Only a few days after AT&T announced it would sell the HTC Aria Android phone, the carrier revealed today that it will soon be launching its own version of Samsung’s Galaxy S Android superphone — the Samsung Captivate.
While the Aria was a decent mid-range Android entry, the Captivate is something that will compete directly with AT&T’s darling device, Apple’s iPhone 4. For the past few years, it has seemed as if the carrier deliberately avoided releasing powerful Android devices for fear of overshadowing the iPhone. Now with the Captivate, it’s offering up one of the most powerful Android devices on the market.
The phone sports the same specs as Samsung’s Galaxy S, including a 1-gigahertz processor, 4-inch screen, and 5-megapixel camera with high-definition video recording. It even keeps the Galaxy S branding on the back of the device. The Captivate name likely arose because the carrier needed to differentiate it from Galaxy S phones on other carriers (T-Mobile is expected to get it soon). There’s no telling if AT&T will block it from installing apps outside of the Android Market like it did for the Aria and Motorola Backflip, but I won’t be surprised if it happens.
AT&T doesn’t specify an exact release date or price for the Captivate — all we know is that we’ll see it in the next few months. The carrier probably wanted to steal some thunder from T-Mobile’s upcoming release of the Galaxy S — which has been generating a significant amount of publicity for Samsung over the past few months.
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