AT&T has recently announced a handful of new Android handsets and among them, Samsung Captivate; also known as Samsung Galaxy S on carriers like Sprint and Verizon, has been receiving a lot of rave reviews.
So how does this Android 2.1 device compare with Apple's iPhone 4? We will take you through the key differences in features and performance between the two devices.
Operating System:
iPhone 4 comes pre-installed with Apple's new iOS 4.x.x that includes more than 100 new features.
Samsung Captivate is powered by Android 2.1 that offers a slew of customizations including the ability to add widgets and custom alerts. This is in addition to functionalities like free turn-by-turn GPS navigation, voice-to-text and the ability to add any app of choice.
However, the functional difference between a Samsung Captivate and iPhone 4 is one of personal choice and users who prefer simplicity and minimalism will find iPhone 4 appealing.
Display:
iPhone 4 comes with a gorgeous 960x640 pixel retina display, which is one of the major features of the new iPhone. AT&T Captivate, on the other hand, comes equipped with a 480x800 pixel Super AMOLED display. Both the displays come with advantages of their own. While the Super AMOLED screen on Captivate will offer a brighter screen along with reduced glare and power consumption, the higher resolution display on iPhone 4 renders better video quality. The difference in video quality rendered on the two screens may be more pronounced because of the fact that the pixels on Samsung Captivate are spread over a larger screen area. You may note that the Captivate comes with a 4" display that is slightly larger than the new iPhone's 3.5" display.
Hardware:
The processor power of both these devices are impressive. Samsung Captivate is powered by a 1GHz Hummingbird processor with a 512MB RAM. The iPhone 4 on the other hand, is powered by Apple's native A4 processor that too runs at 1GHz though the RAM specifications are unknown and comes with 512MB RAM. Speaking of the external casing, TiPb points out that while the back casing on iPhone 4 may appear to be marginally more scratch-prone than Captivate, the iDevice however feels more solid and better built.
Camera:
Both Captivate and iPhone 4 come equipped with a powerful 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and support for 720p HD video capture. However, Apple wins the competition hands down due to the availability of LED flash along with support for on-board video editing features and video chat functionalities. Captivate also does not have a front-facing camera like iPhone 4.
Compatibility:
Folks at TiPb point out that the Captivate may not be an ideal device for Mac users. Unlike the iPhone 4 which only requires the user to plug into iTunes to sync content, the Captivate will require several workarounds to achieve the same task. Also, MobileMe users may find it difficult to restore content while switching handsets.
Battery:
Heavy users of smartphones may find the battery life offered on Samsung Captivate disappointing. As many of our readers have noted in the past, the new iPhone 4 offers significantly improved battery life that comfortably lasts for a day in most cases. However, this may not be the case with the Captivate and as TiPb points out, the battery may not last a work-day if you are a heavy user.
Here is a comparison chart detailing the technical specifications of the two devices:
You can checkout feature videos of Samsung Captivate and iPhone 4 below:
As you see, there is not much to choose between the two phones in terms of hardware specs at the moment though in our opinion iPhone 4 is better than Samsung Captivate due to iOS 4.0, the massive App Store, which now houses over 238,000 iPhone apps, better battery life and front-facing camera, which has brought video chat features like FaceTime.
But as we have mentioned earlier, the important thing to note here is that Android phones like Samsung Captivate, HTC EVO 4G will keep Apple honest and put pressure on them to keep innovating (not that they've needed the pressure), which is always a good thing from a customer point of view.
Do you like the new Samsung Captivate? Do you prefer Apple iPhone 4 or Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S)? Which one will you buy? We would love to hear your views in the comments so do drop us a line.
I JUST SOLD MY IPHONE 4 ALWAYS HAD IPHONES NEVER AGAIN BOUGHT A SAMSUNG GALAXY S BATTERY LASTS FOR EVER I CHARGED IT THIS MORNING IT WAS LOW SO I PUIT IT ON A HALF HOUR CHARGE THEN BEEN PLAYING ON IT FOR 3 HOURS IT NEVER WENT DOWN THE BATTERY YET BLOWS AWAY IPHONE MIND
Fanboy alert!
