Database Users

Is the Samsung Fascinate a good choice?

I'm due for an upgrade on Nov. 18th, and wanted to know the goods and bads of this phone from my fellow XDA Community. Basically, I want to know:
1. Will the lagfix potentially fix any "lag" on the phone beforehand?
2. Is the GPS as bad as people say it is?
3. Is Screen Burn in a problem with the Super Amoled Screen?
4. Is the Camera and Camcorder any good?
I'm coming from a Droid Eris and want to get the best phone out there that can last me for a year.

Ok my personal opinion:
Camera is great!!!
Video Recording is great
Screen Is great!!!
GPS is quirky (might be fixed with 2.2 update)
Touchwiz is boring , slow etc
Great design!
But i got rid of mine, in hopes that the htc desire hd is being released this month on verizon! The new Sense UI is awesome .......my opinion others love stock android ui!

Just saw your coming from a HTC Eris..........then honestly if you like the Sense UI, dont get this!
Goodluck!

I came from an Eris too and I love this! (I got rid of the Sense UI on my Eris with a custom ROM) Personally I don't have any problem with lag even without a lagfix, my GPS works just fine, and call quality is great. It is a big improvement from the Eris, the battery life is definitely better, and I really have nothing bad to say about it. The only thing I miss is the LED notification but there are ways around that. The camera and camcorder work great - excellent picture quality, and no screen burn in that I have seen so far anyway.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Wtf does HTC sense have to do with the Samsung phone. I never flame but that is dumb as hell to say. Touchwiz and sense are not even close. Besides. Put LP on there and forget it. People only slam it when its not their cup of tea. I have literally had every phone Verizon has release since the Droid 1 and I ****ing love my fascinate. The new HTC will likely be a ***** to root much like the others. And Verizon WILL NOT GET DESIRE HD. it will likely be the exact same phone but not called that. But in Sherwood's defense ill say that's one hella good looking phone. But I am gonna keep my fascinate til LTE and by the. That HTC will be shot BC it wont have LTE. if u want to be impressed read about how much better fascinate screen and CPU /GPU Are than any other phone. If u like to game the Samsung galaxy phones are the absolutely best made for that
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Untrue statement about Sense UI being better than Touchwiz. I have had the eris, incredible and now the facinate and touchwiz is just fine. Load ADW as your launcher and you will really dig this phone over the eris for sure.
IMO... GPS is not that big of an issue for me as there are some work arounds to get satellites to lock quicker and if I do get burn in on my screen I will have it replaced.With the 2.2 update just around the corner it should help make this a more solid phone. (Especially after the developers get a hold of it!) If your ok with the size of the incredible, there isn't a better phone made but it lacks a good car dock/mount and the best case ever made, "kickstand case". My incredible did have a little better cell signal also... Having said that, good luck. The facinate will be a huge upgrade from the eris. And as stated before, this is all (IMO) with experience with all three.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Depending on your screen size preferences and the reviews you might want to take a look at the Samsung Continuum when it comes out - should be before your upgrade date. If you must have a notification when things happen then the ticker seems to be a great idea. We have yet to see how it affects battery life though.

1. Yes. Also depends on your level of annoyance to the lag.
2. No.
3. None evident at all, after a month and a half.
4. Yes. I have always loved the sammy panorama feature.
No regrets at all.
good day.

Coming from a moto droid this phone is great!
Camera and camcorder are great
gps is iffy at time but works prob get fixed
I like touchwiz and find it not laggy at all in fact its one of the only launchers that dont lag when used with lwp. I mean launcher pro does not lag alot but u can see it in the app drawer alittle touchwiz app drawer has zero lag.
I dont use lagfix (uninstalled) i see no need for it actually i think just running the stock deodexed rom makes for a super smooth experiance.

Problem is, I'm deciding between a Samsung Fascinate with AWESOME hardware (love that GPU) and a Droid X with 2. 2. It's hard!
Sent from Eris with Froyo

Go to a corporate store and play with both of them - I briefly considered the Droid X but when I tried it out in the store, it just seemed slow and somehow cumbersome and not just from the size - even stock the Fascinate was smoother to me.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

If you liked the ERIS......... stay with SENSE UI. Its hard to give it up. I regret it!!!
As far as Games , if you want a gaming phone WAIT TILL THERE ARE QUALITY GAMES. And not 1 year old IPHONE PORTS.
Wait a little longer trust me.
BTW I had the droid X the camera was complete garbage!!! And I prefer capacative buttons at the bottom and not tactile ones like the x.
But again stay with sense. You get alot of built in options stock instead of 3rd party addons to get same options. Like copy and paste, and scrollable widgets.
Goodluck!!

I'll just have to wait and see.

