Samsung Glyde hardware refreshed for a better touchscreen?
By Chris Ziegler 
posted March 31st 2009 4:29PM
posted March 31st 2009 4:29PM
The Glyde hasn't been the most trouble-free unit to see duty on Verizon shelves; folks following the drama closely will recall that it got briefly yanked late last year from some stockpiles while a new firmware was fast-tracked to resolve connection issues in some parts of the country. Connection issues aside, though, Glyde owners have complained of wonky touchscreens from day one, and it seems like Samsung may have really taken the issue to heart, allegedly gutting its capacitive sensor and replacing it with a more traditional resistive one according to some recent buyers. Given the recent trend toward capacitive displays, that seems counterintuitive -- but hey, whatever works. Anyone out there noticing a difference with a brand spankin' new Glyde?[Via Phone Arena]
My problem with the Glyde was it unlocking and dialing numbers and adding contacts on it's own due to moving around as I walked. The only solution was to lock the screen with a four digit passcode which took 4 steps. I returned it and now have a G'zOne which I am happy with.
Wait...
"briefly yanked" last year.... uhhh.... it was yanked indefinitely - and its still not on shelves in SF last I checked.
As for going from Capacitive to Resistive touch screen - it looks and felt as it was ALWAYS resistive, all plastic pressing like the Sprint Instinct, so if they went from Capacitive to something else, WOW - must have only been test phones cause no one I knew had a "capacitive" screen.
Im pretty sure this phone is dead and no amount of refreshing will get people to buy it from Verizon again.
i have this phone right now and absolutely hate it with a passion. in fact, it makes me hate life its so bad. there's just nothing on verizon (except the omnia that peaks my interest).
the screen feels like its resistive. to be honest i cant really tell what touch technology it uses. it's not a "press-down" type resistive screen, but nor is it a glass capacitive screen. its like a hard plastic that has a little give if pressed really hard. regardless tho, it doesnt matter because it doesnt register a single friggen touch correctly.
does anybody know of a policy for me getting rid of this phone somehow? a trade-in program or replacement with one of these "fixed" resistive ones the article mentions?
I actually just bought one a few weeks ago without doing any research. returned it the next day.
actually picked up a new Glyde this past weekend.
Rumors true. its resistive.
Yup. Easy to test which touch system your Glyde has. Grab a stylus or a retracted ballpoint pen and try to use the touch screen. If it works, you have the new, supposedly troublefree touchscreen.
I remember when this phone was leaked two years ago, and everyone was really impressed (including me). Then it launched on Verizon, and all of that goodwill was instantly eroded away. Way to go, Verizon and Samsung!
Is the Glyde's screen similar to the Dare and the Voyager's, where you need to sorta "push" the screen a bit, or is it like the iPhone and iPod Touch's where its just a tap that the screen will register?
I have the Dare and the thing that I hate about it is that you have to actually press the screen a bit, it sucks for scrolling (added in with the Dare's terrible scrolling, through things like texts and phonebook).
I was waiting for this phone to be release but when it was delayed a second time I said screw it and got the Env2 instead. Seems like it was a good choice even if the Env2 doesn't have fancy features.
I'm still waiting for vzw to get a decent qwerty slider (just 1 of the 20 each the other carriers have would be nice!) so I can ditch my POS Glyde. I'll even pay full price for the next phone just so I can go lite this one on fire when I get a better one.
I totally agree with comment above about the lack of selection at Verizon. I have the Voyager since its the closet thing to a qwerty slider and was happy with it until it broke and I my warranty gave me a refurbished. Now the battery sucks, I drop calls and I get random freezes.
I dont want to pay for a new one so I am stuck. I am anxious to see what the LGVx11000 (Rumored to be the voyager2) out later this year will bring.
I hope Engadget can dig up some new info on the Voyager2 so I know if it worth waiting for.
