Fascinate or Droid X? That is the question

[ferniesp]

In this forum, I can only expect that the Samsung users will be the final decision maker for the OP. Go to the X forum and it will be the opposite.

Having used the Samsung for quite some time, I will say without question that it's one of the finest Androids out there. At the end of the day it's all personal preference.

For me, I stayed with the X and this is why.

I believe most would agree that Motorola is king of call quality....that is huge for me because I want a phone first. The Fasinate is good but not as good in this area as the X.

Browser....both are awesome phones in this area. I will stick with the X because of the extra real estate. Most would agree that if you are going to spend an extra 30 bucks a month on data, having a good browser is the number 2 thing that I want on a smartphone.

E-mail on both are good but for some reason, on the 2 Fasinates that I used, my e-mail using Cox would always disappear after a day or so. My X never has this issue.

Battery....this is where I felt the X shined the most. I can go from zero charge to full charge in about 45 minutes and with the Fasinate, it took a couple of hours( good battery life though), I just didn't like the time it took to chage the darn thing. The X would last me the whole day and whats cool with the X, you can use the extended battery with the same stock battery door and no one but you will know you have the extended..which lasts long enough for me.

Build quality is another area and also an important one to consider. I broke the screen on the fasinate by accident trying to get my cover off. I am a strong guy but that thing broke way too easy. Back cover on the fasinate is rediculous. Samsung should have used a more durable material for it. The X is just a solid feeling device which gives you the peace of mind when carrying it around that it won't break on you on the smallest of drops.

In summary at the end of the day, it's your call.

 

[Just a Guy]

I was in the same boat for a week. My wife has the dx and loves it. I ultimately decided to order the fascinate Friday because my wife has the dx and I know what to expect from it so I figure I should give the fascinate a try. Also a coworker has the continuum and loves it and helped sell me on the fascinate.

I just wish I would get it already!

I do have a quick question to add for those who came from bb's and/or other android phones with the led notifications. How have you adapted with not having the led notification? That is the biggest downside I feel I'm going to have to overcome. It's nice being able to have each notification a different color so I can just quickly glance and see what I might have missed.

 

[Fappy Jones]

It really comes down to do you want a totally unlockable device with little to no restrictions. Or if you want a better phone, that's more of a phone than a toy.

The fascinate lets you do more stuff whereas the dx is more of a phone with root restrictions.

The decision is ultimately yours, they're both good phones.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[NickA]

I do have a quick question to add for those who came from bb's and/or other android phones with the led notifications. How have you adapted with not having the led notification? That is the biggest downside I feel I'm going to have to overcome. It's nice being able to have each notification a different color so I can just quickly glance and see what I might have missed.

This is the first phone I have had without a notification light. There is an app called NoLED (NoLED - Android app on AppBrain) that is a decent alternative.

Try going without a notification light for a while and see how you like it. When I had a BB Curve, I would constantly glance at that thing to see if the light was blinking. Same with my other phones. Now I don't worry about it. My phone is normally in my pocket or sitting next to me, so I either feel the vibrate or hear the notification sound.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

I haven't missed the LED as much as I thought I would. At first by habit I would look at my phone half expecting to see a green or red flash, but I quickly got over it. Like NickA said now I just wait for a vibrate or a sound. Occasionally I'll turn the screen on real quick to check if I missed something. But it hasn't been a huge deal to me, not as much as I thought it might be at first.

 

[DroidXcon]

I haven't missed the LED as much as I thought I would. At first by habit I would look at my phone half expecting to see a green or red flash, but I quickly got over it. Like NickA said now I just wait for a vibrate or a sound. Occasionally I'll turn the screen on real quick to check if I missed something. But it hasn't been a huge deal to me, not as much as I thought it might be at first.

Chris, how come you don't use NoLED. Alot of people talk about it using battery but i have not experienced any noticeable change in battery life.

