Samsung Captivate Android Smartphone Review

Although the Captivate's screen is slightly smaller than the Motorola Droid X or the HTC EVO 4G at 4-inches, it offers something these other two phones don't, and that's the Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. The Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen differs from other display technologies in that the layer that detects touch is integrated into the screen instead of being overlaid on top. By integrating these touch sensors into the display, the overall display is now thinner. In addition, colors are more vivid because the touch sensor layer that sits on top of TFT LCD and traditional AMOLED touchscreen displays is no longer there. The Super AMOLED screen also boasts of better viewing angles compared to its predecessor.

Although the Captivate has very good viewing angles, the screen is a bit difficult (but not impossible) to view under direct sunlight. We also noticed the screen tended to attract fingerprints, though they did not appear to affect the responsiveness of the display. Like other smartphones, the Captivate's screen supports multitouch.

If you're interested in learning more about this display, check out this video from Samsung:

Indeed, the Super AMOLED touchscreen on the Captivate is very bright and crisp and has impressive colors. We really can't say enough about this screen—it's just gorgeous and one of the Captivate's best features.

The Samsung Captivate's 1GHz Hummingbird processor made the phone feel zippy and responsive. During calls, the Captivate's earpiece and the speakerphone were adequately loud. Everyone we spoke with said calls came through loud and clear.

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The Captivate has a built-in 5 megapixel camera that can also capture video. Images taken outdoors or under bright light turned out well. Since the Captivate's camera does not have a flash, you'll be limited in indoor shots or night shots. All of our images had some noise, but they were no worse than other camera phone images. The Captivate's camera may not offer the same resolution as some of today's other  high-end smartphones that have built-in cameras with 8 megapixels or more, but since none of these cameras are quite ready to replace your standalone digital camera, the lower resolution with the Captivate probably won't be a huge detriment to most users.

Samsung claims Super AMOLED screens consume less power than other screen technologies, which should be a nice bonus for users who need lots of talk or surf time. Although battery life is likely to vary based on how you use the phone, we were very pleased with the battery life of the Captivate. Samsung says the Captivate's user replaceable battery can offer up to 5 hours and 50 minutes of talk time and up to 300 hours (12.5 days) of standby time.