I could buy a lot of cases for it, but I like naked phones significantly better. I don't drop them so I'm not worried about damaging them. I just want a soft touch plastic door!
Forum Members Initial Thoughts & Reviews of the Fascinate
- Thread starter Cory Streater
- Start date
I could buy a lot of cases for it, but I like naked phones significantly better. I don't drop them so I'm not worried about damaging them. I just want a soft touch plastic door!
dkoss
Well-known member
Stopped by my local VZW store here in Illinois to play with the phone and it had Task Killer installed at the store, plus I remember when I bought my D1 they were pushing the Task Killer app as a must for the Droids. So I can confirm that here in the midwest VZW has the same mentallity towards the task killers, while real world users know better.
To the phone itself, great piece of hardware. I am not sold on the bling but I am not going to hate on Samsung for it either. They made the phone how VZW wanted, but not before giving the keys to the mod world to make it into something us die hards can love. That being said, I had no problems installing Google Maps at the store, just search for Google Maps in the market and it should show up. Noticed that Google Apps and Google Search were installed on the phone but could not find a way to get them running. Not a deal breaker for me because the search engine widget is one of the first things I remove from my phone.The phone did not seem laggy to me in the time I played with it, but we must also consider that it is still running the 2.1 update1, which many of us haven't run on our phones since it came out officially }
Overall I am happy that I decided to wait and check this phone out before I upgraded my D1 CM6 model. I haven't pulled the trigger yet but the fact that Moto locked the bootloader on the X and did not use haptic feedback buttons (I know, it's trivial) and Samsung seems to have embraced the OSS world (for now at least) has started swaying my decision.
On a side note, while I was playing with the Fascinate I overheard at least two of the salespeople guiding people away from the Fascinate and towards the X, which after convincing one customer to get the X then proceeded told him they had none in stock and it would have to be ordered. I thought this was kind of odd behaviour on the launch day of a phone. Especially considering the specs are so close on the two phones. I'm thinking Moto/VZW conspiracy. Muhahahaha.
Last edited:
Lupismaximus,
There's an important distinction to the memory you cited in your questions.
The 384MB RAM is for actively running processes, like when you launch an application to use it. The 2GB of Flash memory is the equivalent of a computer hard drive, where you store your downloaded applications, photos, music, etc. You can also use the included 16GB MicroSD card to store photos, music, and other user files, and in 2.2 you can also install your apps to that card.
Android does a very capable job of managing your RAM for running applications, and ending little or non-used processes to free space for newly launched applications that need it. Also, keep in mind, if you download 15,000 applications, none of those will be taking up any of your RAM unless you attempt to run them all simultaneously.
Believe me, I know your pain in regards to running business applications on a smartphone and running out of memory. My current phone is a Samsung Omnia running Windows Mobile Pro 6.5, and I am patiently waiting for my office to order my Fascinate.
There's an important distinction to the memory you cited in your questions.
The 384MB RAM is for actively running processes, like when you launch an application to use it. The 2GB of Flash memory is the equivalent of a computer hard drive, where you store your downloaded applications, photos, music, etc. You can also use the included 16GB MicroSD card to store photos, music, and other user files, and in 2.2 you can also install your apps to that card.
Android does a very capable job of managing your RAM for running applications, and ending little or non-used processes to free space for newly launched applications that need it. Also, keep in mind, if you download 15,000 applications, none of those will be taking up any of your RAM unless you attempt to run them all simultaneously.
Believe me, I know your pain in regards to running business applications on a smartphone and running out of memory. My current phone is a Samsung Omnia running Windows Mobile Pro 6.5, and I am patiently waiting for my office to order my Fascinate.
Only had it a few hours, love the screen, size and performance. Installed google maps/nav, works well.
Only complaints so far, beyond bing, is when using the car cradle mode, VZ navigator is tied to the nav button, can't find an option for google nav or even bing. I purchased the car dock hoping to use it in landscape mode, but if maps and nav can't be switched to google and the home screens not rotating to landscape, it may not work as well as I had hoped.
Also, I find myself, accidentally hitting the volume rocker sometimes while trying to lock the phone.
All in all though I love it, big improvment from my omnia!
Only complaints so far, beyond bing, is when using the car cradle mode, VZ navigator is tied to the nav button, can't find an option for google nav or even bing. I purchased the car dock hoping to use it in landscape mode, but if maps and nav can't be switched to google and the home screens not rotating to landscape, it may not work as well as I had hoped.
Also, I find myself, accidentally hitting the volume rocker sometimes while trying to lock the phone.
All in all though I love it, big improvment from my omnia!
I would love to share my first thoughts about this phone. But since i bought them for my wife and son i havent seen them since i activated them.........LOL
Does anyone else have a phone that when you shake it you can hear the volume button rattle? Just curious if it's standard or if it's just my phone. TIA.
