Engadget reviews and confirms no way of getting Google search without rooting

[TheXFactor]

Because not everyone is willing to root it, that is why their review is good. It points out the obvious flaws that this phone has, everyone would much rather have a choice in which search engine they use rather than being forced to use only one. That is a given.

Bingo! I just want to open the box, activate my phone and be on my merry way. I have no interest to root now or in the future.

The most informative part of the review was this:

Besides the bloatware and carrier changes (you'll find plenty of both here), TouchWiz itself is still a poor substitute for a solid, stock Android experience (or even a more advanced skin, such as HTC's Sense). On the Fascinate, as with the other devices in this series, it comes off as a pale and often buggy imitation of iOS --

and this:

More than once the phone locked up doing what we considered to be basic tasks, such as switching between apps or back to the homescreen. The Fascinate just seemed to stall out, often at the most inconvenient times, and we were left to simply wait until it sorted out whatever memory or processor issues it seemed to be having.

and this too:

We also noticed a weird delay when using the hard buttons along the bottom of the phone. Between pressing, feeling the haptic feedback, and actually seeing a result there was an almost (emphasis on almost) imperceptible pause for each action. Hitting the home button on the Captivate yields nearly instant results for us, but on the Fascinate there's a slight hesitation that makes the phone feel more sluggish than it actually is.

So it's not just about bing or the GPS. It's about this above. I had the Eris which was a complete disaster of a phone. Not that I'm comparing the 2, that would be foolish. It's about those weird glitches that make me wonder if this is really a high-end android device.

 

[wonsae]

the antenna problem was blown out of proportion and the operating system is by far the most user friendly and seamless os out in the market. In shot, it gets the job done. Much the same way the ipod caught on as a standard mp3 player, the iphone does the same thing in the same way. Does it satisfy everyone? No, but it does for the majority of the people that buy it.

Antenna problem was definitely not blown out of proportion. They had a conference about it and offered free bumpers because of their design flaw, pretty sure that was big. And I guess you're right about iOS but I rather have an android phone xD.

 

[Droidus]

Antenna problem was definitely not blown out of proportion. They had a conference about it and offered free bumpers because of their design flaw, pretty sure that was big. And I guess you're right about iOS but I rather have an android phone xD.

The conference was held because the media blew it out of proportion, it was a move to save face and keep the prestige they currently have it the market. If the problem was as real as people made it out to be, numbers would have come out against apple....but nothing has. The majority of people are happy with their phone. The apple hate is just ******ed and childish, phone fanboyism in general has to be one of the saddest things i've seen in the tech world.

 

[TheAlmightyDrew]

Bingo! I just want to open the box, activate my phone and be on my merry way. I have no interest to root now or in the future.

The most informative part of the review was this:



and this:



and this too:



So it's not just about bing or the GPS. It's about this above. I had the Eris which was a complete disaster of a phone. Not that I'm comparing the 2, that would be foolish. It's about those weird glitches that make me wonder if this is really a high-end android device.

Lmao. In Engadget we trust I guess? You realize there are other reviews out there. Engadget is just going off of what happened with their review model. It could have just been their review unit that was having some issues. In no other review have I heard of lag or freeze ups or problems with the capacitive buttons. Actually, it is only Engadget that has really ripped the phone to shreds. All the other reviews I have read have been very positive.

Also keep in mind that a review is simply one person's opinion. What you need to do is go to Verizon and play with TouchWiz for yourself, and not go off of what some stranger, who doesn't know what you will like and not like, is saying

 

[wonsae]

The conference was held because the media blew it out of proportion, it was a move to save face and keep the prestige they currently have it the market. If the problem was as real as people made it out to be, numbers would have come out against apple....but nothing has. The majority of people are happy with their phone. The apple hate is just ******ed and childish, phone fanboyism in general has to be one of the saddest things i've seen in the tech world.

