Considering the Samsung Fascinate and Verizon? Well Please do!!

[ladybell]

Go ahead and CONSIDER THE SAMSUNG FASCINATE AND VERIZON!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so I have had this new Fascinate for about two months.  I was a avid blackberry (crackberry) fan for many years but became increasingly annoyed at little things my blackberry would do or would not do over my ownership.  So I get this Fascinate and had to return the first unit within 3-5 days because my first one had an overly sensitive speaker which disturbed my callers (not me my end was crystal clear).  Done! My poor inexperienced newbie of a rep managed to get me through on a new phone and my callers were much happier to have clear calls.  Me too since it helped them to stop yelling at me. Tier 2 tech support did what they could, validated my issues and simply helped to get a replacement.

This phone has allot of features I am not used to.  The whole android world is a completely new game for me and I know I am not the only one.  I came to this forum along with forums for android central and new-Samsung-phones and I have learned a great deal about what my device will do.

However this forum (with a few notable exceptions) can taint the average purchaser.  I was with ATT for 10-15 years.  No true complaint other than the bill at the end of an untimely contract period and dropped calls.  But I needed more service area and switched to Verizon.  I haven't requested allot of Verizon Customer Service but when I have I have found the tier 2 tech support to be much improved over in store assistance. Although there is one store local to me that has a gem of an employee.

The screen on this phone is great (size, color clarity).  The clarity in videos is shocking.  The MENU BUTTON IS MY FRIEND!  Not to mention the MORE area on many screens. The camera has so many more features than I expect and takes great pics.  Sure some of the bloatware is less than desirable but last I checked most smartphone owners get this so it's nothing new. The phone is relatively easy to set up and yet I learn something new ALL THE TIME.  Apps are plentiful and download easily.  Email accounts are easy to set up.  Contacts from Microsoft Outlook are attainable although not with the ease of BB/RIM but with help can be done.  Gmail is different but another good source for back-up.  There is lots of storage space on this device.  The ability to Skype on this phone is a great feature to have. The GPS for me has locked on to my locations easily and that is great since I travel and require this. Bluetooth synced up quick and easy. The size of the phone is great.  Swype is a great way to text.  Speak to text is awesome.  There are lots of reasons to consider this phone. The processor is pretty nice as well.

The cons as you can read in many posts here are upset hopefuls for the new 2.2 froyo update.  Whatever.  It will come when it comes.  Oh and the cradle that only outputs with the new upgrade.  Wait for the upgrade.  BING. This is the default search.  So just don't push the button if you don't like Bing.  Add the Google page as your main browser page or add a Google widget to your screen.  All this BING junk is completely avoidable.  Battery life..... well..... I got lots more time out of my blackberry battery.  You know why?  Because it wouldn't do have the stuff this phone can do.  It literally took all day to download some apps to that old device and the screen was too small to view all the things I can view now.  Websites come in all the way unlike what I experience with BB.  The touch screen allows for zooming and so forth.  So yeah.  My playing with the darn phone eats up battery life.  Just get the extra chargers.  Really?  I had just as many for my blackberry.  No big deal.  When you travel allot you just get use to it. 

So let's here from the people who LIKE the device, who don't just want to post to fuss about what they DON'T HAVE.  Some people get bad customer service because they are bad customers, some customers get bad service because the CS reps are poorly trained.  It's a crap shoot.  To those of you who have helped me with my recent questions, I really do thank you for the input.  For those of you considering the Fascinate ... I think it's fascinating personally but you should just go test it out for yourself. 

[bigfrank69]

Glad to hear positive feedback about the fascinate which i also love but so much negative talk about it scares me being I've had for more than a month now and cant exchange. So thank you Ladybell and I agree great phone and will wait for update Froyo plus I do have a car charger now.

[ladybell]

Just tired or hearing allot of negative too.  I think the phone has great features. I haven't found any software that didn't need tweaking or upgrading at some point.  Or some electronic device that was free of defects. Thanks for even replying.  It seems the only threads on here that get the most replies are the train wrecks. 

Just think if there are people looking for a switch they should at least get some real feedback from current users. 

[bigfrank69]

Oh I love ya for all you have said now for the rest to read it and think about all the good the phone has for us. Fascinate #1

[steveanderson13]

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ladybell wrote:

  I came to this forum along with forums for android central and new-Samsung-phones and I have learned a great deal about what my device will do.

However this forum (with a few notable exceptions) can taint the average purchaser.