Dunno why or how you figured that out... But yes my volume rocker rattles too..
When the phone was sitting on my desk and it started vibrating it was making a horrible noise...it doesn't do it on something soft or in my hand...so I just started shaking it.
Good to know it's not just mine. Thanks!I do a lot with mobile admin work and device activations, installs, configurations etc... for my company so I naturally get a lot of questions about mobile devices of all sorts. I rock the DX with Launcher Pro rolling in it. I helped my buddymigrate from AT&T as he was a faithful iPhone 4 fan until.........he dropped some very important people/clients numberous times while on the phone. So guess what, he is now the proud owner of the VZW Fascinate. Of course the screen is a little different but he can actually make a call and STAY ON THE CALL now. lolololol. He found the processing power wonderfully speedy, screen clear and Fascincating, and plenty of customizations. I am going to help him with exchange set up here in a bit. He likes it a lot and all features he's found are beneficial. Bing was a downgrade for him but it works fine. The size is easier to handle for him with bigger hands and he also stated that texting and the swype keyboard is awesome. I am meeting him for lunch in a little to help him learn more about it. I noticed he did sound a little distant/garbled through his handset but that could be b/c his windows were down. We shall see. I am intertested to see if there are MIC issues or coincidental issues that caused that. I will report later.
MY first impressions...
First a little bit of myself. I'm in the mid fortys and have been with Verizon since 1986 and I've been through a bunch of phones in that time right up to the last three Blackberry's and Droid Incredible up to this phone. I was in love with the Incredible but could not take the choppy voice calls on my end. I had 2 days left on my 30 day and Verizon was nice enough to let me switch to a Fascinate for myself as well as a Storm 2 for my wife.(Don't ask).
Anyway, here goes...
Size. It's all relative to what you want. I was very comfortable with the Incredible, but the Fascinate is not that much bigger and I'm still getting used to it. It does feel light in your pocket where the Incredible tended to pull your pockets down a little. On the flip side, that weightiness made the Incredible feel like a more solid phone.
Call Quality. The Incredible had the choppy call issue that Verizon said was normal. It seemed like the noise cancellation was set too tight to the point where it would cut off the callers words, especially is they mumble something. The Fascinate does not do this, BUT, it does let in a little more background noise. I'm OK with that being I can hear every word now.
Reception. The Incredible had pretty good reception (-db) compared to the Fascinate although the Fascinate showed more bars. The Fascinate shows 2 bars at -94 db. I already has a call go to voicemail and I'm right next to the tower. I'm right near it and I'm at -96db. The Incredible was way better.
Browser. The speed seems to be the same on both. Text also resizes like the Incredible as well.
Screen. We all know how nice the screen is. Better than the Incredible.
Speed. Here's where it gets dicey. TouchWiz seems laggy to me. I installed Launcher Pro and it's much better. The GPU is right on. Playing YouTube videos on both devices are distinctly different. The Fascinate is crystal clear, while the Incredible has a bit of an issue keeping up. Both being on WiFi.
Quirks. The Fascinate has 2 big quirks with me and thats the soft touch buttons on the bottom and the power/sleep key on the right side of the phone. The soft touch buttons don't stay lit for any useful period and you resort to hitting the volume key to get them to light. Kind of like those sinks in a public restroom where you push the knob and race to get your hands wet before it turns off. Super annoying. The power button is super small and you will end up hitting the volume rocker with your thumb while trying to hit the power button with your index finger. Piss poor engineering on a phone this new. The Incredible was so better ergonomically. And yes, the volume buttons rattle.
GPS. Never had a problem locking on with the Fascinate, even in my house. Close to the accuracy of the Incredible, but not bad as stated.
Battery life. Too close to tell. I never had a problem with the Incredible as I'm a fairly light user, so I know this should be better.
Other. The one thing I have to give to Samsung is the choice of docks for this thing from the get go. I bought the Desktop Dock and it works nicely. I wanted this for the Incredible, but it seems they really never anticipated it from the way the usb jack is situated. Another thing that bugs me is the way these companies are getting chintzy with packaging. Although the box was nice on both phones, it does not compare to a Blackberry. The blackberry had a nice box, a nice pair of earbuds, a charger with a bunch of tips for it. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
All in all, the Fascinate is a nice phone. Not a super phone that going to create a frenzy. Like I said, if my Incredible did not have a voice issue, I would still be using it today. I liked the Sense UI much better, and the optical trackpad was nice for making corrections, but if the phone doesn't work for me, what good is it.
Hope it helps.....
