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Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:29 am
by liquidsquid
So I have this shiny new toy, and I am having fun playing with it. Now I am looking into providing the ability to develop applications for it and upgrade the operating system to Froyo. There appears to be a leaked Froyo for it (It is also known as Samsung's Galaxy S), but I am a tad apprehensive of giving that a try and bricking my phone.
Anyone here try this yet on the Galaxy S (Captivate), and what are the risks? Main reason for wanting Froyo is to get my animated GIF files working for looking at weather radar. Yeah, I know, lame.
I have D/L all of the Android dev tools to the point of getting the "Hello World" app developed and running on the emulator. Next will be porting over my WeatherDials program I wrote in C#. How will I get me test apps on this phone? Do I need to root it, or is there another way? I am not seeing Android's development tools on the phone, but maybe I am not looking hard enough.
Also if I root my phone, what do I have to worry about with AT&T as a carrier. Will I be excommunicated from the church of money-pit? Is rooting a sure way into bricking my phone? I do have to use it for day-2-day stuff too, I don't have the $$$ to buy a development phone.
Thanks!
-Mark
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:06 pm
by liquidsquid
Oh well, guess I will have to become the resident hacker
Went here and it covers a lot of what I would like to do:
http://www.androidcentral.com/So I signed up. I will report my findings if anyone is interested!
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:28 pm
by DancinJack
liquidsquid wrote:Also if I root my phone, what do I have to worry about with AT&T as a carrier. Will I be excommunicated from the church of money-pit? Is rooting a sure way into bricking my phone? I do have to use it for day-2-day stuff too, I don't have the $$$ to buy a development phone.
What you have to worry about with ATT: Assuming you have phone insurance - If you try to get a replacement from ATT using either warranty or insurance you will probably get denied. Rooting voids the warranty of the phone.
Rooting is not a sure way to brick your phone. It's really quite easy. Tons of one click ways out there now. I know there are others, including myself, at TR that have rooted their Android device. Just be careful and MAKE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR CURRENT ROM BEFORE INSTALLING A NEW ONE.
There are tons of things to get in to once rooted. Custom roms and kernels are quite nice.
Good place for info:
http://androidforums.com/
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:50 pm
by astraelraen
At the expense of sounding like a jerk... does ATT have a return policy?
There are much better Android phones coming out for ATT very soon. The Captivate isn't that good of a phone when you consider the currently available Android phones on Verzion. It is an even lesser phone when you compare it to the Atrix, Inspire or the next generation of Galaxy S coming very soon on ATT.
We have a few Captivates floating around the office as well as a few Droid X, Droid Incredible and Samsung Fascinates. All three of those phones are better than the Captivate IMO. Even the Fascinate, which is essentially the Captivate's twin feels faster and more responsive.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:59 pm
by DancinJack
astraelraen wrote:At the expense of sounding like a jerk... does ATT have a return policy?
Three days to reverse the upgrade/cancel the line -- 30 day to exchange phone.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 8:39 pm
by liquidsquid
Being I got the Captivate for free with a family plan and 200mb data, it is well-suited for me. Responsive for me == plays music, checks E-mail, checks weather, plays Angry Birds. Maybe if my social life centered more around my phone, it would be more important, but it is likely I wont come close to my data or minutes usage. Only real reason I got it is to port some of my applications over to it, which *may* make me some money.
I will see what happens in a year or two on how much I use it. Which reminds me: must get insurance on this thing. They want far too much money for a replacement IMHO.
Oh, and it looks to be easy to un-root the phones, more so than rooting it in the first place.
-Mark
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 8:42 pm
by liquidsquid
astraelraen wrote:We have a few Captivates floating around the office as well as a few Droid X, Droid Incredible and Samsung Fascinates. All three of those phones are better than the Captivate IMO. Even the Fascinate, which is essentially the Captivate's twin feels faster and more responsive.
From what I understand is Froyo "fixes" the problem with Captivate's responsiveness, one of the reasons I may root the phone is to upgrade the OS.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:10 am
by Flying Fox
For some reason I only see the most custom ROMs on the HTC stuff, most likely because of the Nexus One lineage? But I usually just frequent xda-developers so I may not get the whole picture.
