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I will be switching carriers shortly from T-mobile to Verizon and need some input from experienced users. I currently have a Cliq XT it is my is my first and only Android phone and even though it is a nice phone it is severely limited. I want to get something more powerful and up to date. I have decided to either buy a Samsung Fascinate or a Droid X. Can you guys give me some pros and cons from your points of view. I have seen multiple comparisons online but I wanted the opinion of XDA forum members. Thanks! (pardon if this is in the wrong section or has already been asked, its my first post)
JMTS80 said:
I will be switching carriers shortly from T-mobile to Verizon and need some input from experienced users. I currently have a Cliq XT it is my is my first and only Android phone and even though it is a nice phone it is severely limited. I want to get something more powerful and up to date. I have decided to either buy a Samsung Fascinate or a Droid X. Can you guys give me some pros and cons from your points of view. I have seen multiple comparisons online but I wanted the opinion of XDA forum members. Thanks! (pardon if this is in the wrong section or has already been asked, its my first post)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just left T-mo, and I miss my Nexus terribly.
I went with the Fascinate hands down. Better processor, better GPU, better display, easier root, better camera.
I was on the horns of the same dilemma, Droid X or Fascinate.
Background: I figured out that, except for a brief flirtation with a BlackBerry Storm, the last six phones I've had were all made by Motorola. The term "Motorola Fanboy" sounds really, really strange, but I guess that's what I was... I pre-ordered the Droid 1, and got it on release day, had it rooted the day the root process broke. There's more, but you see where this is going.
When the Droid X was announced, I asked "Where do I put my money?" Then I heard a frightening term: "E-fuse". Of course, that turned out to be something of an exaggeration, but the idea was troubling. This was followed by "Locked Bootloader".
With all this, I still wanted one, but I wanted to actually hold one before I plunked down my cash. I'm still waiting. My local VZW store, Best Buy, Costco, you name it, gets a couple in once or twice a month, and they're gone by lunchtime. I just looked at the VZW site, and right now they're saying the estimated ship date if you order today is the 24th.
So between being locked up and unavailable (okay, I'm being impatient here), I decided to go a different direction.
I pre-ordered my Fascinate, got it on release day, and had it rooted within 90 minutes (20 of which were confirming that the root was persistent). Less than two weeks later, we're on the verge of a custom recovery
This thing is SUPER light, and WAFER thin! It doesn't have that bulge on the back like the DX does. I also agree with the description that the SF is "Just the right size". My neighbor has an EVO, and I think phones of that size are actually a little too bulky.
Don't listen to much about the things people are complaining about with the Fascinate. Every new handset gets some of that, and it all gets worked out in the first few weeks.
The ideal thing, of course, would be to hold them both, one after the other, and see which one gives you the bigger smile. I tried to do that, but wasn't able to. It's hard to imagine the DX would make me happier than the Fascinate though...
And, of course, the universal disclaimer, YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY!
You're not going to go wrong either way, btw...
-Z
watch this: http://vodpod.com/watch/4468715-episode-18-samsung-fascinate-galaxy-s-vs-motorola-droid-x
yes, its 14 or 15 min but worth the watch if your considering the fascinate or the X.
Fascinate. End of discussion.
-Via Fascinate Courtesy Of Tapatalk
Thanks guys
Thanx for all of your responses! From what I have seen and what you guys are saying the Fascinate sounds like the better device. I just have a few doubts... Mainly the GPS issues, Bing, and the fact that I don't trust Samsung when it comes to updates.
This thread has also helped push me towards the fascinate... I always thought the droid x was too big anyway.
But now I'm mostly concerned about the GPS just like the OP... The update thing is unsettling too... I would hope they plan on putting gingerbread on these phones :O
Sent from my Droid Incredible running SkyRaider Vanilla 3.0
Dude get the Fascinate. I went from a Nexus, to the Evo and just came from a D2. I'm completely impressed. The battery has barely moved 1.5 hrs into my 1st day of use. The Evo gave me HELL had every ROM and could never get the out of box comfort and ease I've had so far.
Only things are the bottom buttons, I have 1 bar less of service in my house..haven't tested gps yet but these are all things I can live with and we're only on 2.1. Get it.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App & yes I'm a chick.
from what i have read it seems the GPS issue is hit or miss. thats not going to stop me from getting one. if the GPS doesnt work i will just keep exchanging them till i get one that does. of course it could just be a software issue but i think its to early to tell just yet.
