will be different.

Contributor

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1 Message

13 years ago

So I have had the Samsung Captivate for 5 days now and have noticed it is randomly shutting itself down.

Initially it was once or twice a day, but now has increased to MULTIPLE times a day (in the last 3 hours it has shut itself down 6 times).

The battery is fully charged (or atleast +70%), so this is not the problem.

 

I've read MANY users have been seeing this same problem, but have not been given answers to this problem.

Other forums...

(http://www.samsungcaptivateforum.com/samsung-captivate-how-to/random-shutdowns/)

(http://androidforums.com/captivate-support-troubleshooting/130114-phone-shutting-off-randomly.html)

If this problem is not resolved I'm going to have to return the phone. I almost missed my work meeting today because the phone was shut off and the alarm didn't sound!

 

Any help here??

 

-Malcolm

 

 

Guru

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637 Messages

13 years ago

brownma, there are several things that have worked for various people with this issue, but no one-size-fits-all fix.  Most phones with the issue are most likely to power off when the phone is in power save mode with a fully charged battery, so some of the tricks rely on that.

 

Here are some of the things that have helped others:

 

1. Do a factory restore.  This will erase all your data, so make sure anything important is backed up.  If it works, this is a true fix and not merely a workaround.

 

2. Do a factory restore and don't re-download any marketplace apps.  Use the phone for a while (maybe a few days) in a clean state.  Then if you previously had any apps, re-download them one at a time, and use the phone in between each install.  If you start to have the problem again, remove the last app or two.  If it works, this is a true fix and not merely a workaround.

 

3. Use a task killer or task manager if you aren't using one, or don't use one if you are using it, or use one with different settings than what you're currently using.  Many people recommend Advanced Task Killer.  I prefer something like Watchdog that notifies me of misbehaving tasks and gives me the option of killing, rather than killing automatically.  If it works, this may be a true fix.

 

4. When you remove the phone from the charger, do something that drains the battery a bit.  This is not a fix.  It's a workaround that you can try until you can get the phone replaced.

 

5. Turn off power management so the phone never sleeps.  The phone will use much more battery power, but it may avoid powering off.  This is not a fix.  It's a workaround that you can try until you can get the phone replaced.

 

6. Use a market app called Captivate Keep Alive.  I don't know much about it, but from what little I've read I believe it turns off power management when the battery is full (and the phone most likely to turn off) and turns it back on when the battery is drained somewhat.  If that's correct, then it essentially gives the benefit of (5) but doesn't kill the battery life as much.  This is not a fix.  It's a workaround that you can try until you can get the phone replaced.

 

7. Replace the phone.  If you bought the phone 5 days ago, you still have time to try the potential fixes and still be within the 30-day retail exchange period.  Within that period, contact the retailer from which you obtained the phone.

 

I think that pretty much covers the options (aside from AT&T warranty or Samsung warranty after 30 days).  Does anyone want to fill in anything I missed?

Tutor

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9 Messages

13 years ago

I have not had a chance to have any of these problems. After just a week of owning the phone it started turning it's self off usually 3 to 4 times a day. After complaining several times I was sent a used phone even though I paid for a new one. Now that used one is turning off and Im having to go through the same hassle to get another phone shipped to me again. I have lost all of my ring tones and apps twice during their trouble shooting process.

Every time I have bought a phone from at&t I have had a problem with it and was sent a used phone in its place. I will never buy another phone from at&t and will be changing my service provider. AT&T does not seem to realize there is 2 sides to a contract. The provider has to provide the equipment and service that was promised when the contract was singed. I have not gotten either so AT&T broke my contract so they should be sending me a check for the early termination fee.  

Tutor

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5 Messages

13 years ago

I have been suffering through many of the problems listed here

 

1) Frequent shutdowns. I (almost)always put my phone to sleep by using the power button before I put it down. Sometimes I put in my belt holder, sometimes on a desk.  Shutdowns occur either way.  I have not made a note of the phone being (close to) fully charged or not. I will keep an eye on the battery charge vs. shutdown issue more closely.

 

2) Phone is frequently quite "laggy". Pressing things (like the back or home or various screen icons) does nothing.  Thinking I "missed" the key(s) I press them again. Then phone eventually reacts to all the presses.  Ugh.

 

3) Had my phone plugged in to charge it the other day and it got really hot.  The charge indication after an hour did not seem reasonable (~39%) for the amount of time (just over an hour) it was plugged in but I suppose that it *could* be correct.

 

4) Not mentioned in the thread so far is this issue: I lose icons from the home pages regularly. I have a couple of free kiddie games apps and I've dragged them onto the last of the several "home" screens and some of them disappear everytime I power the phone down and back up (one is a Toy Story puzzle).

 

5) Another issue I have not seen: In my opinion, "backing" out of the browser should shut that app down (as it does for (all/most) other apps). It does not.  It's always "alive" when looked at in a "Task Manager" app.

 

 

Teacher

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11 Messages

13 years ago

One thing I did notice is that the fraction of people experiencing 'real' problems (:like random shutdowns) is very low. I did have a ton of issues, but everything got sorted out through some Googling.

 

Having said this, I have recently become a strong advocate of rooting your phone, and if needed, installing any one of the dozen or so custom ROMs specifically designed for the Captivate. Let's say.... a friend did it, voiding his warranty, but getting incredible performance and agility in return.

 

Here's my logic:

1. AT&T and Samsung's support for the phone goes little beyond replacing your new phone with a used one and being annoyed that that didn't work,

2. Tech support at both companies, while reasonable, isn't nearly as good as the Android fanboys online (myself included).

3. There is a TON of support at forums like XDA and Reddit's Android page, staffed by people like me, who've experienced literally EVERY problem with the phone; and in most cases, have resolved them.

 

Be aware: If you root your phone, you will void your warranty.

Be also aware: You can Un-root your phone: all 'rooting' does (when you follow instructions on the forums) is it dumps a few files that gives you access to the phone's innards. (Linux users can relate to the 'sudo' command, or Superuser command: that power and security). My 'friend' took a month considering all of this before entering the dark side.

 

My friend was embarrased when he realized the extent of support the rooting community offers and at the possiblity of unrooting your phone if necessary at some point in the future (say you physically damage your phone and need to return it: rooting doesn't heal physical damage Smiley Wink.)

 

 

Tutor

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8 Messages

13 years ago

so sometimes i get emails sometimes i dont. this phone sucks i cant wait until i can dump it

Teacher

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11 Messages

13 years ago

Check your Autosync settings. Most people haven't set that up properly.

 

I would download 'Quick Settings' app from the Android market to more easily access your phone's settings.

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