Droid X or Fascinate?

[shadao shai]

I have gotten both a Droid X and a Fascinate off of craigslist to try. The Droid X is a great phone. Awesome battery life, huge screen, rock solid build quality. The Samsung Fascinate does have a much better screen though. And the processing and graphics power is supposed to beat the X quite handily.

I was just wondering which phone you would recommend and why? Things such as rooting, roms, software updates, network issues, etc.

 

[DroidXcon]

I have gotten both a Droid X and a Fascinate off of craigslist to try. The Droid X is a great phone. Awesome battery life, huge screen, rock solid build quality. The Samsung Fascinate does have a much better screen though. And the processing and graphics power is supposed to beat the X quite handily.

I was just wondering which phone you would recommend and why? Things such as rooting, roms, software updates, network issues, etc.

here , throw on froyo onto your fascinate , make it an even playing field and see which one you like better

i have provided packages for stock froyo, debloated, superclean 2.1 and 2.2
i suggest superclean 2.2
http://forum.androidcentral.com/ver...roms-w-root-new-clockwork-updated-2-12-a.html

i also owned both phones and obviously chose the fascinate... but its a personal preference

 

[roberte1342]

I've had both but the thing that bugged me most about the Fascinate was the lack of a real notification LED. If you've never had one and don't know what you are missing you will not be bothered by it in the least.
The GPS sucked horribly. Is this fixed yet?
Although the screen has the best color and an infinite contrast ratio the pixel density is way worse than the X. If you plan to do a lot of websurfing, reading, etc your eyes will hurt more.
Then there are the soft vs hard buttons, but this is just a matter of preference.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[DroidXcon]

I've had both but the thing that bugged me most about the Fascinate was the lack of a real notification LED. If you've never had one and don't know what you are missing you will not be bothered by it in the least.
The GPS sucked horribly. Is this fixed yet?
Although the screen has the best color and an infinite contrast ratio the pixel density is way worse than the X. If you plan to do a lot of websurfing, reading, etc your eyes will hurt more.
Then there are the soft vs hard buttons, but this is just a matter of preference.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Noled fixes the lack of led,
gp mine locks in 10seconds, i used it to get back and forth from georgia twice

as far as pixel density this is negligable, people have been using lower res phones for years and this wasnt an arguement, now higher res comes out and everyone needs eye surgery because of a lower pixel density?

physical buttons vs non . correct personal choice

 

[roberte1342]

as far as pixel density this is negligable, people have been using lower res phones for years and this wasnt an arguement, now higher res comes out and everyone needs eye surgery because of a lower pixel density?

Nothing that serious, just saying having used both it is very noticeable.
I guess it depends on what you have been used to.

 

[xliderider]

Had the Fascinate, traded in for a Droid X. Don't regret my decision. My wife still has her Fascinate and loves it.

It's pretty much a toss up. Pick whichever one you prefer.

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

I don't think that it is a toss up. I think the Droid X is a better phone.

 

[quetzalcoatl]

Although the screen has the best color and an infinite contrast ratio the pixel density is way worse than the X. Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Actually the most accurate color on the screen comes from the X the Fascinate like all Galaxy S phones is oversaturated. The screen is brighter on the Fascinate but brighter does not equal better color.

 

[Arelunde]

Fascinate still running 2.1, right? That alone makes the X better on 2.2.1. But I see quite a few X mods have the Fascinate. Interesting...

 

[DroidXcon]

this is a personal choice anyway , but posting in the X forums was bound to be biased,,when i had my X before i had my fascinate i would have said X aswell. you should play with them for awhile and make your own personal choice........and now that we have froyo also , fascinate not having froyo is no longer an arguement

 

[deercreek]

I played with a Fascinate at Best Buy for a couple of minutes the other day. It was the only Verizon phone(other than the X of course) they had that I thought I could live with. I didn't particularly care for the UI or the lack of physical buttons. I wanted to try a Verizon iPhone just out of curiosity, but I had to settle for an AT&T one with no service(go figure).

 

[galpdawg]

i recently required a fascinate, its a nice phone, size is nice, screen is gorgeous but the battery life isnt on par with the droid x. not sure if it has to do with the phone being rooted with a leaked froyo update. but it is a great phone, if battery lasted longer i would def consider keeping it. might have to sell it and go back to X

 

[green]

I have an X. Fascinate is better imo.

 

[shadao shai]

playing with the fascinate for the last few days I have to say that I really do like it. I wish the battery life was a little better but its not nearly as bad a my incredible was.

The main issue I've had is low signal and slow download speeds on 3g. Had anyone else noticed this? I almost never have more than two bars and it frequently drops to zero. In speed test my gf's x usually gets twice the download speed of my fascinate.

I'm still running stock 2.1. I was wondering if this is just software issues that could be resolved with roms our even official updates or hacks? Our does samsung use lower powered radios than motorola? This is important to me because I use wireless tether quite a but and would like the best speeds u can get.

