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Droid 2 OR Samsung Fascinate?

Droid 2 or Samsung Fascinate?

  • Droid 2

    Votes: 32 66.7%
  • Samsung Fascination

    Votes: 16 33.3%

  • Total voters
    48
  • Poll closed .
I think more people would be comparing the Droid X to the Fascinate as neither has a physical keyboard. I don't think anyone actually knows when the Fascinate will be released, it might likely be weeks away but it could also be months or even never.

I saw the decision as either an upgraded version of an existing phone from a manufacturer with a known record of support for Android phones that we could get now or wait some unknown time to get something from a manufacturer with a less than stellar reputation for support. The fact that the longer we waited, the longer before we could upgrade if LTE phones become available also factored in.

And while the contrast of the Galaxy S's Super AMOLED display is really nice, I'm not as pleased with the oversaturated and inaccurate colors it produces, something confirmed in objective measurements that some have made of several phones. However, this is a personal perspective and many will probably prefer the Fascinate's display to just about anything else available.
 
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Samsung is so notorious for leaving their phones behind after they launch and not following up with updates. So I don't know about the Galaxy S phones. I mean there has been a huge GPS problem going on with the Galaxy S phones since they were released in Europe in June and Samsung is yet to release an update fixing the problem. There are reports that a fix is coming in September though. Another issues that I am hearing when I cruise other forums such as the Samsung Captivate forums is that a lot of people are experiencing lag when using the phone. Some people say the simple solution is to download Launcher Pro or ADW Launcher. However, others have said they are still experience heavy lag even with those launchers.

Basically, the only good thing I am hearing about these phones is that they have gorgeous screens. I recently went to AT&T to play with the Captivate and it is true...the super AMOLED screen is amazing.
 
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I have a Captivate and the ONLY problem that i'm expierencing it the GPS issue. It's hit and miss. Most of the time it'll work outside and take about 30 sec - minute to lock on( for me lately). That's the biggest con about the phone. I don't have any lag issues, drop calls (in fact i get reception where as my iphone 3G has no signal), no turn off issues, no nothing. The screen is beautiful and very pleasing to the eye. It does lack in the flash for the camera department but ol' well. The 5mp camera takes great pictures. Go play with the phone (either vibrant or captivate) and judge it for yourself. I gave up my iphone 4 for the Captivate and i don't regret it at all. Samsung has invested to much time and effort into their Galaxy S phones so if they want to have a Captivate 2/Vibrant 2/Fascinate2 then there's no time to lag with updates. This is a make it or break it deal for them. They already know about the GPS issue and has said to put out an update sometime next month. Froyo will also be out next month. It's a great and fun phone!!!!!
 
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thanks you guys, so far i am shading towards the droid 2 a bit and the main reason that I like it better is that the droid two has an physical keyboard and android 2.2 and but I like the Fascinates UI a bit better even though I would prefer a sense or vanilla phone better.

If I were you, I would wait for the Fascinate. It is going to have a much better display and camera than the Droid 2. Also since it is the last of the Galaxy S phones to be released, all the problems and issues should have been resolved by the time the phone comes out. Another thing I really like is that the screen is 4 inches. It is a nice medium in between the 3.7 inch display you'll find on the Incredible or Droid 2, and the 4.3 inch display you'll find on the Droid X or EVO. It's not too big. It's not too small.

Also, if you plan on playing games with your phone the Fascinate is a powerhouse. The GPU is amazing. Check out the benchmarks on Youtube. There is one that has the Captivate compared to the Droid X, EVO and Nexus One (running Froyo). The Captivate demolishes the other three phones in GPU power.
 
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It is going to have a much better display and camera than the Droid 2.
"Better" is subjective. I learned long ago that things that grab your attention and stand out sometimes due so because of an 'unnaturalness'. One common complaint regarding the Super AMOLED display seems to be that things such as pictures you take with the camera can look quite different when viewed on other displays. Whether the display is perceived as better or simply more attention grabbing probably depends on the application and your personal preferences.

