The Samsung Fascinate was the first Verizon Android handset to give the Droid X and Incredible genuine competition. It was a Galaxy S phone, and if you had followed the Epic 4G, Captivate, or Vibrant reviews, you had a sense of what Samsung was doing with Android in 2010.
Hardware
First impressions of the Fascinate’s build were that it felt cheap and plasticky, with a shiny finish and no rubberized grip for protection. Very thin, with metal siding and black plastic throughout. Inside: a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, microSD slot expandable to 32GB with 16GB card included, proximity and light sensors, accelerometer, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, and AGPS.
The Super AMOLED display was the standout. Easily the best screen on a smartphone at that time, making even the Nexus One’s display look poor by comparison. Perfect size, stunning image quality.
Camera
Similar in quality to the Captivate and Vibrant, but the Fascinate added a flash. Still photo quality was strong, and 720p video was impressive enough to replace a mini-camcorder for casual use.
Software
TouchWiz 3.0 was more user-friendly than expected, with great widgets and a clean experience, though it was prone to occasional freezes and required a factory reset on first boot. The bigger issue was Bing: all searches were routed through Bing by default with no option to switch to Google without rooting. Maps worked adequately, but search quality was noticeably weaker than Google’s.
Call Quality and Battery
Call quality was excellent, loud and clear with no complaints from callers. Battery life was a weak point, typically dying around 6pm from an 8am unplug with moderate use, roughly 10 hours under light conditions.
Wrap-Up
If the forced Bing integration isn’t a dealbreaker, the Fascinate was a genuinely great handset with a fantastic screen, solid camera, and adequate processor. A Froyo update was on the way, and Gingerbread was expected to follow. Samsung succeeded in delivering the first non-Droid Android phone on Verizon that was actually worth buying.