Motorola + eFuse is the only issue you need to think about
Currently it hasn't been cracked, so if you want to install custom kernels, bootloaders, etc, I suggest you run far away from anything with the name Motorola
Not to mention the Hummingbird cpu/gpu blows TI's OMAP out of the water, as well as the SAMOLED screen
The only plus you get out of the X is .3" larger screen and HDMI out, which I'm sure we will get in a few months
"& yes I'm a chick"
LMAO, I love it!
My only qualm with the Fascinate is the bloat-ware. It's chocked full of it. I think it's to differentiate it from their Droid line.
You can easily circumvent it by starting with a launcher like ADW or LauncherPro and starting there.
Once you root, there's many more options. I would recommend staying away from the lagfix. You'll read more about it, but stay away from that one. It makes your phone act a little jerky which my phone actually has yet to recover from.
Other than that, it's awesome. You'll prefer it over the Droid X when the custom roms start coming out for it!
And it's super light, slim, and pretty sleek for a 4" screen phone.
I'm an EVO guy so I thought I'd ask here as well. My brother is on Verizon and looking to get either a fascinate or the X. He asked me which I thought. So I popped into their development forums to have a peek.
There doesnt seem to be much at all for either verizon phone in the way of ROM's. Am I correct in assumng that the EVO community is just so much more badass? He likes the things I show him with my phone and wants to be able to do something similar.
Is there another phone, forum, or something I'm missing that could help me get some better info as to what to recommend to him? Or if anyone here has a little Verizon experience they can share with me. Thanks for any info at all!
supchaka said:
I'm an EVO guy so I thought I'd ask here as well. My brother is on Verizon and looking to get either a fascinate or the X. He asked me which I thought. So I popped into their development forums to have a peek.
There doesnt seem to be much at all for either verizon phone in the way of ROM's. Am I correct in assumng that the EVO community is just so much more badass? He likes the things I show him with my phone and wants to be able to do something similar.
Is there another phone, forum, or something I'm missing that could help me get some better info as to what to recommend to him? Or if anyone here has a little Verizon experience they can share with me. Thanks for any info at all!
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Click to collapse
HTC phones have always gotten way more support. For example, the Incredible on Verizon probably gets as much support as the EVO.
As for the two you mentioned, the Droid X, as far as I know, still hasn't gotten cracked. You can root it but can't flash custom ROMs. The Fascinate I don't know much about. Cyanogen Mod is being ported to some Galaxy S phones but I'm not sure if that includes the Verizon one. Either way, Samsung dev support is always slower.
Edit: If he can wait, there's a Verizon branded G2/HTC Desire Z coming out soon (?). There's also rumors of a Motorola "super phone" that will ship with a dual core Tegra 2 by hopefully holiday season (or if not, Q1 2011).
Nice that you mention the Incredible, he currently has that so we're gonna root that and play with it for awhile see if he can hold off getting another phone till the next big thing comes out.
Thanks.
If he's going to get a phone right now, then one of the Droids, preferrably the Incredible. Droid X is 2nd, and Fascinate is last. Why? It's a Bingphone. Like the Kin, which died after just a few weeks. That's right, al of the Google apps have been removed and replaced by Bing apps, and the Google stuff on the Market are practically hidden.
If he has the incredible why does he want another phone? Like stated above, incredible gets almost the same amount of support the evo does.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
if he already has the Droid incredible he has no business getting a new phone. awesome dev community and still in the top tier of hardware. its pretty much a mini evo without 4g and hdmi.
in the coming months you will start to see phones that may actually be substantially better than the DINC, but nothing atm. i would hold on the the DINC for at least a year.
Stick with the incredible until the next HTC phone or something better is released.
Sent from my HTC Evo 4G using XDA app.
I think just because the fact that he's had the incredible so long, he assumed it was time to get a new one. He doesnt keep a phone too long, and me not being on Verizon I didnt know there was so much support for the incredible. I'm going to recommend he just hold onto that for now.
I saw the Atrix laptop/net book Idea and liked the ability to use your phone through the laptop/net book, and I would love to have something like this with my Droid X. I mean my phone spends a lot of time plugged into my computer anyways, why not interact through said computer?
Is there anyway I can do something similar with Linux with USB or something?
I know I could just wait for the atrix, but there are a couple problems with that for me.
1. I already have a laptop, and don't want to spend the money to get one that's just a big dock for my phone. I want to use what I currently have.
2. I am mid contract, and although my dad hates Verizon as much as I do, we cannot afford to leave Verizon.
3. I don't plan on getting a new phone anytime soon, I have to wait either for an upgrade or for us to go back to T-Mobile, which we were happy with in the first place.