Also since it is the last of the Galaxy S phones to be released, all the problems and issues should have been resolved by the time the phone comes out.
As far as I know there is still no release date for the Fascinate and no updates for the Galaxy S phones in the US. The GPS issue not being addressed a month after release is not real reassuring and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Droid X Froyo update and a Droid 2 OTA update or two be out before the Fascinate is released. And if the Fascinate is not released until mid September or later, then do you maybe wait to see how it compares to the Droid Pro since apparently both will have 4" screens?

Another thing I really like is that the screen is 4 inches. It is a nice medium in between the 3.7 inch display you'll find on the Incredible or Droid 2, and the 4.3 inch display you'll find on the Droid X or EVO. It's not too big. It's not too small.
I think many people will agree but I'd want to actually see the phone in person since all the Galaxy S versions differ physically from one another. I personally find the appearance a bit too iPhone like but I'm sure that many others see that as a positive.

Also, if you plan on playing games with your phone the Fascinate is a powerhouse. The GPU is amazing. Check out the benchmarks on Youtube. There is one that has the Captivate compared to the Droid X, EVO and Nexus One (running Froyo). The Captivate demolishes the other three phones in GPU power.
But it also apparently has some limitations in other processing due to how it uses and accesses memory, so the benchmark comparisons seem to differ depending on what is being tested.
 
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Do you guys think I should go ahead and get the droid 2 or wait a few weeks (probably only a few weeks) and get the Samsung Fascinate?

please explain your vote so that i can make a better decision.

Well you have to ask yourself do you want a physical keyboard? If not then there is no need to get a droid 2. The fascinate has higher benchmarks and also has the better processor for playing games. Plus the super amoled screen. Im waiting for the fascinate even though im not a big fan of samsung seeing how the galaxy s phones are already rooted that way i dont have to worry about samsung pushing updates
 
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Samsung is so notorious for leaving their phones behind after they launch and not following up with updates. So I don't know about the Galaxy S phones. I mean there has been a huge GPS problem going on with the Galaxy S phones since they were released in Europe in June and Samsung is yet to release an update fixing the problem. There are reports that a fix is coming in September though. Another issues that I am hearing when I cruise other forums such as the Samsung Captivate forums is that a lot of people are experiencing lag when using the phone. Some people say the simple solution is to download Launcher Pro or ADW Launcher. However, others have said they are still experience heavy lag even with those launchers.

Basically, the only good thing I am hearing about these phones is that they have gorgeous screens. I recently went to AT&T to play with the Captivate and it is true...the super AMOLED screen is amazing.

Root will solve the lag problem as you can remove the touchwiz UI and it will also be the same for updates such as 2.2 etc
 
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briefmobile.com/samsung-epic-4g-benchmarked

This says it all. Both the Epic 4g and I believe the Fascinate also will use faster NAND memory. This means no lag fix is necessary.

Check out the videos of the Epic, on its first boot it takes under 20 seconds to get to the lock screen. Thats faster than its gsm sisters.

Also, in BGR's review of the epic, they made it clear that there were NO lag issues with the epic. They said it was much faster than the Captivate. Based on the latest benchmarks, the Fascinate (if it uses NAND memory like the Epic) will be the fastest phone on Verizon (gpu and cpu)
 
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I was holding out for the fascinate but I couldn't take my Omnia screwing up any longer.
My girlfriend is due for an update too. We decided I would get the Droid 2, she will get the fascinate and we will try out each and decide who gets what.

She prefers to have a physical keyboard and I've had the Omnia for almost 2 years and the on screen keyboard was ok with me, though the Droid's landscape keyboard gives me fits. I never expected to use the physical keyboard on the Droid 2 as much as I do.

So after she gets the fascinate, she may take my Droid 2 and I may take the Fascinate..
 