O-o, never saw it that way xD. Hey don't get me wrong I own an ipod touch and the iphone4 does look sexy as hell. but I rather have an Android OS phone/PMP

 

[durangojim]

The problem with Bing is one issue for me, but what really bothers me is that they say the phone seems to studder or hang up, which my incredible never does, and I think any smart phone in this day and age should never do. I agree that Engadget reviews many times leave out important details, but for the most part they're pretty good and bring up valid points for non-rooters or hackers, which is ironic because I think that's who their biggest audience is.

 

[ckochinsky125]

The problem with Bing is one issue for me, but what really bothers me is that they say the phone seems to studder or hang up, which my incredible never does, and I think any smart phone in this day and age should never do. I agree that Engadget reviews many times leave out important details, but for the most part they're pretty good and bring up valid points for non-rooters or hackers, which is ironic because I think that's who their biggest audience is.

There is a lag fix ou there which supposedly fixes this and boost quadrant scores very much go check out the vibrant or captivate forums and see what people had before and after the lag fix

 

[Deleted User]

The fact is TouchWiz 3.0 is terrible, and no matter how much you want the Galaxy phones to be good they are just not. The hardware in them is ruined by Samsung's GUI, using Launcher Pro is sadly required. Then on top of that you have Verizon's stupidity with Bing being forced. So now we have a phone that requires Launcher Pro, and must be rooted to get Google back the way it should be.

The Engadget editor tore this phone a new ass because he is looking to switch to Verizon, so he has been personally using the Galaxy phones they have in detail to see if that is the one he makes the switch with. He started out liking TouchWiz, and after using it in detail hates it with a passion. He used a AT&T N1 for a long time, so he known what Android runs like normally even on a snapdragon.

A snapdragon with Vanilla or Sense runs better then a Galaxy with that crap GUI, I don't care what some dumb ass benchmark program says, it doesn't test day to day use or smoothness.

 

[TheXFactor]

Lmao. In Engadget we trust I guess? You realize there are other reviews out there. Engadget is just going off of what happened with their review model. It could have just been their review unit that was having some issues. In no other review have I heard of lag or freeze ups or problems with the capacitive buttons. Actually, it is only Engadget that has really ripped the phone to shreds. All the other reviews I have read have been very positive.

Also keep in mind that a review is simply one person's opinion. What you need to do is go to Verizon and play with TouchWiz for yourself, and not go off of what some stranger, who doesn't know what you will like and not like, is saying

The problem with Bing is one issue for me, but what really bothers me is that they say the phone seems to studder or hang up, which my incredible never does, and I think any smart phone in this day and age should never do. I agree that Engadget reviews many times leave out important details, but for the most part they're pretty good and bring up valid points for non-rooters or hackers, which is ironic because I think that's who their biggest audience is.

The fact is TouchWiz 3.0 is terrible, and no matter how much you want the Galaxy phones to be good they are just not. The hardware in them is ruined by Samsung's GUI, using Launcher Pro is sadly required. Then on top of that you have Verizon's stupidity with Bing being forced. So now we have a phone that requires Launcher Pro, and must be rooted to get Google back the way it should be.

The Engadget editor tore this phone a new ass because he is looking to switch to Verizon, so he has been personally using the Galaxy phones they have in detail to see if that is the one he makes the switch with. He started out liking TouchWiz, and after using it in detail hates it with a passion. He used a AT&T N1 for a long time, so he known what Android runs like normally even on a snapdragon.

A snapdragon with Vanilla or Sense runs better then a Galaxy with that crap GUI, I don't care what some dumb ass benchmark program says, it doesn't test day to day use or smoothness.

TheAlmightyDrew,

Hardly. But it seems others are of the opinion that:
a.) TW sucks
b.) The phone has lag issues
c.) The phone has been mightily dumbed down
d.) Bing is not the end users choice for search on a google phone

Goes to show, no matter how good the hardware is, if the software isn't up to the task, the phone is gonna suck. I am not going to waste my time checking this phone out at a store. I'm guessing like any of the other phones, we will sill more than a handful of users say it's great when we know it's not.

Good luck with the Galaxy bro.

 

[Raftysworld]

Yeah, it's pretty clear the Galaxy isn't what people hoped for, hence the defensive posts about it from some users here. It's a smartphone, guys. I know it sucks to invest lots of interest in an expensive gadget and find that it kind of sucks, but nothing is changed when you try to act like it doesn't.