Bobaboo said:
I saw the Atrix laptop/net book Idea and liked the ability to use your phone through the laptop/net book, and I would love to have something like this with my Droid X. I mean my phone spends a lot of time plugged into my computer anyways, why not interact through said computer?
Is there anyway I can do something similar with Linux with USB or something?
I know I could just wait for the atrix, but there are a couple problems with that for me.
1. I already have a laptop, and don't want to spend the money to get one that's just a big dock for my phone. I want to use what I currently have.
2. I am mid contract, and although my dad hates Verizon as much as I do, we cannot afford to leave Verizon.
3. I don't plan on getting a new phone anytime soon, I have to wait either for an upgrade or for us to go back to T-Mobile, which we were happy with in the first place.
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Click to collapse
Infortunately not that I know of. The reason the atrix can be used in that way is they built in a special "dock" mode for when.it sits in thr custom dock as almost a different "os gui". It is still android, they just made it look sorta like a google chrome netbook UI sorta... At least in my opinion =)
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Its a shame, there's no way ill ever be able to afford that piece of hardware. Maybe the generation after that of Android phones
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Oh my we have been moved to the Legacy and Low Activity area. The Death March continues.
Wow.... we haven't even been officially EOL'd by VZW yet....
Weudel said:
Wow.... we haven't even been officially EOL'd by VZW yet....
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I really don't like this...... Like, not at all.. We already don't get a lot of activity, this is just going to stunt us even more -__-
Weudel, may you please try working your amazing moderator powers and see if you can tell/convince the Gods to not kill us off until at least we are EOL'd please? :|
Yeah this is pretty much BS. There are still a few that post regularly and keep us going (Thanks trailblazer!). Now we are officialy put on the back burner by all sides. Awesome. F### VZW and their misplaced hatred for our phones...
Officially EOL'ed? Yeah, I think it's happening. My local retail store now has all Continuum, and Fascinate for that matter, accessories on their clearance rack. The upside of this? I got the Samsung OEM Car Cradle for $10. Ironically enough, there was a little sticker that said the audio jack that outputs through the USB port won't be functional until the 2.2 update...
Yeah I bought all those accessories too under the pretense that we would be getting the update and they would become functional. However I'm pretty sure that the Fascinate uses the same accessories and they are functional for them.
We just really need Froyo for our device (From Verizon or not) then we can start kicking up development. We have a lot of ground to make up and time is slowly ticking away..
Doubt Continuum accessories will fit Fascinate
I got both clearance accessories for continuum (car and home dock). Complete with 'this will work with 2.2' stickers. Since Continuum and Fascinate are slightly different shapes and sizes I would be surprised if Fascinate could plug into these docks. They are very form-fitting to the Continuum.
By the way, the audio-out does work for me with stock. I'm guessing some hands-free action might be missing but I haven't tried that. Though the volume through the car dock is way lower than if just plugged directly into the phone. Was disappointed by that since it was going to be nice to plug my phone into charger and fm-modulator with the dock. No dice yet. I'm hoping it behaves differently once I work up the courage to load my own 2.2 or if we actually get an official update.
i noticed all this on all the verizon stores i been to, all the continuums are on sale and accessories too, so i just bought most of accessories they had.
We may not have been 'officially' EOL'D, but for all intents and purposes, we have been. I think this thing was EOL'D from the launch date. The ticker is simply too new, and with it never being opened up to 3rd party developers, it was doomed from the start. Personally, I think that that was where Samsung's biggest screw up was. This phone probably would have done a LOT better if the ticker had been opened.
I just heard a commercial on the radio yesterday... Wal-Mart's wireless center is offering the Continuum for $28 w/ contract.
The bell is ringing. BUT! We have Froyo!
Just picked up my M earlier...
Tempted to try Motofail or Matt's utility, but don't want to screw anything up. Anybody with any advice?
Congratualtions on your purchase..
How is the audio quality on it? No one mentioned it anywhere. Is it good in the earphones? Can you post any first impressions/ detailed review?
Sorry for the off topic
It's pretty much exactly what I expected, so far anyway. Most of the reviews I've read on it so far have been pretty accurate. Solid build, good sound (haven't used any headphones yet, but the speaker sounds great), good signal/call quality, mediocre camera (good when well lit, but typical Moto when not well lit). Even though it has the same screen as the Razr/Maxx, the S4 and new gpu definitely make a difference in the feel and animations - very smooth and snappy. It was between this and the S3 for me. I have a Nexus 7, so I didn't feel a huge phone was necessary any more.
jntdroid said:
Just picked up my M earlier...
