Should I trade my D2 for a Fascinate?

**thunderballs** · 10-13-2010, 05:09 PM

I have the chance to trade my Droid 2 for a Samsung. I am wondering your opinions on it. I never use the keyboard on the D2, which is what my buddy wants. First thing I would do is root the Samsung and strip it of bing. So please dont include bing as a reason to not trade.

Thanks

**corydunbar** · 10-13-2010, 05:39 PM

as long as battery life isn't an issue with you. My biggest gripe about the Galaxy S phones is their battery life. Its about 2/3 of the droid 2. but still better than the incredible. Are you ok, with the change in RAM?

**thunderballs** · 10-13-2010, 06:03 PM

Is there a big enough difference to be noticeable?

**thebizz** · 10-13-2010, 09:07 PM

Battery life on the vibrant I had was dern good much better than my d1 it went over 10 hours overnight without being touched and lost 10% of its charge tried that with my d2 and woke up to a dead d2

**corydunbar** · 10-13-2010, 09:08 PM

Well their have been some reported lag issues with the galaxy s phones, but honestly they are still top notch even if you occasionally have to wait an extra second. If i didn't care so heavily about my battery life i'd take the deal. I was actually considering buying a Droid X as a switchable device because of the screan size, but i'm just gonna wait for the next big thing. likely that super tegra 2 phone Droid-life wrote about the other day.

**Bushido Brown** · 10-13-2010, 11:14 PM

Unless size is an issue, I'd switch to a DX instead if you're in the market for a keyboardless device.

**corydunbar** · 10-14-2010, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by Bushido Brown

Unless size is an issue, I'd switch to a DX instead if you're in the market for a keyboardless device.

I think he was impying that he is gonna trade his D2 for his friends Fascinate. So i don't think a DX is in the picture, but you're right. Droid X is the Keyboardless king at the moment.

**caliskimmer** · 10-14-2010, 08:22 PM

Yeah, the battery life on the Galaxy S series is pretty scary (bad). The Epic users have had quite some issues. However, this doesn't mean that there are some temporary work arounds. The phones overall are really good, so if you would really like to switch, then go for it!

**Bushido Brown** · 10-14-2010, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by corydunbar

I think he was impying that he is gonna trade his D2 for his friends Fascinate. So i don't think a DX is in the picture, but you're right. Droid X is the Keyboardless king at the moment.

Right, I should have paid more attention to the original post. If he has little to no need for the keyboard, then there really isn't much reason to keep the D2, especially if you have the know how to deBing the phone. How they compare in terms of battery, or signal and call quality is unknown to me. That's best observed hands on anyway, as those 2 issues are highly subjective when discussed amongst communities like this.

Only real downside to the Fascinate is the lack of a notification light. I have no idea WTF Samsung was thinking when they made that decision.

**thebizz** · 10-16-2010, 09:12 PM

I don't know why everyone thinks the dx is the, keyboardless king right now is funny to me. But that's another topic

**darrylmendo** · 10-21-2010, 01:50 PM

so thunderballs... did you make a final decision yet? Are you happy with it?? Inquiring minds wanna know...

**packerbacker** · 10-21-2010, 02:00 PM

After playing with the D2 for two days or so, I got used to its keyboard (I had had a Droid 1 prior). I actually liked it. But I would say absolutely yes upgrade to a Fascinate. But anyone around here can tell you its because of my bias with Motorola. I had terrible luck with Droids and the D2. My Fascinate has outlased all of the crap phones I went through prior to it and I've never had a single glitch on my Fascinate, so... yes. Do it.

**The_Omega_Man** · 10-23-2010, 09:26 AM

You are aware that the fascinate is using Android 2.1 and not 2.2 at this time?

Also, the screen resolution on the facinate is slightly lower although the screen size is larger! This means that the D2 Screen has a higher pixel density than the facinate.

Motorola uses a 16:9 display ratio as opposed to the typical 16:10 that many other phone and pmp devices use. This comes in handy when watching some video content.

Color accuracy has been proven to be more exact on the Motorola Droid phones than on the Samsung Galaxy super AMOLED based phones, although not as bright and with a lower contrast ratio. In fact the Droid phones even beat the iphone 4 screen for color accuracy. If this matters to you at all.

Performance wise the facinate should be able to outperform the Droid, in most respects, when froyo is released on it.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

**Brett** · 10-23-2010, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by The_Omega_Man

You are aware that the fascinate is using Android 2.1 and not 2.2 at this time?

Also, the screen resolution on the facinate is slightly lower although the screen size is larger! This means that the D2 Screen has a higher pixel density than the facinate.

Motorola uses a 16:9 display ratio as opposed to the typical 16:10 that many other phone and pmp devices use. This comes in handy when watching some video content.

Color accuracy has been proven to be more exact on the Motorola Droid phones than on the Samsung Galaxy super AMOLED based phones, although not as bright and with a lower contrast ratio. In fact the Droid phones even beat the iphone 4 screen for color accuracy. If this matters to you at all.