TheSonicEmerald said:
1. Will the lagfix potentially fix any "lag" on the phone beforehand?
2. Is the GPS as bad as people say it is?
3. Is Screen Burn in a problem with the Super Amoled Screen?
4. Is the Camera and Camcorder any good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I don't notice any lag for normal use. It only really lags on me when installing things from the Market, but I'm guessing this is a general issue with Android
2. GPS lock can take 10-20 sec, but isn't that bad. I've found that always leaving GPS on as opposed to turning it off/on as needed helps keep the lag from being as bad.
3. Haven't noticed any burn in on my phone
4. I haven't taken many pictures yet, but the one's I have taken have been good for a phone camera
I'd say go to a store and play with both devices. After using the capacitive buttons on the Fascinate for a couple weeks now, the physical buttons of the Droid X seemed annoying when I played around with one a few days ago. Also, if you're waiting until the 18th, FroYo should be out not long after that, and that is when I'd expect a lot of development to start up for ROMs and kernels, so the software should hopefully catch up to the great hardware in a couple months.

Droid X VS Fascinate
I just picked up the Fascinate a few days ago after returning the X. I had the X for three weeks. I agree with the poster that noted how BAD the X camera is. So far with the sammy I have not had any issues lag,GPS or otherwise. I had a Tmo Vibrant and loved it. My only complaint about the fascinate is the lack of 2.2. Other than that I think its the perfect size and weight. I currently carry and iPhone 4 and the Fascinate. I dont think I have taken the iPhone out of my laptop bag since I got the Samsung.

you should wait and see if the nexus two comes to vzw

Chuban7 said:
you should wait and see if the nexus two comes to vzw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you shouldn't. Right now the Nexus Two is a mythical device that does not exist. Even if Google does decide to make one, it won't be out anytime soon, and there's a good chance it wouldn't be on Verizon first, if at all.
I came from an Eris myself, and had no problem dumping Sense UI. In fact, the last month I had it, I was running the KaosFroyo ROM, which is based on stock Froyo. Once I installed LauncherPro Plus, Dialer One, and a few other goodies, I realized that it was even better than when it ran Sense UI. If I were you, I would grab the Fascinate over the Droid X, because te hardware is superior, and Froyo will be out for it soon enough. Bing is a non-issue, since it can easily be removed by rooting, if you don't like it.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Alright all you root-ers.....

I come to the Droid X planet from the planet WinMo..... On my previous planet I frollicked in the flash-cooked-rom playground til I was dizzy & had a too-much-cheese-cake belly ache....so I waited 45 minutes & frollicked some more.
I've read all about rooting here, I get it. I thought, before arriving, that I'd be rooting the very night I got the DX, but that night came & went ... and so did about a week now.
I'm loving this phone in stock mode. Its so much better & faster & slicker than my Omnia that I can't honestly find a reason to root.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the primary benefits to rooting are:
More thematic control
The ability to tether
marginally better battery life
the ability to overclock
So I'm all the way through a day at work w/ some calls, 10 to 20 texts, a couple of browser sessions, and 2 hours of mp3 play which lands me home w/ 40-50% battery left.
I just don't need to tether (although it'd be cool....and I'd prolly do it)
The ability to put a picture of my honeymoon in Kauai is all the Thematic control I need.
I'm already surfing while I listen to the PowerAmp MP3 player...how much faster does it need to be that I wanna overclock it? (I mean, I get how cool it is to actually do it & enjoy the observed performance bump, but......then I'm used to it being that fast)
Why do I wanna do this? I'm not trying to debate you, I believe you all like it better...so it IS better..but why might I like it better?
Talk to me like if you get ONE MORE root convert you'll get the toaster.
< used car salesman schtick >So....what's it gonna take for YOU to put ME in a rooted X today? < /used car salesman schtick >

It's all about what you like. If you are satisfied with stock so be it. I too was satisfied with stock, but the more I hung around these forums and read. The more curious I became. Rooting and unrooting is ridiculously easy. One click. I don't use tethering so I won't be able to convince you. However on battery life it is no contest. I used to be at 40 percent at noon with heavy usage. Once I rooted and changed roms (apex 1.4.1) I saw an enormous improvement. Now I am at 50 percent by 6 at night. I make a lot of calls during the day (25+) and I am checking email and what have you. It all comes down to how happy you are with what you have. I could be happy with stock again (I actually don't mind blur). Good luck with your decision, but I must warn you. Staying around these forums will not help you stay with stock for very long.
Edit: I wouldn't make a very good car salesman.

Blur-less ROM. 'nuff said.

See, now I'd read more "marginal" battery life improvement....your experience is a significant improvement.
And yes, hanging around here is how I got to be a flash-addicted on my previous planet....all to the good I might add, although MAN I could blow some hours on that.
I'll have to do some more reading on Blur and Blur-less.

i too came from the omnia. loved that phone. ive had my DX for a few weeks now, and aside from changing how it looks drastically i havent had the need to root or ROM the phone at all so far. although, the wifi tethering is the one reason i will end up rooting later this weekend, i use that a TON throughout my workday. i have been kind of avoiding it, but its something that has been a hassle since i changed phones. im more interested in hearing more about this "oneclick" root someone in here mentioned, ive read the sticky and probably everything else in this forum about rooting the DX and havent come across a one click method so far. so, apparently ive missed the best part?

