Samsung Fascinate- Thoughts?
benandmargi
Newbie

I'm thinking of getting a new phone (the Samsung Fascinate) and I want to know what people think of it. I've heard many good reviews, but I've heard some bad ones as well. Tell me what y'all think about...hmm.. the battery life, reliability (not dropping calls, good reception, etc.), texting (Easy-to-use keyboard?), and an overall rating of this phone. Thanks.

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mdram4x4
Champion - Level 1

 


benandmargi wrote:

I'm thinking of getting a new phone (the Samsung Fascinate) and I want to know what people think of it. I've heard many good reviews, but I've heard some bad ones as well. Tell me what y'all think about...hmm.. the battery life, reliability (not dropping calls, good reception, etc.), texting (Easy-to-use keyboard?), and an overall rating of this phone. Thanks.


 

batt life: i easliy go from 6am to 11pm and have 70% of batt left, and i do not run any task killer

dropped calls: none that i can remember

reception: fine

gps: no issues.

texting: i dont text alot but it seems fine to me

 

its a good phone, theres alot of dev support if your into that stuff, but its a warranty violations

 

remeber its still on 2.1, so if you need 2.2 for flash, and some other things, you may wanna wait a bit.

samsung has released the 2.2 source, but vzw has not annonced anything about an update yet

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42 Replies
mdram4x4
Champion - Level 1

 


benandmargi wrote:

I'm thinking of getting a new phone (the Samsung Fascinate) and I want to know what people think of it. I've heard many good reviews, but I've heard some bad ones as well. Tell me what y'all think about...hmm.. the battery life, reliability (not dropping calls, good reception, etc.), texting (Easy-to-use keyboard?), and an overall rating of this phone. Thanks.


 

batt life: i easliy go from 6am to 11pm and have 70% of batt left, and i do not run any task killer

dropped calls: none that i can remember

reception: fine

gps: no issues.

texting: i dont text alot but it seems fine to me

 

its a good phone, theres alot of dev support if your into that stuff, but its a warranty violations

 

remeber its still on 2.1, so if you need 2.2 for flash, and some other things, you may wanna wait a bit.

samsung has released the 2.2 source, but vzw has not annonced anything about an update yet

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benandmargi
Newbie

Thanks! That's really helpful. I'm thinking of going to a Verizon store to check one of 'em out. 

 

 

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wildcat1935
Newbie

It also supports Family Locator and NFL Mobile something the Thunderbolt doesn't.

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ts87016
Newbie

Anyone with info on syncing your Outlook contacts and calendar with the Samsung Fascinate?  I just got the new phone and haven't explored yet how to do this.  I was told it could be done by Verizon but not sure how easy it is or if there is a third party app required.  Any info appreciated.  Tahnks

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mdram4x4
Champion - Level 1

 


ts87016 wrote:

Anyone with info on syncing your Outlook contacts and calendar with the Samsung Fascinate?  I just got the new phone and haven't explored yet how to do this.  I was told it could be done by Verizon but not sure how easy it is or if there is a third party app required.  Any info appreciated.  Tahnks


you need 3rd party software, look in the android market

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nickjr
Contributor - Level 3

mdram4x4 wrote:

 


ts87016 wrote:

Anyone with info on syncing your Outlook contacts and calendar with the Samsung Fascinate?  I just got the new phone and haven't explored yet how to do this.  I was told it could be done by Verizon but not sure how easy it is or if there is a third party app required.  Any info appreciated.  Tahnks


you need 3rd party software, look in the android market


Search for Google Apps Sync for Microsoft® Outlook software and install it.. It will sync your calender with outlook
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dag4192
Enthusiast - Level 1

I have to tell you the Samsung Fascinate is the worst phone I have ever owned.  I have to pull the battery every couple of days, because if I do not I cannot receive or send any messages.  And when this happens I have no way of knowing it.  I hate this phone.  I never have service - it is bad.

 

GBinHockley
Newbie

Generally very happy. Display is GREAT. Swype is GREAT. Slim, Light. Would trade weight for better battery life. Trouble with 2.2 update Smiley Sad

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vlrech
Enthusiast - Level 1

I also am having problems with the update. It is really draining my battery. I talked with service and they want to do a restore on the phone. I am not ready to do that, I will have to restore all my apps and everything I have downloaded. I have heard conflicting information. I read that anything you download that is free, needs to be downloaded again. Losing everything already stored (if playing games etc, is everything lost) Lots of time spent on some of these and not ready to give that up. Today I was told that gmail somehow would help to get all the apps back. Didn't have this problem before the update. Very annoying.

LKOLIVER
Enthusiast - Level 1

My phone went through the update and that was the end of it. Now when I hit a button I have to wait anywhere form 30 seconds to two minutes before it will register and go through, and texts are a waste at this point. Texts I sent last week are just leaving my phone and going through today.

