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samsung fasciante or lg vortex?

I can upgrade now and I currently have the LG Dare. Im looking to upgrade to a smartphone and I have been researching what kind to get. I have narrowed it down to the Samsung fascinate and the lg vortex. I text a lot and get on facebook quite much so I need a phone that's battery can stand that. Any suggestions?

Comments

sandystorm

Get the Thinderbolt or wait till the LG Revolution comes out soon but dont get a Samsung product such as Fascinate

BerryN

100% agreed with Sandystorm. Wait for LG Revolution, HTC Thunderbolt is a first 4G device for Verizon and as it seems not all wrinkles were ironed yet. DO NOT get Samsung product of any type. Fascinate is still Eclair for the past 8 month with only empty promises from Samsung to upgrade it. Samsung is known for poor customer support. So if I would be you, I would concentrate on LG or HTC.

wardcst24

Any phone but a Samsung
No support for there products
I would almost consider different carrrer
Imo

Streetdoc740

I agree with the other posters. Dont buy the fascinate. It is way outdated software wise and the promised update is MONTHS overdue.

Do your homework. I would advise against any samsung product as well. While at one time it stood for quality products the past few i have had have had problems and have had no support for said problems only "we're sorry for the inconvience".

For that matter....verizon tech support has been less then sympatetic and less then helpful as well.

mdram4x4

meganfaith07 wrote:
I can upgrade now and I currently have the LG Dare. Im looking to upgrade to a smartphone and I have been researching what kind to get. I have narrowed it down to the Samsung fascinate and the lg vortex. I text a lot and get on facebook quite much so I need a phone that's battery can stand that. Any suggestions?

well based on the facebook thing you will want an extended battery with whatever phone you buy.

i usually wait until a phone has been out for 2-3 months to see how it does in the real world.

go to the store and play with the phones you are considering.

some people like a 4.3 screen

some thing its too huge and prefer a 4" or 3.5" screen

some like touchwiz, some like sense, some prefer a third part ui, some like vanilla android.

again you need to test them out for yourself

itzbob701

I agree with most of the others here... No Samsung!

Jax_Omen

Between those two, and only those two? Fascinate is better than the Vortex objectively, despite the horrendous software support. You're comparing a bad high-end phone to a good entry-level phone.

However, leaving the vacuum, pretty much every other high-end Android phone on VzW (Droid 2, Droid X, Droid Incredible, HTC Thunderbolt) is better than the Galaxy S phones due to software support.

nickjr

Not Samsung

ladybell

Objectively, I would also recommend you playing with both versions a few times and maybe visiting android centrals forum to get an idea from users there about the differences along with other comparison sites (cnet to name another). No matter what device you get at first the battery life is going to be a con because the device triggers allot of initial activity that will drain the battery. (we can help but play with them) However this may ease up with a little time and changes in your own usage and how you have the devices set up.

As far as the Fascinate, its a fast device. the screen is very vivid and most of us were sold on this screen. Up against any of the iphones, droids, LG's, the Atrix, this screen just cannot be beat. The camera features are very nice even with a 5mp camera. The MP is not that large of a factor. VZW and Samsung have provided the support I have needed so far with the device. They have not been great with getting the update to Froyo done just yet but if you want this, you can get it and I hear it makes this phone simply even more amazing. Coming to this forum to get advice on this device is basically going to turn you off because all these folks are going to spend their time whining about the lack of the Froyo update. However valid a point they may feel it is, Some of us would not agree 100%.

The screen is very responsive to touch. My battery usage is typical of a day so I have a home charger, one for work and one for my car but I had that same amount of chargers for my blackberry. Just a habit for me because unexpected things just happen. The user interface is Touchwiz, which is OK but you can go to the market and download others like ADW launcher or launcher pro and changes things up a little to personalize the device. My call clarity is great. Not on the first device as it had a noticeable issue with the speaker to those I called but my end was always crystal clear. VZW handled it and tech support was helpful and the device was replace with a new one immediately and I never had another issue. There have been a few times the screen has locked up but not many and never long enough to cause serious concerns to me in particular. video viewing is nice. Screen size and color saturation are great and I get no grainy pictures. If you are a gamer, I'd recommend you wait to go for a dual core device like the Thunderbolt I believe and I think this is preferred by many that are heavy gamers. Otherwise this device is really nice. It's slim and with an assortment of case you can beef up protection of it with say an otterbox case. Blue tooth connects so simply it is ridiculous. I personally like my device and the operating system was not the reason I bought is nor a promised update. I just like the power and operation of the device. Never had any issues with my Samsung products. Good luck and take your time checking out the devices so YOU know what makes or breaks the deal for you. Don't base your decision on a group of whiners who do not have a clear interest in helping you with a usage based reply.

ladybell

Oh and you have two options for texting with the Fascinate. You can use the android keyboard or swype. Double check these options. I am so addicted to my swype it is ridiculous. This is my first touch screen device besides my GPS and it's amazing how smooth, easy and responsive it is. I am on facebook chat and other functions on and off all day long. My battery is as I described before and got even better with a few tips I learned on a couple of forums.

ladybell

And while I am thinking about it, one of the benefits of the 2.2 I believe I have read is the fact that you can utilize your sd card storage better for more applications and other things of that nature. I have more than 200 pics, more than 600 text messages (that need to be cleaned up), I on average get 300-400 emails per day, I have a couple of videos I have taken with the device, downloaded 76 applications and I still have 1.2 GB on the device plus my 14.73 GB space on my sd card.