First a little bit of myself. I'm in the mid fortys and have been with Verizon since 1986 and I've been through a bunch of phones in that time right up to the last three Blackberry's and Droid Incredible up to this phone. I was in love with the Incredible but could not take the choppy voice calls on my end. I had 2 days left on my 30 day and Verizon was nice enough to let me switch to a Fascinate for myself as well as a Storm 2 for my wife.(Don't ask).
Anyway, here goes...
Size. It's all relative to what you want. I was very comfortable with the Incredible, but the Fascinate is not that much bigger and I'm still getting used to it. It does feel light in your pocket where the Incredible tended to pull your pockets down a little. On the flip side, that weightiness made the Incredible feel like a more solid phone.
Call Quality. The Incredible had the choppy call issue that Verizon said was normal. It seemed like the noise cancellation was set too tight to the point where it would cut off the callers words, especially is they mumble something. The Fascinate does not do this, BUT, it does let in a little more background noise. I'm OK with that being I can hear every word now.
Reception. The Incredible had pretty good reception (-db) compared to the Fascinate although the Fascinate showed more bars. The Fascinate shows 2 bars at -94 db. I already has a call go to voicemail and I'm right next to the tower. I'm right near it and I'm at -96db. The Incredible was way better.
Browser. The speed seems to be the same on both. Text also resizes like the Incredible as well.
Screen. We all know how nice the screen is. Better than the Incredible.
Speed. Here's where it gets dicey. TouchWiz seems laggy to me. I installed Launcher Pro and it's much better. The GPU is right on. Playing YouTube videos on both devices are distinctly different. The Fascinate is crystal clear, while the Incredible has a bit of an issue keeping up. Both being on WiFi.
Quirks. The Fascinate has 2 big quirks with me and thats the soft touch buttons on the bottom and the power/sleep key on the right side of the phone. The soft touch buttons don't stay lit for any useful period and you resort to hitting the volume key to get them to light. Kind of like those sinks in a public restroom where you push the knob and race to get your hands wet before it turns off. Super annoying. The power button is super small and you will end up hitting the volume rocker with your thumb while trying to hit the power button with your index finger. Piss poor engineering on a phone this new. The Incredible was so better ergonomically. And yes, the volume buttons rattle.
GPS. Never had a problem locking on with the Fascinate, even in my house. Close to the accuracy of the Incredible, but not bad as stated.
Battery life. Too close to tell. I never had a problem with the Incredible as I'm a fairly light user, so I know this should be better.
Other. The one thing I have to give to Samsung is the choice of docks for this thing from the get go. I bought the Desktop Dock and it works nicely. I wanted this for the Incredible, but it seems they really never anticipated it from the way the usb jack is situated. Another thing that bugs me is the way these companies are getting chintzy with packaging. Although the box was nice on both phones, it does not compare to a Blackberry. The blackberry had a nice box, a nice pair of earbuds, a charger with a bunch of tips for it. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
All in all, the Fascinate is a nice phone. Not a super phone that going to create a frenzy. Like I said, if my Incredible did not have a voice issue, I would still be using it today. I liked the Sense UI much better, and the optical trackpad was nice for making corrections, but if the phone doesn't work for me, what good is it.
Hope it helps.....
was told by sales rep to install advance app killer
I went to VW store yesterday and looked at the fascinate. Asked the sales rep about how to close out the web browser or other apps manually. She told me to download advanced app killer. I didn't bother telling her that I read that could be bad for your phone.
I went to VW store yesterday and looked at the fascinate. Asked the sales rep about how to close out the web browser or other apps manually. She told me to download advanced app killer. I didn't bother telling her that I read that could be bad for your phone.
? Aesthetics
-Phone has a very nice finish to it, very appealing to look at.
-The first thing I noticed when taking it out of the box is how light it was. I figured it was because there was not a battery installed. I then installed the battery and the phone was still impressively light. Amazing!
-The back cover looks nice, but disappointed that it is plastic. I am afraid I am going to break it whenever I take it off. Hopefully this won?t happen very often, but coming from a Blackberry Storm where a battery pull is necessary every couple of days I am a bit nervous.
? Screen
-The screen is very crisp and clear. Lots of detail shows up in the pictures. Bright colors. Very impressive!
? Hardware
-So far the speed of the phone is blowing me away. I have seen no lag what so ever.
? Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage
-The phone works as a phone should, dial a number and it calls out. The calls sound good and no body has complained about not being able to hear me. The sound level gets really loud so I had to adjust the volume down to comfortably hold the phone to my ear.
-I have only used the speaker phone once, but it worked well. The person on the other end came through clearly. Again the volume had to be lowered so the speaker didn?t crackle.
-I connected the phone to my vehicle?s Bluetooth without any issues. The only thing is when I got back in the vehicle later the phone didn?t automatically reconnect. It did reconnect once I manually told it to. My wife?s Droid Eris does the same thing randomly. Not sure if there is a setting somewhere to fix this, will update post if I find out.
