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The Samsung Captivate, the latest smartphone running Google’s Android operating system, will arrive on the AT&T network July 18, for $199 with a two-year contract for voice plan and minimum $15 data service.
AT&T spilled the beans July 8 on its Facebook site, after first introducing the smartphone June 17. With the Captivate, users will get a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, a Samsung 1GHz Cortex A8 processor and Android 2.1.
A world phone, the Samsung Captivate can connect to tri-band 3G networks or quad-band GSM, as well as connect over 802.11 b/g/n or Bluetooth. Also included is AT&T Navigator, which offers voice-guided and visual turn-by-turn directions, and can track a person’s location – here, AT&T has in mind parents checking in on kids – from a PC or cell phone.
The smartphone’s camera is 5 megapixels and allows for HD video recording. Gamers are likely to appreciate its six-axis motion sensor and gyroscope, and just about anyone might like its surround-sound stereo audio and MP3 player. The Captivate comes with 16GB of memory, which can be bumped to 32GB.
There’s of course a full HTML browser, support for various email and messaging accounts, and Samsung’s Social Hub technology, for more efficiently handing all incoming and outgoing communications.
Users also get a full suite of Google services, such as Gmail, Google Maps and Google Talk, easy access to the Android Market app store – now 60,000 apps and growing – and will, once it launches, be able to access the Samsung Media Hub, a library of viewing and reading materials.
The Captivate falls under Samsung’s new line of Galaxy S smartphones. On June 15, at the communicAsia 2010 event in Singapore, it introduced the Galaxy 3 and Galaxy 5 – both lower-end models. The Galaxy 3 feature s 3.2-inch touch screen, 3-megapixel camera and Bluetooth, WiFi and A-GPS connectivity, in addition to compatibility with GSM and HSDPA networks. The not terribly different Galaxy 3 features a 2.8-inch touch screen and a 2-megapixel camera.
A full spec sheet on the Captivate isn’t yet available, but AT&T is for now calling it “one of the thinnest, most responsive full-featured smartphones in the industry.”