Performance wise the facinate should be able to outperform the Droid, in most respects, when froyo is released on it.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

all of your points are pretty accurate and valid although there are few other things to consider

1- yes the droid has a higher resolution but with the fascinate's omled screen it looks brighter on colors and darker blacks. this is purely an opinion of which one a person prefers. clearer display or a more vivid/richer looking display.

2- the camera on the fascinate dominates all at this point. between the fascinate and epic 4g at least. gizmodo did a comparison article recently on which phone has the best camera. the epic/fascinate had clearer pics.

3- this one is purely based on personal preference. hack-a-bility. yes the droid 2/x are root-able, theme-able, and now overclockable but the galaxy s series is too. if you are interested in rooting then i would try to find out which device has the biggest root audience. the more devs following a specific device means more roms and also quicker ports if another device has a new sick rom.

you know what you think about a D2 so it all comes down to if you think you will miss not having it. my friend has a fascinate and he loves the thing. he does complain about battery life a lot but ehh you can't win them all haha.

**Bushido Brown** · 10-24-2010, 08:07 PM

Originally Posted by The_Omega_Man

You are aware that the fascinate is using Android 2.1 and not 2.2 at this time?

Also, the screen resolution on the facinate is slightly lower although the screen size is larger! This means that the D2 Screen has a higher pixel density than the facinate.

Motorola uses a 16:9 display ratio as opposed to the typical 16:10 that many other phone and pmp devices use. This comes in handy when watching some video content.

Color accuracy has been proven to be more exact on the Motorola Droid phones than on the Samsung Galaxy super AMOLED based phones, although not as bright and with a lower contrast ratio. In fact the Droid phones even beat the iphone 4 screen for color accuracy. If this matters to you at all.

Performance wise the facinate should be able to outperform the Droid, in most respects, when froyo is released on it.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

Don't forget it has no LED light. I figure the average user would just be happy their screen is larger. At least the average forum dweller. No one seems to care about color accuracy or battery life, or screen ratio size.

Also, 2.2 benchmarks on the Vibrant show that it still doesn't outperform the DX/D2

**bjb_nyj101** · 10-26-2010, 01:00 AM

Originally Posted by Bushido Brown

Also, 2.2 benchmarks on the Vibrant show that it still doesn't outperform the DX/D2

Source?

**big58ben** · 10-26-2010, 06:40 AM

Just my take. Moving to a Fascinate from a D2 is NOT an upgrade. I had the Fascinate and really wanted to love it.

Problems with the GPS are ugly. From personal experience it is slow to lock, sporadic to retain lock and uses Bing natively.

I was told to be patient - a fix is on the way. That was a month ago - it is still on the way - still not here.

So if you don't mind not being able to use things like "Places" or "Urbanspoon", local weather services etc on demand and are okay with waiting for 2.2 to show up - it is a great screen.

**Bushido Brown** · 10-26-2010, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by bjb.butler

Source?

YouTube video. A guy ran benchmarks on a hacked version of 2.2, stock 2.2, and stock 2.2 on a Droid X. Although I'm not 100% sure it was a Vibrant. I just know it was a GS device

**Johnly** · 10-27-2010, 09:27 AM

I had a fascinate.... Returned it. Plasticky and the connection and call quality are not as good as droid. it is a nice phone, but the display reads text worse. The ram its partitioned, causing stalls at times. I would avoid it.
28 days trying to make one work for me.

Fascinate does have a better form factor, and touch wiz is copying the I phone, and has nice widgets. Because the ram is cut, don't expect the 540 gpu to stand out.

**thunderballs** · 10-27-2010, 11:32 PM

I actually upgraded another line at bb when it was free phone friday, so I have both. I have only used the samsung for a little under a week, and so far I like it. I haven't rooted it yet, kind of waiting for 2.2 before I do that. Some casual observations on the two. The screen is much nicer on the Fascinate. Camera is so much better. I have noticed some issues with gps, but when I was using my D2 to get me to best buy to pick up my new phone, it took me to the wrong place. I really don't like bing at all. I cant wait till I can strip it. I really like the bigger size, but I have big hands. I haven't had any issues yet with lag or freezing. The biggest ***** I have about it is lack of reception. It is a noticeable difference between the two. I am hoping that it is fixed with 2.2, but I am not holding my breath. I have 3 more weeks to decide if I want to keep it, but I am fairly certain I will. On the plus side, I have another friend that has the dx and wants which ever phone I don't want. So eventually I will get to play with all three.

**thunderballs** · 10-28-2010, 10:20 AM

Forgot to mention battery life. It is pretty bad on both, but the Samsung is worse. The really bad thing about the samsung is that it is very slow to recharge for some reason. I spend a lot of time in my car, but it never seems to charge much at all

**ragnarokx** · 10-28-2010, 09:02 PM

Originally Posted by thunderballs

Forgot to mention battery life. It is pretty bad on both, but the Samsung is worse. The really bad thing about the samsung is that it is very slow to recharge for some reason. I spend a lot of time in my car, but it never seems to charge much at all

That's for sure - my Epic takes abnormally long to charge. Luckily I can get well over a day on one charge so I just leave it plugged in overnight.