Tempted to try Motofail or Matt's utility, but don't want to screw anything up. Anybody with any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are those root utilities? Been awhile since I owned a Motorola device.
-Sent from my TMOUS HTC One S.-
-Stock/rooted 2.21 + 1.06s baseband-
-Hboot 1.06-
Motofail was drjbliss's root utility for the Bionic.
Matt's Utility was mattlgroff's utility for the Razr / Razr Maxx. Did a lot more than just root... a LOT.
A word to the wise for those want to root and mod this phone and future Motorola devices.
All of the Motorolas since the Droid 3 have been rooted by one person, djrbliss and he has stated that he will not be doing this any longer.
If you want to be certain of the ability to root and modify your phone and flash custom software, you should purchase the developer edition.
cellzealot said:
A word to the wise for those want to root and mod this phone and future Motorola devices.
All of the Motorolas since the Droid 3 have been rooted by one person, djrbliss and he has stated that he will not be doing this any longer.
If you want to be certain of the ability to root and modify your phone and flash custom software, you should purchase the developer edition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully someone else then will find a way to root the M and Razr HD.
FAUguy said:
Hopefully someone else then will find a way to root the M and Razr HD.
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Click to collapse
Agreed because this is an awesome phone that I hope does not slip through the cracks for whatever reason.
Sent from my XT907 using xda premium
alwaysbelieve1 said:
Agreed because this is an awesome phone that I hope does not slip through the cracks for whatever reason.
Sent from my XT907 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I think the launch time could have been better. Everyone is focused on the iPhone launch now. I think for people that want an android phone on Verizon, most people will still go with the Galaxy S3. Larger phones have been the trend for the past few years. It's nice to see a high performance device like RAZR M available for people who want something in smaller form factor.
It would be great to see this community on XDA grow and I think it will in time. Hopefully root comes at some point too. The phone is brand new. Not everyone is willing to be an early adopter unless they're buying from Apple or Samsung.
thephased said:
I think the launch time could have been better. Everyone is focused on the iPhone launch now. I think for people that want an android phone on Verizon, most people will still go with the Galaxy S3. Larger phones have been the trend for the past few years. It's nice to see a high performance device like RAZR M available for people who want something in smaller form factor..
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Click to collapse
I'd venture to guess that VZW will sell a crapload of these Razr Ms. People will walk into a Verizon store, play with the phone, find out how fast it is, are blown away by the price, and tell the guy or gal to wrap it up. Hotcakes, I tell you.
Not_A_Dev said:
I'd venture to guess that VZW will sell a crapload of these Razr Ms. People will walk into a Verizon store, play with the phone, find out how fast it is, are blown away by the price, and tell the guy or gal to wrap it up. Hotcakes, I tell you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem lies with what was previously stated. Most people are trending to bigger devices/screens (I don't know why personaly, but I also don't see how people think the Nokia smartphones are "sexy" either...guess I am out of touch). I laugh at a co-worker daily about his Note. It looks like he is smuggling a clipboard in his pocket and when he makes a call, it reminds me of movies from the mid 80's and the massive cells from that era. The GS3 even makes the M look like a dwarf. I wouldn't want to go back to a 3.5" screen, but a 4.8"-5.5" screen on a phone is rediculous IMO. To each his own, but I don't think the M will blow up the sales charts as basicaly a mid-range spec'd, non-HD, niche market phone. On that note, I love my M, lol.
ExNukeSquid said:
The problem lies with what was previously stated. Most people are trending to bigger devices/screens (I don't know why personaly, but I also don't see how people think the Nokia smartphones are "sexy" either...guess I am out of touch). I laugh at a co-worker daily about his Note. It looks like he is smuggling a clipboard in his pocket and when he makes a call, it reminds me of movies from the mid 80's and the massive cells from that era. The GS3 even makes the M look like a dwarf. I wouldn't want to go back to a 3.5" screen, but a 4.8"-5.5" screen on a phone is rediculous IMO. To each his own, but I don't think the M will blow up the sales charts as basicaly a mid-range spec'd, non-HD, niche market phone. On that note, I love my M, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you also have to consider that before the M, there weren't really any good small Android phones. Manufacturers are convinced that bigger is better, so they keep putting the good specs in giant phones. Motorola has finally tapped the market that existed all along...people who want small phones that perform just as well as the Roid Rage phones. It's quite possible that a lot of people picked up bigger phones because they had no other option, other than the iPhone.
