[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GSLEON3:
Firstly, let me preface this article by stating that I have been an avid HTC owner for nearly a decade. That said, I have always been partial and loyal to the HTC brand from PPC to WP7; So, when it came to my first Android device the stars aligned and the HTC Vivid became the first Android device I personally purchased. I have several Android Devices, all slates, and as a road warrior I missed having a device with a hardware keyboard.

As far as AT&T's Android line up, there isn't much choice in the upper mid-level to high end device line up that includes a keyboard. A family member on Verizon recently purchased a Samsung Stratosphere & I was underwhelmed to say the least. Naturally I was hesitant when the Captivate Glide was released. I gave my SkyRocket as a gift & stuck with the Vivid, even though community development was stifled, because the Vivid just is built solidly & overall a superior device in my view.

Recently, I picked up a Samsung Captivate Glide as it was the first Android Device at AT&T with a hardware keyboard and decent specs.

At first touch, I was immediately reminded of the different materials used in manufacturing and I prepared to be disappointed as the Glide just felt cheap to me because of the plasticity. I am a tall guy with big hands & like a solid feel, even a little heft in my device designs. This is one of the reasons I truly enjoy the HTC Vivid, it's fresh, elegant, solid and minimalist design. The pure elegance in it's simplicity along with it's solid frame and metallic back was refreshing to me in a world of soft touch plastic coated devices & chromed plastic bezels.

While the Captivate Glide definitely is part of the standard light plastic design of recent Samsung devices, what's inside is just as important, if not more so, to many users. In this, I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised with Glide. While it is not the hottest eye grabber on the market, it outperforms many devices and is in my opinion the best qwerty slider on the market.

While I wish the back cover wasn't a truly flimsy piece of plastic with small hook tabs, the rest of the device, including the slide mechanism, is decently constructed. The device display is amazing in low light environments, particularly when viewing dark colors. The biggest disappointment regarding the display is that it is only 4 inches. It would have been really nice to have a 4.3 or even a 4.5 inch display.

Aside from the items I mentioned above, there are also some real pros on the list, some of which you just won't find on any HTC device.

I'll start with one of the most important features/accessories, that truly affects everything with the device...The battery.

While both the Vivid & the Glide come with a 1650mah l-ion battery, the Glide gets more time and use out of it's 3.7 volts than the Vivid by a matter of several hours if properly configured.

The camera (front 2.3MP and back 8MP) is nice and fast and equal to the camera on the Vivid or Rezound. It also captures 720p video.

The display has both pros and cons, being amoled. While there is no doubt it saves power over super LCD, bright light colors sometimes get washed out & light letters on a light background can be difficult to read at times. This is particularly evident outside on a sunny day. For the most part though, the display is sharp with wonderful contrast. The 4 inch screen size however makes no sense to me, especially when the device is DIVX HD certified & can easily handle heavily coded DIVX and XVID files at a resolution of 720p.

The device is powered with a 1GHz dual core Tegra 2. Video and games perform admirably while watching HD content or heavily encoded music files.

Another pro, the Glide will natively handle heavily encoded .flac files, unlike HTC, as well as all the other popular media codecs.

Another really great feature, the wifi radio, is wireless-n capable on both 2.4 and 5.0GHz frequencies which is nice when watching Netflix on the tube while surfing my favorite sites. The wireless range is about equal to the HTC devices I compared, which includes a Vivid, Sensation and Rezound.

Obviously all these devices are acceptable and which is for you depends on your preferences.

I happen to like Sense, I find it intuitive & easy to use. Overall, I prefer the design and feel of the Vivid of all the devices available in todays market. But if you enjoy a smaller screen or need to have a hardware keyboard (or just like to have a qwerty backup device), I would definitely recommends looking at the Captivate Glide. It is miles away from the Stratosphere Slider and its issues.

In conclusion, if a qwerty slider is a must in your stable, the Glide nicely accommodates those users.

Now if we could just get HTC to implement some of these feature...I particularly like having the ability to use the 5GHz wifi band, since not every device can utilize it, I usually find ample bandwidth there. I also love the DIVX HD support & being able to play all my media without having to buy or download half a dozen market apps.