? Overall User Interface & Samsung TouchWiz
-Being this is my first Android phone I really don?t have a problem with the TouchWiz interface. It is very smooth when switching between screens even with the default live wallpaper.
? Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
-Have not seen any difference between this and my Blackberry Storm. In the city it has a good 3G signal. Out in the country, about 20 miles out of the city, the 3G signal is difficult to pick up, but still has good signal to make phone calls and text.
? GPS
-I used mine immediate when I got it yesterday, after downloading Google Maps from the market. I didn?t even try Bing Maps or VZ navigator. Google Maps pegged me while I stood at the bus stop waiting for my daughter. At first it took a few minutes to zero in on me but every Garmin I have ever owned has done the same thing when first turned on if it hasn't been used in a while. After that first initial search for signal it finds me with in seconds and is just as accurate as my Garmin.
-The Google Navigation works really well also. I found the address of where I wanted to go within my contacts and Google navigation created me a route. The Fascinate could easily replace my Garmin GPS.
I would like to change the Car Dock app to use the Google Maps and Navigation if anybody knows how to do this. Once this has been figured out I will probably purchase the Car accessory.
? Social Networking
-Not a big Social Networker so this is not that important to me. I do have a Facebook account and I was able to connect to that. Other than that I have not used it.
? Email/Calendar
-Have my AOL mail working just fine, along with the Gmail account I created. Although I did have to go into settings and adjust the frequency at which it checks for new mail. Default is never, I have it set to 30 mins currently. I will see how that works, may have to go to 5 mins since I am coming from the push world of the Blackberry.
-Calendar is working like a champ. I did a little pre-planning while waiting for the phone to be shipped. Created a calendar in my Google account. Sync?d my Storm to MS Outlook, exported the calendar to an ASCII text file, and imported that into the newly created calendar in Google. Once I got my Fascinate I logged into my Google account and presto my phones calendar was updated. I went through the same process for my contacts and that work like a charm as well.
-I like the Calendar interface. When in Monthly view it shows if you have appointments on a certain day by placing a half triangle in one corner of that day. When that day is clicked on then it shows below the monthly calenday what appointments are scheduled. Very handy feature when trying to scan the days of the month to see what is scheduled. Much better than having to go back and forth between Monthly few and daily view.
? Battery Life
-I put the battery in the phone after unboxing everything, the battery showed about 75% charge, I decided to drain the battery completely before charging it. The phone lasted about 6.5 hours before the battery indicator turned red. I was pretty impressed with this considering it was a new phone and being played with almost constantly. I used the GPS and Bluetooth, during this time which coming from the Storm these both drained the battery quickly.
-I charged the phone overnight. It has now been off the charger for 6 hours and again been played with/used most of that time and the battery is at 61%. I do have the GPS and Bluetooth turned off since I am indoors and not in my vehicle where I would use them most often.
? Performance
-So far no lag at anything I have done. Pretty impressive speed. The browser finds a web site and downloads just about as fast as my desktop computer.
-Scrolling through the contacts is so fast with the swipe of a finger. This is a very nice change coming from the Storm.
? Media (music, movies, DLNA)
-Have not tested as of yet.
? Samsung Widgets reviews
-Weather clock is nice on the home screen. I like the fact that it uses Weatherbug, I found it the most accurate. The Buddies Now widget seems like a nice program for quick access to your favorite contacts.
? Swype vs. Android Keyboard
-Still trying to get used to Swype, at this point I rather use the standard keyboard. The keyboard seem really accurate in both landscape and portrait. I have had very few spelling mistakes. The space bar on the landscape keyboard is in a strange location. Overall the landscape keyboard is almost to big to comfortably hold, I have a hard time reaching the middle keys. FWIW I have slightly bigger hands than most guys. I am sure I will get used to it though.
? Camera (both still & video)
-I have only take a few still photos so far. Pictures turned out well. I don?t really expect to use the camera other than quick photos to send to other mobile phones, for this it work perfectly.
? How the Fascinate compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
-If you have read the whole review you have probably picked up on the fact that I had the BB Storm. There really is no comparison. While I liked the Storm and didn?t have the complaints like some other users have had with the phone, it is out dated and it was time for me to move on up to a better phone.
? Likes/dislikes
-The screen turns off a little to quick for me. I know this is to save battery power which is a good thing, but I may have to adjust the timing slightly, if possible. As I mentioned earlier the back piece being plastic has me a little worried, but I am sure this was done for cost and weight savings.
Overall the phone is great, I am glad I got it! Now to be brave enough to root the phone so that I can get rid of the bloatware that Verizon put on the phone.
