Verizon's Galaxy S to Blast Off on Thursday ( Webinfo out now on Samsung Fascinate @ Verizone )

Daily Tech ^ | September 7, 2010 10:12 AM | Jason Mick (Blog)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Bleeding-edge Android smartphone goes on sale Thursday at stores

Samsung's Galaxy S may be late to the Android game, but it quickly established itself as the Android phone to beat, selling one million units in the U.S. alone in its first 45 days of availability on Sprint and AT&T.  Likewise, the "Fascinate" on Verizon may be off to a late start versus its brethren -- the T-Mobile Vibrant, the AT&T Captivate, and the Samsung Epic 4G (Galaxy S Pro) -- but seems destined to be a hot seller in its own right.

Verizon, the largest cellular service provider in the U.S., aired a commercial last night revealing that the Fascinate would hit stores September 9th, the same date previously rumored based on leaked shots.  That commercial was followed by an official press release from Verizon today, listing the price as $199.99 USD with new 2-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. 

The release also revealed that the phone would launch online a day early on Wednesday, September 8th.

The phone packs an LED flash that its GSM brethren the Vibrant and Captivate lack.  Unlike the Epic 4G, however, there's no pull-out keyboard and no 4G modem.  Also missing in the Epic 4G's front-facing camera for video calling.

The phone packs a pretty standard 512 MB of RAM, a microSD slot, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1, and an AGPS radio.  While the phone's screen size 4-inches isn't the biggest on the market (see the 4.3-inch HTC EVO 4G or Motorola Droid X) and its resolution (800x480 pixels) is also less than amazing, the screen is an AMOLED, which means it should deliver sharper crisper images versus WVGA TFT LCD displays in phones such as the Droid X.

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Smartphone Resource Center - Verizon Wireless

This has the Hummingbird processor and a faster Graphics chip than others.

[Lurking in Kansas]

I have AT&T’s version, the Captivate. It’s just an awesome phone...

[antiRepublicrat]

While the phone's screen size 4-inches isn't the biggest on the market

What's with the fascination for big screens? At 4" it's already pushing it for a reasonable screen size for a phone. The others are getting too big for a phone, they don't know whether to be a phone or a mini-tablet.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Anadtech reviews :

Samsung Epic 4G Review: The Fastest Android Phone

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by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/6/2010 5:28:00 PM

It’s easy for a reviewer to get excited about every new Android release, but it must be hell for someone actually looking to buy one of these things.

The good news is we’re getting closer to the perfect Android smartphone. I don’t believe we’re there yet, but every single manufacturer has contributed something to the platform that someone else will eventually copy and wrap into one device.

The latest in the list of attempts at perfection is Samsung with its Galaxy S. And I must say, Samsung’s take on Android is quite possibly the most unique I’ve seen. Unique compared to other Android vendors that is.

Vectors of Innovation

Samsung innovates along three vectors with the Galaxy S. You get a new screen size (4” vs. 3.5/3.7” or 4.3”). The 4” screen size is a near perfect combination of productivity boosting screen area and portability. You get a new screen type with Samsung’s Super AMOLED that really fixes a lot of issues I had with AMOLED displays in the past. To top it all off, Samsung continues to innovate by equipping the Galaxy S with the fastest GPU in any shipping smartphone: the PowerVR SGX 540.

There are four versions of the Galaxy S, one for each of the major US carriers. There’s the Captivate on AT&T, the Vibrant on T-Mobile, the Epic 4G on Sprint and the forthcoming Fascinate on Verizon.

[N. Theknow]

I will never have anything made by Samsuck again!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Does that have the keyboard...which apparently the Verizon lacks...

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Unlike the Epic 4G, however, there's no pull-out keyboard and no 4G modem

[ShadowAce]

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

They make some of the guts in the Apple products.

[Bones75]

I work for Sprint and the Epic 4G is an amazing phone... I think I wold still get the HTC Evo though, since I dont use the slide out keyboards much... but if you’re a slide-out keyboard person... the Galaxy S phones are a beautiful piece of technology...

[VanDeKoik]

Need the Galaxy Tab (Wi-Fi), Sammy!

[Keith in Iowa]

I’m holding out for a Verizon iPhone... :)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

How is the GPS on your phone...in the Review of the Sprint Galaxy Epic...that seemed to be a big negative....might be specific to the Sprint implementation of hardware or software.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Anand was impressed...except for the GPS.

[rahbert]

I’m a Sprint customer who needs a rugged phone. Is Sprint
goint to offer a rugged version of Galaxy S or Evo?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It's coming:

FCC Filing for Galaxy Tab Shows 5GHz WiFi Goodness

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Alex Smith on 1st Sep 2010

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is going to be one of the hottest mobile devices of 2010 and this recent FCC filing reveals another reason why. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough as Samsung is set to formally announce the Galaxy Tab in Berlin just before IFA kicks off on the 3rd. This FCC filing reveals that the Galaxy Tab will have dual-band 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi capable of achieving speeds of 150Mbps. The FCC visit also revealed GSM 1900 radio frequency which means this device is also compatible with AT&T’s network.

[N. Theknow]

They make some of the guts in the Apple products.

Figures.

Oddly enough, I have never seen any Apple product that appealed to me.

[ßuddaßudd]

smÅrtphone bump

[Mr. Blonde]

I have the Vibrant on T-Mo.

So far, screen is great, widgets are useful, battery is generally passable. Web browsing is very nice.

TouchWiz adds nothing and is iPhone like. LauncherPro however is awesome. No real profiles manager so I can adjust the notification for every app I have. That would be useful. Especially since setting things to vibrate seems very iffy for everything. I had to download Handcent just to get the phone to vibrate when I got a text message.

The GPS is essentially broken, although a fix is supposed to come. The battery indicator is way off until you are down to almost no power left, although this isn’t a huge deal since I have a widget that is correct.

Having a bunch of bloatware I cannot delete without rooting my phone irks me. Especially when it duplicates other stuff that came with the phone and it starts itself.

When laying flat the menu button won’t activate, the other 3 buttons will.

Overall I like the phone better than this probably seems as none are deal killers, but it isn’t perfect. Hopefully Samsung is on the ball and gets the 2.2 update out soon. The Samsung UK twitter promises the end of September. We will see.

[Codeflier]

You must like swimming in the Kiddie pool. Every Android device running version 2.2 is far superior to iOS. The built in Google Navigation and voice searching are just amazing. Full Flash support makes your web browsing experience the best of any Smartphone platform.

With Verizon activating millions of Android phones, I am not sure what their incentive for carrying an outdated iPhone will be in the future.