Also, a noob question: can rooting allow me to use another carrier's SIM for these carrier-locked phones? Or is there another process? Or I have to pay someone for the unlock code?
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:22 am
by kc77
Flying Fox wrote:For some reason I only see the most custom ROMs on the HTC stuff, most likely because of the Nexus One lineage? But I usually just frequent xda-developers so I may not get the whole picture.
Also, a noob question: can rooting allow me to use another carrier's SIM for these carrier-locked phones? Or is there another process? Or I have to pay someone for the unlock code?
http://hyfeno.com/unlocked-samsung-i897-captivate/
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:26 am
by NeronetFi
First off, I have the Captivate, I have had it since launch day. If you head over to
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=703 they have everything root. It has been proven it is virtually impossible to brick the captivate via software. It has multiple recovery options that allow you to recover from any failure. Also in regards to your concern for warranty replacement through AT&T, Look up Odin one click. You can flash the captivate back to 100% stock.
Just read up before jumping in, so that why you know what you are getting into and can be prepared in case anything goofs up and you have to start over. I recommend the Cognition Rom over in XDA.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:53 am
by Darkmage
liquidsquid wrote:I have D/L all of the Android dev tools to the point of getting the "Hello World" app developed and running on the emulator. Next will be porting over my WeatherDials program I wrote in C#. How will I get me test apps on this phone? Do I need to root it, or is there another way? I am not seeing Android's development tools on the phone, but maybe I am not looking hard enough.
You shouldn't have to root your phone to put your own apps on it, thankfully.
From the home screen, hit the Menu button -> Settings -> Application Management -> Allow Installation of Off-Market Apps.
This will let you use your phone as your testbed for your developed apps. If your phone is connected to your development box when you hit the compile/deploy process, it will automatically install it on your phone instead of the phone emulator.
If you want to upgrade to Android 2.2 ahead of the game, then yes you will probably have to root the phone. I have Cyanogen 6.7 (IIRC) on my Nexus One. Upgrading to stock 2.2 didn't require a root, but Cyananogen did.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:02 am
by liquidsquid
Kinda thinking I should develop on 2.1 just because so many folks are still running it. Need to develop on the lowest common denominator. I still may root (the more I read, the more fun it looks!) and am eyeballing up FireFly 1.5.
If anything I will root just to extend battery life and get rid of AT&T bloatware which I will NEVER use, especially when they demand turning off WiFi for all of their data apps to use up the data quotas faster. That kind of crap just irritates me (not to mention $0.20 a text message, I mean WTF?!?!)
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:54 am
by astraelraen
Darkmage wrote:
From the home screen, hit the Menu button -> Settings -> Application Management -> Allow Installation of Off-Market Apps.
This will let you use your phone as your testbed for your developed apps.
IIRC ATT doesn't allow sideloading of apps through this method. I don't think that checkbox is even there on ATT Android phones.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:14 pm
by Captain Ned
I'm using Bugless Beast ROMs on my Verizon Droid 1 and I can flat out say that this guy can code. Look no further than this thread and have at:
http://androidforums.com/captivate-all- ... -more.htmlhttp://www.peteralfonso.com/search/label/captivate
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:36 pm
by NeronetFi
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:25 am
by Flying Fox
kc77 wrote:Also, a noob question: can rooting allow me to use another carrier's SIM for these carrier-locked phones? Or is there another process? Or I have to pay someone for the unlock code?
http://hyfeno.com/unlocked-samsung-i897-captivate/[/quote]
So rooting won't help and I would need to pay someone to do the SIM unlock then?
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 1:39 am
by DancinJack
FF: yeah you'd have to pay for an unlock code. Rooting isn't going to allow you to run the phone on other networks.
LS: If I were you I'd look into developing for 2.2+. And really, I think you should wait for whatever version they come out with next. Google just announced today that Ice Cream would be a mix of Gingerbread and Honeycomb. I know your particular phone is only 2.1, but there are a lot of people out there with oot access and custom roms not to mention all the phones that have 2.2 and above.