Hanover....I found this:
http://www.droid-life.com/2010/07/27/root-and-unroot-your-droid-x-with-1-click/
...but it looks like a bunch of X-ers standing around the edge of the pool daring each other to jump in & report back. I like the "Noobs Guide" here better.
Another Rooting benefit I forgot to mention was how COOL backing up the state of the phone would be. I'm guessing that's App and Settings.....from WinMo flashes I loved the Dir you could put on the SD full of the apps & settings so that if the ROM you were flashing included this particular feature, those things would be loaded & setup from the get-go....forget what it was called; flippin fabulous. This backup capability that apparently comes along w/ Rooting (which isn't available from stock? ) sounds even better.
Anybody wanna tell me what they hate about Blur?

This discussion has a few links to Blur definition and commentary.....I guess I "like" the Blur stuff, although apparently it's been diluted to a palatable level in the X's 2.2.1 Android release.
I think its creepy keepin my schtuff in teh "cloud"....until I want it reloaded to my phone & poof! Its done...then its more cool than creepy
So far I've gotten
WAY better battery management (not just a little better)
Gotta Tether
And to that list I'd add the backup ability about which I'll have to read more.
So come on Rooters.....I'm still wanting to hear the GREATEST thing for you in your new ROM that Stock never provided.....

I had the tilt before coming to the X and I loved that phone. The "one click" method I was talking about is called z4root. You don't technically click it. It is an .apk that you run. Then click either temporary or permanent root. If you click permanent root, the next time you run it unroot will appear. If you get DroidX bootstrap you can make a nandroid backup of your current phone. Everything will be saved except the data from your apps. You would have.to use titanium backup for that. Then you could experiment with roms and if you don't like them go back to your backup. Which would put you back at stock. You can also make more than one backup. Keep reading and before you know it you will break down.
Just to let you know a little more between the blur and blur"less" roms. Since blur is part of motorola when a dev takes the blur out of the rom some of the functionality of the phone is lost. I.e. no hdmi, camera is less than stellar and etc...now you can just get the blur .apk for the camera. But you still lose hdmi out.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

Thanks....I really like the camera....seems better than my Omnia's ....maybe I'm just on a honeymoon w/ the X
I'll have a few more laps in the pool here & then I'll giver a go. I mean, if I can fairly easily bop back to stock, then what's the cost? (well...besides the unlikely bricking).
So I guess I'll need to figure out which things are "Blur" and which things are "Android"....for instance:
can anybody tell me if thiese things remain in blurless ROMS?
The little red target that moves the cursor in text boxes? (love that)
the voice mic to talk in text in most text boxes?
syncing to/from my Gmail for contacts & calendar?
can I have "some" of the Motorola widgets of my choice? (or are they just bone cuz they "are" blur?)
Again, I can figure these things out first hand or read up, just checkin if one of you wanna chime in some more.
Great info. THanks for playin.

my reasons are quite simple for rooting my dx.addless apps/over clocking/"disabling"some factory installed apps/wifi tethering(not being stuck paying verison 20 bucks a month to do it).

Another reason to root and ROM is "New Phone Syndrome". I was excited like a kid in a candy store when I got my X. You couldn't pull my fingers from it. After 3 months I started to get bored. Don't get me wrong I still loved it but I needed new meat and waiting another 21 months for an upgrade didn't cut it. So if all those reasons to root and load a ROM like tethering, battery life, overclock, etc isn't good enough for you, then consider this...its like having a new phone when you load a ROM. Just my 2 cents.
DX CFU LIB 1.5

