Should official upgrades be a concern?

[Bwangster12]

So I get my upgrade on Friday and all signs are pointing to me getting the Fascinate. I don't wanna wait 3-4 months for one of the CES phones and I don't plan on springing for a LTE plan anyway.

That being said, my only concern with the Fascinate is obviously updates. Should that be a concern? I'm fine with rooting and learning to flash, but is that good enough? I know no one can predict it, but do dev communities release new versions of Android? I know 2.2 is being worked on by XDA but what's the chances the Fascinate becomes forgotten in 3-4 months and doesn't get any new updates?

 

[NickA]

Yes, updates should be a concern with this phone. BUT, you'll love this phone right out of the box. Don't worry about 2.?, unless there is a specific app that only runs on 2.2+, or you want Flash.

I'm sure you'll want to root to get rid of the bloatware, and maybe go with LauncherPro or ADW if you don't like TouchWiz (like I do), but you may not want to flash a new ROM at all.

 

[Bwangster12]

Well, I don't min about flash that mug as I've got used to not Gavin it on my iPod touch over the last two years. That being said, I don't like that the Fascinate needs 2.2 to have full google voice actions. That sucks, but I guess I could use Vlingo in the meantime right? The thing I don't like is apps only supported by certain versions... Like googles car app, or voice actions. That worries me.

 

[Bwangster12]

I mean is it a big concern that I should just get a Droid 2 or something, eventhough I'd much rather have the physical feel of a Fascinate? Will the dev community keep us to 2.3?

 

[Chris3D]

I mean is it a big concern that I should just get a Droid 2 or something, eventhough I'd much rather have the physical feel of a Fascinate? Will the dev community keep us to 2.3?

2.3 is being worked on as we speak, so it'll at least go that far. With so many new phones on the horizon, there's always the possibility the devs will leave for newer phones, but that's going to be true - with any phone. Even if this phone never goes past 2.3, it'll still serve it's purpose for the life of the contract.

As far as official updates go, I see them as pretty close to irrelevant. With the DL09 update, all the hardware works, and we're probably a handful of weeks away from a working unofficial 2.2. Anything official is going to be so loaded with bloat that rooting will be necessary to clean it up, and if you're going to root, you might a well just flash an unofficial ROM.

But all that said, the demonstrated lack of support and the lack of respect for the customer clearly demonstrated by both Verizon's and Samsung's continually unfulfilled claims of delivering 2.2 has really turned me off to both companies. When I replace this phone, there's a minimal chance I'd buy another Samsung, and if it's practical to ditch Verizon, I'll likely do so as well.

So, it's hard to say. You'd be going into it with far more information than a lot of us - basically knowing that you honestly count on a timely update, or possibly even an update at all. On the other hand, the hardware is great, and the phone as is works extremely well.

 

[Bwangster12]

I hadn't seen that 2.3 was being worked on. I saw Kaos on XDA was workin on 2.2 but I hadn't seen 2.3

 

[Kevin Gossett]

2.3 is being worked on as we speak... And the same dev that kept the Eris going long after its days were over is working on the Fascinate as well. We are in good developer hands

 

[tekhinator]

I don't see how it can be a deal breaker to you. Ive had my fascinate for 3 weeks and I still love it. Although all that talk going around about samsung not upgrading to 2.2 does concern me in some ways its not enough for me to hate the fascinate. With rooting you will be fine and you will still have 14 days I believe to return it if it doesn't fully satisfy you. I say go for it and see how it goes.

 

[Chris3D]

I hadn't seen that 2.3 was being worked on. I saw Kaos on XDA was workin on 2.2 but I hadn't seen 2.3

GingerBread for Fascinate is Coming from _birdman_

 

[Sta11i0n]

I'll admit when I got my Fascinate, the promise of 2.2 was appealing, but far from the deciding factor when selecting it. You'll quickly see that being on 2.1 does not detract from the appeal of the phone. Keep in mind that you're still upgrading from your previous phone and gaining features accordingly. It is certainly worlds better than my BB Storm. If 2.2 ever got fully denied to us, you still have our developer community that would do their best to get us a compromise with either their own version of 2.2, or at the least 2.2 features integrated into 2.1. I'm sure they could adapt our flash 9.1 to 10 like they applied the DJ05 GPS fix to DI01.

 

[Bwangster12]

Is the Nuance app that I see in the store basically a substitute for Google Voice Actions until 2.2 comes?

Yeah, I did not see the Gingerbread rom thread, but I mean, if we get an official/unofficial (Kaos) release of 2.2 and then at some point an unofficial release of 2.3... then thats it. Even if it ends up being just 2.2 I'd be fine. My concern was that 2.2 never comes.

 

[wtherrell]

If the devs can give me a fix to activate the audio jacks on the docks for FSN8then I really won't care if I get no more updates. The latest maintenance update fixed the GPS issue and the Navigation volume was solved thru "secret code string" hidden menu settings. Phone is awesome as is. I have one more NE2 coming in 2012 and there will probably be something more awesome then. As things stand now I would probably choose an HTC model as the updates seem to be more forthcoming for them. Could change by then tho.