Phone going back

[JeremytheIndian]

Speaking of bloat and crap-ware, it seems as though VZW is really content with forcing it on customers. If you look in the Dinc forums you can see where they got loaded junk when they got the 2.2 updates, DX too, I think? This is a VZW problem and always has been, hopefully now that Android has given them decent smartphone options they will change their ways, but they probably won't.

 

[superstar1213]

I also have a problem with the storage on the phone being used up by a dozen apps/demos/trials that I have absolutely no interest in, no use for and which all try to get me to spend money, and not being able to remove said apps without voiding the warranty and giving up OTA updates.

Personally, I use LauncherPro, and this was a free launcher. You can upgrade it for like $2, if you want for a few extra features. Within this app, you can hide all the unwanted apps/demos/trials, and all without voiding your warranty and giving up OTA. Just a thought, Chris.

 

[Chris3D]

Personally, I use LauncherPro, and this was a free launcher. You can upgrade it for like $2, if you want for a few extra features. Within this app, you can hide all the unwanted apps/demos/trials, and all without voiding your warranty and giving up OTA. Just a thought, Chris.

I did try out Launcher Pro, but preferred ADW.

Even though Bing and Bloat was an annoyance, the reasons I returned the phone had more to do with the week signal strength and the effect that had on battery life, and the reverb/sidetone issue. Hopefully these things can be improved when updated to 2.2, because I really did like the phone otherwise.

I have a case and a pack of screen protectors sitting on a shelf in anticipation of buying the phone again, which I'd like to do, otherwise I'll post a message here and give them away.

 

[DroidDev]

Personally I do not see any issues with this phone that will not get worked out when they release a software patch and or update.

I bought my Fascinate and got home with it yesterday at 5:00pm. At 5:05pm I was de binged, un bloated, rooted, and happy.

Five whole minutes if that.

And for the case and stuff you have sitting around. Ill be more than happy to take them off your hands. If its a GO then PM me and we will set it up...

Im sure after 2.2 this phone will be so much better that you will not have to de bing and root. But for me though to take five minutes to do it myself was not a big deal. I expect these kinds of things as nothing is ever perfect.

 

[Pags]

Well, I just got off the phone with Verizon tech support and every issue I had was answered with one of the following 3 answers:

-Search the Android Market for an app to rectify that (task killer to stop Verizon bloatware, 3rd party launcher to be able to use Google widget, 3rd party web browser to be able to use Google with the search button, etc.)

-Nope, you're not allowed to change that.

-You have 30 days to return the phone if you're not happy.

Fine, the phone is going back then. I refuse to jump through all kinds of hoops and replace major system components to circumvent Verizon's business deals with Microsoft. If I wanted a Microsoft phone, I would have bought one. I didn't.

On a hardware level, the phone was mostly excellent. The screen and speed was great, but the sound quality was marginal (sidetone too loud and slight crackling/buzzing/distortion through the earpiece), the antennae/reception was weak overall, GPS was hit or miss and the battery life was marginal at best. Even with minimal use, it was down to 65% within 2 to 3 hours.

The tech support rep kept saying "That could be addressed in the upcoming 2.2 upgrade", but indicated that if it didn't, and if the upgrade came after my 30 day window, that I would be stuck. Considering the upgrade almost certainly won't come before my 30 days ends, I'm not willing to take the chance of being stuck for 2 years with a phone that Verizon had to screw up with all their crap/bloat/nag-ware.

I'll keep an eye out for what the 2.2 upgrade does and/or doesn't fix and then make a decision. It's really a shame, because Verizon had/s a winner on their hands, if only they weren't fixated on nickle and dimming their customers at every turn.

The AGPS is definitely a major issue if you rely on this for navigation. Still, it's nearly a moot point when you realize it still loads the turn by turn directions even if it doesn't have a lock.it's a little more of a hassle to look down and memorize the next 2 or 3 lines of directions but it certainly shouldn't be a deal breaker in most cases, especially when you consider the proposed temporary fix is fairly effective, I.e. installing the GPS Status app, going to Manage AGPS State, and then pressing Reset right before you use gps navigation so you can get a much faster lock.

Otherwise, you don't really have to jump through any hoops to get this phone working the way we all expected it to work.

Download LauncherPro and then the google search widget apk from this forum to get around the bing search functionality. A trivial task at best.

Download google maps to get around the bing nav stuff.

This entire process might take 15 minutes (if that) depending on your download speeds. You don't have to remove any major system components. It's really not that difficult.