It almost sounds like you want to be convinced on something you kind of want to do because your bored,
About ROMs. Think of it like this...take two LCD TVs, one is 1080p one is 720P...if they are in separate rooms, you will never be able to tell the difference. Side by side, yes, you can see the difference, marginally. To me, all flashing a ROM does is change the transitional speed between screens, apps, etc., and remove the bloat ahead of time so you don't have to manually do it. That's my opinion. (disclaimer for the trolls ) And to be honest, that is where mainly all the praise comes from having a so called " fast ROM ", over stock. Motorola's stock transition times are slow (blur) and developers customize these settings to probably be 0. Other then that, I have had two brand new Droid X's side by side and there is no difference. Heck I have had four of them side by side and can't tell a difference in anything really besides transitioning in tasking.
How much time are people really spending transitioning between the app drawer and the home screen is beyond me lol but running any rom while in an app is never going to make a difference on a phone call, text, taking a picture etc.
If I could change these transition times myself (much like on a PC), I would love to run the stock ROM as it's 100% stable and smooth and I don't have to sacrifice a thing. If you want a different look once in a while like a black top bar or new icons, flash a theme for stock rom or an icon pack or, make your own like I do.
As far as rooting, yes, rooting for me is a must.
I root so I can have an exact backup to the state my phone was in before I start to dink around with it. I like to change my battery icons, make all my own icons and such so it helps when I flash or edit the wrong file. I like to be able to backup all my apps with a one click install after I go back to stock if need be. I like to be able to tether and to know I have that ability because times have arose when I needed to. And last but not least, have the ability to download and install non-market apps and content. There are websites out there that have plenty of apps and content not available the market that I use. Probably my biggest reason I root. Some apps require root so that will be your preference if you use those specific apps.
If you enjoy overclocking, that's another reason to root. The DX is not a PC though, I don't need to overclock to make a call and I am not playing Crysis on max resolution lol. If you are OCD about watching your benchmark scores go up and down, then overclock away!
Other then that, I have always praised that a stock, rooted Droid X with all it's bloatware removed is perfect in every way. The hardware on this awesome device is really all that you may want in a smart phone. It handles everything I throw at it and it's reliable for me. Overclocked or not, I can't tell the difference between 1Ghz and 1.3Ghz and that's on my phone alone.
Everything always comes down to preference. If you don't have a specific reason to root then don't. Unless you’re bored that is, lol.

turbo614 said:
my reasons are quite simple for rooting my dx.addless apps/over clocking/"disabling"some factory installed apps/wifi tethering(not being stuck paying verison 20 bucks a month to do it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too. Tried all the roms, all had some shortcommings. I am now back to stock, rooted, bloat removed, themed and loving it. Best batt life I have had.

Stock , rooted, bloat removed, theme-able, sounds like a dream come true.
I appreciate the insight.

HanoverPhist said:
i too came from the omnia. loved that phone. ive had my DX for a few weeks now, and aside from changing how it looks drastically i havent had the need to root or ROM the phone at all so far. although, the wifi tethering is the one reason i will end up rooting later this weekend, i use that a TON throughout my workday. i have been kind of avoiding it, but its something that has been a hassle since i changed phones. im more interested in hearing more about this "oneclick" root someone in here mentioned, ive read the sticky and probably everything else in this forum about rooting the DX and havent come across a one click method so far. so, apparently ive missed the best part?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Z4 root! One click! just get the link to download the app if it's not in the market.

Review/Warning

I just bought an Atrix, and I thought I would post a little review because in all my research before I bought the phone, I did not find one which said what I needed to hear. Hopefully this is useful and objective.
I have owned a OG Droid, Samsung Fascinate, Nexus S, Galaxy S, and this Atrix so I feel like I have good grounds for comparison.
Out of the box...
The Good: The phone's hardware is top notch. The specs are awesome.
The Bad: The Motorola Atrix in completly stock form (the one I bought anyways) is very buggy and laggy. When I first unboxed it and was doing my initial set up and installing a few apps, a number of different programs forced close. The whole experience was slow and frustrating. I would rate Moto Blur as simply horrible and disgusting.
The fact that Motorola was able to take a tegra 2 powered phone with 1GB of DDR2 ram and make it run choppy is beyond me.
With that being said... If you don't know how to or do not plan on rooting, or modifying the software on your phone, I would highly recommended you avoid the Atrix.
If you are a fan of tinkering and modifying, then the Atrix is a great choice.

I have only noticed lag for the first 15-30 seconds after power on. None after that...
Motoblur means nothing to me, and doesn't really seem to slow down my phone. I had lunch with a bunch of other android users, and they were all impressed by the atrix' snappiness...

One thing I remembered when I had the atrix was unlocking the phone and using it was extremely laggy and slow for the first few seconds. I confirmed this with 2 other store demos. If you swipe your finger or do the pattern unlock, try bringing down the notification bar immediately. It'll be slow and choppy but if you wait a couple seconds and then try again, it'll be fine. Always annoyed me at how LONG it took to unlock the phone and get it going compared to every other android phone I've owned.

I have had no issues with performance at all on my device. It's lightning quick. The most impressive for me wasn't the CPU speed, but the file access speed. That thing installs, uninstalls, and loads applications retarded fast. They made a good choice of hardware right there.

