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WHat should I do... to those that already own a Fascinate

Hi, I really need some advice about this phone from people who already own it.

I owned a Lg Env Touch and it was time to upgrade and sign up for another 2 years. My daughter got her Fascinate a couple of months ago and loves it. So I went out and got my Fascinate last Friday from Sam’s Club for only $48.99 (instead of $149 from Verizon or Best Buy) so I really like it considering the price and all. I was told it would be updating to 2.2 Froyo but now reading this board has me thinking about my choices before my time runs out (15 days) to return it if I decide to.

Oh and one other issue that I was told will get better is the battery life. It goes down pretty fast even when I’m at work NOT using it and I checked it says 0 programs are running. I took it off the charge and it was at 100% I only worked a half day (4 hours) and it was at 60% when I left work. It wasn’t on and I only used it once to check a text.

I had planned to wait for the Thunderbolt but the guy at Best Buy said if it were him he’d get the iphone. He said the reason it wasn’t shipping out is due to battery problem and I already am upset by that so I don’t need more battery issues.

I can get the iPhone 4 for $199 with the upgrade. The guy a Sams said if I return it is will be like I never upgraded it and I can start from scratch. They also said they will give me another Facsinate to try and see if the battery life gets better.

Ok so here are my choices:

I’m pretty good with software and I could upgrade to 2.2 myself or wait for the push (so I don’t screw up the warranty).
I could return it stick with my DUMB phone I hate the LG. Env pos for a few more months and then get the new Galaxy S that is coming out with the front facing camera.
I could return it to Sams and go to Verizon or Best Buy and get the iPhone. I’ve owned a ipod touch (several generations actually) for a few years and I am comfortable with it BUT I like the Android Phones better), I really would like a front facing camera to use Tango etc….

What are your opinions and what do you think of this phone verses the iPhone?

Comments

bigfrank69

I had the EnV Touch also and loved how quick I could text with my thumbs and the best phone I had for pictures. Now I have Fascinate and love what it can do and for the 2.2 dont worry it will come or even better talk about Gingerbread instead. This phone has great screen for viewing pics and vids and i did some vids on highest resolution HD and downloaded onto computer and then onto Youtube and watched on tv and they are fabulous. Stick it out just takes time at least for me typing on touch screen which I use voice to text the most and thats great too.

DonM

Just out of curiosity do you have Advanced Task Killer running? Also if you are still running Live Wallpaper try using a static image for a wallpaper. Both of those are battery killers.

If any installed apps are set to auto-check for updates, that will drain the battery.

bigfrank69

I also forgot to mention my phone also uses up battery quickly and have done what others told me to do and doesn't help, if im playing on it I can drain battery down to nothing in 4 hours. It can sit charged up and overnight drop 25 percent. People on here will say it will last a couple days but I have read other reviews on other sites and they say the batteries just dont last long on these smart phones. I dont use a task killer and manually shut everything off in the task manager. Keep the phone and love it.

jean001

Well I ended up having it replaced with another Fascinate. I really love the phone so I hope this one is better. I downloaded Beautiful Widgets on the first Fascinate (Clock / weather) I think it was $1.99. I was thinking maybe it was draining the battery. So this time I'm going to leave it off the phone for a few days to see if the phone is doing ok. Then if I add it and it starts draining down again I know if it was the widget.

HarleyDrifter

Welcome Jean001 and give us a report on the new phone and battery situation. Mine typically lasts about 3 days with moderate use but I can go 5 days if I only use it as a phone for about 30 minutes a day or so, but then what fun is that? My display brightness is set to minimum for indoors, and auto check for email updates is set to hourly. I also hit task killer nearly every time I close out. When I charge it up at night and then set it aside for 8 hours or so, it still appears to be fully charged in the morning, but if I'm on the gps or online continuously I maybe get 4-6 hours. The display itself uses more power than anything.

PJNC284

Battery life of an Android phone is what you make it and depends on many user controlled factors. Constantly using it for 4-6 hours can kill the battery can most should easily be able to get a full day with light to moderate usage. If the phone is dropping 25% overnight while sitting still, something is up. You can view what's using the battery by going to Settings-About Phone-Battery Use. There's also an app in the market called Battery History that can also be a big help. If running shows as 100% under Ither Usage, something is wrong.

The big draw is going to be the screen. Super Amoled screens use no power when displaying blacks but that's almost a moot point since most everything we do is white such as the browser. If possible use a dark wallpaper as every little bit helps. Don't use auto brightness. One good thing about Froyo when it becomes availble for the masses is that long pressing on the notification bar and sliding left/right will decrease/increase screen brightness without needing the power control widget or something similar.

Pretty much all apps that use data have refresh settings (email, widgets, etc). If you don't use gmail much, make sure email sync is turned off and just manually refresh whenever you need as having push email on can impact the battery. If you have multiple emails set in the email app, try bumping up the refresh rate.

For things like beautiful widgets, make sure it isn't set to refresh every 15 min. I have mine set to refresh every 4 hours and haven't noticed a huge impact on battery life. If you don't use your phone much, there's no point in having it update on it's own and you can set it to just refresh when you turn the screen on. Also make sure you don't have Force GPS checked and if you're location doesn't vary, manually enter the city instead of allowing it to use geolocation.

Use wifi whenever possible as it's probably going to be more stable than a 3G connection indoors. This can usually be the culprit if the phone is not being used and you're still seeing huge drops in battery life. Fluctuating 3G can be a huge drain.

As far as charging, eventhough some may be able to go 2-3 days before draining the battery, it's a better idea to put it on the charger every night, as opposed to draining it completely. Constant full discharges aren't good for the battery.

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