Our Verdict
At last , a Samsung Galaxy S Android phone , the Fascinate , has come to Verizon ( $ 200 with a two - year contract from Verizon ) . Like the other phones in the Galaxy S series ( the Epic 4 G , Captivate , and Vibrant ) , the Fascinate gambol a Super AMOLED display , a solid 5 - megapixel tv camera , and the intuitive TouchWiz user user interface . Although Verizon has already lay down a strong Android portfolio , the Fascinate is a substantial addition to the toter ’s pack of Droids .
innovation
I do n’t usually talk about promotion , but Verizon ’s flavor of the Galaxy S phone definitely has the best presentation among the sibling . The elegant , all - fateful , textured box reminds me of the publicity the Samsung Omnia II shipped in . This intent definitely has more aesthetic appeal than a flimsy composition board corner with logos printed all over it .
Appearance - wise , the Fascinate looks a sight like the T - Mobile Vibrant , but it is a bit longer and the chrome detail is more or less less noticeable . The Fascinate measures 4.9 by 2.5 by 0.4 inches and weighs a light 4.1 ounces . The Fascinate is the most sleek and graceful of the Galaxy S phones , with its lenient curved shape , glistening piano - black face , and subtly patterned backing . Unlike the Vibrant and Captivate , the Fascinate feel solid in the hand ; the others feel somewhat cheap and plasticky .
TouchWiz 3.0 user interface
Like the rest of the Android pack , the Fascinate run Android 2.1 ( Éclair ) with Samsung ’s TouchWiz 3.0 user interface run over it . Those user anxious to get on Android 2.2 ( Froyo ) should be relieve to be intimate that the Galaxy S phones will find the climb by and by this twelvemonth . Overall , this reading of TouchWiz is a lot good than the old iteration , which we saw on earpiece such as the Samsung Behold II for T - Mobile ( a headphone that was slow and difficult to navigate ) .
Despite the enhancements , I find some intimate issues with TouchWiz 3.0 . Even though the phone has a 1GHz Hummingbird processor , the French telephone lag slightly when I flipped through computer menu and scroll down physical contact lists or web pages . Here ’s hoping the Epic will get a focal ratio boost when it receives the 2.2 upgrade .
Like HTC and its Sense offering , Samsung has its own social media aggregator . Social Hub conflate watercourse from your Facebook , MySpace , and Twitter account into a single view . It is a useful feature if you involve a simple way to keep caterpillar track of your networks . One random feature article is Mini Diary , which let you make web log entries with picture , weather condition information , text edition subject matter , and more . When I first tried Mini Diary on the European Galaxy S , I could n’t figure out how to get my entry off the machine . Samsung followed up with me after my original inspection , thankfully , and confirmed that you could indeed post entries ( though only those with photos ) to various societal networks or send them to friends via textbook . After you create an entry , you press the Menu samara in the bottom - leave corner , and it gives you MMS and Publish options . If you take Publish , you may send your point to Facebook or MySpace .
My biggest problem with the TouchWiz interface is that it is overdone — so much so that the result does n’t even look or feel like an Android earphone . Additionally , the skin sometimes interfere with the Fascinate ’s speediness ( see the “ Performance ” incision below ) .
Another issue I have with the Fascinate is more on Verizon ’s articulatio humeri than Samsung ’s . Despite the obvious fact that this is aGoogleAndroid earpiece , the Fascinate ’s hunting function defaults to the Bing lookup engine . There ’s nothing bad about the Bing hunting engine , but when you buy an Android phone , you expect Google - everything . And what does Google do best ? Search . Even worse , you ca n’t change the default mise en scene . To use Google lookup , you have to go to Google.com in the Web internet browser , and then search from there .
photographic camera
We put the Samsung Galaxy S , which has the same 5 - megapixel camera as the Fascinate , through a modified version of our PCWorld Labs test for point - and - shoot digital photographic camera , along with the iPhone 4 , the Motorola Droid X , and the HTC EVO 4G. Unfortunately our test dialog box was not very impressed with the photo quality of the Galaxy S , as it earn the lowest score out of the four and an overall Logos grade of Fair . It finish forwards of the EVO 4 gm in exposure character , but bring in last place in our coloring - truth , distinctness , and distortion tests .
In my own hands - on tests outdoors , I was pretty impressed with the Fascinate ’s figure tone . Colors look shiny and natural , and detail were sharp . Only a fragile bit of coarseness appear in the shots ; I had to look really nearly on my reminder to see it .
On the other hand , the Galaxy S remove second spot in overall telecasting quality . Its carrying into action skewed heavily toward near performance in shiny lightness . consort to our panel , its bright - light footage look a bit underexposed and somewhat mealy in a full - screen view , but great at smaller sizes . The autofocus searched a petty before locking on to a frizzly image . In low brightness level , the footage was a touch too cloudy and undefined to realize a better rating . luckily , you could employ the Fascinate ’s flash as a Light Within while capturing video recording .
Out of all the powerful smartphone cameras I ’ve tested recently , those of the Galaxy S headphone have the cleanest , most drug user - favorable interface . Unlike with the iPhone 4 , here you could pick from a broad assortment of shooting mode ( Vintage , Smile Detection , Panorama , Continuous , and many more ) and easily tweak the photographic camera ’s options agree to your environment and subject .
The shutter fastness is a second slow , however , so if you design on pack pictures of fast - moving child or positron emission tomography , you might be disappointed with the Fascinate ’s cracker bonbon .
Multimedia
The TouchWiz music player is touch - favorable and prosperous to navigate . It showcases record album art nicely , too , with an iTunes Cover Flow - style user interface . Sound was clear over my own earbuds , and decent via the external speakers .
One of the most challenging features of the Fascinate is the Samsung Media Hub , which will come with all of the Galaxy S phones . Media Hub is Samsung ’s result to iTunes , a storage for buy medicine and video . Unfortunately , Media Hub is not yet available to exploiter right on now ; according to my contact at Samsung , Media Hub will launch this fall . Customers will be able to download the service via an over - the - melody update .
execution
Like the other Galaxy S phone , the Fascinate is power by a 1GHz Hummingbird C.P.U. . TouchWiz sometimes bog down down the user interface , such as when you ’re scroll through a lot of pictures in the drift or flick through a long list of contacts . When I tested Sprint ’s heroic 4 G , that sound crashed multiple clock time when I tried send out an icon through the Gallery app . gratefully , the same thing did n’t happen with the Fascinate .
lookup - default frustration by , browsing the Web on the Fascinate is a delight thanks to Verizon ’s speedy 3 GB web . Media - threatening vane page such as CNN.com and PCWorld.com loaded in second .
Many user have complain that the Captivate and Vibrant are slow at locking down substance abuser localisation on Bing Maps . The Fascinate was faster , but it still took quite a act of metre to dog down my location in full . Furthermore , my position was n’t always accurate . For example , the Fascinate showed my emplacement on Third Street rather than on Second Street .
Call quality was quite good . I could hear my physical contact loud and clear , without any static or distortion . My impinging reported likewise good quality , though a few enjoin the background noise was a bit loud .
decision
Verizon already has a strong portfolio of Android devices , so where does the Fascinate stand ? If you ’re front for something a little more lightweight and slimmer , the Fascinate ’s design is more likeable than that of the Motorola Droid , Droid 2 , and Droid X. Additionally , if this is your first smartphone , the Fascinate ’s TouchWiz exploiter interface is passably easy to sail . business organization users or Android enthusiasts might be more inclined to go with Motorola ’s offerings or with the HTC Droid Incredible , since they offer a more straightforward Android experience .
[ Ginny Mies is an associate editor for PCWorld . ]