 

[Sta11i0n]

I also thought I'd miss having an LED like my BB but it has not been a big issue. If I thought I may have missed something it was far from difficult to turn the screen on for a second to check. I now use BLN Control but that was mainly because I have a kernel that supports it, so why not? I like that much better than an LED though because the capacitive buttons are constantly on if there is a message. No more glaring at my phone waiting to see if there's an intermittent blink or not. One quick glance and I know for sure.

 

[icu]

I was going back and forth between these two as well. I think someone could/should be happy with either. For me it came down to a few things.

X

• Has better build quality
• Better hardware features - HDMI out (would never use, but ...), hardware camera button (miss this), multiple mics for noise cancellation more pixels in the camera and dual-flash etc.
• Updated more regularly - officially Google - no Bing ...

In my opinion 4" is perfect and once I saw a Super AMOLED screen I was in love. I decided I could do without the camera button. I could do without the noise cancellation and notification lights (if I look at my phone I'm going to toggle the screen on and see any notifications) etc.

I love this screen and the Fascinate has good chips (especially the 3D chip) - I figured if I was going to have this phone for two years I planned on rooting and ROMing so OS update delays aside I thought I'd be better off on the Fascinate since the locked bootloader of the X has turned off many ROM/Kernal makers. Maybe someday it will be unlocked, but I knew I'd eventually want to o'clock in the future.

 

[Sta11i0n]

Button layout is also something I believe the Fascinate has an edge with. No camera shutter button, but I'm over that. The power/lock button on the other hand, because you'd use it so frequently, is big in my opinion. Any of the Moto phones (especially the X because of it's size), and the Dinc, seem awkward to have to press the button at the top of the device instead of the side like the Fascinate. I'm sure if you had any of them, you'd be used to it. But to me it seems clunky to reposition your hand on the phone just to turn the screen on. On mine, it's always right under my thumb when I pick it up.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Chris, how come you don't use NoLED. Alot of people talk about it using battery but i have not experienced any noticeable change in battery life.

I?ve used it in the past, but I didn?t particularly care for it. I found the icons to be quite ugly, and even though it?s only meant to be an indication of a new message, I?m incredibly OCD like that lmao

 

[Joel S.]

Samsung just said yesterday that Froyo should be ready for the Fascinate late December.

I just want to point out that, if we're thinking of the same thing, that particular bit of information was spotted on Samsung Canada's site, and their version of the Fascinate runs on a GSM network (Telus carries it) and is already seeing Froyo leaks/builds over at XDA. Sadly, that means we can't put any faith in that estimated release since our's runs on the CDMA network. (EDIT: It looks like they updated the page to specify the Canadian GSM Fascinate, it used to just say "Fascinate")

Still, I'm hopeful we luck out and get to see it late December too, although last thing I saw that looked official said January.

On topic, I opted for the Fascinate over the X. I like the screen better, and I didn't like the lump, or the overly industrial feel of the X.

 

[DAFFYDC]

Last week Best Buy had the Fascinate for $100 now it's down to $50 this week. Wonder how much it'll be next week (the week I'll be eligible). A few people at work got the Fascinate so I had a chance to check it out some more and I've made my decision and will be getting one. I'm so confident with my decision that I just ordered a Ghost Armor full shield for it (so I'll have the shield ready to go as soon as I get the new phone). Maybe I'll post a review for Ghost Armor while I'm at it. Thanks for your help (along with some help from friends and co-workers too). Can't wait until next week. I just hope the price doesn't go up.

 

[Sta11i0n]

Don't worry. I can't imagine it would go up. If anything, at this rate, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it's the Verizon phone they select this week for their Free Phone Friday deal since it keeps getting lower and lower.

 

[senez]

I switched from an X to a Fascinate.

I liked the size of the Fascinate and the screen.

That said, the X was a smoother machine and I'm looking to try to trade my Fascinate to get back to an X.

So, there's that...

 

[ryan301.storm]

i dont have any major problems with mine. i dont use gps because i already have one lol, the call quality is good for me but the battery usage is the downfall.

