Verizon ropes in Samsung Fascinate, US Cellular gets a Galaxy S too
By Chris Ziegler 
posted June 28th 2010 12:30AM
posted June 28th 2010 12:30AM
Scoring the top four US carriers plus a top-tier regional with a single family of smartphones in one fell swoop is a major achievement for any manufacturer -- a feat memorably pulled off by the HTC Touch Pro2 -- so you can officially color us impressed now that Samsung has unveiled the Fascinate for Verizon plus an unnamed device for US Cellular, both variants of the Galaxy S (generic version pictured). As a refresher, this is the same phone family coming to Sprint as the Epic 4G, T-Mobile as the Vibrant, and AT&T as the Captivate, so these guys have a bit of an Android coup on their hands. Like the others (Epic 4G notably excepted), the Fascinate is a non-keyboard Android slate and features the usual 4-inch Super AMOLED display, 1GHz Hummingbird silicon, and 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording; US Cellular's phone looks to be roughly the same thing, though it seems they've yet to choose a retail name for it. Both will be available on an unannounced date for an unannounced price -- but if the market is any indication, $199.99 on contract seems like a good bet. More on these models as we have it.
Well the good news for us Verizon customers is that our version of the Galaxy S HAS A LED FLASH!!!! AT&T and Tmobile didn't add that extra feature to their version. None of the carriers kept the front facing camera, so I guess that will have to wait for the next wave of phones. Overall, I would really have to sit down and compare the droid x verse the galaxy s to figure otu whether I should wait for the Fascinate or go for the Droid X.
I already know off the bat without even seeing the phones that the build quality is better on the droid x. Every review of the galaxy s talks about how plasticy it feels. And all reviews of the Droid X talk about how sturdy it is. Droid X has a bigger screen, but galaxy S has a screen that looks better. I believe that the process and GPU on the galaxy s is better. Also, the galaxy S is already rooted, while the droid X will probably be unrootable due to a signed bootloader like all the motorola phones except the droid.
I think that the droid X looks better and I like physical buttons, and I like getting something sooner than later. Oh decisions decisions.
I would say the only thing that could hurt Samsung is if they release this phone really late, like in september after the droid x and the droid 2 have already come out.
Wow...the side by sde with the iPhone 4 shows the S AMOLED to be much better.
Colors pop , blacks are BLACK. iPhone looks washed out !
At normal viewing distance , S AMOLED resolution looks same.
I don`t use my phone with a magnifying glass , so iPhone loses.
Ugh, I hate how companies like Samsung, Motorola, and HTC rename a phone whenever its on a different network. Its such a headache having to remember the same phone with 4 different names.
@jordanbiffle
Its not the phone manufacturers who makes the naming decision, its the carriers.
Samsung has an unlocked version called Galaxy S with no carriers to support.
samsung = yawn
Almost regretting my Inc now. Almost...
@grumbles I wouldn't regret it. I didn't go with the Incredible, but if I was in the market now, I would still buy the Incredible over this. My thought is that you'll start regretting the Incredible in October. Still by next April, you should have some pretty amazing choices if you wanted to go the Annual Upgrade route.
Looks like a nice Android phone, I'm just concerned about the whole "custom skin" thing, since, y'know, TouchWiz. Kind of eroded my faith in Samsung on the software end of things. It'll also affect updates as well.
(Whatever happened to good ol' stock Android?)
Also will have to reserve judgement on the hardware too. I've had quite a few Samsungs (A737, Impression, Mythic, Behold II, an Omnia and I forgot the other one) and the hardware wasn't exactly up to par.
At least they change the way it looks.
iPhone is looking to dominate the USA...SAMSUNG is looking to dominate the Galaxy !
I wish they were all called the Galaxy S. That would be cool and build the brand and make it something exciting to own. Instead the names are a little cheesy and disposable, like the LG Shine. The smartest thing Verizon and Android ever did was branding the phones with Droid, it labeled them as an army, something serious and not just random iPhone clones. I hope at least the Fascinate gets the Droid branding.
@JONNNathannn
I agree they should lable it with 'droid' branding. And most likely will since every other android phone they carry has been. But 'Droid Fancinate' sounds childish and toy-like. Granted, its a large improvement over 'Droid Incredible' but both are just too cheesy. Wolnt stop. Me from buying, but still, take a little pride in your product, especially a high end offering, and give it a reasonable name.
