Samsung Fascinate – Problems with the GPS

Samsung Fascinate was first seen at Galaxy S event from Samsung long time ago and I am glad to see that the company has finally brought the handset to the market. This phone looks quite similar to Vibrant by the same manufacturer. Fascinate is doesn’t have downright sexy looks but I really liked the simple design. Vibrant had a cheap plastic feel but the Fascinate is much sturdier.

Samsung Fascinate is a big 4-inch super AMOLED touch screen and it is really good. The sharpness is superior as compared to other phones and the text is pretty easy to read. You will have a great time watching videos on this big screen. There is built in accelerometer too. Finally, there is the iPhone like pinch to zoom feature which stretches your pictures with just pinch. The screen is quite responsive too

The interface is user friendly, just like most Samsung phones. The TouchWiz feature is still there and this time, there are some handy widgets put here like Buddies and there are also some updates offered. Unlike Android OS, the apps are laid on multiple pages and you get gird view for them. I don’t know if you like the TouchWiz interface but I am fan of it. On the other, I have a couple of friends who are uncomfortable using it. You will certainly like it if you’ve used Samsung phones before. But if you like the Android interface, I will recommend you the Droid Incredible or Droid X.

Samsung Fascinate comes preinstalled with Android 2.1 and this is disappointing because Android 2.2 (Froyo) is already out. The manufacturer is promising an update soon. This is a Verizon Wireless phone and hence you get plenty of goodies from this service provider like VZ Navigator, VCast music and video, and NFL Mobile. By default the search engine on Verizon Wireless phones is Bing and it cannot be changed. The two have a struck a business deal. If you want to use something like Google, you will have to visit the site manually.

My one big complaint about the Samsung Fascinate is its GPS capabilities. I did not have problems getting the GPS fix just like Vibrant and Captivate but the location position was not always accurate. Sometimes the cell phone showed the location five blocks off. If you use GPS a lot, I would recommend you to look elsewhere.

Other than that, the Samsung Fascinate is a great smartphone.  It has a good collection of multimedia features. On the back, there is a five megapixel camera along with flash. It takes awesome HD videos. There are also a few entertainment centric apps like Blockbuster video app, Need For Speed Shift and Kindle for Android.

Samsung Fascinate came in to the online market and stores a couple of days ago. This phone will buy you back by $199.99 with a two year service agreement from Verizon Wireless and after a $100 mail in rebate. Get this device if you watch a lot of videos while traveling.