I'm a new android user too. I got this phone 3 weeks ago. Even without the true lag fix, this phone is fast, flexible, and functional. launcher pro should be installed on any android phone that can support it. I'd say it's better in many ways over the stock experience regardless of what a lot of purists say. They're overly zealous about it anyway. Purism for the sake of purism.

 

[Socfan12]

I've read this thread, and quite a few like this, about the pros and cons of the Samsung Fascinate. My wife and I bought two via the BOGO offer. I just exchanged mine for the Droid X. I came to peace with Bing (got around that), I believe there will be a fix for the GPS issue (mine doesn't lock for minutes, though GPS Status helps), but the last straw on the camel back's happened to be the phone itself. Had to be on the SF for work for about 1 hour; throughout the hour the side tone was horrendous, had a hard time keeping a fluid conversation. In one or two of my previous posts, I said that I didn't rely too much on this unit being a phone, but the reverb of my own talking was too annoying to ignore, especially for a long call. Hence, I exchanged it for the Droid X yesterday. I dont' think I'll do anything special in terms of customization (except try to root and remove bloatware), so the lock bootloader of the DX doesn't bother me.

Oddly, my wife's phone doesn't exhibit the strong side tone as mine, so maybe this issue is unit dependent? But I went with the DX because the GPS issue bothered me.

Anyway, the SF is a great phone and I really wanted it to work out for me, too. Much more pocket friendly in business casual clothing! But I do need to hear my colleagues, and it was strained on the SF. I'll still be on the SF forum, as my wife still has (and loves) her unit.

cheers

 

[SleepyTheDon]

1) Sidetone - Annoying but livable. I also hope they fix this or the community figures out how to lower it.
2) GPS - Randomly slow but I agree it is a problem that needs to be fixed.
3) Bing - Rooting took care of most of this BUT I think the stock browser is the fastest and nicest and searches are all through a lame mobile Bing page. I tried all the other browsers and I almost settled on Dolphin HD but the last version is pretty slow.
4) Battery Life - It is low but I've yet to run out of life in a day of normal use. If I was traveling I can imagine needing a backup battery but that's almost to be expected.

I've played with the Droid X at the Verizon store and while I'm sure the GPS is better, the screen seemed much duller and the whole phone lagged badly. Probably just a beaten display unit but that was my experience.

Im no NOOB... I have the same issues with my phone plus I have NO 3G WTF!!!! at most I will have 2BARS IM in the same area for almost 3 years so I know I should have full bars almost every where I FING go.
2. WHY cant i create a custom ring for my contacts without creating a NEW contact.
3. WHY no LED FLASH for new msg's... GRRRR! Ive had this for 4 days WTF! BIG RED Step it up SAMsUNG

 

[Twilborne]

wow, would it kill you to spend $3 on a worthwhile app.

let me guess you shouldn't have to do that.

I'm not here to convince you this phone is for you. You already appear to be reluctant to do anything. I shouldn't have to convince you this phone is awesome. I shouldn't have to tell you that spending $3 on a widely used app is not that much money.

FYI..I'm done here. If you don't like the phone return it.

Chris is right, you should not have to do that. I don't mind Bing or the bloat ware being on the phone when I get it, but locking it in so I cant change it or deleate it is wrong. I should not have to spend hours rooting and doing what ever to customize the phone, then undo everything I did so I can get the latest update to the OS. The reason we have to do this is because so many people will settle for what ever a company will sell gripe about it and still pay the bill.

 

[gspeed]

Chris is right, you should not have to do that. I don't mind Bing or the bloat ware being on the phone when I get it, but locking it in so I cant change it or deleate it is wrong. I should not have to spend hours rooting and doing what ever to customize the phone, then undo everything I did so I can get the latest update to the OS. The reason we have to do this is because so many people will settle for what ever a company will sell gripe about it and still pay the bill.

Why is this any different from buying a pc or laptop at a retail store. A customer goes into Best Buy and buys the highest end pc he can use, as per the sales associates advice. He comes home to find out that his machine is loaded with windows crap and other OEM bloatware, as well as an undesired security application. I'm pretty sure also that the windows machine he purchased comes with IE preinstalled, which more then likely has bing preset as the search engine. Did he get hosed and feel like his device is a failure because there were no google services pre installed? Probably not as the user has options to remove the bloatware, unneeded security app, and install alternate browsers and default search engines. This customer is probably happy because he purchased his device for the hardware. He more then likely realizes software can be customized and tweaked. You purchase devices for the hardware first and then tweak as needed.