I have been an iphone owner from day one from the 2g to the iphone 3gs . I ran it both factory and jailbroken and i loved it. But while trying to get an iphone4 i came across the captivate and was completely blown away! So i bought it brought it home and started tinkering with it! I can say that i dont know why i ever owned an iphone! The android phones kick major ass! I love the design of the captivate and honestly dislike the look of the iphone4! I have let friends use my captivate that own iphone4 and they wish theyd seen it prior to purchasing their iphone! Id never go back even though buying the captivate was an impulse buy… ive never been more pleased with a phone! Captivate rocks!
Let's be honest here: Apple favours style over substance. All my friends who hav iPhone 4s have taken them back to either get my Samsung Galaxy or the iPhone 3GS.
The screen is bigger on the Samsung, but because the screens are still small in comparison to TV the resolution does not matter – everything on it still looks HD.
As for complaining about Samsung not having a Flash, it does and it is the most important Flash – Adobe Flash! iPhone won't strike a deal with Adobe and therefore half the internet is inaccessible on the iPhone, this is the beauty of Android and Pc verses Mac or Apple – they are not so arrogant as Apple.
Back to the original Flash – if you love photography so much don't take pictures with a phone. I don't care how many megapixels it has that means nothing in photographic terms, only the lens matters. And have you seen how lens get bigger on professional cameras whilst everything else is trying to get smaller? Hence a phone will never be a great camera because it can never have a professional lens.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/1671/top_10_cell_phones
wow really? you have nothing else to nitpick at the galaxy S for so you say samsung copied the S in 3gs? and it's an S encased with a box in which there is no space between so it's 3gs not 3g S.
also samsung copying the touch screen? well i don't believe apple has a oled screen. as for capacitive touch screeb, well they have been used in other devices way before apple ever laid eyes on it. so really who's copying who now.
it's saddens me that all the iphone fanboys are thinking. OH apple invented everything and everything they make is revolutionary. well no they made a deal with other companies who develop the product and use it in their own. or copied from another company and declared it their own.
let's be realistic here, everyone is going to get technology from other companies and use it in their own products so enough of the everyone is copying iphone. because lets face it the arrangement of icons i could say apple stole it from palm, and other oses before it. etc…
It must be pointed out: Mac-compatibility issues aside, not having to use the bloatware known as iTunes should be seen as (for indeed it truly is) an ADVANTAGE.
Compare—
Galaxy: drag & drop an album onto the phone (as if it were a jump-drive); done.
iPhone: drag & drop an album into iTunes, create a playlist, do a lot of GUI shit, hit sync and proceed to have your entire music-collection examined for differences and updated (all or nothing, there is no individuation here)—and don't even think about moving that folder, if you ever intend to sync again!
I could go on quite a ways about iTunes; it's such a frustrating hassle, and a waste of time and energy.
Good riddance to it! Hello, Galaxy!
Things unmentioned in this article
—–
Battery: Galaxy's is removable. That means, one can carry around extra batteries (for trips and such), and pop in another where required. Touché, Apple!
Storage: Same principle as above—extra Micro-SD cards = Galaxy possesses potentially limitless storage capacity. (This brings me back to the old Ericsson days.)