SpeeDemon said:
I have had no issues with performance at all on my device. It's lightning quick. The most impressive for me wasn't the CPU speed, but the file access speed. That thing installs, uninstalls, and loads applications retarded fast. They made a good choice of hardware right there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DDR2 ram win.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

The only lag I've noticed is for a few seconds after the initial boot up, which is understandable. To say it is very laggy and buggy is crazy. Perhaps the unit you had was defective.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

Sounds like you may have a buggy device... Ive had three of them so far (one was replaced due to what I perceived to be a faulty battery and my wife also uses one). And I've not seen any of the lag you're talking about...
If it was a big enough occurance don't you think you would've read about it on these forums? This place is packed with android super users... no ones having problems like that ...
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

plvaulter06 said:
If you are a fan of tinkering and modifying, then the Atrix is a great choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the atrix is a horrible choice if you like to tinker and modify your phone...

dinan said:
One thing I remembered when I had the atrix was unlocking the phone and using it was extremely laggy and slow for the first few seconds. I confirmed this with 2 other store demos. If you swipe your finger or do the pattern unlock, try bringing down the notification bar immediately. It'll be slow and choppy but if you wait a couple seconds and then try again, it'll be fine. Always annoyed me at how LONG it took to unlock the phone and get it going compared to every other android phone I've owned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.... the fingerprint scanner makes it real quick to unlock the phone.... and it's not easy enough to be accidentally pocket-unlocked like some other unlocking systems i've seen.... such as i think HTC's, where you just slide the one thing down. Hell, with the one pair of shorts i have, i was actually able to see the screen on my iPhone 4 when i had it, and unlock it THROUGH THE SHORTS if i wanted to.
And i think it'd be expected for things to be going a tad slow as soon as it's woken up. Look at computers. Whether it's booting... sleeping... hibernating.... if you expect to be able to do something without any form of lag the second either of those are recovered from, you'd be sorely mistaken.

neotekz said:
the atrix is a horrible choice if you like to tinker and modify your phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a great comment from a non-Atrix user? Maybe I'm wrong though?
The Atrix is fine for people who like to tinker. The only thing we can't do is overclock our processors and change ROMs every 3 seconds. Other than that I have free tethering, no ads, root, no bloatware, free webtop thanks to a hack and a pseudo-ROM/theme loaded. Yeah too bad I can't tinker with it. *eyes rolling*

Mustang302LX said:
Sounds like a great comment from a non-Atrix user? Maybe I'm wrong though?
The Atrix is fine for people who like to tinker. The only thing we can't do is overclock our processors and change ROMs every 3 seconds. Other than that I have free tethering, no ads, root, no bloatware, free webtop thanks to a hack and a pseudo-ROM/theme loaded. Yeah too bad I can't tinker with it. *eyes rolling*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NICE!!!!!! glad someone finally said something... I mean sure u can't load cyanogen but with the way things are going with these "pseudo" roms if cyanogen put some effort into making one of those for the atrix would that not be a sufficient fix??? Because lets face it doubt the BL will be unlocked soo instead of putting all that effort I to unlocking it how about taking g advantage of the capabilities that we do have.... ???? Just sayen

robwscott83 said:
NICE!!!!!! glad someone finally said something... I mean sure u can't load cyanogen but with the way things are going with these "pseudo" roms if cyanogen put some effort into making one of those for the atrix would that not be a sufficient fix??? Because lets face it doubt the BL will be unlocked soo instead of putting all that effort I to unlocking it how about taking g advantage of the capabilities that we do have.... ???? Just sayen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha didn't really mean to come off as a jerk but I'm just sick of reading people's posts in the ATRIX forum hating on the phone. If it's not the phone for you so what go to the forum of the device you like!
I hope to also see some cool themes/pseudo-ROMs made available. At least we have Ken right now working his butt off on GingerBlur!

Mustang302LX said:
Haha didn't really mean to come off as a jerk but I'm just sick of reading people's posts in the ATRIX forum hating on the phone. If it's not the phone for you so what go to the forum of the device you like!
I hope to also see some cool themes/pseudo-ROMs made available. At least we have Ken right now working his butt off on GingerBlur!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes he difinitley is i was following that thread for a bit but i saw that with the latest release i believe it was beta7 (at the time) webtop for th laptop dock was disabled and i have the LTD so that is a feature that i definitely need... do you know if its a RC yet???

Mustang302LX said:
Sounds like a great comment from a non-Atrix user? Maybe I'm wrong though?
The Atrix is fine for people who like to tinker. The only thing we can't do is overclock our processors and change ROMs every 3 seconds. Other than that I have free tethering, no ads, root, no bloatware, free webtop thanks to a hack and a pseudo-ROM/theme loaded. Yeah too bad I can't tinker with it. *eyes rolling*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have an atrix, i guess we just have different opinions on tinkering...i do like the change roms often and be able to upgrade to the newest android version without having to wait for the manufacture. theres so much more you can do when you open up the kernel, most of the bugs that people are having would be solved if the devs can get at the kernel. Why do you think developers are leaving the Atrix? there's only so much you can do with a locked bootloader. i never said i hated the phone(i wouldnt of bought it if i did) i just dont think it's a good phone for modding but hopefully that will change...

SpeeDemon said:
I have had no issues with performance at all on my device. It's lightning quick. The most impressive for me wasn't the CPU speed, but the file access speed. That thing installs, uninstalls, and loads applications retarded fast. They made a good choice of hardware right there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same with mine.. the ATT version of the Atrix must be loaded with crapware making the phone slow down. My Bell version flies right out of the box, even when using Motoblur!

