Why is Fascinate Hush Hush? Cause of VZW, Moto or Samsung?

[Droidable]

Cancelled my Inc order for this today. I hope i didnt make a mistake..

 

[OldSmoky]

Cancelled my Inc order for this today. I hope i didnt make a mistake..

You did the right thing.

 

[Nicks88]

You did the right thing.

+1

 

[supersaki]

This phone will be out WAY sooner than Thanksgiving. It will likely have 2.2 by Thanksgiving time period I bet even. There is no way the other 3 carriers release this phone this month, and VZW waits 4.5 more months.. There is no info available of course on this, so it's anyone's guess for now. Mine is August ..

I know VZW has been better about this recently, but they have released phones a full year after the other carriers released theirs. Just being pessimistic.

Kidding about what? I said that the other 3 carriers are releasing the phone this month, and there is NO WAY that VZ will be waiting another 4+ months to release theirs .. You are the one who said you are betting on around Thanksgiving for VZ ... It's all speculation anyway until we hear something from VZW...

That was me.

[Edit:]
News says the T-Mo and ATT Galaxy have been rooted already and the CDMA ones shouldn't be much more difficult. The biggest turnoff of the Droid X is the locked bootloader (to me) and probable lack of custom ROMs. So this makes the Fascinate that much more, umm, fascinating.

 

[Don S]

Well I do have to say it appears more likely now than 2 days ago that there will be some VZW delay. It's odd how some blog sites are saying not to worry about it missing in the ad, but don't give a reason why we shouldn't worry. In any case, I am not very happy at this point, and don't know what to expect as far as a release timeframe now. I really wish VZW would just tell us something ..

 

[droid_head]

You did the right thing.

+1

Well I do have to say it appears more likely now than 2 days ago that there will be some VZW delay. It's odd how some blog sites are saying not to worry about it missing in the ad, but don't give a reason why we shouldn't worry. In any case, I am not very happy at this point, and don't know what to expect as far as a release timeframe now. I really wish VZW would just tell us something ..

The number of Android phones is starting to create a "marketing traffic jam" and that's about it in a nutshell. I think the Droid X kind of put a wrench in the works so to speak. Here's the positive points:

1. there's already videos out with phone in hand
2. there's already a full blown commercial made by Samsung
3. the Galaxy's are set to be launched with other carriers and we know damn well Verizon is not going to miss out on the thunder.

This phone is in the waiting and if you scale it against other phones in regard to HYPE vs. RELEASE DATE, then I think we will see this phone in the next month IMHO.

 

[Nicks88]

news says the t-mo and att galaxy have been rooted already and the cdma ones shouldn't be much more difficult. The biggest turnoff of the droid x is the locked bootloader (to me) and probable lack of custom roms. So this makes the fascinate that much more, umm, fascinating.

+ 100

 

[supersaki]

Well I do have to say it appears more likely now than 2 days ago that there will be some VZW delay. It's odd how some blog sites are saying not to worry about it missing in the ad, but don't give a reason why we shouldn't worry. In any case, I am not very happy at this point, and don't know what to expect as far as a release timeframe now. I really wish VZW would just tell us something ..

It may not ease your concerns much, but you really can't go by their 'summer catalogues'. They will show phones in it that don't come out for months, while others not in there will come sooner. It is by no means a complete listing of their phones, just phones they want to feature for one reason or another ($$$).

With that said, I still don't think we'd see the Fascinate til September at the earliest. I would love to eat crow on this one, however.

 

[arusky]

i'm also skeptical on releasing fascinate soon. even though other carriers launch galaxy s phones, it doesn't mean that verizon also has to.

more incredible coming in aug (for right size phone users)
verizon's best partner company's droid x coming tmr (for big screen lovers)
another moto's droid 2 coming soon (for qwerty users)

Those three are already attractive to the normal users who don't care about rooting.
Also, VZW has some kind of special relationship with motorola as anyone can tell, so there is no reason to risk of selling another well made phone (fascinate) to decrease the number of motorola's phone sale.

other carriers have galaxy s, and there seems not much people who will change the carrier just for that samsung phone. verizon already have attractive phone and some are coming, and VZW knows it.

Even if I could decide on fascinate's launch date, i would delay it as much as i can.
I know, it sucks, but there are bunch of people who don't even know what fascinate is and don't even care about it.

 

[Don S]

i'm also skeptical on releasing fascinate soon. even though other carriers launch galaxy s phones, it doesn't mean that verizon also has to.

more incredible coming in aug (for right size phone users)
verizon's best partner company's droid x coming tmr (for big screen lovers)
another moto's droid 2 coming soon (for qwerty users)

Those three are already attractive to the normal users who don't care about rooting.
Also, VZW has some kind of special relationship with motorola as anyone can tell, so there is no reason to risk of selling another well made phone (fascinate) to decrease the number of motorola's phone sale.

other carriers have galaxy s, and there seems not much people who will change the carrier just for that samsung phone. verizon already have attractive phone and some are coming, and VZW knows it.