App-store: iTunes' App-Store is not open-source (and neither is its OS), and this really blows. Those who're paying attention are doubtlessly aware of the ongoing battle between Apple's programmers and the Jailbreak Dev's…. What's not mentioned here (and you'll never hear it from Apple) is how incredibly restrictive the company (Apple) truly is. To illustrate: I had an iPhone 3G, and this I had to hack in order to obtain Cycorder (a video-camera app). Yes, 3G had video-recording capability (~12FPS + sound), but Apple didn't want anyone accessing the camera except through its own (clearly insufficient) API. For this reason, much was held back—despite the abundance of capable apps and programmers. Simple things, just were not allowed. This behaviour stifled innovation, and continues to, and Apple possesses an extensive track-record in this regard (despite its hypocritical "We're Different" PR campaign). Imagine buying a Toyota, and Toyota threatened legal action, and turned its back on you as a customer because you decided to go and put rims on the thing…. More: not having open-source/Jailbreak means that I lack SBSettings (which means I've no pull-down drawer with convenient, customizable options & toggles—wifi on/off, 3g on/off, brightness adjuster, quicknotes, dock, etc.), no % battery indicator, no cell-tower locator, no Reboot button, no Face-Time outside of WiFi area (that's right, you'd have to hack your phone to Face-Time over the more-than-capable 3G network), no icon/GUI themes, no (controversial) GBA/PSX/SNES/Genesis emulation, no this, no that…. As it stands, people are refraining from updating their OS simply because they'd rather keep their Jailbreak than obtain a minor update (or even a significant one—like a blue-tooth fix, or a proximity-sensor fix, or a game-network addition). Oh yes: jailbreak = unlock -> travel hassle-free.
Display: Super-AMOLED > Retina, for sure: bigger screen, deeper blacks, more vibrant colours, less power-consumption, reduced glare, greater viewing angle…. All it lacks, is the pixels-per-square-inch that Retina has—which is nice, but actually negligible in comparison, considering. Side-by-side, the pixelage is not at all noticeable from one or two feet away (do you really read your phone point-blank?), whereas the other features, are—and indeed, very much so.
Although they make sexy-looking phones, and have at least one thing going for them (the LED-flash—good job), Apple, is largely over-inflated, closed-source, hyped-up and expensive, gimmicky hot-air. Like a stereotypical corporate fat-cat, Steve Jobs is milking this cow for all it's worth; that's why I'm jumping ship, abandoning this company, and opting instead for the underdog—which better suits my tastes. For the record, open-source was the deal-breaker.
That's my review.
TRISTAN KHAN
I have both but i am happy with my samsung! It is much faster battery life is better, the screen is better is bright places and it functions a lot better then the ios 4. If apple want to stay on top they need to do better this iphone 4 was a flop just like their ipad. samsung came out with a pad that runs android and it offers more. i think over all samsung apple needs to think different.
I didnt read all the comments but i would like to point out that the galaxy s has a 90 million triangles per second 3d render rate while the iphone 4 has an 8 million triangles per second render rate… That and it will soon be updated to froyo which will have flash 9 and the ability to use your phone as a free wifi hot spot that and it is very easy to root allowing full access to the phone unlike any i phone which is a hassle to jailbreak oh and the memory is expandable
I just got the galaxy S vibrant and I have to say I am in love. I have seen smartphones over the years but I made a promise to myself long ago to never buy an apple product as long as I live.
So I cannot really compare the 2 products, just give my biased opinion that the Galaxy S rocks.
Ok it doesnt have a flash, minor bummer, but like stated many times above, so what?
according to the article above, it doesnt have a forward facing camera, this is untrue and video conferencing is available thru skype or other apps (though I havent used this feature yet).
When you update iPhones they become slower…
When you update Androids they become faster…
I HAD a iPhone 4 but now I HAVE a Captivate…
Im tired of jailbreaking…
no customization on iphone exept changing wallpapers and creating folders….ok iphone users…keep doing that…lol….
i have a Galaxy S, and it does have a front facing camera, and that video is not what my phone looks like, so i think this website has gone mental
Had captivate for 4 days the os was slow battery life was horrible and I rarely used the phone. Saw they had antivirus programs for it and ran like hell!
SORRY ,BAT THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THE GALAXY IS:
THAT CAN MAKE MODEN IF YOU NEED .
IF YOU NEED INTERNET CONNECTION ON YOUR COMPUTER OR GIVE WIFY TO OTHERS.
REGARDS
All of you apple people are so ignorant and need to pull your head out of apple’s butt. You’re like north Korea and apple is like Kim jung-il apple gives you no freedom and you follow him blindly while he forces you to use the phone you paid for the way he wants or your warranty is void.
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