I have had the Glyde for a year. I bought the phone directly form Verizon on the strength of all the hype as soon as it came out last May. I paid $250 after $50 mail in rebate and the problems started about 2 months after I got it which was too late to return it. So I decided to live with it thinking that eventually a firmware update would come out to fix the issues. The firware update came out, I got it at my local Verizon store and it did little to help. When I found out this 'Refresh' version was coming out I knew it was my best opportunity to complain to Verizon and get the phone replaced. I do have to live with the phone for another yeat and change. So after about a half hour of complaining about the price I paid for it versus what they charge now and explaining the issues I have had for months they agreed to send me the 'Refresh' version for free but I had to use the battery and cover from my current Glyde. If I have to live with this phone for another year this is the best it will get. The Glyde 'Refresh' arrives tomorrow 4/2. We'll see.
Please let us know how it turns out. If we're going to be stuck with Glydes maybe the refresh will take some of the hurt off.
It's about time they did something to fix this phone; they've known there was a problem with it since day 1 and yet they kept selling it, at least here in NJ. I'm already on my 4th version of the phone, I've had to return them all due to faulty touch screens. Next time in, I'm allowed to try to switch to a new phone, but they don't have any good alternative slider phones. Why do Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T all have so many, and Verizon has one? It's insane.
About time.. I was looking through phones and i was thinking of taking a chance with the glyde since 1/4 of the users of it say its good. Someone let us know how the new one is, they should only be selling the new ones by late july right?
Well im still a owner of the Glyde...the touch screen was fly when i got it, then it started trippin out. Then the upgrade came out and it was all good. It serves it purpose.....calls, txting, music. I still have hopes for the glyde....just waiting on something new for it.
I am not the prettiest 6' tall 300 pound man you have ever seen so maybe the salesman was a bit intimidated this afternoon when I told him of my displeasure of my daughters phone, but, he made a call and they are overnighting a "new and improved" glyde that will arrive tomorrow...
I told my daughter in front of the salesman that if she wanted I would trade telephones with her and that if the new telephone failed to deliver on it's promise that I would be back... Again the salesman assured me that all the bugs have been worked out...
Cliffy
So I received my Glyde Refresh yesterday. This is what this phone should have been when they released it almost a year ago. The touch screen is so much more responsive than my first edition Glyde. I can even use a stylus to select things. They have gotten rid of that awful flashing blue square in the middle of the screen in favor of a small tab on the right side of the screen to access your menu. You can even drag and drop the menu shorkut's you want simliar to the Dare. They still have that awful lock display strip on the main screen but have made it harder for it to unlock accidentaly in your pocket. You have to drag the lock icon to unlock it now. If you are a person who was unhappy with your Glyde and has to live with it for the next year or so I highly recommend contacting Big Red and talking your way into exchanging for this Glyde Refresh. I was dumb enough to have paid $250 for this phone the day of it's release last May but now with the phone being $100 after mail in rebate I think there is a renewed market for this phone
dude i effin hate this fone -_- i was all exited at first when i got it, but then it like went mental on me!!! i dropped it once on the carpet(by accident) and all of a sudden when i tried to touch the the dial pad it directly went to the bottom menu -.-. after that i went to get an upgrade for it the IB29 i think its called.( PPL DONT MIND MY SPELLING IM ONLY 15 WITH MUCH TO LEARN.) anywhoo the lady working there said it was all better and crap but it wasnt, it actually got worse.ive recently punched that darn phone and still went more mental then it was. But my brothers glyde works totally perfect (he dsnt kno i've drop his too) i have not even had this fone for like 7months i think.. i forgot wat month i got it. and im demanding a new one! ppl this fone will give u hell! i cnt even answer calls or reply txt with out it pressing buttns by its self.