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Samsung is so notorious for leaving their phones behind after they launch and not following up with updates. So I don't know about the Galaxy S phones. I mean there has been a huge GPS problem going on with the Galaxy S phones since they were released in Europe in June and Samsung is yet to release an update fixing the problem. There are reports that a fix is coming in September though. Another issues that I am hearing when I cruise other forums such as the Samsung Captivate forums is that a lot of people are experiencing lag when using the phone. Some people say the simple solution is to download Launcher Pro or ADW Launcher. However, others have said they are still experience heavy lag even with those launchers.

Basically, the only good thing I am hearing about these phones is that they have gorgeous screens. I recently went to AT&T to play with the Captivate and it is true...the super AMOLED screen is amazing.

Well seeing how they have been rooted this can solve some problems where you can install the updates as soon as a leaked version is out which can be months or weeks ahead of actually releases. The only thing is if there is a problem that samsung would need to fix then that would be a problem but most of the time new os updates fix alot of the problems. I wouldnt let their past worry you they are releasing this phone all over the world they dont want to get a bad rep and nobody buy the phone they are putting all their eggs in this basket so to speak if this fails nobody will continue buying their phones
 
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Well seeing how they have been rooted this can solve some problems where you can install the updates as soon as a leaked version is out which can be months or weeks ahead of actually releases. The only thing is if there is a problem that samsung would need to fix then that would be a problem but most of the time new os updates fix alot of the problems.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but once you start with root and leaked updates, does that not make taking advantage of official updates potentially more difficult if not impractical? For example, many people are wanting to root the Droid X to remove the preloaded apps and Blur interface but apparently removing some of the associated files can then prevent official updates from loading. At the same time, while root was achieved for the Droid X in Android 2.1 it seems to have been confirmed that the official update to Android 2.2 closes the exploit used for that root and root with Froyo has not yet been achieved. So rooting apparently can not play well with official updates.

The release of the Galaxy S phones across multiple carriers has also apparently lead to some interesting situations on yet another level with updates that Samsung supports but that have not been approved or authorized by the individual carriers. Supposedly Vodafone is one whose formal stance is that loading some updates that Samsung offers but that Vodafone has not approved is not only not supported but actually also voids their warranty. I can see a similar situation happening with Verizon supporting only Fascinate specific updates.

I wouldnt let their past worry you they are releasing this phone all over the world they dont want to get a bad rep and nobody buy the phone they are putting all their eggs in this basket so to speak if this fails nobody will continue buying their phones
I have a different perspective for two reasons. First, I would feel better about overlooking some of the past support issues if there was an indication that things had indeed changed. However, taking what apparently will be three months or longer to address problems that seem to widely affect the Galaxy S phones released to date is not a good indication that things have changed. Since the thread is comparing the Fascinate to the Droid 2, a Droid 2 update that apparently addressed multiple initial issues was issued less than 2 weeks after release.

In addition, the Fascinate has not been released all over the world as while each of the US carrier phones may be in the Galaxy S family, each is also unique and differs in hardware and associated firmware. There definitely could be issues and updates specific to the individual versions that would affect only those particular phones. For example, the NAND memory that Eazail70x7 referenced would seem to potentially require some updates to be specific to the models using it. Similar for versions with a physical keyboard, front facing camera, carrier specific apps or firmware and so on. As noted above, addressing carrier and model specific updates and support seems to present some challenges.


Overall the Fascinate may be a great piece of hardware with several potential positives. However, I also I think we are already seeing some unique support related challenges. Maybe Samsung will be able to meet those challenges, but I have not yet seen anything to indicate that to be the case. Maybe some of those challenges will be resolved by the time the Fascinate is released and for all we know these two aspects, overcoming some support challenges and the release of the Fascinate, may be related.
 
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Please correct me if I am wrong, but once you start with root and leaked updates, does that not make taking advantage of official updates potentially more difficult if not impractical? For example, many people are wanting to root the Droid X to remove the preloaded apps and Blur interface but apparently removing some of the associated files can then prevent official updates from loading. At the same time, while root was achieved for the Droid X in Android 2.1 it seems to have been confirmed that the official update to Android 2.2 closes the exploit used for that root and root with Froyo has not yet been achieved. So rooting apparently can not play well with official updates.

