Droid 2 v. Fascniate

[erjennin]

Has anyone switched to a Fascinate from a Droid2? I'm curious to see how these two phones stack up next to one another. Which phone is better? Pro's and Con's of each?

 

[Redflea]

From my own brief investigations:

Fascinate will have to be rooted to break the Bing lock on search functionality, so if you aren't into rooting you better be sure you like Bing. I compared Bing search results to Google search results several times in the store (search on Fascinate, search on D2) and Google results were consistently superior, in some cases markedly. You can install Google Maps, but I'm not sure that the defaults (what is launched automatically) can be switched from Bing maps/nav to Google w/out rooting.

Google Search is actually blocked from install from the Market on the Fascinate, so you'd have to get that manually if you wanted it.

Fascinate is BIG...as large as the DX, which surprised me, given it has "only" a 4" rather than a 4.3" screen like the DX. Would have preferred it was a little smaller for the screen size.

Fascinate has a really vibrant screen - some don't like how saturated the colors are, but I thought they looked OK for a small device.

 

[hahny42]

Fascinate is BIG...as large as the DX, which surprised me, given it has "only" a 4" rather than a 4.3" screen like the DX. Would have preferred it was a little smaller for the screen size.

Fascinate has a really vibrant screen - some don't like how saturated the colors are, but I thought they looked OK for a small device.

i think you contradicted yourself there. in all honesty im about to trade in my fascinate for a D2 today, the Fascinate is a tad faster but Sammy has alot of bugs to work out. GPS, if you hit the search button in a call it hangs up. Grammatical errors everywhere. Bloatware that needs rooting to get rid of. the screen is unmatched, ill give it that, its one of those "hardcore techy" phones. Its nice but just isnt as good as its brother the Vibrant personally.

 

[Thornfullessrose]

i dont even care about the fascinate anymore. (never did) people love it because of the amoled screen but i saw a video on youtube with the droid vs vibrant in a graphics test and the vibrant's screen was so dark during the gameplay. the droid's screen is bright and fluent. i cant see any other reason to even get a galaxy s phone (exeppt for 4g, but thats on sprint). the form factor is average and unique in no way. the droid has more to speak for itself.
YouTube - Droid 2 graphics test
IN MY OWN OPINION!


Edit: Let me correct myself. The fascinate's form factor is very slim and appealing but has a plastic feel while the droid has a better build quality though.

 

[hahny42]

i dont even care about the fascinate anymore. (never did) people love it because of the amoled screen but i saw a video on youtube with the droid vs vibrant in a graphics test and the vibrant's screen was so dark during the gameplay. the droid's screen is bright and fluent. i cant see any other reason to even get a galaxy s phone (exeppt for 4g, but thats on sprint). the form factor is average and unique in no way. the droid has more to speak for itself.
YouTube - Droid 2 graphics test
IN MY OWN OPINION!

i agree, theres a difference in speed but unless you have them side by side you cant tell. i will say from having a fascinate its a very iphonesky feel rather than a android feel even with launcher pro on it. the colors are vibrant but because there vibrant like a swedish yellow comes out almost neon goldish. whites arent white but again unless you have it next to the D2 you cant tell. honestly if you root a fascinate both phones are great. its just a matter what your looking for.

 

[asilver]

just took a rode trip, I have a D2 my friend has the X and the fascinate (verizon employee)

we were in a remote area and my findings were that on the road trip out there, both the X and Fascinate retained at least 1X signal while my droid was signal-less for hours so about 120 miles give or take, also the place we stayed at had Wifi (no phone signal still) and his phones would stay online whereas mine would show connected but wouldn't surf the web except sporadially.

I ran speedtest which would allow my phone to access the internet for about a minute then it would stop again, his phones just stayed connnected to wifi and surfed without getting kicked off, ever.

 

[Chaznsc]

I played with a Fascinate this weekend at Verizon. The AMOLED is amazing, better than anything I have ever seen. Its even better than my iPad, iPod Touch! I ran the Quadrant benchmark on it and it scored like an 842, so its a slower phone. I did like the form factor as its easy to hold, much like my iPod Touch.

Im just saying..............

 

[Wolfedude88]

I played with a Fascinate this weekend at Verizon. The AMOLED is amazing, better than anything I have ever seen. Its even better than my iPad, iPod Touch! I ran the Quadrant benchmark on it and it scored like an 842, so its a slower phone. I did like the form factor as its easy to hold, much like my iPod Touch.

Im just saying..............

Just to let you know that the 842 on the Quadrant benchmark test doesn't really mean much. I know that there something people have done to get the scores up in the 2,000s really easily. All I am saying is the Fascinate is actually a pretty fast phone, so is the X and the Droid 2.

Don't get hung up on benchmark tests when they don't usually mean a whole lot.

 

[Redflea]

i think you contradicted yourself there.

Yeah...sounded like it. I meant small compared to something like a television screen, where the oversaturated Fascinate colors would be overbearing. They aren't as annoying at the phone size.

 

[TozyJay]

I can testify to this as I actually originally had the Fascinate and traded it in for the D2. The Fascinate does have a nice screen but that's about the only advantage over the Droid 2. Once you get it, you have to do quite a bit of doctoring to make it worth using - jump through hoops to install Google (assuming you don't want to use Bing) and set up a new launcher, (TouchWiz is okay but it's very clunky IMO). Also the GPS does not locate very well but this may be fixed in a software update if it is indeed a software problem.

Of course, as I tell everyone, it all comes down to which phone you feel more comfortable using. I personally like using the Droid 2 over the Fascinate but you may feel differently. The Fascinate isn't a bad phone by any means, but for me it's not as good as the competition. You may feel differently when you use it.

 

[hahny42]

I can testify to this as I actually originally had the Fascinate and traded it in for the D2. The Fascinate does have a nice screen but that's about the only advantage over the Droid 2. Once you get it, you have to do quite a bit of doctoring to make it worth using - jump through hoops to install Google (assuming you don't want to use Bing) and set up a new launcher, (TouchWiz is okay but it's very clunky IMO). Also the GPS does not locate very well but this may be fixed in a software update if it is indeed a software problem.

Of course, as I tell everyone, it all comes down to which phone you feel more comfortable using. I personally like using the Droid 2 over the Fascinate but you may feel differently. The Fascinate isn't a bad phone by any means, but for me it's not as good as the competition. You may feel differently when you use it.

it also records much better video but if your using your phone as a recorder theres something wrong there to begin with.. i traded mine in because post lag fix there were still alot of bugs and i handled a d2 before and was extremely impressed with it. plus the keyboard is nice to have.