I'm sorry, but in no way at all does it feel like settling to me. My girlfriend has an X, and 2 of my co-workers have an X. My girlfriend could care less about the Fascinate (she loves bigger screen), but my coworkers would trade their X's for my Fascinate in a heartbeat. They love the feel and screen. One of them has posted a Craigslist post asking to trade his X for their Fascinate...I just don't see it as settling at all.
DroidForums.net | Android Forum & News
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Droid X compared to Fascinate
- Thread starter jer39
- Start date
See.... If I posted this in the X forum I would get the exact opposite post....
I guess I'll just have to go play with them to figure it out. I do like the idea of Swype out of the box though. I suppose as long as it can keep up with my Droid, I'll be happy.There is an equalizer on the X. In the music app if you hit menu you get an option called audio effects. There are presets and an equalizer there. The X is amazing.
WorldOfJohnboy
Member
I purchase and test all Android phones for my company (a hospital, we do LOTS of business with Verizon). I have had exclusive Demo phones of all Androids before they were released to the public. I also was a Blackberry user of 5 years (most recently, the Storm 2).
I've posted this elsewhere, but I would rather have the Droid X or the HTC Incredible instead of the Samsung Fascinate. (Please understand, there is a very fine line between the 3 phones IMO.) Within 3 days of trying out the X, I knew this would be my next phone. My reasons:
I've posted this elsewhere, but I would rather have the Droid X or the HTC Incredible instead of the Samsung Fascinate. (Please understand, there is a very fine line between the 3 phones IMO.) Within 3 days of trying out the X, I knew this would be my next phone. My reasons:
- Screen Size: As someone else stated, the X has the biggest screen out there and yet still has the best battery life. The FroYo update I got last week only improved that battery life.
- Screen Resolution: No other phone has a resolution like the X, not even the Fascinate... to me, I can clearly tell the differences between even the few extra pixels that the X has. I watched/showed a DVD rip of the same movie and put it on the Memory card of both phones. Set brightness to higest setting on both. I used "Rock Player" and played them side by side and 6 of my co-workers liked the DX better than the Fascinate... the Samsung is not as smooth with action and showed some more pixelation. Also, there were color issues (see below).
- Screen Color: I know this is pure opinion, but everyone I have shown the Fascinate AND the X side by side has preferred the colors of the X to the Fascinate. On the X, the reds are red, the oranges are orange, the yellows are yellow and the whites are white. On the fascinate, the reds are orange-red, the oranges are redish-orange, the yellows are bright gold and the whites are blueish-white. It's like setting your TV to the "Vivid" setting and turning the color tint all the way up on the Samsung. When watching videos or viewing pictures on the Samsung, it looks like everyone fell asleep in a tanning booth. The home screens and Application screens look better on the Samsung because of this color saturation.
- Camera/Camcorder: My wife is photographer (as her hobby) and she thinks that the flash on the X is a more "softened" flash vs the bright sheen that the Fascinate gives off. I took a picture of the same item, same distance and though the Fascinate's picture is "brighter," the light is unnatural looking.
- Widgets/Apps: The Samsung's widgets (except the Clock/Weather Widget) are poorly designed and there are only really a few when you look at the list. The "Feeds and Updates" widget is the worst Social Networking widget I have seen, it's all one huge thread, and you can't click on anything or anyone to see their profile or contact info. There is NO email or calendar widget at all on the Samsung!
Try NFS Shift for a bit an you'll see. The graphics are sick.
Pics
Here is my photo bucket. The pics, after the water fountain are with the X all the ones before are taken with the Fascinate
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket
Here is my photo bucket. The pics, after the water fountain are with the X all the ones before are taken with the Fascinate
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket
GrinReaper
Member
This made me lol
The three phones are very closely matched. Which is why for me getting a phone which is not an iPhone clone is important. The benchmarks for the X have been better than the Fascinate anyways (except for graphics, where the fascinate kills the X).
And i prefer the new, unintrusive MotoBlur to the TouchWiz. You can still root the X though I am not too sure about custom ROMS (am new to this side so largely unaware). With call quality, the noise cancellation on Fascinate is lousy compared to the X.