The release of the Galaxy S phones across multiple carriers has also apparently lead to some interesting situations on yet another level with updates that Samsung supports but that have not been approved or authorized by the individual carriers. Supposedly Vodafone is one whose formal stance is that loading some updates that Samsung offers but that Vodafone has not approved is not only not supported but actually also voids their warranty. I can see a similar situation happening with Verizon supporting only Fascinate specific updates.


I have a different perspective for two reasons. First, I would feel better about overlooking some of the past support issues if there was an indication that things had indeed changed. However, taking what apparently will be three months or longer to address problems that seem to widely affect the Galaxy S phones released to date is not a good indication that things have changed. Since the thread is comparing the Fascinate to the Droid 2, a Droid 2 update that apparently addressed multiple initial issues was issued less than 2 weeks after release.

In addition, the Fascinate has not been released all over the world as while each of the US carrier phones may be in the Galaxy S family, each is also unique and differs in hardware and associated firmware. There definitely could be issues and updates specific to the individual versions that would affect only those particular phones. For example, the NAND memory that Eazail70x7 referenced would seem to potentially require some updates to be specific to the models using it. Similar for versions with a physical keyboard, front facing camera, carrier specific apps or firmware and so on. As noted above, addressing carrier and model specific updates and support seems to present some challenges.


Im not so sure they all differ in firmware maybe hardware yes but they all run the touchwiz and even with the nand memory i dont think that would slow down the update process but maybe i am wrong.
And about rooting , you will still get the updates you just may not necessarily get the os updates if you have already installed an OS for example 2.2, which is not always a bad thing because alot of the time the OS updates pushed by carriers have alot of bugs where as the leaked versions are usually a little cleaner
 
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Im not so sure they all differ in firmware maybe hardware yes but they all run the touchwiz and even with the nand memory i dont think that would slow down the update process but maybe i am wrong.
Like I said, the Droid 2 and Droid X have the same UI, same processor, etc. yet the Droid 2 is already running Android 2.2 and the Droid X has to wait until next month. Along with potential technical differences, I can see issues other than technical ones affecting when updates are released. But as you said, we don't know yet since there haven't been any Galaxy S updates.

And about rooting , you will still get the updates you just may not necessarily get the os updates if you have already installed an OS for example 2.2, which is not always a bad thing because alot of the time the OS updates pushed by carriers have alot of bugs where as the leaked versions are usually a little cleaner
I believe that some people are finding that root allows you to delete certain files that official updates look for, thus preventing receiving notifications of updates or being able to load them. And conversely, official updates, especially major OS updates, may defeat existing root capability. In addition, as the Vodafone issue shows, loading anything other than official updates may release the carrier from any warranty or support obligation. Nothing new here, just a reminder to those who read about all the benefits of root that it is performed at your own risk and can allow you to do things that negatively impact your phone.
 
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My issues are:
I have hated all samsung phones. They feel cheap and are all plastic.
Samsung is very slow on OS upgrades (look at Behold 2). I dont trust them in updated after 2.2
Touchwiz is not appealing to me
No flash on camera

Only thing I really like is the super AMOLED, you can actually see in sunlight

I had the Samsung Omnia and didn't have any problems with it until the last 3 months or so, I had it for almost 2 years.

The touchwiz I disabled day one. The Fascinate camera does have a flash.
 
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I had the Samsung Omnia and didn't have any problems with it until the last 3 months or so, I had it for almost 2 years.

The touchwiz I disabled day one. The Fascinate camera does have a flash.
touchwiz cant be disabled, you can only use a different launcher.

didn't know there was a flash, I thought the Epic was the only GalaxyS with a flash
 
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touchwiz cant be disabled, you can only use a different launcher.

didn't know there was a flash, I thought the Epic was the only GalaxyS with a flash

Touch wiz on the Omnia was an option. There were several different home screens to choose from. I turned that one off and used the standard WM interface.
Don't know about the Samsung Droid devices.
 
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