 

[Bushido Brown]

I would choose the X, but I will admit my experience with the Fascinate comes mostly from playing with a friends phone,and not actual ownership. However, I was strongly considering one after I saw the 2.2 leak, and the GPS lock fix.

My reasons are for the camera, build quality, battery life, noise cancellation MIC, and LED. NoLED helps, but I hear its not very reliable.

It doesn't have the "Moto metal" feel, but its still a very solidly made phone, with a great form factor. The display which tends to oversaturate colors, still looks great, and the GPU has no equal. For my needs though, neither of those features appeal to me as much as what the DX offers.

 

[DroidXcon]

I would choose the X, but I will admit my experience with the Fascinate comes mostly from playing with a friends phone,and not actual ownership. However, I was strongly considering one after I saw the 2.2 leak, and the GPS lock fix.

My reasons are for the camera, build quality, battery life, noise cancellation MIC, and LED. NoLED helps, but I hear its not very reliable.

It doesn't have the "Moto metal" feel, but its still a very solidly made phone, with a great form factor. The display which tends to oversaturate colors, still looks great, and the GPU has no equal. For my needs though, neither of those features appeal to me as much as what the DX offers.

you should try it out with 2.2.1 on it , its pretty sweet and Noled hasnt failed me in the last 3 months. at first it was shakey but now it seems pretty flawless

 

[Bushido Brown]

you should try it out with 2.2.1 on it , its pretty sweet and Noled hasnt failed me in the last 3 months. at first it was shakey but now it seems pretty flawless

Well, its not about me so much as its about the creator of this thread. However, I will respond by saying that there is no update that will add a 2nd mic to block background noise, or make the battery perform on par with the DX.

 

[DroidXcon]

Well, its not about me so much as its about the creator of this thread. However, I will respond by saying that there is no update that will add a 2nd mic to block background noise, or make the battery perform on par with the DX.

lol touche

 

[shadao shai]

Thanks For all the advice on this. Seems like both phones are pretty good. As long as I root and use roms I guess samsung's lack of updates shouldn't matter too much. Is anyone working on a port of CM7 for the fascinate btw? Would be funny to run gingerbread before sammy even gets us official froyo.

I found a fix for the slow download speeds at least it seems.
This thread talks about putting a custom sysctl.conf file into the /system/etc folder.
Fix for slow 3G download speeds - xda-developers

Those settings didn't work well but in this post there were alternate settings to try and they seemed to help my speeds drastically.
xda-developers - View Single Post - Fix for slow 3G download speeds

I don't know if messing with these settings would halo just fascinate owners our others as well, buy its an intruding discovery.

 

[dbdynsty25]

I love both phones...I've still got both of them, but I prefer the X for a couple of reasons.

1. Build quality. I simply cannot stand the slick plastic battery cover. I refuse to use a case on my phone because I don't drop them and it just adds bulk. The slick back on the Fascinate is so annoying. It scratches just by putting it down on your desk a few times. I had to get a Invisashield for the back cover just so I wouldn't be driven nuts by the scratches. The good news is that the replacement covers are only 5 bucks from Verizon so I could replace em easily, but it also makes the back of the phone really slick.

2. A real LED on the X. Sure, noLED works and it's a decent enough substitute (sometimes better because you can modify colors, icons, etc.) but it's also something that is annoying. It's not the most stable program out there and it turns on and off by itself sometimes.

3. Screen colors and text legibility. It's been mentioned before, but small text is clearer on the X and the colors are more true. I'm not sure this is even up for debate. Sure, the SOLED is VERY black and the colors pop off the screen, but it's oversaturated and too colorful. Some people prefer that...and in fact, after using my Fascinate for a while, I was disappointed going back to it for the colors, but when I use the camera or look at pictures on the phone, I know I'm seeing what I'm supposed to see, not what an oversaturated color palette sees. Personal preference is obviously in play here.

4. GPS accuracy. It's a lot faster on the X without a doubt.

5. Real google searches by hitting the search button on the front of the phone. Pisses me off to no end that it defaults to Bing and you can't change that on the Fascinate. I hate bing.

As for the Fascinate...it does a few things better than the X.

1. The size is a lot more pocketable. The 4 inch screen is my preferred size and it's thin as hell. The hump and the extra .3 inches on the X make if feel a bit bulky.

2. Gaming...the graphics processor definitely helps. Games feel quite a bit smoother on the Fascinate even though the X is a fine gaming machine as well.

3. Scrolling...seems to me the scrolling seems to be quite a bit more accurate on the Fascinate. Not sure why this is...but it just feels better.

4. Battery life is slightly better than the X with the standard battery. Add the extended battery on the X and obviously it wins without adding bulk at all (1mm is nothing). Adding the extended on the Fascinate is out of the question, so I ultimately go with the X and the extended.

So really, both phones have their pluses and minuses...the X is just a better all around performer. GPS is a huge deal and they still havent' nailed down the issues on the Fascinate in that regard. I will probably never buy another Samsung phone because it just seems like they don't care to fix stuff like that. The Galaxy S line of phones have been out for how long now without a real fix?