SpeeDemon said:
I have had no issues with performance at all on my device. It's lightning quick. The most impressive for me wasn't the CPU speed, but the file access speed. That thing installs, uninstalls, and loads applications retarded fast. They made a good choice of hardware right there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 I agree, Atrix = speed I've rarely felt lags if any at all
Sent from my bell Atrix using XDA App

robwscott83 said:
yes he difinitley is i was following that thread for a bit but i saw that with the latest release i believe it was beta7 (at the time) webtop for th laptop dock was disabled and i have the LTD so that is a feature that i definitely need... do you know if its a RC yet???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still in Beta at 7.2 now. However I believe the webtop that was removed in the previous version was the hack to make it work with just an HDMI cable so you don't need the dock to make it work. I am on 7.2 and I have the webtop hack installed and it works perfect on my TV through just the HDMI cable.

I am really enjoying the ATRIX. I was starting to get a little burnt out on installing new ROMS every couple days or weeks. This is however my first Android phone...coming from the WinMo forums...This phone is like night and day compared to my old Tilt 2.
People have such harsh and strong opinions on everything on forums. These 'reviews' should be read as objectively as possible.

starvinmrvn said:
I am really enjoying the ATRIX. I was starting to get a little burnt out on installing new ROMS every couple days or weeks. This is however my first Android phone...coming from the WinMo forums...This phone is like night and day compared to my old Tilt 2.
People have such harsh and strong opinions on everything on forums. These 'reviews' should be read as objectively as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome Brother I'm in the same boat =P tilt 2 to atrix is an amazingly wonderful jump ~!

I came from a captivate where roms are readily available. I enjoyed flashing and it was awesome to see how a device can mature. But the kernel development is where things truly shine. But even after all the flashing I just felt like things didn't quite work right. I thought it was the fact that 99% of the roms were based off the international galaxy s.
I love my atrix. Everything works. The battery life is awesome. The phone really flies. Motoblur sucks but its been taken care of. As long as we get more roms ill be happy. Unlocked bootloader would be nice but I don't see it happening
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

How Do You Guys Like The Epic?

I have a relative who works for Sprint and they are going to get the Nexus S 4G in a week or two when it comes out. I am going to take their Epic off of their hands, upgrading from my Hero.
I was just curious how you all liked it? How does it perform, battery, etc...?
And is it as customizable with ROMs as the Hero is? I've had quite a bit of fun with the Hero, I just think its about time for an upgrade.
Let me know, thanks!

I dont know anything about the Hero. But i'm really happy with my Epic. I have it overclocked at 1.45Ghz. The devs that work on this phone have great support for there work(and more often then not, will help even if its not their's) The Custom roms here are stable. I'm running "SyndicateROM Frozen 1.1.0" with the "VisionKernel v1.2" and can't be happier.

I'm fine with mines. But I've always had a Samsung phone so I'd like to try a new phone for once. I get about 12-14 hrs of use with moderate usage, which is more than enough for me. I always have a battery pack with me just in case but I've never had to use it. I've tried many roms. And I think it is pretty customizable like the hero, but not 100% sure.

I love my Epic; I've had it since September and it has taken a ton of abuse with no issues at all. Roms are all pretty good, but I am currently running on a stripped/rooted EC05 and happy as can be with it.
The performance is outstanding on it; I played the benchmark game going back and forth between roms for the best performance but the bottom line is even stock it is plenty fast... sure it can be made faster, but the phone is just plain fast to begin with.
Battery life is not bad for what it is. I can make it through a day without issue unless I am playing games for hours etc. With normal web and phone usage I will be between 60 and 75% at the end of the work day. If I just blast it all day it will be 30-50% at the end of a work day. If I take it real easy it can go about two days.
I was considering going to the Nexus when it comes out, but I'm not sure I can handle losing the hw keyboard... it was the final deciding factor between the Epic and the Evo for me; and while I use swype 90% of the time (I expected to use the HW KB all the time), that 10% where I really just have to use the HW KB really is necessary for me (doing web based tech support/training sometimes getting client contacts when there isn't a computer accessible). For the keyboard alone it is worth it's weight in gold to me, and if some of my clients knew I was getting them through a crisis on a telephone, they would probably say the same thing
So uh yeah... you'll be happy with it.

i hate it
im getting a nexus as soon as its available on sprint
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

great input guys, i appreciate it!
can't wait to get my hands on this baby and play around.

nexus s will blow the epic away.. but as far as an upgrade from a hero.. you'll like it.