Additionally, his phone hasn't even been available in stores for 2 days, and it's already dropped to $50 on Amazon. At this rate, it will be free by Christmas, and people always love free. As long as Verizon doesn't stuff it in a corner underneath some cobwebs, I see this phone flying off the shelves.
freak4dell said:
But you also have to consider that before the M, there weren't really any good small Android phones. Manufacturers are convinced that bigger is better, so they keep putting the good specs in giant phones. Motorola has finally tapped the market that existed all along...people who want small phones that perform just as well as the Roid Rage phones. It's quite possible that a lot of people picked up bigger phones because they had no other option, other than the iPhone.
Additionally, his phone hasn't even been available in stores for 2 days, and it's already dropped to $50 on Amazon. At this rate, it will be free by Christmas, and people always love free. As long as Verizon doesn't stuff it in a corner underneath some cobwebs, I see this phone flying off the shelves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that there is an untapped market of people who want high end specs in a small package. I'll be curious to see just how big that market is.
-Sent from my TMOUS HTC One S.-
-Stock/rooted 2.21 + 1.06s baseband-
-Hboot 1.06-
Count me in as one that wanted good specs in a smaller phone. I've been sitting on an upgrade for my Incredible since the beginning of the year. The trend towards huge phones really had me disheartened. If I didn't see the Razr M, I probably would've gotten a iPhone 4s.
My Razr M arrives Monday. Can't wait.
I have a Galaxy S3 but I wanted to share a tip for anyone looking to unlock the bootloader....Samsung was supposed to release a Developer Edition Galaxy S3, but they never did....When the bootloader still hadnt been unlock they were saying it was completely possible to take the unlocked bootloader from the developer edition(if it had existed) and port it to the Locked S3...so if someone does happen to buy the Developer edition, they should look into helping out the rest of the Razr M community
schwartzman93 said:
I have a Galaxy S3 but I wanted to share a tip for anyone looking to unlock the bootloader....Samsung was supposed to release a Developer Edition Galaxy S3, but they never did....When the bootloader still hadnt been unlock they were saying it was completely possible to take the unlocked bootloader from the developer edition(if it had existed) and port it to the Locked S3...so if someone does happen to buy the Developer edition, they should look into helping out the rest of the Razr M community
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be nice, and if something like that existed, we wouldn't have to use the Motorola tool, so they wouldn't know that we unlocked it. We might just be able to go back to the locked one before sending the phone in for service.
Herbbowlman said:
Count me in as one that wanted good specs in a smaller phone. I've been sitting on an upgrade for my Incredible since the beginning of the year. The trend towards huge phones really had me disheartened. If I didn't see the Razr M, I probably would've gotten a iPhone 4s.
My Razr M arrives Monday. Can't wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed and I was actually going to be doing the exact same thing, but was quite disheartened because I didn't want to be giving up android.
So glad that didn't happen!
Sent from my XT907 using xda premium
Well, i am not a developer, but I bought a RAZR M off eBay and apparently its a developer phone... don't know if I could be any help, but I might be willing to give it a try if no one else steps up...
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2
richard_rsp said:
Well, i am not a developer, but I bought a RAZR M off eBay and apparently its a developer phone... don't know if I could be any help, but I might be willing to give it a try if no one else steps up...
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you unlocked it yet? Please PM me if you need help
richard_rsp said:
Well, i am not a developer, but I bought a RAZR M off eBay and apparently its a developer phone... don't know if I could be any help, but I might be willing to give it a try if no one else steps up...
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mattlgroff said:
Have you unlocked it yet? Please PM me if you need help
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Click to collapse
Just make sure your Android SDK tools are updated to 4.1 and that your your device drivers are up to date. Also helps to plug the phone in, after the moto software is installed, while it's in debugging mode once. It will install some diff drivers for that mode. you should have no problem unlocking.
To get the phone ready to get the code, just power it down. Hold both volume +/- keys down and then the power button. Use the down volume key to select AP Fastboot. Then volume up, once, to select it. Now, connect the usb connector and go to c:\Android-sdk-Windows\tools in a cmd console. Type what the site advises and go from there (- the $'s).
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-b
---------- Post added at 03:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 AM ----------
And, I have to add... Those who use the Atrix HD as an example that this thing will be hard pressed to be rooted...we will have unlocked bootloaders out there. That means someone can find an exploit to at least get us root. Unlocking the bootloader is probably not going to happen. It's hardware locked. I would love a root exploit, though.