This made me lol
The three phones are very closely matched. Which is why for me getting a phone which is not an iPhone clone is important. The benchmarks for the X have been better than the Fascinate anyways (except for graphics, where the fascinate kills the X).
And i prefer the new, unintrusive MotoBlur to the TouchWiz. You can still root the X though I am not too sure about custom ROMS (am new to this side so largely unaware). With call quality, the noise cancellation on Fascinate is lousy compared to the X.
Then get the X; either way you will be fine. But don't let benchmarks fool you.
The Fascinate..........
There were things I did like about the X. Dont get me wrong, it was a tough choice.
My fiancee and i ended up both getting Fascinates this weekend using the BOGA promotion. Coming from a bberry I'm still learning how to use the phone effectively, but at least initially I'm very happy. I plan to continue toying with the thing for the next couple weeks, and can always switch to the X w/in the 30 days if I'm unhappy.
It was ultimately a tough call between the two, and if the phones were identical in shape and weight, I probably would have gone with the X (I just think it's an established powerhouse), but the size/sleekness of the fascinate was a deciding factor...I keep my phone in my jeans pocket and the X was just too big, heavy and bulky for me, and I found it difficult to use/type on/navigate through the X with just one hand. With the fascinate, I hardly even know it's in my pocket, yet it still has a relatively large (compared to all phones BUT the X) and beautiful screen.
The Samsung has been great so far...on top of its beautiful and well performing screen (even in sunlight), it's easy to use, and I've been getting good/quick at using swype (this was initially a concern b/c I preferred the X's larger keyboard and was having a hard time typing on the Fascinate when I first toyed with it in the Verizon store). I've taken a number of photos and some video and they all look fantastic. It's quite possible that if I held it side-by-side to the X, I'd prefer the latter (I really don't know), but fortunately, I only carry one device, so it's not like I'll be constantly reminded if the X is slightly better...and coming from a bberry and flip-phone before that, it's hard not to be impressed with the Fascinate's photos/video. Thus far, I've also found the phone to be very quick, both on the 3G and wireless networks, internet pages pull up almost instantly, I can quickly navigate within and between apps, and online video and music has streamed seamlessly thus far (even when I'm not using wireless). The music sound quality with headphones has been great, and the speakerphone is loud and clear, both on my end and the call-recipient's (in fact, there were times where I turned away from my phone to say something to my fiancee in the same room, and the call recipient heard everything I said and thought I was talking to them)!
If I had to guess, unless the phone develops serious problems, I'm going to keep it, but in order to give a balanced account, I should mention the shortcomings I've noticed thus far. (Of course I recognize that many of these could be individual to my particular device or smartphone ignorance, and that at least some will apparently be fixed with Froyo. If there's already a fix that I'm unaware of, please let me know)...
(1) Call reception and clarity is solid, but not fantastic. I live on the ground floor of a Brownstone in Brooklyn, so the apartment is slightly sub-terranean, naturally creating a more hostile environment in terms of signal-strength. There's one part of my apartment where calls often dropped when I had my bberry...and I continued to have a dropped call there with the Fascinate. Not sure if the X would've also dropped it, but from what I understand, it has excellent signal strength. More notably, however, there was also a dropped call in my living room (which never dropped with my bberry) and I've had 1-2 choppy conversations from the bedroom (where I never had problems with the bberry). That said, outside the apartment, I've had zero problems thus far, so this problem may not apply to everyone. In terms of clarity, the phone is definitely louder than my bberry, and my voice goes through to the recipient, but it's not completely crisp and there is a very, very slight echowhen speaking into the phone (as if you can very faintly hear yourself)...again, it's not anywhere near horrible or a dealbreaker...just doesn't seem to match the fantastic things that are said about the X.
(2) There's no HDMI plugin. Perhaps others know how to connect the Fascinate to an HDTV, but if so, I'm unaware of it. This isn't a major problem for me, but with the growing ability to get TV shows and movies online (not to mention shooting my own video on the fascinate), and especially with Netflix developing the software to stream movies to the Android phones, I can imagine a number of scenarios where I'd want to hook up my smartphone to my TV to see the images on a larger screen. With X you can do this, with the Fascinate I'm not so sure.