Even if I could decide on fascinate's launch date, i would delay it as much as i can.
I know, it sucks, but there are bunch of people who don't even know what fascinate is and don't even care about it.

Of course many folks don't know about the Fascinate, simply because Verizon is purposely doing everything they can to keep it quiet, for the exact reasons you stated above IMO.

Having said that, it would seem to benefit no consumer for this to be delayed. It may help Verizon in some convoluted way (maybe they'll make more money from a Droid X sale than from a Samsung? Who knows.. Even if they somhow earn a little more from a Moto sale, there is no way that releasing this phone now would result in LESS overall sales for VZ, while delaying it as long as they are could result in exactly that however).

In any case there are many, many downsides to VZ and to the consumer with a delay of this. Think about it. If this thing releases in late September, or October say.. And rumored Android 3.0 GINGERBREAD comes out in late November, this phone could be 2 OS's behind in Android within a month of release - with many, many other BETTER, awesome Android phones rumored for the end of this year.

Perhaps there is some advantage to waiting somewhere, but all I see are disadvantages ..

 

[1hotlx]

I read something today that mentioned late August possibly because MS won't have Bing ready for another 6 weeks. IMHO going with Bing is a mistake so hopefully we can replace it with Google Maps. I was going to go with the X but after hearing about the locked boot loader and self destruct I am going to wait and see what the Fascinate has to offer. Even if I don't want to root or do custom roms I think it should be up to me not them.

BTW I have a Omnia that runs WiMo and its 5 mp camera is very very good for a camera on a phone anyway. And it is excellent in low light. MP don't need to be high to get a good picture just need quality.

 

[Don S]

I read something today that mentioned late August possibly because MS won't have Bing ready for another 6 weeks. IMHO going with Bing is a mistake so hopefully we can replace it with Google Maps. I was going to go with the X but after hearing about the locked boot loader and self destruct I am going to wait and see what the Fascinate has to offer. Even if I don't want to root or do custom roms I think it should be up to me not them.

BTW I have a Omnia that runs WiMo and its 5 mp camera is very very good for a camera on a phone anyway. And it is excellent in low light. MP don't need to be high to get a good picture just need quality.

Yeah, it's all guesses at this point for a release date.

As for the camera, it does look to be pretty nice I noticed. Reviews have been up and down for the still camera, but there are only a few examples photos around. The few I that have seen are nice though (like these do - especially if you size them to your screen ). The video camera looks great to me, among the best out there at all on a camera phone IMO.

It will be nice when it arrives ..

 

[F34R]

Cancelled my Inc order for this today. I hope i didnt make a mistake..

I did the same thing. I literally had the Dinc in my amazon cart ready to check out. Even still being on an Alltel contract(divested), I was willing to bite. Reading around while I was waiting for my son to bring me my CC, I found the fascinate. Canceled the Dinc order. Now I'm playing the waiting game too.

I saw the comparison pics between the Fasc and X. I played with the X a couple days ago, and it was awesome, just too big. I thought the Fasc would be smaller, and it is, just not as much a difference as I thought it'd be.

 

[droid_head]

I did the same thing. I literally had the Dinc in my amazon cart ready to check out. Even still being on an Alltel contract(divested), I was willing to bite. Reading around while I was waiting for my son to bring me my CC, I found the fascinate. Canceled the Dinc order. Now I'm playing the waiting game too.

I saw the comparison pics between the Fasc and X. I played with the X a couple days ago, and it was awesome, just too big. I thought the Fasc would be smaller, and it is, just not as much a difference as I thought it'd be.

you made a good choice. i think there are going to be a lot of issues down the road with the Incs. Just look at the Inc forum already.

As far as the release date, as fast as these Android phones are flying at us, and technology advancing, Verizon is going to have to do something. Logic tells me that this phone will come out in Aug. or Sept. Just my opinion - not trying to state fact here as obviously I don't have any proof, so no attacks please.

 

[Droidable]

I caved and got the X. Any developments in the next 30 days will determine if i keep it though. Im gonna stop in ATT to check out the captivate just to get an idea of what its gonna be like compared to the X.

 

[OldSmoky]

I caved and got the X. Any developments in the next 30 days will determine if i keep it though. Im gonna stop in ATT to check out the captivate just to get an idea of what its gonna be like compared to the X.