I mean, good god, if iPhone users had to jailbreak just to use google search, we'd all be laughing our asses off.

 

[hanano17]

There's a lot of ignorance and bias in this forum, and I don't know why half of you even post if you aren't even considering getting this phone. Android phones by nature are made to be different, one will appeal to one crowd and another to a different crowd and so on. We are supposed to say that Engadget's review is the be all, end all of gadget reviews? I think not, if anything they are becoming the new cnet...and they are majorly biased in favor of apple products. You can tell us till you are blue in the face that the antenna issue for iphone 4 was blown out of proportion, but the truth is it was a big enough deal to call a conference for AND issue a "FIX", which was laughable, in the form of a bumper. It's weak multi-tasking and locked down OS aside, that alone should have kept it from getting a 9/10 on Engadget.

Is the Fascinate perfect? No, but neither is any other device out there...it'll be perfect for some people, and not for others. From the other reviews that have been put out, none have had nearly the the same amount of issues the Engadget one had, so that leads me to believe they got a bad egg...which we all know happens with every device. If you like the phone, but dislike TW, get a home replacement or root it and get rid of it. You know by now, with all the other SGS phones, what you are getting in general. So if the way it is bothers you, and rooting isn't for you, don't get it...its pretty simple. There's plenty of other Android phones out there, pick one that suits you in and out. Personally, the only thing I see wrong with the phone, is bing...which I will root out because I have no fear or concerns with having to root.

Stop all the hate!

 

[hanano17]

Yeah, it's pretty clear the Galaxy isn't what people hoped for, hence the defensive posts about it from some users here. It's a smartphone, guys. I know it sucks to invest lots of interest in an expensive gadget and find that it kind of sucks, but nothing is changed when you try to act like it doesn't.

I mean, good god, if iPhone users had to jailbreak just to use google search, we'd all be laughing our asses off.

Really? The other phones, aside from GPS, have been pretty much everything everyone thought it would be. A good phone, and the Epic has gotten rave reviews from everyone, including Engadget (one of their mobile editors loves the phone to death).

Your iphone analogy is a bad one, Google Search isn't an Apple program. It'd be better to say you had to jailbreak it to use an Apple service. Which doesn't matter, there's probably as many, if not more, people who jailbreak their iphones as there are people who root. Yes, i'm being a dick.

BTW, it's not the phone or Samsung's fault, but Verizon's that Bing is there, but again we know that going into it. So if it's a big deal, don't buy it. No need for everyone to call each other out, there's plenty of Android out there to go around. I feel like its becoming iOS vs. Android vs. HTC Android vs. Moto Android vs. Sammy Android...when it should just be iOS vs. Android.

 

[phoneseeker]

If you've spent enough time in these forums, you've found some people who love HTC's UI, some who love Samsung's and some who love Motorola's. That seems to be like prefering blondes over redheads. Saying that one is definitively superior seems a little pretentious to me.

These lag issues that some reviews mention and some don't seem minor to me. There are a few people on these boards who have been using the Fascinate for weeks (not just a day or two like a lot of the reviewers who are posting reviews this week) and they are saying that there are no lag issues and that the phone is comparable (if not superior) in quality and speed to the X and the Incredible.

After as long of a wait as many of us have had waiting for this phone to come out, I'm going to go ahead and get it and give it the 30 trial period before I give up on it and start fixating on the next latest and greatest phone to come down the pipeline.

If I get really ambitious, I might even root it!

 

[ckochinsky125]

The fact is TouchWiz 3.0 is terrible, and no matter how much you want the Galaxy phones to be good they are just not. The hardware in them is ruined by Samsung's GUI, using Launcher Pro is sadly required. Then on top of that you have Verizon's stupidity with Bing being forced. So now we have a phone that requires Launcher Pro, and must be rooted to get Google back the way it should be.

The Engadget editor tore this phone a new ass because he is looking to switch to Verizon, so he has been personally using the Galaxy phones they have in detail to see if that is the one he makes the switch with. He started out liking TouchWiz, and after using it in detail hates it with a passion. He used a AT&T N1 for a long time, so he known what Android runs like normally even on a snapdragon.