So let's here from the people who LIKE the device, who don't just want to post to fuss about what they DON'T HAVE.  ... I think it's fascinating personally but you should just go test it out for yourself. 

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Thank you for the enlightening post and an upbeat, positive attitude.  I don't even have that phone but still enjoy reading the posts and trying to help out.  But you are right and I have noticed a difference between this forum and the "generic" ones.  The generic ones seem better because the people want to solve problems by helping each other.  They are much more enjoyable and educational to read.  That goes way back to bulletin boards and chat rooms.  I sometimes wonder if there are propaganda wars going on and many get caught up in it.  Not to deny issues because there are certainly those.  But I would hope the forum would be used to address problems that can be solved; not those that can't.  

[bigfrank69]

Steveanderson13 please list some of the other forums, I would like to check them out. The more the better I think with more ideas and problem solving from others.

[Anonymous]

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ladybell wrote:

Go ahead and CONSIDER THE SAMSUNG FASCINATE AND VERIZON!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so I have had this new Fascinate for about two months.  I was a avid blackberry (crackberry) fan for many years but became increasingly annoyed at little things my blackberry would do or would not do over my ownership.  So I get this Fascinate and had to return the first unit within 3-5 days because my first one had an overly sensitive speaker which disturbed my callers (not me my end was crystal clear).  Done! My poor inexperienced newbie of a rep managed to get me through on a new phone and my callers were much happier to have clear calls.  Me too since it helped them to stop yelling at me. Tier 2 tech support did what they could, validated my issues and simply helped to get a replacement.

This phone has allot of features I am not used to.  The whole android world is a completely new game for me and I know I am not the only one.  I came to this forum along with forums for android central and new-Samsung-phones and I have learned a great deal about what my device will do.

However this forum (with a few notable exceptions) can taint the average purchaser.  I was with ATT for 10-15 years.  No true complaint other than the bill at the end of an untimely contract period and dropped calls.  But I needed more service area and switched to Verizon.  I haven't requested allot of Verizon Customer Service but when I have I have found the tier 2 tech support to be much improved over in store assistance. Although there is one store local to me that has a gem of an employee.

The screen on this phone is great (size, color clarity).  The clarity in videos is shocking.  The MENU BUTTON IS MY FRIEND!  Not to mention the MORE area on many screens. The camera has so many more features than I expect and takes great pics.  Sure some of the bloatware is less than desirable but last I checked most smartphone owners get this so it's nothing new. The phone is relatively easy to set up and yet I learn something new ALL THE TIME.  Apps are plentiful and download easily.  Email accounts are easy to set up.  Contacts from Microsoft Outlook are attainable although not with the ease of BB/RIM but with help can be done.  Gmail is different but another good source for back-up.  There is lots of storage space on this device.  The ability to Skype on this phone is a great feature to have. The GPS for me has locked on to my locations easily and that is great since I travel and require this. Bluetooth synced up quick and easy. The size of the phone is great.  Swype is a great way to text.  Speak to text is awesome.  There are lots of reasons to consider this phone. The processor is pretty nice as well.

The cons as you can read in many posts here are upset hopefuls for the new 2.2 froyo update.  Whatever.  It will come when it comes.  Oh and the cradle that only outputs with the new upgrade.  Wait for the upgrade.  BING. This is the default search.  So just don't push the button if you don't like Bing.  Add the Google page as your main browser page or add a Google widget to your screen.  All this BING junk is completely avoidable.  Battery life..... well..... I got lots more time out of my blackberry battery.  You know why?  Because it wouldn't do have the stuff this phone can do.  It literally took all day to download some apps to that old device and the screen was too small to view all the things I can view now.  Websites come in all the way unlike what I experience with BB.  The touch screen allows for zooming and so forth.  So yeah.  My playing with the darn phone eats up battery life.  Just get the extra chargers.  Really?  I had just as many for my blackberry.  No big deal.  When you travel allot you just get use to it. 

So let's here from the people who LIKE the device, who don't just want to post to fuss about what they DON'T HAVE.  Some people get bad customer service because they are bad customers, some customers get bad service because the CS reps are poorly trained.  It's a crap shoot.  To those of you who have helped me with my recent questions, I really do thank you for the input.  For those of you considering the Fascinate ... I think it's fascinating personally but you should just go test it out for yourself. 