Namebrandon, sorry for stealing you formatting style but it was laid out nicely.
-Phone has a very nice finish to it, very appealing to look at.
-The first thing I noticed when taking it out of the box is how light it was. I figured it was because there was not a battery installed. I then installed the battery and the phone was still impressively light. Amazing!
-The back cover looks nice, but disappointed that it is plastic. I am afraid I am going to break it whenever I take it off. Hopefully this won?t happen very often, but coming from a Blackberry Storm where a battery pull is necessary every couple of days I am a bit nervous.
? Screen
-The screen is very crisp and clear. Lots of detail shows up in the pictures. Bright colors. Very impressive!
? Hardware
-So far the speed of the phone is blowing me away. I have seen no lag what so ever.
? Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage
-The phone works as a phone should, dial a number and it calls out. The calls sound good and no body has complained about not being able to hear me. The sound level gets really loud so I had to adjust the volume down to comfortably hold the phone to my ear.
-I have only used the speaker phone once, but it worked well. The person on the other end came through clearly. Again the volume had to be lowered so the speaker didn?t crackle.
-I connected the phone to my vehicle?s Bluetooth without any issues. The only thing is when I got back in the vehicle later the phone didn?t automatically reconnect. It did reconnect once I manually told it to. My wife?s Droid Eris does the same thing randomly. Not sure if there is a setting somewhere to fix this, will update post if I find out.
? Overall User Interface & Samsung TouchWiz
-Being this is my first Android phone I really don?t have a problem with the TouchWiz interface. It is very smooth when switching between screens even with the default live wallpaper.
? Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
-Have not seen any difference between this and my Blackberry Storm. In the city it has a good 3G signal. Out in the country, about 20 miles out of the city, the 3G signal is difficult to pick up, but still has good signal to make phone calls and text.
? GPS
-I used mine immediate when I got it yesterday, after downloading Google Maps from the market. I didn?t even try Bing Maps or VZ navigator. Google Maps pegged me while I stood at the bus stop waiting for my daughter. At first it took a few minutes to zero in on me but every Garmin I have ever owned has done the same thing when first turned on if it hasn't been used in a while. After that first initial search for signal it finds me with in seconds and is just as accurate as my Garmin.
-The Google Navigation works really well also. I found the address of where I wanted to go within my contacts and Google navigation created me a route. The Fascinate could easily replace my Garmin GPS.
I would like to change the Car Dock app to use the Google Maps and Navigation if anybody knows how to do this. Once this has been figured out I will probably purchase the Car accessory.
? Social Networking
-Not a big Social Networker so this is not that important to me. I do have a Facebook account and I was able to connect to that. Other than that I have not used it.
? Email/Calendar
-Have my AOL mail working just fine, along with the Gmail account I created. Although I did have to go into settings and adjust the frequency at which it checks for new mail. Default is never, I have it set to 30 mins currently. I will see how that works, may have to go to 5 mins since I am coming from the push world of the Blackberry.
-Calendar is working like a champ. I did a little pre-planning while waiting for the phone to be shipped. Created a calendar in my Google account. Sync?d my Storm to MS Outlook, exported the calendar to an ASCII text file, and imported that into the newly created calendar in Google. Once I got my Fascinate I logged into my Google account and presto my phones calendar was updated. I went through the same process for my contacts and that work like a charm as well.
-I like the Calendar interface. When in Monthly view it shows if you have appointments on a certain day by placing a half triangle in one corner of that day. When that day is clicked on then it shows below the monthly calenday what appointments are scheduled. Very handy feature when trying to scan the days of the month to see what is scheduled. Much better than having to go back and forth between Monthly few and daily view.
? Battery Life
-I put the battery in the phone after unboxing everything, the battery showed about 75% charge, I decided to drain the battery completely before charging it. The phone lasted about 6.5 hours before the battery indicator turned red. I was pretty impressed with this considering it was a new phone and being played with almost constantly. I used the GPS and Bluetooth, during this time which coming from the Storm these both drained the battery quickly.
-I charged the phone overnight. It has now been off the charger for 6 hours and again been played with/used most of that time and the battery is at 61%. I do have the GPS and Bluetooth turned off since I am indoors and not in my vehicle where I would use them most often.
? Performance
-So far no lag at anything I have done. Pretty impressive speed. The browser finds a web site and downloads just about as fast as my desktop computer.
-Scrolling through the contacts is so fast with the swipe of a finger. This is a very nice change coming from the Storm.
? Media (music, movies, DLNA)
-Have not tested as of yet.
? Samsung Widgets reviews
-Weather clock is nice on the home screen. I like the fact that it uses Weatherbug, I found it the most accurate. The Buddies Now widget seems like a nice program for quick access to your favorite contacts.