A snapdragon with Vanilla or Sense runs better then a Galaxy with that crap GUI, I don't care what some dumb ass benchmark program says, it doesn't test day to day use or smoothness.

Idk about a snapdragon running better then the hummingbird processor but its all opinions anyway

 

[TheAlmightyDrew]

TheAlmightyDrew,

Hardly. But it seems others are of the opinion that:
a.) TW sucks (download Launcher Pro or ADW Launcher for free from the Market...problem solved)
b.) The phone has lag issues (Other than Engadget, where did you hear/see this? Every video I have seen and review I have read, the phone has been smooth and quick. My Droid X lags and randomly crashes rather frequently. Every phone has its issues. Like I said, you need to stop going off on Engadget's review only.)
c.) The phone has been mightily dumbed down (Meh. I don't think so at all. 2GB is more than enough for me. And after Froyo, I will be able to download apps to my SDcard.)
d.) Bing is not the end users choice for search on a google phone (It gets the job done. Stop complaining).

Goes to show, no matter how good the hardware is, if the software isn't up to the task, the phone is gonna suck. I am not going to waste my time checking this phone out at a store. (Whatever. That is your loss. I choose to not be ignorant and not trust some stranger's sole opinion and try the phone for myself) I'm guessing like any of the other phones, we will sill more than a handful of users say it's great when we know it's not.

Good luck with the Galaxy bro.

Yea.

 

[TheXFactor]

I'm not blaming anyone for the shortcomings of this phone if indeed they are true. In fact, I wanted to get one. But the people who are reviewing it can't all be right, can they? Lol

So either there are some very big inconsistencies with the Fascinate, which would worry me even more or people are not telling it like it is.

 

[TheXFactor]

Nm.

 

[FragDroidX]

Some of the reaction is due to the fact that many of us were really looking forward to this device and we now feel let down. This device had the chance to be the best android device on the market and now not only is it not the best device, its not even close to being the best.

As far as the bing thing goes I am just not buying it. I seriously doubt MS paid tons of money for bing to be on this device for it to be easily removeable. I am going to go out on a limb and say that even with root you will NOT be able to change or remove bing as the search engine. I am willing to bet that if you try to remove or disable bing you will brick your phone just as some Droid X users did when they tried to remove some of the verizon apps.

Another sticking point I have a bad feeling about is that do to bing being on this device that it will be the last of the Galaxy S devices to get any updates to 2.2 and beyond as it will have to be programed seperatly from all other Galaxy S devices. The only confirmation I have seen from Samsung about the update to 2.2 is by the end of the year.

Its just sad. It seems clear that Verizon has intended this phone to be a device to appeal to would be iphone purchasers only and therefor not be competing with their Droid lineup. If I wanted an iphone I would just buy one. I don't need my android device to be an iphone wannabe.

 

[TheXFactor]

Yea.

That's about the response I expected. The Fascinate will die a slow death.

 

[TheAlmightyDrew]

That's about the response I expected. The Fascinate will die a slow death.

What? You didn't see my rebuttal in bold?

 

[howdy]

ROOT! none of these issues are issues if you root.. Bing, who cares, root and take it off. Launcher Pro is better than any of the stock interfaces anyway.

and no, snapdragon is NOT a better processor

 

[TheXFactor]

What? You didn't see my rebuttal in bold?

Of course I did, but there wasn't much substance there. So I quoted the best part.

 

[ghdtpdna]

Root MAY or MAY NOT solve the problems.
Depending on how the bing or touchwiz is integrated, simply removing it MAY brick the phone. For Droid X, simply removing Blur bricked the phone.

 

[Billy_617]

ROOT! none of these issues are issues if you root.. Bing, who cares, root and take it off. Launcher Pro is better than any of the stock interfaces anyway.

and no, snapdragon is NOT a better processor

your homescreen is sexy... just saying lol except there should be a BC or UNC logo @ the bottom

 

[craigrn16]

Damn Verizon crippled the hell out this phone