Word of advice: nvr ever erver ever ever drop ur fone or add pressure to ir cuz it will go retarted.
oooooh ooooh btw i hear google is making a phone for verizon >.< im so getting it after i break this one or ask my mommy finishes her 2 year contract with the company o.O(its like having a contract with the devil) :o
I have the same problem. This phone is a POS! I actually threw it across the room the other day because I had to answer an important phone call and couldnt. GRRRRRRRRRRRR
I purchased this phone in October '08 and the problems have progressively gotten worse until last month when I went to the Verizon store to see what could be done. They uploaded the new software (with the white screen and slide to unlock feature) and it lasted all of 12 hours before the screen started freezing up again. It continues to malfunction; randomly selecting different areas of the screen than I am touching as well as a new fun error where it won't let me drag the yellow box over to unlock it.
This is the worst phone that I have ever had. Verizon said my only alternative is to pay full retail price to purchase a new phone. Even if I signed a new 2-year contract I cannot get the reduced price.
I am contacting Verizon customer service to attempt to get a new equivalent phone from another brand. If they won't or will only provide the same model replacement phone, I intend to pay the cancellation fee to switch back to AT&T and purchase an iPhone.
What with Verizon's limited selection of GSM phones and the difficulties I've had, it's just a matter of time until I swtich back to AT&T.
I would recommend everyone stay away from this model and it's supposed replacement.
I never had the old phone but I do have the new one and it seems to work fine for me. In fact the only problems I have had with the touch screen are that sometimes you have to click things twice and if you're on a scroll menu sometimes it will scroll instead of clicking but neither of these are very big deals and overall I'm happy with the phone.
Worse cell I've ever owned. I purchased it less than 6 months ago and the touch screen (which has a mind of it's own) has worked the first 3 months only. I'm lucky if I can click the "answer" button when someone is calling. Don't waste your money.
I got this phone back in november and it didn't give me any troubles for while until 1 or 2 months after purchasing it. That was when the screen would almost always try to select whatever laid in the bottom right section of the screen. It drove me insane and today I decided to go to the Verizon store. They gave me the new version of the phone for free and it seems to work wonderful now. Not to jinx it, but there hasn't been a problem yet. I also noticed that on the last one, a stylus would not work on it and I had no idea how that screen worked. On the new one, you can use a stylus or a pen so you can tell that the phone actually senses pressure. This gives me a feeling that the phone will work much better than the old screen. I hope it stays this way!!!
This phone sucks!!! My 4th version is on the way! I got the Glyde "Refresh" it worked great for about a month and then back to the same old touchscreen problems. I have had Samsung phones in the past and touch screen phones, and Samsung really screwed up on this one! If they could get the thing to work it would be great... but they can't quite seem to figure this one out and I am not sure why. When I get my 4th replacement tomorrow I think I am just gonna say screw it and either go back to my old phone or purchase a new one. It's just not worth it at all! I have to turn off my phone 7, 8, sometimes even 9 times to reset it and try to send a text message! Sometimes I go to answer the phone and it hangs up on people... it has made using a phone so frustrating! I have never had so many issues with a phone!!
I was one of the few that had a relatively trouble-free glyde from the start. The bf25 firmware update caused some problems with occasional freezing and rebooting, though. Then, the bi29 update caused my internet to cease functioning properly, for which they issued a replacement phone. Of course, we all later found out that it was a glitch in account settings that could be rectified from the phone's browser, but alas the corporate store techs were unaware of that at the time. (Indeed it seems many are kept woefully under-informed about firmware update issues.) The bi29 update with an original-build glyde works fine for me, with the exception of an occasionally wonky "back" button in the music player. A friend recently exchanged her phone for the refreshed version and the screen is definitely more "stable", but you pay the price in touch responsiveness. I will take a properly functioning capacitive-screen glyde any day. If I wanted to lean on a screen and have crappy scrolling, I'd get that cheap-looking hunk of plastic called "Dare."
