got my fascinate today... vzw rep told me interesting things...

[Chrisvklein]

i just brought home the fascinate today... nice phone.. nice and light...

but this the gist of what the VZW rep told me:
"the Fascinate is actually a 4g phone... and with a software update will be 4g compatible when VZW goes 4g..."

can this actually be?

and he also installed Advanced Task Killer for me... annoyed that Fascinate has soo much bloatware and then he adds more...

[joebob2000]

ATK is a handy little gadget, it's good for closing up the browser and other apps that hog memory while they aren't being used (and there is no real way to close them). As for the 4G, don't believe everything a VZ rep says. Actually, don't believe ANYTHING a vz rep says unless it's in writing.

[Cory Streater]

Originally Posted by Chrisvklein

i just brought home the fascinate today... nice phone.. nice and light...

but this the gist of what the VZW rep told me:
"the Fascinate is actually a 4g phone... and with a software update will be 4g compatible when VZW goes 4g..."

can this actually be?

and he also installed Advanced Task Killer for me... annoyed that Fascinate has soo much bloatware and then he adds more...

I am very much against task managers. Try NOT using one before you use one. If you really want to end tasks, use the task manager that came with the phone vs. ATK. Unless configured properly, ATK will start killing stuff that will cause lag - not stop it, and will cause programs to stop running properly. At least the built in task manager only displays of list of apps that won't screw everything up if you end them. If you choose to use one, and start having weird issues, look to ATK as the prime suspect, and uninstall it when troubleshooting. Seriously you don't need it though. Take this from someone who's been in these forums reading task killer horror stories for over a year now. FWIW - there's a sticky dedicated to this topic.

As far as there being a 4G radio in the Fascinate, that's total nonsense.

[Cory Streater]

And what do we have here, but yet another example that was just posted today.

[coltsbr]

The Verizon reps seem to be installing ATK on most of the droid devices that get sold. Not sure why they are doing that. They keep doing it on mine also then have to delete them.

[coltsbr]

Originally Posted by Chrisvklein

i just brought home the fascinate today... nice phone.. nice and light...

but this the gist of what the VZW rep told me:
"the Fascinate is actually a 4g phone... and with a software update will be 4g compatible when VZW goes 4g..."

can this actually be?

and he also installed Advanced Task Killer for me... annoyed that Fascinate has soo much bloatware and then he adds more...

The fascinate device has a "Task Manager" (Long press the home button) built into the phone. You can use that to stop any unwanted apps you don't want running. Thats what I use.

[Cory Streater]

Originally Posted by coltsbr

The Verizon reps seem to be installing ATK on most of the droid devices that get sold. Not sure why they are doing that. They keep doing it on mine also then have to delete them.

We keep hearing reports of this and it makes me furious. Verizon reps should not be touching your phone unless you explicitly instruct them to. If Verizon corporate really thinks ATK should be on there, it should be tested and baked into the ROM before the phone ever reaches the store. There should be a corporate policy against employees doing this at the store. The last thing you want is a company that thinks Bing should be standard on an Android phone, is for them to decide other 3rd party apps are best for you.

[coltsbr]

Originally Posted by Cory Streater

We keep hearing reports of this and it makes me furious. Verizon reps should not be touching your phone unless you explicitly instruct them to. If Verizon corporate really thinks ATK should be on there, it should be tested and baked into the ROM before the phone ever reaches the store. There should be a corporate policy against employees doing this at the store. The last thing you want is a company that thinks Bing should be standard on an Android phone, is for them to decide other 3rd party apps are best for you.

Very good point, I sent my wife up to get a Fascinate and a droid x and they both came back with ATK installed on them by the rep. Makes me wonder how much training they actually get for these devices.

[NickA]

The installation of ATK by Verizon reps (or any other software) has to stop. Since it seems to be widespread, I can only think it's coming from Corporate that they should be installing this crap.

[joebob2000]

Originally Posted by NickA

The installation of ATK by Verizon reps (or any other software) has to stop. Since it seems to be widespread, I can only think it's coming from Corporate that they should be installing this crap.

It's probably just from their playing around with the instore phones (or their personal phones) and they get annoyed by the number of apps that pile up and don't close. I know if I worked in a store and the customers launched every single damn app on the thing i wouldnt want to go through the process manager and close every single one. There are a ton of apps that don't show up on the normal task manager, and that there are basically no "right" way to close.

I don't think its good practice to use the autokiller (especially if you dont know what you are doing) and the reps should be asking the customers if they want/understand ATK before installing it. On the other hand, if every single customer looked at you and said "what the **** are all these icons for???" and you had no way to clean them up don't you think you would use a talk-off like "oh let me install this tiny app to clean up the phone"?