The nexus s is the same damn phone just with nfc and gingerbread which we wll be getting soon. I had to get a seido extended..I don't care what people say or what rom they use I couldn't get more then 6ish hours having the phone on with setcpu and not even using 4g or really playing music. I also went through multiple epics so it isn't like I had some bunk battery
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

sceptor said:
....I had to get a seido extended..I don't care what people say or what rom they use I couldn't get more then 6ish hours having the phone on with setcpu and not even using 4g or really playing music....
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^^^ Only downside of the Epic in my opinion. It can takes beatings. Mine has been dropped a couple of times. The gorilla glass is awesome. Not even a minute scratch and I've had the phone over a year. Developers are great. Does everything I want and need, and more!

tuttjs said:
^^^ Only downside of the Epic in my opinion. It can takes beatings. Mine has been dropped a couple of times. The gorilla glass is awesome. Not even a minute scratch and I've had the phone over a year. Developers are great. Does everything I want and need, and more!
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Umm, it isn't possible that you've had the phone for more than a year lol. Unless, you were in the future for a few months, then came back to launch date.
Sent from my always stock, EC05 Epic 4G

I came frpm the htc hero. I love this phone! The development isn't quite as large but the phone's hardware is amazing. The hero had lag in many places and the epic pretty much has none. The epic's GPU is basically the strongest on the market (atleast for sprint, until the evo 3d comes out), so any gaming will work great on the Epic.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

I agree with many of the previous post. The Epic doesn't have as many roms as the hero no true cm rom yet, but it will blow your mind! Very fast stock. My battery on stock, using the hell out it with screen as bright as it gets is usually 8 hours maybe a lill more. On custom roms 10 plus heavy use. Phone is a champ and handles anything thrown at it. You will have the equivalent of the nexus s because they are the same phone I know people holding the s now. The screen alone is amazing and upscales the worst video you can play. All in all you are very lucky to get this upgrade and despite some heads clashing this community will reach out and help you each step of the way myself included. Need anything pm me no hesitation!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

The Epic has excellent hardware. The stock software, on the other hand, ranges from a joke to a nightmare. Plan on putting a custom ROM on it to get the most out of the unit; I run SyndicateROM and the phone performs far better than it did on any of the previous stock ROMs.
I'm very happy with the phone itself, however.

I like it a lot ever since cleaning it up. That's the key to the whole thing I think.

The only issue that I have with my Epic is the Build quality. I feel that Samsung cheapened up the device to the point that it scratches it self from opening and it can be loose. That stuff aside it is an amazing handset and well worth the money.

nash076a said:
The Epic has excellent hardware. The stock software, on the other hand, ranges from a joke to a nightmare. Plan on putting a custom ROM on it to get the most out of the unit; I run SyndicateROM and the phone performs far better than it did on any of the previous stock ROMs.
I'm very happy with the phone itself, however.
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Click to collapse
You don't need a custom ROM, IMHO. You just need to remove junk from stock.

dchawk81 said:
You don't need a custom ROM, IMHO. You just need to remove junk from stock.
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+1 to this. I might not be rooted, but if I did, I know this is all i'd do, right along getting the accurate batery mod.
Sent from my always stock, EC05 Epic 4G

You're going to love the phone. The keyboard is the nicest you'll ever get on a phone, its really fast and the screen is going to blow you away. I'm using a custom rom Syndicate Frozen and I have had no problems at all compared to stock.
Samsung Epic 4g

I agree with most of the posts in here so far. I love my epic and it is really easy to customize. Personally, I had to make the switch to custom roms not only because of performance increase, but mostly for the battery performance increase. I would get 6 - 8 hours tops on stock off one battery, now I average about 18 hours. It feels weird not carrying my extra battery with me everywhere now!
The devs here are amazing and support their roms very well. Hats off to you guys!
My only problems with the epic are:
1. semi-sketchy opening mechanism. I've had 2 epics and both of them had/have a loose feeling screen after being used a while (to be expected I guess)
2. Lack of fm radio - there are apps to "fix" this though, and I guess I wouldn't really use it that much anyway
3. Lack of tv - out. This is being worked on, but I can't stand the fact this was disabled.
enjoy your new epic!

I haven't come across a ROM yet that improves battery life when the device is being used.
They may help the phone idle and sleep more efficiently but cleaning up the stock ROM does the same thing.
My two biggest improvements came when I froze System Update and removed SNS.

[Q] Droid X and Chainfire 3D

Quick Question: I saw some similar questions posted but something about the Droid X not keeping root to run Chainfire 3D. Did not answer my question, N/A.
My phone is a Droid X, Gingerbread, Android 2.3.3, fully rooted with Linux One Click. I am trying to play Dead Space for Android and it just does not work. Black screen, checking for updates, faint EA logo, then back to desktop.
I asked if anybody had Dead Space running on a Droid X in another forum and one fellow said, yes, it works fine if you install the free, market Chainfire 3D driver and use the Qualcomm plugin. I did all this and the phone behaves exactly the same. He also recommended using 16 bit color and reduced texture size. No difference. I find this rather odd, I can see no difference in the phone or any game with or without the Chainfire 3D driver. I do not know how the driver loads, I looked into Terminal and used lsmod to read what modules the kernel is loading and I see nothing relevant to graphics loading. Very few modules were loaded. I used the CF Bench tool to test if the driver is really running but I cannot tell, I got a low score, 2415, above the HTC Hero, Samsung Galaxy topping the comparison chart with 6442. This is not telling me what I want to know.
Does Chainfire 3D work on a rooted Droid X 2.3.3? How can you tell? Is Dead Space ever going to run on this phone or am I chasing mermaids?
Thanks.