 

I went to the Verizon Store and they did a full reboot on the phone to see if that would fix it. It didn't, but they did manage to delete ALL of my contacts, both work and personal, and were not able to get them back. So now I am starting from scratch waiting on Verizon to ship a replacement phone to my house. Hopefully the next one will be better. I really liked the phont up until the last two weeks or so when all the problems started.

AyaniB_VZW
Verizon Employee

Hi LKOLIVER,

 

I am happy to see we were able to send you a replacement and hopeful your issues will be resolved.  Please keep me posted. 

 

 

 

Thank You,

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Frezurasov
Newbie

 I am having the same issues.  So to no response when touching the widgets and icons.  Battery life lasting about 6 hours with less then 5 phone calls.  They sent me a refurbished Fascinate to solve the issue.  I've had it two days and am having them send another one because this has the same issues.  Also, I get a "Sorry!  Process com.sec.android.app.twlauncher is not responding"  message all the time now.

 

My options through Verizon were to get another Fascinate shipped (#3), buy a pre-owned certified off the website, or buy a new phone.  Options #2 and #3 would be money out of my pocket with no return for a 1 year old $400 phone!  I am going to have the continue to ship me a Fascinate until they give me a better option then that!  I am willing to pay for an upgrade, but not a retail price with no money back for this thing.

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marstellerd
Enthusiast - Level 2

I'm having problems with the Fascinate. It worked GREAT when I first bought it, then it went through the "update". Now it freezes constantly. I have to take out the battery and restart anywhere from 3 -4 times a day.  People have tried to call me and it "force closes" phone calls.

 

The biggest joke is thinking that Verizon will help you. They truly, truly do not care.  They care when it comes to selling you phones, but when it comes to helping you with problems - you're better off talking to a wall. It truly is a shame how disgraceful their costumer service is.

wardcst24
Contributor - Level 2

Sounds Like you need to start in safe mode to see if it is a app that has a conflict

or do a factory reset which should cure your Problem

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Not applicable

Marstellerd, I'm sorry to hear you are still having issues with your Fascinate and that you feel that way about our customer service. I do want to help. The latest software update ED05 has resolved the majority of the issues with the Fascinate. Does your phone freeze on any certain applications? I agree with wardcst24 in that you should try booting the phone into safe mode to see if any applications running in the background could be causing this issue.

 

If not happening in safe mode, this could be an issue with an application. It is very likely that an application that was designed for Eclair, will not work on Froyo. If it is still happening in safe mode, I would suggest a factory reset. This will wipe all data and set to default settings. Your SD card will not be affected. As long as your contacts are backed up to either Google or Backup Assistant, you will be able to restore those. 

 

Lastly, if a factory reset still does not resolve your issue, we can replace your phone thru the manufacturer warranty. 

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adclose
Newbie

MarquiaF_VZW - you are of course aware of all the problems with the ED04 update (2.2 Froyo).  Does the ED05 update solve these problems?

 

If so, how do I download that update - when I go to Update on the device, it only gives me ED04 to download, not ED05.

 

What is the software version that this represents?  - e.g. 2.2 xx

 

Thanks.

 

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VZW_consumer
Contributor - Level 1

adclose,

 

FYI - If you update to 2.2 (Froyo) you will not be able to go back to 2.1 Eclair.  Upon installing the ED04 update the ED05 update will be available.  If you then do a factory reset on your phone it will default back to the ED04 update (2.2 Froyo).

 

Good Luck!

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nickjr
Contributor - Level 3

VZW_consumer wrote:

adclose,

 

FYI - If you update to 2.2 (Froyo) you will not be able to go back to 2.1 Eclair.  Upon installing the ED04 update the ED05 update will be available.  If you then do a factory reset on your phone it will default back to the ED04 update (2.2 Froyo).

 

Good Luck!


Unless you visit another site to go back to 2.1 if one so desires....
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kpoole2287
Newbie

Download two apps, home switcher and GO launcher EX. I highly recommend the full line up that GO DEV offers. GO SMS pro, launcher EX, widgets, all of them. It has a handy task killer widget that does not require any additional downloads. I absolutely hated my fascinate before I started using SMS pro and now launcher EX. It easily increased the speed of my fascinate five times and I could not be happier. It does take some tweaking to get it how you want it, but I enjoy that. I can fully customize how my phone looks and operates all with a simple home screen launcher app. I was considering switching to the iphone 5, but after realizing tonight everything that GO launcher EX can do I will never leave android. I work at Radioshack and install this on almost all of my customer's phones who are tech savvy enough to use it.

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tduke100
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hope you haven't bought a Samsung Fascinate.  Wait until they fix the 2.2 update issues.  I would NOT recommend the Fascinate right now.  Mine has all sorts of problems.