Speaking to buying the captivate: The only real reason I'd grab that phone is for TouchWiz, which I don't care for at all, or for those nice screens. Galaxy S phones have small batteries and seeing as how the screen eats the most battery of anything on an Android handset, that is one thing I'm not willing to compromise on. There are plenty of 2.2 and some 2.3 roms already out for the captivate though so if you want to try them out root and go for it.
You have to sign up for phone insurance within 30 days of buying the phone so get in there and do that. Depending on the rep too (if they're actually doing their job) they will inspect your phone for water/physical damage so be careful from now until you get in there. I would strongly consider checking out a different phone though. The Atrix "4G" should be out in less than 30 days if your 30 days isn't up then and that'd be THE android phone to have at ATT. If you don't want to wait (and you have the skrilla) I'd spring for a Nexus S. Same phone you have with better software support and updates. Just a couple thoughts to make developing easier on you.
Ned: I also have a D1. There are SO many roms for this thing it's out of control. I wasn't a huge fan of BB. It was pretty bad on my phone. Lots of FCs and random reboots. Really don't know what was up with it. I am using Chevys Gingerbread right now. Hasn't crashed once yet. Kinda surprising considering all of the animations and extras in it. Also Chevy's kernels are the best. I'm using a 7 slot, low voltage 1Ghz kernel right now. Runs nice and cool.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:23 am
by Captain Ned
DancinJack wrote:Ned: I also have a D1. There are SO many roms for this thing it's out of control. I wasn't a huge fan of BB. It was pretty bad on my phone. Lots of FCs and random reboots. Really don't know what was up with it. I am using Chevys Gingerbread right now. Hasn't crashed once yet. Kinda surprising considering all of the animations and extras in it. Also Chevy's kernels are the best. I'm using a 7 slot, low voltage 1Ghz kernel right now. Runs nice and cool.
Well, all I can say is that we differ. Never had your issues and have been dead-stable on BB for Eclair.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:18 am
by NeronetFi
How to obtain the unlock code after rooting. Do this before flashing a new ROM. Use New method (post-JH7)
http://www.capfaq.com/w/Unlock
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:30 am
by Voldenuit
Flying Fox wrote:
Also worth noting that the Captivate 3G antennas run 850/1900/2100 MHz (AT&T's frequency) whereas T-mobile's 3G service runs on 900/1700/2100. So if you were to use an unlocked Captivate on T-mobile, you would only be able to access the 2G network.
The only truly vendor agnostic 3G phones out right now are the nokia Symbian^3 phones (pentaband 3G antennas), and we all know how they got screwed over by Stephen Elop...
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:29 pm
by DancinJack
Voldenuit wrote:The only truly vendor agnostic 3G phones out right now are the nokia Symbian^3 phones (pentaband 3G antennas), and we all know how they got screwed over by Stephen Elop...
While I don't think I would have ever bought a Nokia smartphone (i'm on VZW and don't plan on switching) this is quite lame.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:11 pm
by Crayon Shin Chan
I for one think it's a great step up from Symbian.
There doesn't seem to be many rooted things for the Optimus One, which is my first smartphone (from a Nokia 1100!), but then again I don't really feel the need to root my phone. It's not like other devices where you have to run CFW to do anything useful, like the PSP.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:39 pm
by Flying Fox
Voldenuit wrote:The only truly vendor agnostic 3G phones out right now are the nokia Symbian^3 phones (pentaband 3G antennas), and we all know how they got screwed over by Stephen Elop...
As long as updates are coming for the remaining lifecycle of the device, then we are not screwed. As for 3rd party developers, well that's their prerogative to whether to continue support until the transition comes. Realistically most phones these days have a 2-year lifecycle on average. I think we have most apps that we need on the N8 for example, so I don't need 100 more fart apps on the platform to be honest.
By the time Nokia has WP7 devices out the OS would have multi-tasking support by then. So the OS would be fairly capable at that point. The only unknown for me is they keep talking about being "operator friendly", which is usually a euphemism for "SIM+carrier locked to the brim". That's about the only down side.
Re: Have Samsung Captivate (AT&T, Android), will hack.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:43 pm
by Flying Fox
NeronetFi wrote:
So no need to pay someone an arm? Cool.
