First Impressions Of Vibrant

[rprince23]

So I have spent a full day with my Vibrant. The phone is amazing, but Tmobile absolutely sucks. I'm getting dropped calls and horrible 3G connection. I love this phone but I have just about had it with Tmobile. Will this get better with HSPA+ or will we get the same spotty coverage? I'm seriously considering taking this device back and waiting for the Fascinate to come out on Verizon , which by the way has led flash on the camera. I would love to know what you guys have experienced and your overall thought on the matter.

 

[landale]

I had been with Sprint for 11 years before coming to T-Mobile so I was a bit nervous about the switch but coverage here in Houston has been fantastic and there is a hallway in my building that I used to always drop call and I haven't with my Vibrant. I typically spend 99% of my time in major cities so I wouldn't expect too much trouble. Where are you located?

 

[buckeyedroid]

coverage in my area, columbus, oh., is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[iPenguin]

If you live in a smaller-ish city, then your coverage won't be great most likely. If you have to travel and go through small areas, don't expect too much. HSPA+ will deploy in bigger cities first, so you might never get it in the lifetime of your Vibrant, but I do have to say it is fast. In your case, I would say wait for the Fascinate.

 

[rprince23]

If you live in a smaller-ish city, then your coverage won't be great most likely. If you have to travel and go through small areas, don't expect too much. HSPA+ will deploy in bigger cities first, so you might never get it in the lifetime of your Vibrant, but I do have to say it is fast. In your case, I would say wait for the Fascinate.

That's what is so weird. I live in Chicago. I would think that I would have great coverage. And I live in downtown metropolitan Chicago. I don't know. Maybe I'm expecting too much. I'm going to give it a couple of more days and see if it gets better.

 

[WxAxGxS]

That's what is so weird. I live in Chicago. I would think that I would have great coverage. And I live in downtown metropolitan Chicago. I don't know. Maybe I'm expecting too much. I'm going to give it a couple of more days and see if it gets better.

I have the same issue in Minneapolis. I get 3 bars Edge and no 3G where I live (about two miles outside downtown) and 2 bars 3G where I work (about a mile outside downtown on one of the largest university campuses in the US). Coverage elsewhere in town is spotty at best.

I never had any issue with reception with my last phone, granted it was a ~5 year old EDGE flip phone.

 

[kbohip]

It may not be T-Mobile's fault. I've noticed this phone has problems getting a good signal a lot of the time. For instance in my house I sometimes get no bars at all, although the phone seems to still make and receive calls fine. With my old Motorola Cliq XT, I've never seen it drop below 2 bars and it mostly stays at 4 (out of 5). Lol, I think Samsung copied the iPhone so much they even copied Steve's crappy antenna design.

 

[swb]

... but Tmobile absolutely sucks. I'm getting dropped calls and horrible 3G connection.

Where are you? Locations vary, and it's good to reports for each major location.

 

[noonehereyet]

Ok, my take on the phone...

Touchwiz is a boggy iphone looking waste of space although a HUGE improvement over previous versions, the lack of track ball and led light are a draw back but not a deal breaker... The phone is definitely fast noticeably faster than stock N1 when it comes to video/audio/gaming other functions hard to say seems about the same as the N1... phone is light and its the weight that makes it feel fragile not the material the materials alone are good but when the phone weighs half the weight of something half its size your just going to feel like your man handling it even if it can handle it..... All in all its a solid fast good phone worth the purchase....

Recommendations:
Root the phone, fix the lag issues with the bug fixes, replace touchwiz with ADW or other launcher, loose swype as its too big of a screen to use it properly IMHO (4 inch swype inst exactly fast) and regular text seems to work better... and if you do all of this the phone is MUCH faster than when purchased... I'll play with mine a few more days see what else I come up with...

 

[spiz]

Good points noonehereyet...

On a side note to anyone not wanting to mess with root or lag fixes right now, just simply using a home replacement increases performance immensely. TouchWiz is cool, but after using it for a couple of days, the new-factor wore off and am now very happy with Launcher Pro Plus.