@JONNNathannn
Great post! I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of how Samsung should have proceeded with R&D/marketing their newest, most innovative smart phone instead of allowing the phone carriers here in the U.S.A to muck up the features and design from the original version (Galaxy S).
The International version Galaxy S should have been developed for ALL markets similar to what Apple does with it's Iphone models.
It will be very interesting if this doesn't get the Droid branding. HTC didn't make a name for themselves until they started branding and marketing their company. If the Fascinate doesn't get the Droid branding, sales will be mediocre. People pay attention to branding, even if subconsciously.
Great to have choices, but the average person is going to head straight over to any with the "Droid" signage.
Where's the front facing camera?
To be honest, I'd be skeptical of buying any Android phone from Samsung, regardless of how awesome the phone is, until they get their OS upgrade policies in order. They should be providing the latest Android upgrades until the contract ends, when you'd be most likely to get a new phone anyway.
Didn't Samsung say at CTIA that the Galaxy S would be getting an upgrade to Android 2.2?
samsung vs. droid x
WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON
1) LED flash
2) 720p recording
3) 45nm processors
4) DLNA
5) support for divx
6) A skin over stock android UI
WHERE MOTOROLA DROID X WINS
1) Beat out the galaxy S in Android Central's benchmarks:
YouTube - Droid X benchmark tests
!
2) Larger screen by 0.3"
3) Greater screen resolution of 848×480 rather than 800×480 on the galaxy s
4) 3 microphones for superior audio quality when recording video
5) Sturdy build quality as compared to the very plastic feel of the galaxy s
6) Physical buttons on front
7) TFT LCD which is supposed to be slightly better than super amoled outside
8) 8 mp camera as compared to the 5 mp on the galaxy s
9) HDMI out
10) Made by motorola which has a better track record of updating their phones
11) Diversity antenna which should make call reception better than the galaxy s
12) Image stabilization
13) comes with 8gb internal storage as compared to the 2gb in the Samsung Fascinate
WHERE SAMSUNG GALAXY S WINS
1) Brighter, more vibrant screen
2) Lighter in hand due to plastic outer cover
3) Already rooted, as compared to the Droid X which will probably have a signed bootloader, making it VERY DIFFICULT to root
3) Better GPU making playing games better on the SGS
4) Gyroscope, making its integration in apps and games possible
5) Much better 720p video quality per youtube examples
I can't think of anymore. But after actually typing this out, I think I will still stick with the Droid X.
@doctajay
I think you're mostly right on with your comparison - but, the SGS doesn't have an LED flash (or any kind of flash for that matter). And, neither have a front facing camera (no one has been able to explain why the SGS lost its camera for the US!!!).
I realize this article used a general image for the post but I hope the Verizon version of the Galaxy S does not look like that. The T-Mobile version seems much better with the usual 4 Android-centric buttons on the bottom. Please no glittery back, as well! Oh I hope they don't uglify it when it hits VZW. Bets on splashes of red?
cool, so apparently, according to some othe blog i just read, this will be the only non-slide Galaxy S with camera flash. might just have to hold out for this one. and i was about to go out and try to get an iphone too.
Actually while the original galaxy s did not have a LED flash, if you look at the press release for the Samsung Fascinate it mentions an LEDbflash. So it looks that verizon removed the front facing camera but they added the led flash.
i think i like sprint's version better; the slider keyboard looks cool.
Yaaaaaauh
so is it droid fascinate
Hey Sammy,
I'm finally ready to buy my next smartphone. It will be a Galaxy S on Verizon or Tmob, but I MUST HAVE a great keyboard or the money stays in my wallet. The GREAT KEYBOARD is a deal breaker.
Yeah the Verizon's Fascinate has a LED flash but the others don't. + for Verizon. I would take it over the Droid X TBH.
TV Video Out function via headphone jack on all Samsung Galaxy Family phones. BTW... all Samsung devices have the same hardware as iPhone 4! ....which includes, proximity sensor, 6axis gyro/accelerometer (for games & camera, same 5mp camera & VGA cam front, same A8 Cortex Samsung made SoC, SGX540 GPU (90mil Tri/p/sec), Arm Neon Multimedia, same 16gig Samsung Nand Flash, 512mb Ram, Broadcom Multi-band radio, etc. So I wonder if iPhone has this feature and doesn't know it yet? Apple what other secrets are they hiding about their version of Galaxy S? lol.... ^_^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQBAx_BDfk