OK it has come to this... My time with the Fascinate is over. How did I get here? The same way a lot of others did. A bad software update from Verizon/Samsung that killed the phone.
I was rooted & happily running Comm Rom 2.1 with a PBJ VooDoo kernel. The phone was great. Why did I revert to stock & get the update? Like most of us here the phone was so easily modified & hacked I thought nothing could/would go wrong. Sadly I was wrong
.
So after my phone crashed & I went through all the steps with lvl 2 tech support @ Verizon (including hard resets, battery pulls, re-downloading of update, & a replacement phone), & finally I was given the option to trade out for either a Droid Charge, Moto Droid X2, or HTC Dinc 2. I went with the Charge & why not?... It would be easily rooted being a Samsung and have plenty of custom Rom action going on like my beloved Fascinate. Plus it was LTE ready so that too was a bonus.
The Charge arrived Monday & after opening it up, a trip to the Verizon store for a sim card and full battery charge I was ready to rock! And then it happened... The phone booted into 4G, which I don't have & won't have until early next year, & it froze there. No matter what it would not revert to 3G. Even using the force 3G setting would not help. Back on the phone with lvl 2 tech support, repeat all the steps as with the Fascinate & still nothing
. My dilemma now was get another Charge, which I was offered, or wave goodbye to Samsung phones til they had all their issues remedied. I chose to say goodbye for now.
Yesterday I received my brand new Droid X2 & for now couldn't be happier. The phone is quite snappy in my opinion. The screen is going to take a while to adjust to (I'll dearly miss you Super Amoled :'() but it is visible in direct sunlight so that is a nice trade off. I'm certainly in the minority with the opinion I don't like HTC's Sense skin anymore than I do Touchwiz. So I decided against the Dinc 2. MotoBlur isn't really any better but I'm not minding it so far. And if all else fails I still have my upgrade coming in May so who knows what will be around by then
. If I come to really dislike the X2 I'll only have to live with it til then & we can part ways.
I'm going to miss the Fascinate. It was a love/hate relationship we shared the first couple of months til I rooted it in December of last year & never looked back. I'm not going to miss Verizon's/Samsung terrible lack of updates for the Fascinate
. I got Gingerbread 2.3.3 on the X2 right out of the box so that's a sweet bonus 
. I won't miss the fear I always had of scratching that plastic battery cover ... seriously Samsung use some better material in your builds!
But most of all I'll miss this thriving little community that has sprung up around this phone that was neglected & overlooked by it's corporate parents :'(. I read these forums every day even if I didn't contribute much to the discussions. I can't thank the major contributors here enough, Droid Xcon, Landshark, jt1134 & others to numerous to name but just as important. I'll look in from time to time & if I see somebody I can advise with my knowledge I'll pay it forward. That's what this community is all about.
As for a future device right now I'm definitely turned off to Samsung. So whatever it may be I can't/won't say at this point :-X. But the beauty of Android is that we have so many choices, & so many great devs and communities working to make them better, there is something out there for us all. I look forward to hacking away at whatever that may be with you all
!
I was rooted & happily running Comm Rom 2.1 with a PBJ VooDoo kernel. The phone was great. Why did I revert to stock & get the update? Like most of us here the phone was so easily modified & hacked I thought nothing could/would go wrong. Sadly I was wrong
. So after my phone crashed & I went through all the steps with lvl 2 tech support @ Verizon (including hard resets, battery pulls, re-downloading of update, & a replacement phone), & finally I was given the option to trade out for either a Droid Charge, Moto Droid X2, or HTC Dinc 2. I went with the Charge & why not?... It would be easily rooted being a Samsung and have plenty of custom Rom action going on like my beloved Fascinate. Plus it was LTE ready so that too was a bonus.
The Charge arrived Monday & after opening it up, a trip to the Verizon store for a sim card and full battery charge I was ready to rock! And then it happened... The phone booted into 4G, which I don't have & won't have until early next year, & it froze there. No matter what it would not revert to 3G. Even using the force 3G setting would not help. Back on the phone with lvl 2 tech support, repeat all the steps as with the Fascinate & still nothing
. My dilemma now was get another Charge, which I was offered, or wave goodbye to Samsung phones til they had all their issues remedied. I chose to say goodbye for now.Yesterday I received my brand new Droid X2 & for now couldn't be happier. The phone is quite snappy in my opinion. The screen is going to take a while to adjust to (I'll dearly miss you Super Amoled :'() but it is visible in direct sunlight so that is a nice trade off. I'm certainly in the minority with the opinion I don't like HTC's Sense skin anymore than I do Touchwiz. So I decided against the Dinc 2. MotoBlur isn't really any better but I'm not minding it so far. And if all else fails I still have my upgrade coming in May so who knows what will be around by then
. If I come to really dislike the X2 I'll only have to live with it til then & we can part ways.I'm going to miss the Fascinate. It was a love/hate relationship we shared the first couple of months til I rooted it in December of last year & never looked back. I'm not going to miss Verizon's/Samsung terrible lack of updates for the Fascinate
. I got Gingerbread 2.3.3 on the X2 right out of the box so that's a sweet bonus . I won't miss the fear I always had of scratching that plastic battery cover ... seriously Samsung use some better material in your builds! But most of all I'll miss this thriving little community that has sprung up around this phone that was neglected & overlooked by it's corporate parents :'(. I read these forums every day even if I didn't contribute much to the discussions. I can't thank the major contributors here enough, Droid Xcon, Landshark, jt1134 & others to numerous to name but just as important. I'll look in from time to time & if I see somebody I can advise with my knowledge I'll pay it forward. That's what this community is all about.
As for a future device right now I'm definitely turned off to Samsung. So whatever it may be I can't/won't say at this point :-X. But the beauty of Android is that we have so many choices, & so many great devs and communities working to make them better, there is something out there for us all. I look forward to hacking away at whatever that may be with you all
!
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