I have had the overwhelming urge to throw this phone out of a 30-story window, shoot it with a shotgun, smash it with a baseball bat, and plenty of other destructive methods of taking out my anger on it. The bottom menu pops up and closes on its own (i describe it as "touching itself" and tell people to take it innocently lol) all the time and renders it completely useless half the time. the only way i can take calls most of the time is to slide it open and close it again because if i attempt to push the green "answer" button it decides to push the gray "ignore" button...which has pissed off plenty of people besides me. i talked to someone at verizon who said they could run an update on it and it would be "all better" so i took it in, waited half an hour, and upon receiving it back noticed that it was twice as bad with the whole touching itself thing. actually once it even figured out how to slide the key to the lock and call somebody (all on its own...i swear there's a ghost in it or something). DO NOT...I REPEAT, DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE UNTIL YOU READ PLENTY OF REVIEWS ON THE NEW TOUCH SCREEN...BE SURE THAT IT WORKS BECAUSE THIS ONE SURE DOESN'T!
Okay so I've had my phone for almost a year. It'll be a year in July. I absolutley hate the Glyde. Not only does the touch screen have issues, but it's been really glitchy lately. For example I'll be texting and then get to the second line. The text will hop up to the last word on the first line in the middle of a word so It won't make sense. Another problem is it freezes all the time!! I haven't ever thrown it although I've dropped it around five times all on either a wooden floor or a carpet, but it still has these ridiculous glitches!
Does anyone know if my warranty with Verizon is still on or anything?!? How could I get a new phone without having to pay a hundred bucks or getting a shitty phone??? PLease help
I just bought one of these a couple of days ago and I haven't noticed a problem. The one they had on display in the store had the old touchscreen, and it was very finicky. Definitely good that they did this.
My Glyde screen bounces around and does not clear, I currently turn the phone off about 5 times per day to reset it which is a pain in the @ss. Verizon refuses to do anything about it. The new software has been installed and it is the newer model but it works like sh*t.
Never again for a touch screen!
(Can I start the equipment coverage and then report it again as a new problem - would they do something about it then?)
i bought a glyde back in december and the touchscreen worked ok for a couple of months before i started having the same myriad of problems. i noticed that it tends to act up more when my hands are touching the sides or back of the screen portion of phone, which is pretty much inevitable given its size. definitely a piece of crap though-- i don't know how many people i mis called because i hit the wrong button, how many times it went totally haywire on me. a few times i have left the web browser open, only to come back half an hour later and find that the slight vibration that happens when you touch a button on the touchscreen is violently going off back and forth-- zapping the phone of most of its battery power in the span of 30 minutes.
i returned the phone to verizon today-- it didn't seem to act up for them though they 'believed me' when i said that it did-- i wonder why!? they gave me a refurbished phone and they assured me that the new version is better. i know my old version wouldn't work with a stylus and that this one does-- so far the screen seems worlds better. they told me that if you return the same phone several times that they will eventually offer you a replacement, so that's what i intend to do should this phone continue to give me problems down the road.
i want to like this little phone, but its making it really difficult!
I just called Verizon and they are sending me a Samsung Glyde Refresh for free! Holy damn, the old glyde sucked so bad. It's currently opening and closing menus in front of me- and i am not touching it. So dumb. Hopefully the refresh is better.
And to people who were saying that the screen was pressure sensitive- no. When my phone freaked out, I would try to make a call and press very very very hard on the "call" button, and it would keep pressing "options". I'd then have to take out the battery and ask a local shaman to cast a spell on it before it started working. Stupid Glyde.
Hopefully the Refresh is better!
-wes-
i've been using the samsung glyde refresh for a few days now, it seems a lot better, to be honest. It's a lot more responsive. it even has a little "calibration" test thing, that you end up tapping the corners and center of the screen. I haven't had any problems with it so far. Unlike the old one, which would end up pressing other buttons (such as when I press "call" but it would actaully press "back". that was really f'in annoying). I haven't had any of those problems.
hooray!
-wes-
My wife and I each got a glyde about a month ago. They work great. No problem with the touchscreens. No freezing or any other problems that the earlier versions had. Great phone!