(3) GPS: I immediately downloaded Google maps/navigator and love it, but I'm having trouble getting an exact lock on my location. It's not that the navigator thinks I'm in Manhattan when I'm actually in Brooklyn, but it does sometimes think I'm 1-5 blocks from where I actually am. Not a problem if I want to find a good restaurant in the neighborhood, but I'd feel uncomfortable relying on it for turn-by-turn directions, since it might tell me to turn well before or after I actually get to where it thinks I am. I really hope this is fixed with Froyo.
(4) I've had one mini-freeze already. I was at the Giants game yesterday and was constantly trying to update the scores/stats from around the league, going into and out of one game after the other, and I guess I may have overwhelmed the little guy, b/c there was a brief period where it sorta didn't know how to process everything and just froze up. The problem resolved shortly thereafter and didn't occur again all day, but I do wonder if that would've happened on the X.
(5) I'm having trouble getting Rhapsody to detect the device when I plug it into my laptop. This may actually be a problem with my computer, and not the Fascinate, but I hope I can figure it out quick, since I plan to use my phone as my primary MP3 player and want to load my Rhapsody-to-Go music onto my phone. (Perhaps the seamless syncing of iTunes to the iPhone is an advantage over all droid phones on this account.)
(6) Can't say I'm thrilled with the battery. Not sure I would be with the X either...I'm new to the smartphone world after-all. I admittedly did a good deal of web surfing during the day yesterday as I tried to keep an update on my fantasy football players and the scores around the league, but it's not like I was also constantly on the phone or streaming music or video. Yet, by 4pm I had to use my phone sparringly b/c the battery was down to 15% and by the time I got home around 6:30 I had to plug it into the wall immediately b/c the battery was virtually dead. Most of the time I'll be near a plug-in so it's not a huge problem, and I guess this would be an issue with the X or any other smartphone...but after reading how great the phone's battery was (compared to other smartphones, that is), I hoped it would've lasted a bit longer.
But all in all, I'm really, really happy with my phone, and have basically been toying with it since I bought it Friday (perhaps this explains my battery problems!). I've already received a ton of compliments (including from iPhone owners) on how beautiful the phone is, how great the image quality is, and how thin and light it is. I understand many of my fellow droid users have apple animosity, but I really don't favor one corporation over the other...if the iPhone was on Verizon, it definitely would've been among the choices I was deciding between. But it's great that Verizon now has several offerings that make the choice not-so-clear-cut. I'm sure if I had the X I'd love that too, and I'm sure it would have its share of problems. For me, the most visible one (the size, which for many, is an advantage) was what drew me to the Fascinate...but I can now join the chorus of others who say that you really can't go wrong.
It was ultimately a tough call between the two, and if the phones were identical in shape and weight, I probably would have gone with the X (I just think it's an established powerhouse), but the size/sleekness of the fascinate was a deciding factor...I keep my phone in my jeans pocket and the X was just too big, heavy and bulky for me, and I found it difficult to use/type on/navigate through the X with just one hand. With the fascinate, I hardly even know it's in my pocket, yet it still has a relatively large (compared to all phones BUT the X) and beautiful screen.
The Samsung has been great so far...on top of its beautiful and well performing screen (even in sunlight), it's easy to use, and I've been getting good/quick at using swype (this was initially a concern b/c I preferred the X's larger keyboard and was having a hard time typing on the Fascinate when I first toyed with it in the Verizon store). I've taken a number of photos and some video and they all look fantastic. It's quite possible that if I held it side-by-side to the X, I'd prefer the latter (I really don't know), but fortunately, I only carry one device, so it's not like I'll be constantly reminded if the X is slightly better...and coming from a bberry and flip-phone before that, it's hard not to be impressed with the Fascinate's photos/video. Thus far, I've also found the phone to be very quick, both on the 3G and wireless networks, internet pages pull up almost instantly, I can quickly navigate within and between apps, and online video and music has streamed seamlessly thus far (even when I'm not using wireless). The music sound quality with headphones has been great, and the speakerphone is loud and clear, both on my end and the call-recipient's (in fact, there were times where I turned away from my phone to say something to my fiancee in the same room, and the call recipient heard everything I said and thought I was talking to them)!
