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I know nothing about that. I wouldn't wish this thing on anyone though.
I do know some simple math though -
time wasted on this thing x what my time is worth = way more than what the device is worth.
I'm money ahead by smashing it and buying something new (Sprint?) than to continue down the same path I'm currently on and waste even more time on garbage.
If Samsung were to be the only company left to produce a microwave, I'll eat my food cold or starve.
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Sounds like your phone failed you at exactly the wrong time in exactly the worst way ...
Out of all my phones I've ever owned the Fascinate BY FAR is the phone that has brought me the most enjoyment. You probably feel about your Fascinate how I felt about my Eris. Day after day, call after call, pushing the answer button and hearing SILENCE, or pushing the answer button and hearing the phone keep ringing while your caller thinks you're ignoring him/her. Or my favorite: dialing a number and having the phone call SOMEONE ELSE when you press the send button. This happened with 2 of the 4 Erises I owned. That's right. Verizon replaced my Eris THREE TIMES. Each time I could reproduce specific errors on each phone that they couldn't fix in the store or troubleshooting with a tech. This even happened after full factory wipes and resets, and with a phone that had ZERO apps on it. There were times I had to exercise considerable restraint in order to not smash my Eris with a hammer like you smashed your Fascinate.
But I have never owned a phone that hasn't frustrated me. I owned a Razr and a Razr v3m after. Both phones had great reception and battery life, but were consistently slow slow slow and clunky. They were an absolute pain to operate on a daily basis. I have them, and they still both work, and I fire them up from time to time to use as alarms, toys for my son, w/e. And I'm reminded how sorrowful it is to try to do anything on it, like send a text!
My LG 8700 on the other hand was a JOY to operate. Amazing phone, also with great reception. But the first one had horrendous battery issues. Battery dying in 3 hrs of standby with bluetooth off. Battery dying during a single 20 min. phone call, right after a full charge. I complained to Verizon that I needed a new battery, and they said I just needed a new phone. They sent me a new one, and by golly, they were RIGHT! My battery life was great on the replacement. But guess what else didn't work: the bluetooth. Didn't work at all. I took it in and one of their more knowledgeable techs put it through a ton of diagnosing and testing and could never get bluetooth to work. Heck, when you tried, the phone got hot enough that it was a little uncomfortable to hold at times. Very strange. So they replaced it. The THIRD 8700 has been the charm, and it continues to be a placeholder for my Wyoming phone number and third line of service that I don't really need. The thing still works perfectly though when we need it.
But it took me THREE tries to get a working model.
Then I had the Omnia. Don't get me started on that piece of CRAP. My sister and I both bought them at the same time. Big huge mistake. I thought I wanted a stylus. My sister thought it would be cool to have the same phone so we could learn it together and share apps or something .... what a crappy device. You push the number 3 on the screen and it dials a 6. You put it up to your cheek and it just hangs up on them. Everything was slow. Battery life was mediocre at best. Support was nonexistent.
That's when I bought the Eris, which you heard about above. I fell in love with Android right away. It was even better than my iPod touch at first. Contact management, appointments, MP3 player that switched to bluetooth for calls, what a great OS that I can install apps on and customize to my liking, etc. But the phone was near junk.
So then I got the Droid X. Great telephone for making calls. Decently fast when you replace the blur launcher with something faster. But it was uncomfortable, and the camera wasn't that great. I use it a lot since I have kids and pets, and sometimes for work.
That's when I got the Fascinate. Stock, I didn't like it. But I loved how open Samsung left it to the world of developers, and it has been a joy to root and customize and truly make "my own." I'm running the community ROM on it now, and it's far and away the best device I've ever owned. With the lagfix and a clean install of android with only what I need/want on it, it's exceptionally fast. I have NEVER had dialer or call receiving issues, and reception and battery life have always been good. I always get a full day unless I spend a ridiculous amount of time using the GPS or something like that on it.
Still, it has not been without it's problems. Some of my best friends have iPhones, and they have problems with them too. My dad had to get a second Fascinate, as his first had signal issues and call dropping issues. A coworker also recently replaced her fascinate as well. It was buggy from the get-go, and nothing I did, rooting, de-bloating, trying custom roms, etc, ever seemed to make it work. putting it back bone-stock did no good. It was simply a lemon, and Verizon replaced it. Her new one so far works very well, and she hasn't had a single problem she had with the first one.
My point is, these are tiny sensitive devices that are complex, and seem to me to have a reasonably high rate of defective devices coming off the fab. I would never throw out a piece of equipment when the first one didn't work. But if you've been through 3 or 4, and still continue to have dreadful problems with it that make it impossible to use and/or hopefully enjoy, then I understand.
Still, I agree with the above. Donate it to charity, or a developer, or a family member. Make Verizon/Samsung replace it. It still has months of warranty left! What a waste. I totally understand your frustration, but destroying a device worth several hundred dollars doesn't seem like the best answer ... however, if I'd been through what you went through with it, who knows, I may have smashed it too.
