Customer reviews from Samsung US
Samsung - Fascinate Mobile Phone - White (Verizon Wireless)
Average customer rating
4.2
(741 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 741 reviews
5 Stars
381
4 Stars
222
3 Stars
61
2 Stars
37
1 Star
40
82%of customers recommend this product.
(
557 out of
682)
Customer Reviews for Samsung - Fascinate Mobile Phone - White (Verizon Wireless)
Customer Rating
5
My experiance verses the experianes of those around me
on November 24, 2010
Posted by: ironman24c
from USA
Expertise:Expert
In my day to day I deal with people who have similar phone running similar apps as me but they do not hold up to the speed and reliability of the Samsung Galaxy S. I have been told by an I phone user that the game I am playing looks better on my phone then on the I phone. That the game lags on the I phone and I have seen people drop call staring at their phone waiting for the bars to come back while I am standing right next to them still talking texting or searching the internet with no problems. I like the features like linking contacts with their face book and email accounts. I like the reliability and personalization that you get with this phone. In 2 years when my contract is up I will likely upgrade to the next gen of this phone or a similar Samsung phone in the next gen. I have had this phone for 3 months now and unlike phones of the past from other companies that I have owned this one has not had to be replaced or fixed. The only thing I would like to see changed on this phone would be the addition of a forward facing camera.
Pros: Built-in speakers, Bright display, Inexpensive, Durable, Realistic color, Lightweight, tons of apps, no droped calls due to good reception, no laging in games., loud ringtone, strong vibration
Cons: no forward facing camera, 2.2 update not out yet
Features
5
Performance
5
Design
5
Value
5
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
The Android "iPhone" by Samsung
on December 29, 2010
Posted by: Klandaghi
from Denver, Co
Expertise:Intermediate
Let me preface this review with this. I have been a fan of Samsung phones from the Alias to the Alias 2 and now the Samsung Fascinate. I have yet to have a bad Samsung phone.
Upon opening the box the sheer elegance of the phone took my breath away. Picking it up for the first time, without the battery, was insanely light. About 50% - 75% of the weight of this phone is the battery. If someone removes it, you'll know.
Starting it up for the first time and being greeted with 2 intro logo's, one for Samsung and one for the carrier (not Samsung's fault) was a little out there for me, but how often do you reboot your phone? Well, depending... probably a little more often with this one then previous phones. I have noticed a tendency for some apps to "hang", if pushing back and home buttons a few times doesn't get you out of the "hung" app then try a power reset or battery pull if that fails. This again isn't the fault of the device per say, more often then not it's just bad inefficient programming. And with a world of Open Source Apps being developed by anyone and everyone, you're bound to get a few sloppy coders here and there.
In comparison to colleague's phones we found that some apps even though names the same, don't run the same on other phones. I really appreciate the Daily Briefing Widget and that the weather has options to go to Hour by Hour, Radar/Sat, and Forecast details. Have proven very nice. Waking up and knowing that there is a storm warning for tomorrow is something I couldn't be bothered to watch the weather channel for, now it's there on my phone on demand at my finger tips.
I haven't looked into too many more widgets just yet, but if they are all as well thought out as Daily Briefing, then I'm a believer. Praise be to the Samsung Fascinate.
The hide away app tray for ease of access to settings like WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and Airplane mode are tucked away in an easy to access easy to remember location, just drag down from the top of the screen.
The rocker button functions for volume and zoom functions depending on what you are doing, functionality in all things makes this a nice pick.
The power/lock button seems a little small to me and I keep having to look to find it, but then again I never accidentally power off or lock my phone.
The car cradle for this device is ingenious and I recommend it to everyone. When 2.2 is finally released, the Audio out cable will work (or so the packaging promised). When in the car cradle without the push of a button, the phone goes to Car Dock mode allowing you access to the things you are probably going to use it for, Maps, Navigation, Contact, Voice Search and Search.
The Voice Search Function is remarkable. Not tedious training necessary, even for someone that mumbles a lot like myself, the phone was able to recognize and interpret my words properly. I've yet to have it fail, even while driving in a noisy car.