I don't recommend buying the dock they sell with the Fascinate as those who are complaining have pointed out only works with 2.2 froyo. I'd wait to make that purchase until the actual update is made available.

Sorry for all the posts but as I remember some things that may be helpful I just add another. :smileywink:

PJNC284

This is like comparing apples to oranges. The only brightspot of the Vortex is that it has Android 2.2 (Froyo) and is still nowhere near the same class as any of the Galaxy S line of phones like the Fascinate. Hardware-wise, the Fascinate is still arguably the best phone on Verizon in terms of form factor, screen, cpu and gpu. The lack of software support from Samsung and Verizon prevents it from being the absolute best overall device but it still performs just as well as any of the other high end Android handsets in Verizon's lineup.

Battery life on any of the Android phones isn't going to be anything to write home about. Data usage varies greatly from person to person and some will say they get great battery life but if you use it heavily, you better have a charger or spare batteries handy. The data centric nature of Android and the trend for larger screens are always going to make battery life a con for heavy users. It's just one of those things we sacrifice to keep us connected.

maryl

Do you absolutely have to upgrade now? If not, I would wait for one of the new Moto droids that are soon to be released. As much as I love my Fascinate, the lack of timely updates turned me against ever buying another of their phones. The Moto droids do get frequent timely updates, so my next smartphone will be a Moto droid. And yes I do realize I could have 2.2 on my phone now, but I want it to be an official release....

itzbob701

Maybe I should expand on my "No Samsung" comment from earlier at the risk of being labeled a "whiner". Many people are very happy with their Fascinate and many are not as you can see by looking at many other threads in this forum. Most like me are very frustrated because we were told by clueless verizon reps that issues and updates would be addressed promptly and they weren't. When they attempted to fix issues like GPS problems they broke something else like mounting with a Mac.

I have never been impressed with any LG small electronics, my GF and younger daughter have both had LG phones and they were not very good. I would recommend looking very hard at HTC phones and exploring what other carriers might have to offer. It never hurts to look.

Now on to my Fascinate review;

My positives for the fascinate, number 1 is the screen can't be beat, not by Iphone, not by HTC not any phone I have seen to date.

The size fits perfectly in my pocket, no battery cover bulge, no camera lens sticking out like the Droid X.

Location of power and volume buttons after you get used to them seem to be where they should have been on all phones.

The camera is pretty good and takes decent video.

The Samsung "Allshare" app is awesome for transfering music and picture files from a home computer or network to and from the phone.

Thinkfree Office is a very useful app if you use your phone for work.

Pretty much bulletproof. The screen is nearly impossible to scratch and does not need screen protectors, but some sort of case is probably a good idea.

The negatives have been covered.

Horrible software support. The best comparison I can make is buying a fascinate would be like buying a new PC that has top of the line hardware loaded with Windows XP as the operating system.

More and more new apps won't run on the outdated operating system.

Bing by default as search and map applications (google maps available from the Market) but search button always defaults to Bing.

Battery life is at best average with random stuff opening in background and chewing up battery life. All smartphones have bad battery life compared to old school phones.

No flash support and Skyfire is an option but not a great option.

GPS seems to work fine for some but not for others. Has always been hit or miss for me. Sometimes (about 40% of the time) I get a fix in seconds, sometimes 5 minutes or longer, sometimes doesn't connect at all without shutting off the phone and pulling the battery. These complaints have gone down so newer handsets might have fixed it.

Bluetooth has issues. I have a hands free adapter in my vehicle and have to go to settings every time to get it to connect. It does connect with my headset quickly.

Random (infrequently) reboots or freezes.

Back to the whining point. Every similar device has been upgraded to a newer version of Android and it is possible to do this yourself which carries some risk and is not something you should have to do yourself. I personally will not purchase another samsung product of any kind and will leave Verizon the second my current contract expires.

Shinebox

I would recommend the Fascinate over the LG Vortex. The screen and hardware make it one of the best devices that Verizon offers. The software support could be better, but the difference from 2.2 to 2.1 is hardly anything to write home about. 2.2 uses more battery and the GPS takes longer to lock than 2.1 with EA28

I am running 2.2 and will probably end up going back to 2.1 because the battery life is much better on that build.

nickjr

I guess you probably have a lemon, my 2.2 is now better with battery, no problem with gps, plus I can install apps on the sd card and flash support which is so important...........

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