? Swype vs. Android Keyboard
-Still trying to get used to Swype, at this point I rather use the standard keyboard. The keyboard seem really accurate in both landscape and portrait. I have had very few spelling mistakes. The space bar on the landscape keyboard is in a strange location. Overall the landscape keyboard is almost to big to comfortably hold, I have a hard time reaching the middle keys. FWIW I have slightly bigger hands than most guys. I am sure I will get used to it though.
? Camera (both still & video)
-I have only take a few still photos so far. Pictures turned out well. I don?t really expect to use the camera other than quick photos to send to other mobile phones, for this it work perfectly.
? How the Fascinate compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
-If you have read the whole review you have probably picked up on the fact that I had the BB Storm. There really is no comparison. While I liked the Storm and didn?t have the complaints like some other users have had with the phone, it is out dated and it was time for me to move on up to a better phone.
? Likes/dislikes
-The screen turns off a little to quick for me. I know this is to save battery power which is a good thing, but I may have to adjust the timing slightly, if possible. As I mentioned earlier the back piece being plastic has me a little worried, but I am sure this was done for cost and weight savings.
Overall the phone is great, I am glad I got it! Now to be brave enough to root the phone so that I can get rid of the bloatware that Verizon put on the phone. Namebrandon, sorry for stealing you formatting style but it was laid out nicely.
Coming from an X, from a Dinc, from a Droid (rooted), from a Storm;
Phone quality/durability: not as good as the Motorola family, but love the screen and size of the phone. Size is perfect, screen excellent (nothing compares), button locations I like, Droid X is to big for everyday business use. Hated the physical buttons on the X.
Software: Going to give Touch Wiz a week. Hated Blur or whatever it is on the X/Droid 2. Was always lagging at odd points, Moto widgets are a joke. only thing they have going is the resize. Touch Wiz widgets look better more polished, not as good as the Dinc Sense UI stuff. Like the browser better, seems more stock than the X. I actually like the app draw, You can organize the app draw by moving icons much like a BB. You cannot do this unless you install an app on Droids. Use the exchange sync works great, the e-mail works more like the original stock droid. Media player is excellent on this device, better than anything I have had to date. I use a 32gig card with music and use it daily.
Issues:
screen timeouts to quick, I know you can change it, but seems to act odd.
Bing has not been an issue but why not give us a choice. I use the browser google search and voice search not problems.
Google maps works well, but does take some time to get initialized.
Phone quality/durability: not as good as the Motorola family, but love the screen and size of the phone. Size is perfect, screen excellent (nothing compares), button locations I like, Droid X is to big for everyday business use. Hated the physical buttons on the X.
Software: Going to give Touch Wiz a week. Hated Blur or whatever it is on the X/Droid 2. Was always lagging at odd points, Moto widgets are a joke. only thing they have going is the resize. Touch Wiz widgets look better more polished, not as good as the Dinc Sense UI stuff. Like the browser better, seems more stock than the X. I actually like the app draw, You can organize the app draw by moving icons much like a BB. You cannot do this unless you install an app on Droids. Use the exchange sync works great, the e-mail works more like the original stock droid. Media player is excellent on this device, better than anything I have had to date. I use a 32gig card with music and use it daily.
Issues:
screen timeouts to quick, I know you can change it, but seems to act odd.
Bing has not been an issue but why not give us a choice. I use the browser google search and voice search not problems.
Google maps works well, but does take some time to get initialized.
Had my fascinate for almost 24 hours now. I was very skeptical about getting this phone due to the Bing Search, but now I can actually say I'm very pleased with it so far. Coming from a Nexus One with T-Mobile I've noticed that the weight of the fascinate compared to the Nexus is a huge difference. I like to weight of the fascinate better. I like the screen better. Not familiar with touch wiz at all, but I'm liking it. Software is running very smooth, google voice is at its best, google maps is at its best, the plastic cover on the back of it seems to be cheap, but its serving its purpose and I think it helps with the weight of the phone. I don't like the fact that in the dark when the beautiful super amoled screen is so lovely and you go to press on one of the four keys at the bottom and you can't see anything, so you'll have to guess what's where. I haven't found out if the settings offer the light of the four keys to stay on as long as the screen is on. That would be nice to change. Or, if you could softly touch the area and the four keys lights up would be nice. Other than that, there's nothing I don't like besides the Bing Search, even though I've never used it. I love Google products, so I don't understand how they can put Bing on Google's software and restrict Google Search. Put Bing Search on all windows 7 phones coming out later this year. I'm pretty sure that sooner or later someone will come up on how to change it though. Overall, the Fascinate is very lovely, fun, sexy, and down to business.
also actually the fascinate has a built in task manager that allows you to close and manage apps as you see fit.
Switched from DX to Fascinate
Traded in my DX for the Fascinate yesterday morning!