I too bought the X. I've had it since Thursday, and I can't say enough good about. I don't have one complaint about it.

 

[Droidable]

Over on another very popular forum i visit there hasnt been a post in the Fascinate pre release thread since the 16th! Its like nobody cares about this thing being launched

 

[OldSmoky]

Over on another very popular forum i visit there hasnt been a post in the Fascinate pre release thread since the 16th! Its like nobody cares about this thing being launched

For one Motorola generated a lot of interest through leaks. Also Motorola has a good history with Verizon and its users. Motorola delivered a great phone in the Droid so there is a lot of anticipation in the Droid X and Droid 2. Also, people see how Motorola is continuing to support the original Droid.

On the other hand Samsung is a lesser known quantity in the smart phone business with Verizon. They announced this phone in March, but didn't announce it's availability on Verizon until June 30 It's like they've been saying, "we got some really cool--just hold on. Trust us." Yeah, it sounds great, but show us your cards Samsung. From what I've read in the forums, Samsung has a poor history of supporting their phones.

Maybe Apple could get away with trying to generate that much interest with such a long lead time, but not Samsung. If Samsung is going to get a big foothold with Verizon users, it seems like they should make the full retail pricing very attractive so customers who are under contract can try it out. I don't see them knocking Motorola off their perch for a while without that.

 

[supersaki]

Over on another very popular forum i visit there hasnt been a post in the Fascinate pre release thread since the 16th! Its like nobody cares about this thing being launched

Not much to report really.. Everything to say has been said. It's all wait-and-see now.

For one Motorola generated a lot of interest through leaks. Also Motorola has a good history with Verizon and its users. Motorola delivered a great phone in the Droid so there is a lot of anticipation in the Droid X and Droid 2. Also, people see how Motorola is continuing to support the original Droid.

On the other hand Samsung is a lesser known quantity in the smart phone business with Verizon. They announced this phone in March, but didn't announce it's availability on Verizon until June 30 It's like they've been saying, "we got some really cool--just hold on. Trust us." Yeah, it sounds great, but show us your cards Samsung. From what I've read in the forums, Samsung has a poor history of supporting their phones.

Maybe Apple could get away with trying to generate that much interest with such a long lead time, but not Samsung. If Samsung is going to get a big foothold with Verizon users, it seems like they should make the full retail pricing very attractive so customers who are under contract can try it out. I don't see them knocking Motorola off their perch for a while without that.

Before the Droid, Motorola was on it's way out of the cellphone business. Of course I don't know the closed door dealings they did with VZW, but I'm betting they made quite a few concessions with their Android phones to get VZW support for the device. I'm guessing it's all of Moto's top tier android phones go to VZW exclusively, with maybe some greased palms to the VZW execs in the room.

As far as Samsung goes, they've never really promoted their phones heavily with any company. Retail pricing isn't something they will flex much on, and even so, VZW wouldn't promote it because retail phone sales is less than a drop in the bucket towards their revenue.

It's going to be a great phone, it's going to come out eventually. I'm glad it's not as hyped as the Droid X because then I can walk into a local VZW and pick it up without the hassle of lines/out of stock.

 

[rushmore]

I am hoping it is hush hush since they are still trying to decide if the VZW version will have 16gb instead of the SAD 2gb

I would gladly take the 16gb of built-in memory over a flash- for a phone. Even my N900 does not do as good a job as a basic stand-alone digital camera.

 

[rushmore]

I know VZW has been better about this recently, but they have released phones a full year after the other carriers released theirs. Just being pessimistic.



That was me.

[Edit:]
News says the T-Mo and ATT Galaxy have been rooted already and the CDMA ones shouldn't be much more difficult. The biggest turnoff of the Droid X is the locked bootloader (to me) and probable lack of custom ROMs. So this makes the Fascinate that much more, umm, fascinating.

What good is root, unless the Hummingbird drivers can be augmented for future roms? This will not be as easy as the good old days of just a few chipsets.

 

[Bearly]

Well, I think the 2 GB is so the Fascinate does not encroach on the Droid X and Droid Incredible (and upcoming Droid 2) phones.

So sad. If this thing had 16 GB and front facing camera, far less people would care about a Verizon iPhone.

 

[Bearly]

Cancelled my Inc order for this today. I hope i didnt make a mistake..

And when do you think this will be released? Serious question.

What's your impression so far?

 

[pw-man]

of course this won't answer any lingering questions about availability, but the Wall Street Journal had a full page ad on Monday from Samsung announcing the Galaxy S with all the carriers listed... Had Verizon and a few others (don't recall them all) listed as "soon"...

:-(

 

[NKT]

Well, it's just now being released for testing. Give it 6-8 weeks before it's launched.