Captivate – The immortal android

My Samsung Captivate is hands down the best phone I’ve ever owned; this, when I have owned and switched between 4 phones in the last 3 years, two of which have been android. This phone is a part of the Galaxy S series and is made for AT&T by Samsung. All phones of the Galaxy S series sport the same hardware and their design and buttons are the only two places where they differ from each other.

It might not have the most impressive hardware around today, but I love it because of the freedom it gives me with an Android OS. Android being open source and fully open to customization, you can find several ROMs (analogous to a Linux distro) for an android phone that can give you complete control on every feature imaginable. Given the popularity the Galaxy S series enjoys internationally, there is a huge selection of ROMs available at your disposal. In fact, there are so many of them, that you can literally switch out to a new one every day and still have options available after a month! And mind you, this number excludes stock ROMs developed by Samsung.

But of course, when you are willing to install a new ROM every day, you must accept the fact that you might end up bricking the phone. So it’s a serious advantage that the Galaxy S series has a very robust bootloader and is almost unbrickable. It also helps that fellow enthusiasts on the internet are always ready to help you out with ways you can fix the OS and get going again. For a guy like me who likes to experiment with his phone, this matters a lot. Needless to mention, great backup apps like Titanium Backup Pro and having your contacts synchronized with your Google account allow you to quickly restore your stuff after a fresh ROM installation.

But these features are just the tip of the iceberg, if you want to know more on this amazing phone, stay posted for “Captivate – The immortal android – Part II”.