If I had to guess, unless the phone develops serious problems, I'm going to keep it, but in order to give a balanced account, I should mention the shortcomings I've noticed thus far. (Of course I recognize that many of these could be individual to my particular device or smartphone ignorance, and that at least some will apparently be fixed with Froyo. If there's already a fix that I'm unaware of, please let me know)...
(1) Call reception and clarity is solid, but not fantastic. I live on the ground floor of a Brownstone in Brooklyn, so the apartment is slightly sub-terranean, naturally creating a more hostile environment in terms of signal-strength. There's one part of my apartment where calls often dropped when I had my bberry...and I continued to have a dropped call there with the Fascinate. Not sure if the X would've also dropped it, but from what I understand, it has excellent signal strength. More notably, however, there was also a dropped call in my living room (which never dropped with my bberry) and I've had 1-2 choppy conversations from the bedroom (where I never had problems with the bberry). That said, outside the apartment, I've had zero problems thus far, so this problem may not apply to everyone. In terms of clarity, the phone is definitely louder than my bberry, and my voice goes through to the recipient, but it's not completely crisp and there is a very, very slight echowhen speaking into the phone (as if you can very faintly hear yourself)...again, it's not anywhere near horrible or a dealbreaker...just doesn't seem to match the fantastic things that are said about the X.
(2) There's no HDMI plugin. Perhaps others know how to connect the Fascinate to an HDTV, but if so, I'm unaware of it. This isn't a major problem for me, but with the growing ability to get TV shows and movies online (not to mention shooting my own video on the fascinate), and especially with Netflix developing the software to stream movies to the Android phones, I can imagine a number of scenarios where I'd want to hook up my smartphone to my TV to see the images on a larger screen. With X you can do this, with the Fascinate I'm not so sure.
(3) GPS: I immediately downloaded Google maps/navigator and love it, but I'm having trouble getting an exact lock on my location. It's not that the navigator thinks I'm in Manhattan when I'm actually in Brooklyn, but it does sometimes think I'm 1-5 blocks from where I actually am. Not a problem if I want to find a good restaurant in the neighborhood, but I'd feel uncomfortable relying on it for turn-by-turn directions, since it might tell me to turn well before or after I actually get to where it thinks I am. I really hope this is fixed with Froyo.
(4) I've had one mini-freeze already. I was at the Giants game yesterday and was constantly trying to update the scores/stats from around the league, going into and out of one game after the other, and I guess I may have overwhelmed the little guy, b/c there was a brief period where it sorta didn't know how to process everything and just froze up. The problem resolved shortly thereafter and didn't occur again all day, but I do wonder if that would've happened on the X.
(5) I'm having trouble getting Rhapsody to detect the device when I plug it into my laptop. This may actually be a problem with my computer, and not the Fascinate, but I hope I can figure it out quick, since I plan to use my phone as my primary MP3 player and want to load my Rhapsody-to-Go music onto my phone. (Perhaps the seamless syncing of iTunes to the iPhone is an advantage over all droid phones on this account.)
(6) Can't say I'm thrilled with the battery. Not sure I would be with the X either...I'm new to the smartphone world after-all. I admittedly did a good deal of web surfing during the day yesterday as I tried to keep an update on my fantasy football players and the scores around the league, but it's not like I was also constantly on the phone or streaming music or video. Yet, by 4pm I had to use my phone sparringly b/c the battery was down to 15% and by the time I got home around 6:30 I had to plug it into the wall immediately b/c the battery was virtually dead. Most of the time I'll be near a plug-in so it's not a huge problem, and I guess this would be an issue with the X or any other smartphone...but after reading how great the phone's battery was (compared to other smartphones, that is), I hoped it would've lasted a bit longer.
But all in all, I'm really, really happy with my phone, and have basically been toying with it since I bought it Friday (perhaps this explains my battery problems!). I've already received a ton of compliments (including from iPhone owners) on how beautiful the phone is, how great the image quality is, and how thin and light it is. I understand many of my fellow droid users have apple animosity, but I really don't favor one corporation over the other...if the iPhone was on Verizon, it definitely would've been among the choices I was deciding between. But it's great that Verizon now has several offerings that make the choice not-so-clear-cut. I'm sure if I had the X I'd love that too, and I'm sure it would have its share of problems. For me, the most visible one (the size, which for many, is an advantage) was what drew me to the Fascinate...but I can now join the chorus of others who say that you really can't go wrong.
