Samsung has now launched 5 phones under the “Galaxy S inch brand. They are all quite similar with 1GHz Samsung hummingbird CPUs, 512MB of RAM and running Android 2.1. The only outlier being the “Epic inch which has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and 4G service from Sprint, while the others all lack a physical keyboard and 4G radios.
We’ve got the Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate (the Verizon version) on hand for review and dare I say, it might be the best Android handset that Verizon is currently offering.
Hardware
As usual, we’ll look at the device’s important specs and show you a quick hardware tour. For more detailed specs and info, check out our Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate tracking page.
Specs:
- Android 2.1 OS
- 4 inch 800×480 AMOLED capacitive screen
- 1GHz Samsung “Hummingbird inch CPU (ARM Cortex A8)
- 512MB of RAM
- 5.0MP auto-focus camera with single-LED flash
- 18GB of memory (2GB built-in, 16GB card pre-installed)
- WiFi b/g/n and BT 2.1
- Android Marketplace access
Hardware tour:
Great review. I like the Fascinate’s hardware and screen size but I would really like a directional trackball/optical pad to make website navigation easier (ie. clicking small links surrounded by other links).
I like the directional controls on other Android devices too. It also lets you easily activate mouse over elements on many sites.
I also prefer hardware buttons for those bottom keys as well. What I don’t want are those dedicated call/answer and end buttons. Don’t really want a call getting answered while the phone is in my pocket.
Looks like good phone, but i’m still waiting for the iphone from Verizon mbecause ky mom told me that she talked to Verizon and they would jailbreak it for us if we brought it to one of their stores so that’s what i’m going to do instead of getting this one.
So you can switch from Bing to Google on the Verizon Fascinate? I thought that Verizon permanently locked out Google.
Perhaps by altering the default software imagine. For the less tech savvy, “switching” between the two is as simple as finding a Google search bar from the Marketplace and downloading Google maps. The only caveat being that when you tap the Android Search button on the homescreen, you’ll be taken to Bing search. This and I suppose that a few applications that normally use Google Maps to externally map some info might open up in Bing, but again, getting around that is relatively simply (a little cut and paste would do the job).