First day review of my Fascinate

I have to say, I was worried reading all the negative press about the Fascinate. But after I got it today, I was relieved.

The Good
The SCREEN! It is so vibrant! (pardon the slight pun) It really is fantastic, the colors may be oversaturated, but it makes everything look absolutely astonishing.
The speed: I heard about the Galaxy S phones being laggy, and that was a concern of mine. I like concise, fluid interfaces. And the Fascinate blazes. I have Launcherpro installed, because Touchwiz did really seem a little slow. But LP makes this phone FLY! And I'm not rooted yet, or lagfix'd, or 2.2. So I can't imagine how ridiculous this will be soon. Apps open instantly, screen scrolling is fluid, and pretty much everything else flows nicely. I love it.
The camera: Even though it is 5MP, it takes great pictures. Good color, great clarity, a lot of fun frames to play with, and relatively quick shutter speed. Oh, and tap to focus. So nice.

The Not-So-Good
GPS: Yup. I read about it, I was afraid of it, and it's here. I know some Fascinate owners report great GPS, but mine is not one of them. Sure, it locked on pretty fast.. but it was "within 1400 meters" for accuracy. It had me pinned 3 blocks down the road, and 2 blocks horizontally from that. This kinda pisses me off, but I know there is a supposed fix coming. Not a dealbreaker for me.
Touchwiz: If you like iPhone, maybe you'll like touchwiz. I do like the notification bar, it displays toggles for Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, and Airplane. Otherwise, LP all the way.
Sleep Button: This is where I think, WTF Samsung? Really? The sleep button is on the upper righthand side, right on the opposite of the volume rocker. Try hitting the sleep button with one hand, I guarantee you'll mess up your volume. And it's very flush, so it's harder to press. D'oh!
Bing: Bleh. We all know this already. LP lets you use Google Voice Search and the Google searchbar, but the search button will still drag you to... dundundunnnn Bing. I found the Google Voice Search more accurate than Bing search, and you don't need to press the "End" button like Bing.

Otherwise, this phone is awesome! I really love it. It's speedy, responsive, and an all around great device. Most of the negatives can be dealt with by updates, although Samsung really should have thought out their button placement better! This is my first android phone, so pardon anything that I didn't explain quite right. Just a little heads-up for anyone considering the Fascinate, DO IT! You won't be sorry. I am in LOVE! Let me know if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

 

Well, I just rooted my Fascinate and there is a really easy way to remove Bing if you choose to. Then, the search button returns to Google and the Launcherpro widget for google works. I'll include the link:

Compilation: Root and remove bing - Android Forums

They also have instructions for the lagfix, which I see no need for as there are no real improvements in daily use, just quadrant scores. This, as I said, is my first android phone, and this post below made it VERY easy to root:

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/sa...t/79811-newbie-guide-rooting-fascinate-2.html

Compliments to Mrdroid for making it easy for a dummy like me! But in all seriousness, this phone is phenomenal. You won't be sorry. I can't wait to test ROMs once they roll out!

And if you do choose to root; Barnacle Legacy seems to be the best working free wifi tether, the new one did not work, but Legacy is flawless.

 

I hope mine isn't defective, and the supposed GPS fix comes soon. I've rebooted, tried all kinds of combos with the 3 GPS "sources", and still I get a crappy reading. When I just used the actual standalone GPS, it couldn't even get a signal, outside! Eh, a gripe is a gripe. I have a Garmin, so no biggie.