I see you finally made a choice...keep us informed with any other pros and cons, or issues... I'm still thinking about exchanging the X as I have 20 days left to do so, but I'm still waiting on more reviews to convince me to change.
but the issues you point out has made me hesitant... i.e. GPS Navigation issue, lag, and especially the presence of Bing instead of google... even if it is supposed to be fixed by froyo, the pure principle bothers me. Even the phone doesn't illustrate "with Google" on the back cover unlike the other top tier android phones
but the issues you point out has made me hesitant... i.e. GPS Navigation issue, lag, and especially the presence of Bing instead of google... even if it is supposed to be fixed by froyo, the pure principle bothers me. Even the phone doesn't illustrate "with Google" on the back cover unlike the other top tier android phones
Last edited:
I'll definitely keep the forum p posted...i owe it to you all after the help everyone provided me in making my decision. I should also say that I think the concerns I voiced about the battery may have been way off. I've read that the battery runs out deceptively early the first couple days and then starts to perform much more strongly. Separately, I read yesterday that the reception at the new giants stadium is almost nonexistent. Perhaps one or both are true (remember, the day my battery ran low was at the giants game, just 36 hours after I bought the phone. Since then it's actually performed remarkably well. I've ben streaming pandora almost nonstop throughout the last two workdays, plus I've been emailing & texting frequently and made several phone calls,.and the battery has performed remarkably well. Once I return to my normal life (aka the one where I'm not playing with my phone constantly) I'm sure it'll be even better.
In terms of the bing thing, for me it's such a non-issue...i set google as my browser homepage and took bing off my homescreen, so google is just a click away...just as if it was a widget. And once group comes, it will be one. In terms of google not getting its due respect, that's definitely a personal choice but for me it has no impact ok my purchasing choices...i rest soundly knowing the google execs are making far more than I'll ever see regardless of whether their icon is on the back of my phone ;-) when there's an appalling business practice (ie like nike making young asian kids perform sweatshop labor) I make noise with my wallet, but the bing-google thing just doesn't rise to that level for me...and enough people have already voiced concern to force verizon to abandon the bing-exclusivity agreement anyway (as we should see after the 2.2 update). But again, these are personal preferences, and if the samsung-verizon-bing alliance offends you enough, more power to you for taking a principled stance.
As for gps...remains to be seen. I should say that I have had some more success getting a more accurate hit in the last 2 days. Should also say that yesterday I got a reading that was about a quarter mile from where I was actually situated, but when a friend with the original droid who was standing next to me turned on his gps, it had the exact same reading as mine, so it may be verizon's towers and not my phone. I wil check back in over the next few days to let you know how things progress.
Anyway the more I toy with this thing the more I love it and pocketability was just too big a downside with the x for me to ignore. If that's a non-issue for you then it may be the right choice. Lemme know what you decide on.
In terms of the bing thing, for me it's such a non-issue...i set google as my browser homepage and took bing off my homescreen, so google is just a click away...just as if it was a widget. And once group comes, it will be one. In terms of google not getting its due respect, that's definitely a personal choice but for me it has no impact ok my purchasing choices...i rest soundly knowing the google execs are making far more than I'll ever see regardless of whether their icon is on the back of my phone ;-) when there's an appalling business practice (ie like nike making young asian kids perform sweatshop labor) I make noise with my wallet, but the bing-google thing just doesn't rise to that level for me...and enough people have already voiced concern to force verizon to abandon the bing-exclusivity agreement anyway (as we should see after the 2.2 update). But again, these are personal preferences, and if the samsung-verizon-bing alliance offends you enough, more power to you for taking a principled stance.
As for gps...remains to be seen. I should say that I have had some more success getting a more accurate hit in the last 2 days. Should also say that yesterday I got a reading that was about a quarter mile from where I was actually situated, but when a friend with the original droid who was standing next to me turned on his gps, it had the exact same reading as mine, so it may be verizon's towers and not my phone. I wil check back in over the next few days to let you know how things progress.
Anyway the more I toy with this thing the more I love it and pocketability was just too big a downside with the x for me to ignore. If that's a non-issue for you then it may be the right choice. Lemme know what you decide on.