The Samsung Captivate usually retails for anywhere from about $500 at online stores such as Amazon to over $600 at brick & mortar outlets such as Best Buy.

We chose the Samsung Captivate after researching various phones online and playing with dozens of them in the AT&T store. It seemed like the best Android powered option from AT&T at the time (February 2011).

Included in the box with the i897 smartphone was a set of headphones, extra headphone ear pieces, a Micro to A type USB cable, a USB plug wall charger, a paper user's manual, a quick start guide, and a warranty card.

The first case we bought for the phone was a silicone skin from a Hong Kong seller on eBay for just a few dollars. It didn't fit as snugly as we had hoped and my wife complained that it frequently grabbed strands of her hair. It also interfered with use of the four main buttons located at the bottom of the phone's screen.

A much better case for the Samsung Captivate is the "Amzer Luxe Argyle" avaiable on Amazon for $9.95. She chose the "hot pink" color which actually looks more like light purple in most lighting. It fits perfectly and the lip around the screen doesn't interfere as much with the buttons.

The music player app on the Captivate can play MP3, AAC, WMA, and MIDI. I also tried playing some FLAC (free lossless audio codec) music files and found that they worked without a hitch.

For now, I inserted an 8 GB Transcend MicroSD memory card into the phone but I like knowing that I can upgrade that to 16 or 32 GB at any time. I've also always enjoyed having the option of purchasing a second battery on eBay for our small electronic devices. It's nice having a back up battery on long airplane flights that can be quickly swapped in when needed to keep the mobile entertainment playing.

We also discovered that the phone seems to freeze about once or twice a month and requires a restart to run smoothly again. I'm used to that kind of problem after years of using Windows XP computers and now even Windows 7. Seems like every computer device runs better after a restart every so often.

These issues are rarely more than just a minor and infrequently occurring annoyance, so don't let them sway you from buying what is overall an excellent smartphone.

Then tap on "USB Connected" and choose "Mount" to switch the phone's memory into mass storage mode. This will allow the computer to see the phone's internal 16 gigabytes of memory and the Micro SD card as hard drives in your file explorer. I chose to create "Music" and "Videos" folders to help organize the content on the phone. But you could just drag and drop or cut and paste your media anywhere in the storage and the media scanner will find it.

Other than those relatively minor issues, the 5MP sensor on the Captivate does capture sharp images with excellent detail in well lit conditions.

Samsung Captivate Sample Video Clip - 720P HD 3GP File Format

Samsung Captivate i897 Playing HD YouTube Videos & Live Wallpaper Video Clip