I got it to run "Sprinkle" (before a single core version was released) with the Nvidia Plugin...
Never really tried any other game.
So it must work, as Chainfire was the ONLY reason it would load.
I was also on a 2nd-init rom though...which may have some impact?

Jubakuba said:
I got it to run "Sprinkle" (before a single core version was released) with the Nvidia Plugin...
Never really tried any other game.
So it must work, as Chainfire was the ONLY reason it would load.
I was also on a 2nd-init rom though...which may have some impact?
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Thanks. Not sure what Sprinkle is but you proved the driver is somewhat effective, though. I too thought the nvidia plugin would be best as I run all of my PC games on nvidia, even Linux. Wow, Descent ran really, really good on Linux. Too bad I cannot get this DX to do what I want, but I guess this phone, as cool as it really is, is getting a bit long in the tooth. Time to start shopping.
I have not done any ROM'ing yet. I got one click Linux to root my OTA Gingerbread and I thought that was pretty cool, I do not want to break it but if a new ROM could bring some life into this old phone, I would do it. Thoughts? Any of you ROM your Droid X phones to gain significant advantages over stock? I do not want to do it "just to be different" as the phone layout is pretty good, but if a ROM could change the desktop into something really cool, that actually worked (Not like Gnome 2/Compiz) then it would be worth it.

MIUI is super nice.
You do, however, miss out on 720p and HDMI.
But that's all.
And (drama broke out recently, so details are sketchy) there may (probably not) be a public release of a fix that fixes 720p and HDMI on the horizon.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1374281

Hey, thanks for the ROM update and the good links! I went to review the ROM here and I think this is pretty advanced for a DX, but good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5DNx-6O-SE
The MIUI MOD is nice, but I am not "Anti-Verizon" and "Anti-Motorola". I just don't like VZ Navigator, a pay app, running all the time and I cannot remove it. Same for some of the other stuff. There were some good themes too, MIUI does not have an app drawer, ouch. And stuff is broken. I am not ready to go beta on anything yet for something so essential as a cell phone. It is also kind of "Macintosh". But great links and education, thnx.

Ohmster said:
Hey, thanks for the ROM update and the good links! I went to review the ROM here and I think this is pretty advanced for a DX, but good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5DNx-6O-SE
The MIUI MOD is nice, but I am not "Anti-Verizon" and "Anti-Motorola". I just don't like VZ Navigator, a pay app, running all the time and I cannot remove it. Same for some of the other stuff. There were some good themes too, MIUI does not have an app drawer, ouch. And stuff is broken. I am not ready to go beta on anything yet for something so essential as a cell phone. It is also kind of "Macintosh". But great links and education, thnx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try liberty 3 2.0 I have been running it and love it, it has only the blur elements you want, and unlike cm7 or miui you don't have to give up HD camera or HDMI functionality, if that's a deal breaker for you
sent from my Droid X running Liberty 3

hootowlserenade said:
You could try liberty 3 2.0 I have been running it and love it, it has only the blur elements you want, and unlike cm7 or miui you don't have to give up HD camera or HDMI functionality, if that's a deal breaker for you
sent from my Droid X running Liberty 3
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I did not look into Liberty yet, but I will. I have Android 2.2.2 and they are now at 2.2.3, so, I am falling behind. I cannot OTA anymore or there goes root. Yeah, I will look into Liberty. It was on the ROM page. Thanks again.
I really need to keep this thread on topic, although the advice and ROM information is much appreciated dudes.
ANY 3D GAMERS OUT THERE WITH A DROID X? HOW DID YOU GET A GOOD 3D GAME TO RUN ON A DROID X? Chainfire? nvidia? What games? Dead Space? Anyone?

Close topic please
Moderator, could you please close this discussion? It is old and has outlived it's usefulness. I no longer have the Droid X but now have a Droix Razr Maxx, XT912. I never got really good 3D performance with the Droid X except for Toon Wars. The graphics in that game led me to believe that the unit could do better 3D gaming. But the internal video chip is not very powerful and not even Chainfire can help with that.
Bottom Line:
If you want or need better gaming or 3D video performance, get a newer and better phone like the Samsung Galaxy or anything like that. The Droid X is one very cool phone but a gaming workhouse it is not. Topic closed. OP no longer subscribing to threads.