 

[dr.duct_mossburg]

For me... It's Fascinate, hands down!

When I look at phones now, I look at hardware. Rooting is becoming A LOT more user friendly and is surprisingly extremely easy with the help of online user forums and youtube; between the two, you simply can?t go wrong.

That being said, I feel like the GPS issue is a bit over played. I use it all the time. The delay of turn by turn is in fact a few minutes longer (given on your location) than others, but it still show?s the direction list (which will get you on your way).

Call quality is perfectly fine. It?s on par with the droid X, and I feel like the Incredible may be a tad bit nicer. (Keep in mind; I have demoed all of these phones for at least 60 days or more.)

Screen quality? It?s all in the eye of the beholder. The X is by no means close to that of the Fascinate or the incredible. The incredible in my eyes is a better screen. The S-Amoled screen just over saturates the colors. It looks better than the other phones but to a trained eye it simply looks over saturated (which I happen to like).

The reason I?ve chosen to stay with the Fascinate is this?

It is imo the ?best all around? screen available. It?s not too big like the x, and not too small like the incredible. It?s clearer, and better color than the X, not as good as the incredible.

32gb is plenty of memory for me, This is a mobile device. Taking your entire movie collection? There is nothing mobile about that.

The A8 is an awesomely quick processor. I?d take on the X, or incredible any day of the week.

It?s a thin light weight phone. Throw it in the front pocket of your dress pants and it?s not annoying. You also don?t look super excited to see that girl from high school like you would with the X (though this could get you some ?big boy? points if she was the class you know what..)

After rooting the phone, it?s a true pleasure to have.

The camera? It depends? but lets be honest... Most of the pictures stay on your phone for you to show to people. That being said, they all appear a lot better than the pictures on the incredible or X... Looking for a camera to make a photo album with? Stop being a cheap ass and buy a SLR or something of that caliper. They can be had on ebay for as low as $250 now.

 

[_Zguy__]

There are very few differences in the phone
screens are samoled or bit larger
size is about the same
camera fas has better still x better vid
software is about the same, both are far from perfect
so its just personal preference
and 2.2 vs 2.1

 

[DAFFYDC]

The more you people talk about the Fascinate the more I can't wait to get it. I have a question about rooting. I wasn't originally planning on rooting the phone but it would be nice to get rid of all of the bloatware like VZ Navigator and City ID(who the hell needs that anyway?). If I rooted my phone, what then happens when 2.2 (Froyo) comes out? Do have have to "unroot it" apply the update then "re-root" it again. Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm still a noob with android so I don't know much about "rooting", don't even know what a kernal is. One more week to go until I can get the phone. and my Ghost Armor is already on its way.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

The more you people talk about the Fascinate the more I can't wait to get it. I have a question about rooting. I wasn't originally planning on rooting the phone but it would be nice to get rid of all of the bloatware like VZ Navigator and City ID(who the hell needs that anyway?). If I rooted my phone, what then happens when 2.2 (Froyo) comes out? Do have have to "unroot it" apply the update then "re-root" it again. Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm still a noob with android so I don't know much about "rooting", don't even know what a kernal is. One more week to go until I can get the phone. and my Ghost Armor is already on its way.

That's exactly what you're going to have to do. I'd also strongly advise you read this thread for the apps that are safe to rename/remove. As the article states, it is strongly recommended you also simply rename the files. They will need to be there when it comes time to update.

 

[DAFFYDC]

Well, the price at Best Buy just went back up to $100. I noticed Amazon Wireless had it for $39 plus I was thinking about getting the wife a DroidPro which is $50 at Amazon (plus Best Buy stopped selling the Droid Pro). Has anyone purchased phones from Amazon? From what I've read the process is pretty seemless. Plus we also save on our Verizon data plan because of where my wife works (these aren't company phones but we get a discount), wonder if we'll continue to get a discount if we get the phones from Amazon. I'd imagine so but not 100% sure.