I miss the LED so trying NoLED.
The mic is disabled when I have it connected to the car stereo via the 3.5mm jack. Is that a bug? It was nice on the DX to just answer the call with the phone in the center console, hear the caller through the speakers and they heard me fine through the phone mic.
The keyboard in portrait mode is smaller than the X but Swype to the rescue!
The screen does feel better. Just played the matrix divx on it and it looks awesome!
The size was the reason why I switched. The x is very nice but just does not fit in pants front pocket well. The Fascinate slides in easily and does not feel like you have a brick in your pocket.
Traded in my DX for the Fascinate yesterday morning!
I miss the LED so trying NoLED.
The mic is disabled when I have it connected to the car stereo via the 3.5mm jack. Is that a bug? It was nice on the DX to just answer the call with the phone in the center console, hear the caller through the speakers and they heard me fine through the phone mic.
The keyboard in portrait mode is smaller than the X but Swype to the rescue!
The screen does feel better. Just played the matrix divx on it and it looks awesome!
The size was the reason why I switched. The x is very nice but just does not fit in pants front pocket well. The Fascinate slides in easily and does not feel like you have a brick in your pocket.
Aesthetics:
Its nice. light and solid. Even with a hard case, it's still lighter than other phones in its class. only issue is that it looks a little too similar to the iphone 3gs in my opinion.
Screen:
I love this screen. Its crisp and its vibrant. The only way for this to get better is if the pixel density was even larger, but it's not a complaint.
Hardware:
Processor is fast, LED flash is bright. It's built very solid. Internal memory could be larger (aka the 16gb like its cousins), but otherwise, its amazing...on 2.1 (i can only imagine 2.2 )
Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage:
bluetooth isn't locked down which is a major benefit (but then again, most androids don't have it locked down?). App transfers between 2 android phones is very fast. I didn't test speakerphone, but the calls were clear. It felt like i heard an echo when I was talking, but that may have just been me. No call drops how ever I held it
Overall User Interface & Samsung TouchWiz:
The UI was smooth. Since it was my first android phone, TouchWiz allowed me to figure out where everything was (I had a general gist on android phones) since it was scarily similar to the iphone. I ditched TouchWiz for ADW.Launcher quickly and conveniently. OH, between the Droid and the Fascinate, the drop down toggles for wifi/bluetooth/gps/airplane mode is so convenient. Its so much speedier to control the features, allowing better conservation of battery.
Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
Signal is pretty much the same as other devices I've seen. 3G dies randomly inside, but it happens with other devices as well. Not certain which is more frequent.
GPS:
Ok, here, I have some complaints. GPS took a while to connect, but with other location services, it found my approximate location while GPS got connected.
Social Networking:
mmm, ditching samsung's apps for social networking, the social networking apps are nice. 4.0" screen is quite convenient for typing and viewing posts.
Email/Calendar:
Email and Calendar was quickly set up due to the gmail acct. I love this integration
Battery Life:
After using it nonstop for fun's sake (and to try setting up google search...i'm short all but the widget actually working and the browser's default search), it took me about 8 hrs to kill it. This is running a live wallpaper, downloading apps, and editing system settings.
Performance:
SMOOTH. it is amazingly smooth. It beats an overclocked droid (running CM6 RC1) in almost everything...and this is with the fascinate running a live wallpaper.
Media (music, movies, DLNA)
I have yet to watch any media, but I must believe in sound quality (basing it off of samsung media players) and video quality (screen + samsung media players)
Samsung Widgets reviews:
DITCH. There's no use for them. While its nice if you run TouchWiz, it really doesn't help that much IMHO.
Swype vs. Android Keyboard:
Swype is amazing. My old phone's screen was too small to use swype effectively, but on this phone, its perfect! While I make minor errors when typing (I forget how to spell words), its faster than the stock keyboard. Triggering symbols is slighter harder, but still very convenient
Camera (both still & video):
I LOVE THE POINT FOCUS. It's so amazingly convenient! quality was very nice for a 5mp camera and video looks like it was done on some other device.
How the Fascinate compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable):
It kills my HTC Touch...many times over. Seeing as how my old phone is really old, I can't compare to it, but I will compare it to the iPhone 3GS that I use occasionally. It's more convenient. Many times smoother and faster to access apps. I love the four keys on the bottom as opposed to the iPhone's 1. accessing system settings is more convenient, and without rooting, the Fascinate is able to handle more capabilities.
Likes/dislikes:
Like: weight, feel, convenience. simplicity to root (first day FTW!)
dislikes: integration of BING. HOW DO YOU GET RID OF IT COMPLETELY!
Its nice. light and solid. Even with a hard case, it's still lighter than other phones in its class. only issue is that it looks a little too similar to the iphone 3gs in my opinion.