The color and brightness of the screen allow it to be seen in the kind of light that would cause you to be covering or shading the screen on most other phones. While shading is very helpful, it isn't needed as much, a definite plus for in car navigation during the very sun days that we get around here.
Swype, take a little getting use to, and I find myself going back and forth between traditional typing and swyping. Though should you find the need to text, a quick set of swyping while on the car dock is rather easy. If it can't figure out what you were trying to swype it will provide a list of up to 8 options for what you could be trying to say.
A lot of phones have worried me in the past when they left their charging port exposed for all the elements and pocket lint and what ever else may get jammed in them. The Fascinate has a small elegant clip in place locking door to protect it's MicroUSB port. Thank you Samsung for going with the new industry standard, cables can be found and even shared with most other smartphones of this age.
For those that are back and forth on this phone for its camera, it is worth noting that there are multiple settings to help ensure a clean clear and crisp picture, including tap focus to ensure that you get the best detail on the thing you are focusing on, indoor outdoor settings, lighting settings, One could teach a beginners coarse on photography, I feel, with this 5 Megapixel camera with LED flash. The flash is very bright and very useful. Ever need a flashlight? There are apps to turn that LED on for that purpose. You can also take video with your LED flash on as a native function of the phone.
The music play back is phenomenal and the standard sized headphone jack was more then a cause for wide smiles. Being able to use the set of headphones I want without the limitation of a different jack size or needing an adapter is nice. No microphone is needed, regular headphones will work, no problem.
The only downs to the phone are the 2-3 pages of apps that are preloaded and un-removable as best as I can tell. I will always see these useless apps that I will not subscribe to on the apps section. This isn't that big of a down as you have 7 panes that you can customize to have all the shortcuts you want. Press, hold, and drag to the pane you want and you are all set.
There is so much good to say about this phone, that even the downs seem trivial to all the things that it does right. If you want a reliable and cleverly crafted phone, the Samsung Fascinate is it.
Upon opening the box the sheer elegance of the phone took my breath away. Picking it up for the first time, without the battery, was insanely light. About 50% - 75% of the weight of this phone is the battery. If someone removes it, you'll know.
Starting it up for the first time and being greeted with 2 intro logo's, one for Samsung and one for the carrier (not Samsung's fault) was a little out there for me, but how often do you reboot your phone? Well, depending... probably a little more often with this one then previous phones. I have noticed a tendency for some apps to "hang", if pushing back and home buttons a few times doesn't get you out of the "hung" app then try a power reset or battery pull if that fails. This again isn't the fault of the device per say, more often then not it's just bad inefficient programming. And with a world of Open Source Apps being developed by anyone and everyone, you're bound to get a few sloppy coders here and there.
In comparison to colleague's phones we found that some apps even though names the same, don't run the same on other phones. I really appreciate the Daily Briefing Widget and that the weather has options to go to Hour by Hour, Radar/Sat, and Forecast details. Have proven very nice. Waking up and knowing that there is a storm warning for tomorrow is something I couldn't be bothered to watch the weather channel for, now it's there on my phone on demand at my finger tips.
I haven't looked into too many more widgets just yet, but if they are all as well thought out as Daily Briefing, then I'm a believer. Praise be to the Samsung Fascinate.
The hide away app tray for ease of access to settings like WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and Airplane mode are tucked away in an easy to access easy to remember location, just drag down from the top of the screen.
The rocker button functions for volume and zoom functions depending on what you are doing, functionality in all things makes this a nice pick.
The power/lock button seems a little small to me and I keep having to look to find it, but then again I never accidentally power off or lock my phone.
The car cradle for this device is ingenious and I recommend it to everyone. When 2.2 is finally released, the Audio out cable will work (or so the packaging promised). When in the car cradle without the push of a button, the phone goes to Car Dock mode allowing you access to the things you are probably going to use it for, Maps, Navigation, Contact, Voice Search and Search.
The Voice Search Function is remarkable. Not tedious training necessary, even for someone that mumbles a lot like myself, the phone was able to recognize and interpret my words properly. I've yet to have it fail, even while driving in a noisy car.
The color and brightness of the screen allow it to be seen in the kind of light that would cause you to be covering or shading the screen on most other phones. While shading is very helpful, it isn't needed as much, a definite plus for in car navigation during the very sun days that we get around here.