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So let me get this straight.  You get "tired" of hearing people voice their disatisfaction with the Fascinate and thus wanted to create a thread where people can voice the so called positives.  Yet in your statement you single handedly try and trivialize the problems that many Fascinate owners have.  You also single handedly talk down to the people voicing those concerns here.  You also have the guts to tell people to go out and spend more money on a device to make it work "normally"?  What kind of crap is that?  No one should ever have to spend extra money like that.  If you have to "not use" your device to preserve the battery life or go out and spend money on "more chargers" then the device was designed poorly.  Also, just because you can tolerate the device don't have the attitude with people that can't tolerate and thus voice their valid concerns here.  Just because you have it set and ran through in your mind on why you tolerate the device or like the device does not mean you should expect others to feel the same way you do which is exactly what you're doing in your statement.   You like the device? You're happy with it?  Good for you....but, dont be so condescending.  If anything, with all the complaints you see on forums, it should actually tell you something like...gee, maybe there is a lot of really unhappy users out there that are upset because of bugs, lack of timely updates and so forth.  Try and keep that in mind.

[10sEn]

I'll have to agree with (almost) everyone else here.  It's quite refreshing to read something other than incessant whining about the same issues from the same few people on the site.

I absolutely love this phone, especially after customizing it.  (My warranty is still good, in case someone jumped to conclusions about what I was saying.  I'm just using a different launcher from the market.)  There's so much people could be doing with their phones that they may not know about because they are fixated on things that are beyond their control.  If they spent the time they gripe about their phone to learn more about it, they might actually find that it's really cool.  One of these days, I think it might be fun to do a "See what you can do on your Samsung Fascinate" post to show people what downloading some free apps will do for their phones.

fyi, ladybell, using a Google widget still takes you through Bing.  The only way to circumvent the Bing issue is to go to Google.com on your browser (but one can place a Google bookmark on the home screen).  But I honestly don't see what the big deal is other than it's Microsoft.  It still gives good search results.

btw, they do have apps on the market that supposedly help with battery life.  I'm testing one out, and I'm only noticing some marginal gains at the moment.  I say marginal because some days it's really good and others it's not that different.  If I find one that works well, I'll be sure to mention it.  I just need to standardize the testing first so I have equivalent comparisons.

[steveanderson13]

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bigfrank69 wrote:

Steveanderson13 please list some of the other forums, I would like to check them out. The more the better I think with more ideas and problem solving from others.

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Sure, ok this is my favorite because it is well organized, there are a lot of knowledgeable people, they are enthusiastic and sincere and excited about what they do.  

http://androidforums.com/samsung-fascinate/

If you would like to know more about anything or everthing Howard Forums is a good place.  They cover a LOT.  It is a good place to ask questions. 

http://www.howardforums.com/forum.php

xda is much more technical.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=718

The Saumsung site does not seem very navigable or interactive, although I was able to find instructions today on another phone when I couldn't on the Verizon site.  The "community" doesn't compare.

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/SCH-I500RKAVZW?

[steveanderson13]

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SBacklin wrote:

So let me get this straight.  You get "tired" of hearing people voice their disatisfaction with the Fascinate I didn't read this in the original post.  Did anyone else?

 Yet in your statement you single handedly try and trivialize the problems that many Fascinate owners have.  You also single handedly talk down to the people voicing those concerns here.  I didn't read this either.  Did anyone else?

You also have the guts to tell people to go out and spend more money on a device to make it work "normally"?  Money for a car charger?  That is bad?

 don't have the attitude with people that can't tolerate and thus voice their valid concerns here.  Just because you have it set and ran through in your mind on why you tolerate the device or like the device does not mean you should expect others to feel the same way you do which is exactly what you're doing in your statement.  Did the poster mean that?  Perhaps it is the incessant, never-ending, repeated, complaining, threatening, hostile, blaming, shortsighted, demanding, belligerent, negative tone to some posts that the OP wished to counter with their own experience, especially coming from a Blackberry and another carrier.   

.but, dont be so condescending.  If anything, with all the complaints you see on forums, it should actually tell you something like...gee, maybe there is a lot of really unhappy users out there that are upset because of bugs, lack of timely updates and so fortIh. Don't know how a different experience is condescending. Sometimes we learn from others.  The unhappiness is obvious--bugs are normal, the Fascinate may be worse for some, I don't know, I wouldn't have kept it with a bad GPS; it would have been returned for another phone or carrier.  What is a timely update?  What is the standard?  I already know the various companies records--it's been published.  

Please others chime in.  One thing the OP said that is definitely true--other forums are made better by the users.

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