AT&T Reveals Release Date, Price for Samsung Captivate

When AT&T announced its first high-end Android OS smartphone, the Samsung Captivate, it didn't say when it's going to release this device. Today that carrier revealed that this model will be on the market in just over a week.

Previous AT&T smartphones running Google's mobile operating system have been entry-level devices, but the Captivate will be this carrier's first with cutting-edge features like a WVGA (800 x 480) Super AMOLED display and 16 GB of internal storage.

It is going to be released ten days from today, on Sunday July 18.

The price for this device is going to be $200 -- typical for a high-end smartphone. What's not typical is that getting this price won't require sending in a mail-in rebate, though a two-year service contract will be a necessity.

Overview of the Samsung Captivate
This smartphone will run Android OS 2.1 on a 1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor. Google's operating system comes bundled with an array of software, including Google Maps, Gmail, Google Calendar, YouTube, and Google Talk, plus user can find many thousands of additional apps on the Android Market.

In addition, the Samsung Captivate is going to come with Samsung’s Social Hub, which integrates email, instant messaging, social network updates and SMS messages. It will also include AT&T Address Book and AT&T Navigate.

This model will be able to access AT&T's 7.2 Mbps 3G network, and it is also going to sport Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0.

The Captivate will include a 5 megapixel camera with support for recording 720p HD video as well as still images.

Other items on the features list include a microSD memory card slot, a GPS receiver, six-axis sensor, accelerometer, and gyroscope.

Other Samsung Galaxy S Releases
The Captivate is going to be re-branded and slightly redesigned version of the Samsung Galaxy S. All of the top U.S. carriers are going to have their own versions of this smartphone.

The other versions are going to be the the Samsung Epic 4G from Sprint, the Samsung Fascinate from Verizon, and the Samsung Vibrant from T-Mobile.

T-Mobile says the Vibrant is going to hit the market on June 21, but the launch dates for the other models have not yet been announced.