Screen:
I love this screen. Its crisp and its vibrant. The only way for this to get better is if the pixel density was even larger, but it's not a complaint.
Hardware:
Processor is fast, LED flash is bright. It's built very solid. Internal memory could be larger (aka the 16gb like its cousins), but otherwise, its amazing...on 2.1 (i can only imagine 2.2
)Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage:
bluetooth isn't locked down which is a major benefit (but then again, most androids don't have it locked down?). App transfers between 2 android phones is very fast. I didn't test speakerphone, but the calls were clear. It felt like i heard an echo when I was talking, but that may have just been me. No call drops how ever I held it
Overall User Interface & Samsung TouchWiz:
The UI was smooth. Since it was my first android phone, TouchWiz allowed me to figure out where everything was (I had a general gist on android phones) since it was scarily similar to the iphone. I ditched TouchWiz for ADW.Launcher quickly and conveniently. OH, between the Droid and the Fascinate, the drop down toggles for wifi/bluetooth/gps/airplane mode is so convenient. Its so much speedier to control the features, allowing better conservation of battery.
Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
Signal is pretty much the same as other devices I've seen. 3G dies randomly inside, but it happens with other devices as well. Not certain which is more frequent.
GPS:
Ok, here, I have some complaints. GPS took a while to connect, but with other location services, it found my approximate location while GPS got connected.
Social Networking:
mmm, ditching samsung's apps for social networking, the social networking apps are nice. 4.0" screen is quite convenient for typing and viewing posts.
Email/Calendar:
Email and Calendar was quickly set up due to the gmail acct. I love this integration
Battery Life:
After using it nonstop for fun's sake (and to try setting up google search...i'm short all but the widget actually working and the browser's default search), it took me about 8 hrs to kill it. This is running a live wallpaper, downloading apps, and editing system settings.
Performance:
SMOOTH. it is amazingly smooth. It beats an overclocked droid (running CM6 RC1) in almost everything...and this is with the fascinate running a live wallpaper.
Media (music, movies, DLNA)
I have yet to watch any media, but I must believe in sound quality (basing it off of samsung media players) and video quality (screen + samsung media players)
Samsung Widgets reviews:
DITCH. There's no use for them. While its nice if you run TouchWiz, it really doesn't help that much IMHO.
Swype vs. Android Keyboard:
Swype is amazing. My old phone's screen was too small to use swype effectively, but on this phone, its perfect! While I make minor errors when typing (I forget how to spell words), its faster than the stock keyboard. Triggering symbols is slighter harder, but still very convenient
Camera (both still & video):
I LOVE THE POINT FOCUS. It's so amazingly convenient! quality was very nice for a 5mp camera and video looks like it was done on some other device.
How the Fascinate compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable):
It kills my HTC Touch...many times over. Seeing as how my old phone is really old, I can't compare to it, but I will compare it to the iPhone 3GS that I use occasionally. It's more convenient. Many times smoother and faster to access apps. I love the four keys on the bottom as opposed to the iPhone's 1. accessing system settings is more convenient, and without rooting, the Fascinate is able to handle more capabilities.
Likes/dislikes:
Like: weight, feel, convenience. simplicity to root (first day FTW!)
dislikes: integration of BING. HOW DO YOU GET RID OF IT COMPLETELY!
thetaylor310
Well-known member
just got the Fascinate yesterday afternoon and I must say that im most impressed with how this phone functions. this is actually my first Android phone, so I have no real basis comparison to make but nonetheless, infinitely superior than my Omnia!
I have nothing to complain about, in terms of hardware performance (processor, AMOLED screen, sound etc); it runs like a dream
all in all, very worth upgrading to... so glad I did
I have nothing to complain about, in terms of hardware performance (processor, AMOLED screen, sound etc); it runs like a dream
all in all, very worth upgrading to... so glad I did
I returned my wife's incredible today and replaced it with the fascinate. Basically, she wanted an iphone on verizon. She just could not get a handle on the interface that was on the incredible and the battery life was horrible. I heard on a podcast somebody say that the fascinate was like a feature phone with the touchwiz interface. I think i may have to agree but for her that will be the perfect. So far it seems very snappy and i have had no gps problems at all. In some respects i like it more than my X. I could not say that about the incredible.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Thanks for letting me know. That is good news! The sales rep really don't know much about the phones they sell. One can learn much more about a phone than a sales rep knows, by spending 15 min on these forums.
Ordered 2 fascinates with BOGO offer and $50 ne2. Can't complain about 2 phones for $150.
Similar threads
Trending Posts
-
News T-Mobile officially owns Mint Mobile now, keeps fan-favorite plan alive- Started by AC News
- Replies: 0
-
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram