[Q] Android version of iTouch.. Will a used Fascinate fit the bill? - Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I live in a poor radio reception area, so I'm thinking of streaming internet radio stations over WiFi while doing yard work. Sort of a WiFi walkman.
An iTouch would work, but I have tons of android apps & games.
The galaxy player is nice, but that's kinda overkill.
So I thought a used smartphone would be a perfect choice.
One that has good WiFi range, and enough power to run games.
Nothing heavy gaming wise, I have a Nook Color running 99% of the games I like just fine, so anything comparable would do.
After looking around, the Galaxy S family seemed to be a pretty good choice, and lots of used Fascinate phones are on ebay for around $100.
So here I am, with a few questions...
Is the (Verizon) Fascinate a good choice, or are there better (or cheaper) versions from other carriers? Keep in mind I'm not ever going to use this as a phone, so even a bad ESN would work for me, right?
How about wifi range?
Are there any problems I haven't thought of.... if I flash something like CM7, can I run apps, media, etc. without Verizon ?
In other words, will this run apps, Market, like my CM7 Nook Color?
Is there a better place than ebay to look for one?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Howdy!
First off, I use the Galaxy S Fasciante, and it is a pretty decent phone. I picked it up for $90 used, had some scratches on the screen, and dings, but not too shabby. [Ended up having to get the main board replaced a week b4 the warranty ended, but that is another story]
Unfortunately, from what I've experienced so far [owned the fascinate for maybe 1.5 months], my fascinate does not seem to do as well for wifi as my previous Droid X2, and, I am not sure, [Need to do a side-by-side comparison] my iPod touch 4.
That being said, I would suggest flashing either JT's vanilla GB, or maybe TSM Pool Party [I am still experimenting with the latter as of last week], because the stock is bloated.
You can still use the Market, Gmail, and all that by flashing the gapps package after flashing the rom. But if you decide the stock rom is good enough, I believe it should be fine as far as using it without a cell phone plan.
One thing though, if you wipe the data, and it's not on a plan, it will prompt you to "activate your phone"
Of course, it will fail, and will not let you into the os until it's active. So what I did when I was in this situation was look up the code to bypass activation. Just google "fascinate bypass activation" and you will find threads with the number you dial. cool beans
oh and as far as where to look for one, yes, ebay is fine, also you might check Craigslist. That's where I bought 2 android phones, and 2 laptops within 12 months.
and one more thing on the wifi, I am not sure if my wifi is just abnormally weak, or if that's how it is. anyone else care to elaborate how their wifi experiences have been?

Thanks mvmacd, that's just the info I needed!
I just went ahead and ordered a Fascinate on eBay a couple hours ago.
Reading other posts, the weak WiFi was mentioned, but I'm hoping it's not a hardware issue, and can be improved with a ROM.
If all else fails, I might get by with dusting off an old Linksys WRT54G router and using it as a repeater.
That tip on the activation bypass is something new to me, as this is the first phone I've messed with. All WiFi tablets up till now.
I assume that only applies to the stock Fascinate, so if I flash CM7, I won't have to worry about activation, right?

cm7 based Roms which were ported mostly by jt1134, have a lot of reverse engineering hacks for the phones hardware because there is no source code for that type of stuff. There are also Touchwiz based roms which run on the stock hardware configuration from Samsung, and are rooted, debloated, and there are kernels for those roms with voodoo Lagfix which make the phone about 3x faster than factory. It could have better wifi range with the stock hardware drivers than with jt's. With what you're going to use it for a Touchwiz ROM is best imho as the battery life was also superior when compared to CM7 roms on this phone.
Also the fascinate has very good headphone hardware, which supercurio turned into a audiophile quality experience with voodoo sound. When I move on to the galaxy nexus I will be keeping my fascinate for music.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium

Wow! you guys have given me a lot if good info.
I'm getting a clearer picture of the Fascinate/Samsung hardware ROM development now.
Like I said, I'm new to phones. Different animals from the WiFi tablets I'm used to (Viewsonic Gtablet and BN Nook Color).
I'll look for a Touchwiz ROM with lagfix then.
BTW, other posts concerning the weak WiFi mentioned an app called WiFi Fixer.
Looks promising. Lots of positive reviews.
Makes me wonder, does this have to do with the ROM choosing to switch to 3G, and apps like WiFi Fixer just lock on to WiFi?
Maybe I'm cynical, but knowing Big Red, maybe their software is partial to a paid data plan over WiFi.

My Fascinate has a weaker signal.compared to 2 of my iPod touch 2g and 4g, My iPod touches would have 4 bars while my fascinate would only have 2. Never tried using any app or hacks to boost the signal since I use 3g but I know that EH03 gave me better signal as a phone compared to the older radios.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Also. If you want to pack a sd card full of music, and don't care what version of Android you have. I will suggest the dj05 superdark ROM. It is eclair "before Froyo". But I would go a full 8 hour day at work listening to music and still have 80% battery when I got home. wifi would drain a little faster, but any ROM in the dj05 service release is well known to have seemingly impossible battery life. at least by anyone who had the phone that early. If it was not for the want of running apps that require newer versions of Android I would still be on that ROM.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium

SpinKix said:
Thanks mvmacd, that's just the info I needed!
I just went ahead and ordered a Fascinate on eBay a couple hours ago.
Reading other posts, the weak WiFi was mentioned, but I'm hoping it's not a hardware issue, and can be improved with a ROM.
If all else fails, I might get by with dusting off an old Linksys WRT54G router and using it as a repeater.
That tip on the activation bypass is something new to me, as this is the first phone I've messed with. All WiFi tablets up till now.
I assume that only applies to the stock Fascinate, so if I flash CM7, I won't have to worry about activation, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you probably won't need it, but just for reference, here's how to bypass activation on stock rom:
press emergency call button,
then at the dialer,
press *#83786633,
then press the Home key
As far as the rest of the roms, I do believe the other roms have a "Skip activation" button, so you do not have to worry about it.
Oh, one more thing. Developers are working on an ICS port [Android 4.0] for the fascinate! They released Build 6 just two days ago, and I am seriously considering trying it out.
edit: the ICS rom is epic. Not sure if I am getting worse battery life or not, but it is stable and looks way cooler.

Just got the phone... and it turns out I needed the code right off the bat.
Also every time I power it back on.
You saved the day!
Now I'm trying to get my head around all the Roms, Kernels, Voodoo, Red, Blue, GEEWIZ, KGB, ODIN, Heimdall, DJ05, EH03, Deodexed......... ARRRRgh!!
Like cramming for a final, I've been through glossaries, acronyms, guides, tutorials, faq for days.
Tablets were easy, just load a file on the sd card and restore.
I never knew you could mix roms, & kernels.
I'm going to start with ODIN, get rooted and load CWM and do a nandroid backup.
Also get ADB tested just in case. I also have a rough idea about voodoo rewriting the file system to ext4, and not flashing non voodoo stuff.
I'm a noob at this stuff, so I'm sure I'll take me a while.
As for the phone, I'm really impressed with the screen and how smooth it operates. Nice hardware. It can stream CNN video where the Nook stuttered. Can't handle CNN HD though.
All in all, the used phone is in pretty good condition for $89. Couple scratches on the screen, but not too bad. Naturally, the chrome bezel looks rough, but the headphone jack is perfect, and the sound is impressive.
Still take this over an itouch any day.
I can tell this is going to take up a lot of my spare time, but it's fun.
Thanks for all your help... off I go!

Ahh you know I was kind of wondering if you would need to enter the code after each reboot..
Yeah, at first I was really confused about android, roms, kernels, and all that.. Just take it easy, and eventually you will have it all down.
If you like bleeding edge software, you might wanna take a look at this Android 4 [Ice cream sandwich] rom here. I have it running on my fascinate, and I like it

Some friendly advice..
Never use anything marked for Telus
When using Odin, always use PDA PDA PDA..... Never phone!
Nandroid only when you get a sweet setup, before flashing something new.. If the new theme, kernel, etc messes things up. nandroid restore to the rescue.
Never mix Mtd stuff with BML (Touchwiz) stuff.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium

Related

[Q] how do you guys like the vibrant?

i just bought the mytouch 4g and i like to but i really like the vibrants 4 inch screen and the nice colors on them vs the mytouch 4g. plus your gpu is better in the vibrant then in my mytouch 4g. but i was thinking about trading my phone somewhere along the way once u guys get android 2.2 at the end of the month. so i guess i am asking is the vibrant a really good phone? my problem is i am no where near a 4g network for tmobile so i cant use that, also there is not many phones out there that can do video chat since there is only like 6 phones with front facing camera's. well let me know, thanks
there is actually a mod to put a ffc on a vibrant. costs about $30.
Also I doubt official 2.2 will be coming out within a month. The devs are working hard on the new froyo roms based upon what samsung gave out, and there are still some problems. The biggest is a weaker/buggier modem. I get edge where I used to get 2 bars of 3g. I have had people call me and the phone acts like it never gets it. and there's problems with the sdcard and mounting.
TLR no official 2.2 coming out this month
ed1380 said:
there is actually a mod to put a ffc on a vibrant. costs about $30.
Also I doubt official 2.2 will be coming out within a month. The devs are working hard on the new froyo roms based upon what samsung gave out, and there are still some problems. The biggest is a weaker/buggier modem. I get edge where I used to get 2 bars of 3g. I have had people call me and the phone acts like it never gets it. and there's problems with the sdcard and mounting.
TLR no official 2.2 coming out this month
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running 2.2 Macnut R12 with the A14 kernel and I'm actualy getting extremely good signal
right now I'm getting H with 4 bars, when I first got the phone I was almost always on either poor 3G or a pretty good edge connection.
so things seem to be improving
ed1380 said:
there is actually a mod to put a ffc on a vibrant. costs about $30.
Also I doubt official 2.2 will be coming out within a month. The devs are working hard on the new froyo roms based upon what samsung gave out, and there are still some problems. The biggest is a weaker/buggier modem. I get edge where I used to get 2 bars of 3g. I have had people call me and the phone acts like it never gets it. and there's problems with the sdcard and mounting.
TLR no official 2.2 coming out this month
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here is the link about the vibrant getting 2.2 at the end of this month..
http://nexus404.com/Blog/2010/11/04...gain-should-we-believe-android-2-2-is-coming/
if it is true then thats cool if not that sucks since gingerbread will be out in the next week. thats the thing i hate about samsung. i had the behold 2 and they said we were gonna get 2.0 then told everyone its only getting 1.6 and even that phone took forever to update. as for the ffc mod i wouldnt want to do that cause then no warranty and that phone aint cheap to replace lol.
I've also got the Vibrant since this month so willing to share some ideas:
Positive:
+ Competent hardware allows satisfied Android experience.
+ 'Vibrant' screen
+ This forum is awesome: lots useful info, quick responses, customized ROMS...
Negative:
+ Only one physical button to turn on/off the phone, what happens if it malfunctions after usage?
+ No 'real' front camera as well as physical capture button and flash light.
+ GPS takes long time (or even never) to lock and the lock is not stable.
+ Some phones (such as mine) have "hardware lock" error which requires fix before flashing ROM
+ Short battery life: my phone's never stood for 2 days yet. What a shame.
Hope this help.
ctpthanh said:
I've also got the Vibrant since this month so willing to share some ideas:
Positive:
+ Competent hardware allows satisfied Android experience.
+ 'Vibrant' screen
+ This forum is awesome: lots useful info, quick responses, customized ROMS...
Negative:
+ Only one physical button to turn on/off the phone, what happens if it malfunctions after usage?
+ No 'real' front camera as well as physical capture button and flash light.
+ GPS takes long time (or even never) to lock and the lock is not stable.
+ Some phones (such as mine) have "hardware lock" error which requires fix before flashing ROM
+ Short battery life: my phone's never stood for 2 days yet. What a shame.
Hope this help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for that. im sure once u guys get 2.2 it might help the vibrant out a lot. thats what i am hoping for then i might trade my phone for a vibrant. i noticed its gpu is one of the best ive seen on any cell phone to date. it even beats my mt4g. plus i think the vibrant looks better then the mytouch 4g. never been a fan of the mytouch serious but once i saw 1ghz plus 768mb ram and 4gb rom ffc and camera flash and led notification, i was like damn its about time the mytouch serious made a good phone lol.
also whats up with this lag fix i am hearing about? does the phone lag that bad were it needs to be rooted just to be fast? jw
Hopefully, we can have official 2.2 updates to see what improvements, but customized ROMs on this fourm are really impressive and worth a try.
About the lag fix, I do not try one so can't say much. From what I read (on this forum offcourse), lag fix means changing the way to store data, let's say FAT32 vs NTFS. However, flashing ROMS usually requires disable/remove lag fix. Moreover, I don't think my phone slow at all.
On the other hand, I don't want to disappoint you but there is one more bad point I should say. That is the very weak Wifi signal. At the same position, the Nokia E63 and Motorola Milestone have stable signal, while the Vibrant cannot reach the same Wifi or usually disconnect.
ctpthanh said:
Hopefully, we can have official 2.2 updates to see what improvements, but customized ROMs on this fourm are really impressive and worth a try.
About the lag fix, I do not try one so can't say much. From what I read (on this forum offcourse), lag fix means changing the way to store data, let's say FAT32 vs NTFS. However, flashing ROMS usually requires disable/remove lag fix. Moreover, I don't think my phone slow at all.
On the other hand, I don't want to disappoint you but there is one more bad point I should say. That is the very weak Wifi signal. At the same position, the Nokia E63 and Motorola Milestone have stable signal, while the Vibrant cannot reach the same Wifi or usually disconnect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh ok i see. well for what i am hearing they are saying u guys might not get the update till 2011. that would suck but this is what samsung does best. they take forever to keep there devices up to date. but there is hope since they are going with google to make the nexus s that they might jump straight to android 2.3 but thats not a fact but u never know.
Hi! I'm having issues with my battery. When I turn on wifi or 3G the battery meter % runs like mad towards 0! I have a program called JuicePlotter that shows a graph that scares me!
With wifi on, not using it heavily, it sucks a lot of battery. How much battery is it draining for you?
Let's put it this way:
1. Got the Vibrant at launch
2. A few days later started looking towards improving it - screen was nice but it was soooo slow at times to get to the task at hand.
3. Found XDA
4. And now a few months later I am not looking back
to save battery go to settings>apps>running services and turn everything unnecessary off. then get titanium backup and uninstall the apps that have DRM in the name. You will lose the ability to play avatar though.
here is what I have uninstalled in titanium. I have noticed they waste battery and/or are uneeded for me
buddies now
daily breifing
device management (checks for OTA updates)
drm protected
drm content launcher
feeds and updates (facebook)
google voice
talk
media hub
sns 1.0 (facebook)
sns account (facebook)
swype
I can last about 12hours of medium texting/internet. biggest killer is still the screen and that is always on lowest brightness

[Q] Question about purchasing a new Vibrant

I'm in the market to upgrade my Touch Pro2. I want badly to get the Vibrant, but I was wondering what you guys think.
I've kind of narrowed it down to Vibrant and the Defy. I like the Vibrant screen, I've heard its speaker is clear, the reception is good and the camera is nice. I absolutely love the 4 inch screen size.
I'm tempted by the Defy because of what I've read about call quality, battery life, and toughness. It seems it's classified as a mid-range phone because of processor speed, which I think can be overclocked to put it on par with Vibrant speed.
I'm interested in the mt4g and G2 but I hear the speakerphone sucks and the camera is mediocre and the reception is spotty.
Am I right in the good stuff I've heard about the Vibrant? I know about the lag and the gps--is it so bad I'd hate the phone?
Would you recommend the defy or one of the htc's?
Thanks.
Defy.
If I had it to do over, I'd get the Defy.
I was going insane trying to get out of San Francisco this evening b/c the GPS & lag is so ****ty.
-bZj
It really depends, If I could've done it again I would have waited for the Nexus S, which may or may not have the same GPS issues, or even the G2 (if you can do without super amoled screen). I've also heard the G2 is $50 on a contract and will be one of the first phones to get gingerbread (after nexus s and nexus one).
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
So two Vibrant owners respond and both say skip the Vibrant. Is that the general consensus on this board?
Thanks guys for your honest.
Gabe
I love this phone anyone who doesn't want the one they have can give them to me
GabeJ said:
So two Vibrant owners respond and both say skip the Vibrant. Is that the general consensus on this board?
Thanks guys for your honest.
Gabe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the vibrant is like any other phone.
Yes, it has problems.
Does it give you the moments when you go "DAMN MY PHONE MUST BE THE BEST ONE OUT THERE?" yes.
If your one of the Travelling type and uses GPS, i suggest you skip this phone, BUT i have been hearing they changed teh gps so it works perfectly now.
I say you get the Vibrant, overall its a perfect device, but if you want you can get NEXUS S which is the same thing, but with a few differences which kind of make it a little better.
Defy or Vibrant?
Vibrant.
My personal choice, i haven't used teh Defy so.. i wouldn't know.
I've got an earlier Vibrant so my GPS is a bit flaky, but its still good enough for an occasional GPS-guided trip for me. Lag.. Occasionally. I ran some fixes earlier on that I felt improved things. But then I see others using their different models of phone and waiting, waiting.. I think its a "grass is always greener" sort of thing. Overall, while I wish I had native AOSP and a FFC (stock, not modded), I also wish I had a million bucks .. Can't get it all, right? I'd buy Vibrant again.
So, if I bought a new Vibrant it might not have a GPS issue, but it will definitely still be laggy? And the lag fixes don't completely alleviate the problem?
I'm sorry for all the questions. I live 1 hour away from any Tmobile store and I'm stuck in snow, so I can't just go play with them.
RE lag, if you're going on what I was saying -- My point was that it may have some lag, but no phone doesn't. I don't think it has excessive lag, and there are plenty of tweaks you can try out if you just need to eke out every last bit of speed.
Oh, and I feel your pain. I'm also an hour out, and I don't particularly like that store - few hours further to get a good one. Ordered on the phone personally. Call 'em up and tell the IVR you're checking your contract dates.
I have an older Vibrant and am in love with the phone, but got fed up with the gps. Just an hour ago talked to TMO and without any effort they decided to send me a replacement. Apparently (fingers crossed) these days the replacements they are shipping are retail units (newer batches), not refurbs.
On another thread we discussed how it looks like phones built on or after october do better GPS-wise. So, a week from now if I get a new one, I will be able to compare them side by side.
Btw, check my signature. Being a fervent Nexus One user, was very excited to get a G2, but less than a week was enough for me to dislike it in every possible aspect (to me the G2 is the direct sucessor of the N1 so I had assumed that I would love it as well). I did get the mega-download speed but had the very same 3G issues my N1 up to this day has, where gets stuck switching to HSUPA or something like that. Very annoying when using maps or navigation.
Of all the choices around, if I had to choose, I'd get another vibrant even though I'm a hardcore HTC fan. To top it off, looks like we will be able to run Gingerbread sooner than later. Much sooner. Supercurio has it already running and has already published the files to do so (pretty useless right now, but it has been 36h since he started).
So, I was going to get a Nexus S but after such development, looks like I'll be able to have gingerbread *and* sd card slot, on a non-banana shaped phone...lol. Ah, on the same thread someone ran this benchmark (don't remember the name, the one that shows a comlarative graph at the end) and the gingerVibrant ranked a tad faster than the Nexus One with Froyo, which is the fastest according to that particular program. In other words, faster than any other. Looks like JIT on the Hummingbird is here to stay. Also, seems the gingerVibrant does not have any lag issues, as apparently it is natively EXT4
Hope this helps you in your decission process.
Sent from my Ideos S7 using XDA App
GabeJ said:
So, if I bought a new Vibrant it might not have a GPS issue, but it will definitely still be laggy? And the lag fixes don't completely alleviate the problem?
I'm sorry for all the questions. I live 1 hour away from any Tmobile store and I'm stuck in snow, so I can't just go play with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It WON'T have gps issue i can say that for if you live near Dallas Texas.
I was just at the mall and went to Tmobile store, saw a vibrant, GPS is working, i asked them and they said they're shipping new ones with fixed GPS issues.
Not sure about where you live though.
Lag? What lag? I've never had a lag problem, only if your doing like EXCESSIVE things, like running music, facebook, email checking every second, downloading bunch of apps etc, yes it will lag, but it shouldn't, and even if it does and your planning on Flashing Custom Roms, the new froyo roms have NO lag what so ever, even with my heavy use.
I'll recommend you get a Vibrant anyday.
I'm a G2 Nexus one, blackberry pearl, curve and iPhone 3, 3GS, 4 user.
Vibrant has filled all my needs, G2 is pretty good too, i just hate call quality.
The call quality issue is big for me. I need a good speakerphone, good reception and voice quality. Those don't seem like I'm asking much, but from what I've heard, and experienced (I'm a Touch Pro2 user), htc falls short there. The G2 included, correct.
Thanks
Bought two Vibrants a week or so ago, one for me, one for the wife... Wanted the G2 but when I got it in my hands, I had reservations about the spring and she wanted the Vibrant. The T-Mobile sales rep actually sent me to WalMart and they had the Vibrant for $50 (T-Mobile store $199.99)!!
Hers is stock and I'm running the Nero v1 ROM. She gets 6 hours of battery life (the first two days before I rooted mine was the the same) with normal use, and I get about 16. Even though its not a "4G" phone we're both getting some pretty great speeds. Neither of us have had lag or gps issues.
All in all it seems like a solid phone. It's fast, call quality is good, and the display is amazing. The speaker is good, I noticed at full volume the G2 sounded distorted and tinny, and this isn't so much the case with the Vibrant, although it does happen slightly.
There are roms out there to really let you customize it to your liking, and to address some of the phones shortcomings . Glad I didn't get the G2 because I'm lovin the Vibrant so far.
Spaternitejr,
Is the GPS working correctly/quickly on both new vibrants? Was the walmart deal for upgrades or new customers?
GPS is working just fine on both. They acquire quickly and consistently. We did upgrades, but believe it was the same price for either.
I just got my vibrant from walmart for 50...all of walmarts advertised prices are for upgrades and add a lines.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Out of curiosity, why not get the Nexus S instead of the Vibrant?
Chalup said:
Out of curiosity, why not get the Nexus S instead of the Vibrant?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheaper, SD card, broken GPS...lol, and something I just posted in another thread:
Looks like it can do 3G in AT&T (!!!). Awaiting confirmation by anyone who has an unlocked Vibrant and AT&T service. Details are here but still awaiting confirmation...
If that turns out to be true, then it would be the first phone I know of that can do 3G on both major carriers in the States (!).
fosormic said:
Cheaper, SD card, broken GPS...lol, and something I just posted in another thread:
Looks like it can do 3G in AT&T (!!!). Awaiting confirmation by anyone who has an unlocked Vibrant and AT&T service. Details are here but still awaiting confirmation...
If that turns out to be true, then it would be the first phone I know of that can do 3G on both major carriers in the States (!).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I remember reading, the Vibrant radio is only compatible with one of ATT's 3G frequencies, so in some 3G areas you can only get edge.
Chalup said:
From what I remember reading, the Vibrant radio is only compatible with one of ATT's 3G frequencies, so in some 3G areas you can only get edge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would tend to agree, but just checked on my phone (on that secret menu) and found that it has both 850 and 1900 (both for 3G and plain GSM) in addition to the 1700 and 2100 TMO uses. This is AT&T's band map: http://cellularmaps.com/att_850_1900.shtml
EDIT: I confirmed what Chalup said. Only worked as 3G in one of the bands for me. Here.

ROM Suggestions Needed

My wife uses a Samsung Vibrant and there are just so many issues with it. Currently, it's on the latest stock Froyo release. It keeps losing all of her home screen icons (using stock TWLaucher) and we have to kill TWLauncher or reboot to get them back. Seems to have lag all over the place. Also, wifi signal strength is poor. The wifi calling app constantly turns off saying the wifi signal isn't good enough.
I'd like be interested in trying out a custom ROM. I've tinkered with some of the leaked ROMs, so I'm familiar with ODIN. I've used CWM on my Droid X before, so I should be ok with that as well.
She's not interested in 100 different themes and fancy icons and fancy features, etc. We are just going to want something that's close to stock with some tweaks that might fix some of the issues we are having. Not interested in partially working ROMs where the GPS doesn't work or issues with the camera, etc. Would like wifi calling to work as well. Need something totally stable. I'm not going to want something that's going to need updating weekly either.
Anything out there that meets what I'm looking for?
Please make suggestions.
Hi, same situation here, my gf has stock vibrant with froyo and many issues...
I've cm7 on my N1 so I considered it for the vibrant but at the moment it have troubles with gps and wifi SO I've searched a lot and the much more stable rom (for me of course) is the projectV, it's based on the official froyo with some tweaks and fixes, seems pretty stable until now
here the topic: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1105037
hope u enjoy it
Agreed with nekobus
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I actually had my eye on that one.
It'll improve the lag and losing icons and things like that? I don't need a lagfix on top of that as well?
I'm not doing this for the eye candy (extra lock screens, etc.), I just want things to run more smoothly.
This probably won't help the low wifi signal though, since it's using the same modem as stock froyo, right?
Anyone else want to chime in?
It'll definently improve Lag and that icon problem that you have will not happen. And almost every ROM in here has a Lagfix, so Project-V does have one and will come on when you flash it. (A voice of a robotic women after flashing means that Voodoo is flashing) Voodoo is the name of the Lagfix, which makes our systems run on ext4 instead of the slow RFS system stock that your wife had.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
The best thing about Project-V ROM is that its made to be fast and for tweaking, that's why they say they're not competing with Cyanogenmod because it also has both speed and tweaking abilities. So don't worry if you think Project-V is all eye candy, because its both Speed, Stability, and Tweaks!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
If anything, I'll probably give this Project V a shot then. My wife will kill me if I F up her phone or cause her to lose stuff.
I flash this with CWM? I don't exactly recall where to get CWM or how to use it, but I'm sure I'll figure that out.
Installing this over stock will be a total data wipe, right? I should back up programs and program data with Titanium first and then restore after?
This does include the lagfix/file conversion? That just happens automatically when I flash this?
Everything works? No serious bugs? I can also flash that wifi calling file in the first post using cwm and then I'll have wifi calling too?
Let's say Samsung releases a 2.3 that's a solid ROM and I want to go back to stock. With this applied and whatever lagfix, file conversion that's been done, how hard would it be to get back to stock?
Anything else I should know?
I've rooted the stock froyo, backupped ALL with titanium and then wiped all from cwm and installed projectV, no problem at all but titanium is required
About gingerbread.... do you remeber the "froyo story" right? I think I seat and wait for the gingerbread version of projectV (or other roms based on official release)! No more stock images in my home please
nekobus said:
I've rooted the stock froyo, backupped ALL with titanium and then wiped all from cwm and installed projectV, no problem at all but titanium is required
About gingerbread.... do you remeber the "froyo story" right? I think I seat and wait for the gingerbread version of projectV (or other roms based on official release)! No more stock images in my home please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, wouldn't be surprised at all if there's never an official 2.3 for this. Their 2.2 release was many months behind competing phones originally released around the same time. Still, just want to make sure I understand what I'm getting into here and how hard it would be to get back out. Could I easily get back to the stock froyo that it's on now, if I need to?
I've never did it , but I think u have to odin back to 2.1 stock and then ota (or keys) to 2.2 or whatever
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Does the new market that came out this week work fine on this phone?
Before this market, I also had terrible problems updating apps. It was brutally slow and update all usually failed on most apps. I was very surprised that after installing the new market, I was able to do an update all on 20 apps with no problems at all.
My wife had pretty much given up on updating apps on the stock rom.
not yet tried ! But my gf had no problem at all with old and oldest market under tmob, now she's back in Italy, so I've unlocked the sim and still have no issues!
try a few different 1's and see which you like best
I like the bionix 1.3.1 with bali 1.8.7 uv kernel.
i'm not sure about the wifi calling as I dont use that feature.
Tried the new market right now, no proplems as always!
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
ROMS
As far as which rom you choose is your choice, I am running Toxic Smoke and a lot of people will agree its super quick and responsive but I support almost all roms, Devs here do great work on the vibrant and all should be recognized for it. I may have a solve for your low WiFi signal though..... Have you looked in to the Hardware GPS fix? It involves you opening up your phone and bending a small piece of copper, I did so and put a tiny sliver of credit card plastic under it to keep it from bending back down and now my GPS signal is ridiculous as compared to before. But as I read more there is another copper pin on the opposite side of the phone, that is your WIFI antenna. I then took my phone apart again and did the same thing to that pin and now My WIfI gets great signal. I guess it all depends on how tech savoy you are and how much you want to get into your phone. I know for how much it cost and how much I use my phone I wanted it working 100% so I took the extra time to do all of this and Im quite happy with my Vibrant now. But anyway my specs on my phone are,
ROM: ToxicMusixSmoke
Launcher: Golauncher Pro EX (Which is freaking awesome and free)
Kernal: Bali X (Will increase the responsiveness of your phone ff Overclocked to 1.2 using setCPU, you can download for free on XDA, cost 2.99 or something on the market, the dev offers it for free on here)
+ Hardware GPS Fix and S.gps.zip file for the drivers (You can also find this fine on the Hardware GPS fix post)
I hope this helps as my phone is very stable and I am totally satisfied with my phone as I was not so much at first. I also think with Golauncher you can get stock themes so your phone will look and act just like stock, but run 10000000000000 times better!
I am new to the samsung t959
Any recommendation for ROM? I would like to be as fast as possible, and with a working GPS
I don't mind CM7 as long as it is fastest.
Thanks a million!
]I wasn't looking for fastest.
Just need something to eliminate done of this issues we've had with stock and to be stable with everything functioning correctly.
Project V seems to have done that.
Only issue, so far, is that bloater isn't working and I can't figure a way to get the samsung stock keyboard back. Can anyone help with that?
I like that this rom is so close to stock. If I didn't tell my wife, she wouldn't have even known I changed anything.
While I no longer use it myself, I found Zendroid 2.0.1 with Bali Kernel to be the simplest and easiest to use for a layman, like the average wife or girlfriend
It's extremely lightweight with no bloat to speak of, and battery life is phenomenal (no bloat, no 2g/3g bleeding).
@lexluthor you can use root explorer our similar app to copy the apk to the system/app folder.
Sent from my hacked Samsung Vibrant running CM7.

<POLL> Would you recommend buying a Facinate at this late date?

Hi all,
I am thinking about getting my high schooler an Android device and pay for 2gb data @ $30/mo rather than unlimited text (on our family plan at $30.) We can use google voice for texting for free if need be.
We can get a certified Fascinate for $40 with a 2 year contract.
I have a Droid X2 and it probably wouldn't be my first choice.
Its an amazing machine. The word is that the new version sgs2 is close to getting released. Like the nexus, it will be larger, faster, etc. Pricier too (everything new is always more $$$). So if you are willing to dish out some cash...you may want to hold off.
Personally, this phone is just simply amazing. A mini tablet. And these forums help one release the phones full potential.
Just my 2 cents.
sent from outerspace
nitwit said:
Hi all,
I am thinking about getting my high schooler an Android device and pay for 2gb data @ $30/mo rather than unlimited text (on our family plan at $30.) We can use google voice for texting for free if need be.
We can get a certified Fascinate for $40 with a 2 year contract.
I have a Droid X2 and it probably wouldn't be my first choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What type of person is he/she? The reason I ask is because this phone is an amazing piece of hardware..good processor, lots of memory, amoled screen, super light weight, and very durable (as far as dropping and not having screens crack..in my experience, and its been dropped on a stone driveway from the passenger seat of my Jeep multiple times...) And for the price you're looking at paying..I would say do it...however...
These phones are really "De-tuned" with the touch wiz interface, and loaded with tons of Verizon and bing apps that clutter up everything, and some folks report missed calls in the past, and lack of updates on Verizon's/ Samsung's end don't help the situation however I believe the certified phone will come with the latest Verizon update ed05 and it supposedly has fixed the missed call issue some have experienced..if your son/daughter isn't too tech savvy or doesn't like to tweak things or tinker with gadgets they may find the phone a little glitchey from time to time, and rather just ..ok..sill a good phone but, ok.
However if they are the type that don't mind tinkering and learning about gadgets or technology, with a little learning and reading the devs and community have made this phone really bad ass, with a custom rom and kernel this phone can have a completely different interface if desired and the processor does well with overclocking speeding up the phone to a near glitch free, smooth, sleek, piece of hardware that is hard to beat, with an overall fun enjoyable experience...I love my phone as you can tell and I think I would still like it if I had still been stock to this day and never even found xda, but they helped me love my phone again...basically for the price its a good phone even if left stock and for the price you can't go wrong, whether they leave it alone and use it as is, or flash one of the many available roms and or kernels. This phone is pretty brick proof when getting into roms and kernels and hell, for the price, my sd card that its in my fascinate cost me about 40 bucks!
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I'd absolutely consider it, though I'd look at what other phones were available at what prices. I also think you've got some good advice above about looking at the type of user your child will be.
My wife and I got our Fascinates last November and are still very happy with them. I've run a ton of different ROMs on it and am always tinkering with it. She runs stock only and only rooted when I could convince her that there was a definite concrete advantage (tethering her tablet on a long road trip.)
Of course, buy-in is very important since you've got to live with that teenager. I'd be tempted to offer the fascinate, but let them choose another phone at the same price or use their own funds to make a reasonable upgrade. But if I were looking for a phone for my middle-schooler, the fascinate would be high on the list. I'm really trying to hold out on a smartphone for him til he gets to high school though.
My only complaint of the Fascinate is the antennas are a joke, especially the data reception. I live 1/2 mile away from the nearest tower and yet when my data connection is active (showing up & down arrows) I usually only get 1 bar on average, but when it switches to dormant (a "D" below the 3G which means the bars are the voice signal) it's usually around 3 bars. Data speeds using Speedtest are always low (200-500k d/l) unless I can physically see the tower. On the plus side I've never missed a call even with low signal.
Other than that I really like my Fascinate. Battery life is pretty good for the stock battery, but then I don't use Facebook which I've heard can cause a huge battery drain. I also keep Wifi and GPS off until needed. I know a lot of people don't like Touchwiz but it's honestly my favorite stock launcher. The Program Monitor widget is really helpful in making sure an app that can tie up the CPU isn't left running, which is better for Android than a Task Killer.
I've tried both stock ROMs as well as custom ones and so far my favorite ROMs I've used are Superclean and GeeWiz.
I've rarely had the issue where I've missed a call and not have it show up on my phone and I think I've missed one text message and that was way back on Superclean. However I live in an area where we don't have LTE anywhere near us which some people who have these problems think is related.
I don't regret getting the Fascinate but I'm not certain I'd buy it again; I'd rather go for a Charge since it's LTE and has a similar interface; however I'd wait until it drops some more in price. But then you probably won't find a better phone for $40 than the Fascinate.
Hope you find this useful.
scarfman4 said:
My only complaint of the Fascinate is the antennas are a joke, especially the data reception. I live 1/2 mile away from the nearest tower and yet when my data connection is active (showing up & down arrows) I usually only get 1 bar on average, but when it switches to dormant (a "D" below the 3G which means the bars are the voice signal) it's usually around 3 bars. Data speeds using Speedtest are always low (200-500k d/l) unless I can physically see the tower. On the plus side I've never missed a call even with low signal.
Other than that I really like my Fascinate. Battery life is pretty good for the stock battery, but then I don't use Facebook which I've heard can cause a huge battery drain. I also keep Wifi and GPS off until needed. I know a lot of people don't like Touchwiz but it's honestly my favorite stock launcher. The Program Monitor widget is really helpful in making sure an app that can tie up the CPU isn't left running, which is better for Android than a Task Killer.
I've tried both stock ROMs as well as custom ones and so far my favorite ROMs I've used are Superclean and GeeWiz.
I've rarely had the issue where I've missed a call and not have it show up on my phone and I think I've missed one text message and that was way back on Superclean. However I live in an area where we don't have LTE anywhere near us which some people who have these problems think is related.
I don't regret getting the Fascinate but I'm not certain I'd buy it again; I'd rather go for a Charge since it's LTE and has a similar interface; however I'd wait until it drops some more in price. But then you probably won't find a better phone for $40 than the Fascinate.
Hope you find this useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow I get 6mbps down, 3up... with 3 bars.
Are you serious? I thought I had it good when I get 1mbps down with four bars close to the tower. I am on USCC but still I've never seen a verizon user with 3g that fast.
MrManiacNF said:
wow I get 6mbps down, 3up... with 3 bars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't think that was possible on a 3G connection. The most that it should get is something like 2.4mbps and I've never seen those speeds on any phone or aircard over 3G. Are you sure those speeds aren't over Wifi?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I would definitely recommend it.
Especially if they didn't want to dish out the additional cash for one of the newer models. I love my Fascinate!
scarfman4 said:
I didn't think that was possible on a 3G connection. The most that it should get is something like 2.4mbps and I've never seen those speeds on any phone or aircard over 3G. Are you sure those speeds aren't over Wifi?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the telus fascinate is 3g+, meaning it supports 4g. Those are his 4g speeds and I think he is trying to rub it in a bit...that focker lol.
Oh and yes I would definately get a fascinate again, especially for free like I got mine!
I would definitely recommend one. Got mine last year on black friday for free at best buy. if you shop around you should be able to find a new one for free on contract, rather than a certified one for $40.
Also, as another poster mentioned the antennas are terrible, especially the 3g. But enough places have wifi to keep that from being much of an issue.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Thanks all for your replies.
I am looking strongly at this device, and now vzw is offering $100 to upgrade from a 'basic' phone so that sweetens the deal.
The weak antenna would kill me, but my company pays for my bandwidth. For hers, maybe I'll look at it like built-in bandwidth throttling to keep her under the 2gb a month :0)
I like to tinker, so I'll help her get it all set up with a good rom.
one thing you can try is to remove the stock battery cover and get a different case such as the otterbox or bodyglove. On my fascinate when I removed the cover, signal went from -96db to -83-86 range, wich is a huge improvement. the problem is this don't work for every fassy, but it did on mine.
My daughter is now a proud owner of a used Fascinate. I figured for $120 w/o a contract we don't have much to lose/we can always resell and get most of it back.
Now to explore the various roms you've cooked up over here. It will be nice to have some choices (my dx2 has really only one active rom developer atm - I believe he was quite active here at one time - nitro.)
nitwit said:
My daughter is now a proud owner of a used Fascinate. I figured for $120 w/o a contract we don't have much to lose/we can always resell and get most of it back.
Now to explore the various roms you've cooked up over here. It will be nice to have some choices (my dx2 has really only one active rom developer atm - I believe he was quite active here at one time - nitro.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear it..hopefully she'll like it!! Imo at this point the most fully functional, least glitchy rom still to date is com rom 2.0 w/2.1 patch..it's smooth, pretty snappy, very customizable, and everything works...but either way here's a link for one stop rom, kernel, and recovery shopping!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1013312
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Im using the PWGB 2.0 beta 3 eh09 with ec09 radio, ive tried them all and this one is king!
here it is http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1242747
I just picked my fascinate up a few weeks ago from amazon. My eris screen became unresponsive in a highly used area. I rooted and flashed the latest geewiz rom and couldn't be happier. I'm confident you will be too.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

[Q] Looking for a little advice

So! My mother is on the lookout for a new phone, and this guy is cheap on Verizons site. Her phone that she has now, the LG Revolution, has constant freezing issues that irritate her beyond all belief, and because I know Android she dumps them all on me. I'm looking for some questions answered about this phone before I decide if this is the phone for her:
I have read on the Engadget Review that this phone freezes often. After custom ROMs are installed (I'm thinking MIUI), is this problem alleviated?
The LG Revolution has this weird issue where it's way too easy to scroll on it, which makes opening icons on any homescreen app drawer a huge PITA.
I basically need to be able to install ROM, drop it in her hands, and feel comfortable that she's not going to run into any hardware issues with the phone. This includes freezing because of memory issues.
Also, the drop of 4G isn't an issue, it's not in the area anyways.
Thanks guys for your comments and advice ahead of time.
This device pretty much poops on the revolution. That being said my device never froze when it was stock. We have alot of rom options from mtd based roms such as android 4.0 ICS v4, CM7.1 stable, Miui, Tsm pool party...also there are some really good TouchWiz Ginberbread roms such as, Superclean v.5, PWGB, Geewiz etc... I currently am bouncing between cm7 and ICS, but I cant say those are the best roms, they all are pretty good. You will just have to try them and see what your mother likes best.
No freezing problems here, although it does bug out on me with random pressings of the back key. Sometimes the phone will enter screen capture mode and take a screen shot every time I try to power it down. Removing the screencapture apk solves this.
Overall it has been a good phone and has served me well. Gotta love that Samsung display!
I havent had this device for that long, but I love it compared to by old Droid X, mostly due to nicer screen, better battery life, and easier hack-ability.
That being said, I personally am curious on what has been done, if anything, to the LG.
Has it been rooted?
Are you running aftermarket software?
Some freezing issues can be solved by changing ram parameters, others by getting rid of certain bad apps.
I personally would like to see if your problems are actually solvable before getting a new and unfamiliar device, just for S&G's of course
It is rooted, and even after messing with the ram settings tweaked it still freezes. The other problem is that it dies way quickly, even with JuiceDefender and a calibrated battery. She's only had it for a week, so she's not yet settled on that one's ways.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
Sebas310 said:
It is rooted, and even after messing with the ram settings tweaked it still freezes. The other problem is that it dies way quickly, even with JuiceDefender and a calibrated battery. She's only had it for a week, so she's not yet settled on that one's ways.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had this phone for almost two years now and I've never had it freeze up on me. Install the SuperClean3 ROM. Solid ROM for that phone. I currently have ICS but for your mother's phone use SC3.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1350621
~This is going to take crackerjack timing, Wang.~
Sebas310 said:
It is rooted, and even after messing with the ram settings tweaked it still freezes. The other problem is that it dies way quickly, even with JuiceDefender and a calibrated battery. She's only had it for a week, so she's not yet settled on that one's ways.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird...
Does this happen on multiple ROMs, or just on stock?
pma7779 said:
I've had this phone for almost two years now and I've never had it freeze up on me. Install the SuperClean3 ROM. Solid ROM for that phone. I currently have ICS but for your mother's phone use SC3.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1350621
~This is going to take crackerjack timing, Wang.~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hes talking about his mom's LG, not a Fascinate...
Tone_Capone said:
Hes talking about his mom's LG, not a Fascinate...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes he is. Now I know.
~This is going to take crackerjack timing, Wang.~
I'm also a fan of SuperClean. Great rom, with none of the AOSP issues that I find to be annoying enough to avoid. If you want to tweak it a bit, add KGB kernel and maybe a different launcher (I like OMFGB-Launcher) and Rom Toolbox will handle just about everything else. This is my setup, no major tweaks (lag fix, etc) other than zram and 1.2 gHz overclock. Fast and stable.

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