Swype, take a little getting use to, and I find myself going back and forth between traditional typing and swyping. Though should you find the need to text, a quick set of swyping while on the car dock is rather easy. If it can't figure out what you were trying to swype it will provide a list of up to 8 options for what you could be trying to say.
A lot of phones have worried me in the past when they left their charging port exposed for all the elements and pocket lint and what ever else may get jammed in them. The Fascinate has a small elegant clip in place locking door to protect it's MicroUSB port. Thank you Samsung for going with the new industry standard, cables can be found and even shared with most other smartphones of this age.
For those that are back and forth on this phone for its camera, it is worth noting that there are multiple settings to help ensure a clean clear and crisp picture, including tap focus to ensure that you get the best detail on the thing you are focusing on, indoor outdoor settings, lighting settings, One could teach a beginners coarse on photography, I feel, with this 5 Megapixel camera with LED flash. The flash is very bright and very useful. Ever need a flashlight? There are apps to turn that LED on for that purpose. You can also take video with your LED flash on as a native function of the phone.
The music play back is phenomenal and the standard sized headphone jack was more then a cause for wide smiles. Being able to use the set of headphones I want without the limitation of a different jack size or needing an adapter is nice. No microphone is needed, regular headphones will work, no problem.
The only downs to the phone are the 2-3 pages of apps that are preloaded and un-removable as best as I can tell. I will always see these useless apps that I will not subscribe to on the apps section. This isn't that big of a down as you have 7 panes that you can customize to have all the shortcuts you want. Press, hold, and drag to the pane you want and you are all set.
There is so much good to say about this phone, that even the downs seem trivial to all the things that it does right. If you want a reliable and cleverly crafted phone, the Samsung Fascinate is it.
Pros: Built-in speakers, Bright display, Realistic color, Lightweight, intelligent pre loaded widgets
Cons: 2.2 not available yet, havn't found a way to remove preloaded unused icon
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
4
Design
5
Value
5
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
1
Design is too fragile and screen cracks
on January 18, 2011
Posted by: dozer14
Expertise:Intermediate
had the phone for two weeks and the phone screen cracked i did not drop it on the phonen had a blackberry prior to this phone and have bounced that off the floor more than once and never did the screen crack. Poor design too fragile.
Pros: Bright display
Cons: Did not meet expectations, not durable
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Features
4
Performance
1
Design
1
Value
3
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
4
Had Potential
on January 18, 2011
Posted by: Greeneb87
I got this phone because of how fast it was and the great pictures/videos it takes. The phone is very customizable which is what I love because of Android. However, Samsung has dropped the ball with the Android 2.2 Froyo update making this phone already out of date. I would have chosen a phone with a front facing camera and Froyo. Never getting a Samsung phone again!
Pros: Bright display, Durable, Realistic color, Lightweight
Cons: Did not meet expectations
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Features
4
Performance
4
Design
5
Value
3
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
on February 24, 2011
Posted by: JessCashii
from Pontiac, MI
Expertise:Beginner
After a while the battery may begin to die quicker but it is really a great phone with great display quality. My favorite phone so far. Even better than the HTC Incredible Droid.
Pros: Bright display, Inexpensive, Realistic color, Lightweight
Cons: battery life, speed/performance
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
4
Design
5
Value
5
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
1
Phone is horrible
on July 22, 2011
Posted by: fascinot
from New York
Expertise:Intermediate
Do not waste your money. The phone has no service, doesn't update properly and never sends or receives messages properly.
Pros: Realistic color
Cons: Poor quality, Did not meet expectations, bad service compared to other phones
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Features
3
Performance
1
Design
2
Value
1
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
on August 13, 2011
Posted by: bucklind2
from Crossville, Tn
Expertise:Intermediate
Love this phone. Great screen with eye popping colors.
Pros: Bright display, Realistic color
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
4
Design
5
Value
4
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
Samsung Fascinate Android Phone
on August 17, 2011
Posted by: sunshinenys
Expertise:Intermediate
Great phone, awesome apps, google navigation great.
Pros: Built-in speakers, Bright display, Lightweight
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
5
Design
5
Value
4
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US