For the record I build my own computers so I don't have to worry about pc bloatware. Unfortunately for the most of us, we can not build our own mobile devices. We have to rely on the manufacturer to put together a nice package for us. If you are uncomfortable with tweaking then you must do your due diligence to find the best out of the box experience for you. Android provides the opportunity to tweak and that is why many of us do not mind the hassles. Slightly inconvenient but easily displaced.

 

[Chris3D]

Why is this any different from buying a pc or laptop at a retail store. A customer goes into Best Buy and buys the highest end pc he can use, as per the sales associates advice. He comes home to find out that his machine is loaded with windows crap and other OEM bloatware, as well as an undesired security application. I'm pretty sure also that the windows machine he purchased comes with IE preinstalled, which more then likely has bing preset as the search engine.

The difference is that he can go into Add/Remove programs, select any of the apps he doesn't want and uninstall them. Alternatively, he is completely free to reinstall the OS *without* voiding any warranties.

And as for Bing, your analogy is flawed, because Verizon didn't just pre-install and configure the phone with Bing - they specifically programmed parts of the OS to actively *block* Google. The home screen launcher was programmed to not allow the Google search widget, and the settings panel in the browser that would allow the user to select his desired search engine was removed.

So effectively, Verizon was paid to force Bing on purchasers of this phone, and anyone who fully circumvents Bing will void their warranty. That's the issue. That they pre-installed it as the default isn't an issue, that they specifically programmed the OS to block Google in multiple areas, and penalize anyone who circumvents that is.

If you are uncomfortable with tweaking then you must do your due diligence to find the best out of the box experience for you. Android provides the opportunity to tweak and that is why many of us do not mind the hassles. Slightly inconvenient but easily displaced.

I don't mind tweaking either (I have Android installed on my old iPhone), and the Bing and Bloat issues were just one of the many reasons I returned the phone. The biggest issue was the annoying volume of the sidetone which made talking on the phone very difficult. And then there was the poor battery life.

I'm really hoping these issues are addressed in 2.2, because I'd really like to buy the phone again. I just wasn't willing to being stuck with the phone for the duration of a 2 year contract if they weren't.

 

[gspeed]

The difference is that he can go into Add/Remove programs, select any of the apps he doesn't want and uninstall them. Alternatively, he is completely free to reinstall the OS *without* voiding any warranties.

Due to monopoly restrictions placed on MS. If MS had their way there would be no way to access alternative services

they specifically programmed parts of the OS to actively *block* Google. The home screen launcher was programmed to not allow the Google search widget, and the settings panel in the browser that would allow the user to select his desired search engine was removed.

i agree, as explained in another thread, that blocking google services out of the box is an extreme monopolistic practice and that someone should file suit against both verizon and Microsoft.

I however don't care to get involved in the legal battle of monopolistic practices. I purchased this device purely for the hardware specs. I knew going in that Bing would be the default search engine. I still went ahead with my purchase because I know Android can be tweaked and rom'd. It really took me less then 2-3 hours on day one of purchasing this device. I can link the thread for reference, where I made Google the default search on this device's launch day. The device's hardware is its main selling point.

 

[superstar1213]

Im no NOOB... I have the same issues with my phone plus I have NO 3G WTF!!!! at most I will have 2BARS IM in the same area for almost 3 years so I know I should have full bars almost every where I FING go.
2. WHY cant i create a custom ring for my contacts without creating a NEW contact.
3. WHY no LED FLASH for new msg's... GRRRR! Ive had this for 4 days WTF! BIG RED Step it up SAMsUNG

I'm just wondering if you actually have done a OTA software update to your phone? I know that prior to this update alot of people were having issues with their Fascinates bouncing 3G signal, so maybe try that?

And with your contact issue - the contact has to be actually in the phone for it to identify with custom ringtone. I found that actually having the contact stored as a g mail entry posed the same problem, and just had back up assistant restore my contacts to the phone after a complete wipe of them.

And also, the LED flash is easily solved with a free app called NoLED. I love it.

 

[Chris3D]

The device's hardware is its main selling point.

Agreed, the screen was beautiful, and I'm really missing it. I've looked into alternatives, and so far nothing stands out. I'm really hoping 2.2 solves the sidetone volume thing so I can buy it again.

 

[Socfan12]

The screen is sweet. I watched videos on my SF and they had a great HD quality about them; am watching them now on my DX and it just seems a little flat. Not bad at all, but certainly comes in second on a side-by-side comparison.

Oh well, no phone is perfect...