Droid or wait?

[Sho'Nuff]

Cliffs are at the bottom for those of you who don't like words.

Hi all. This is my first time posting in this particular subforum, so bear with me. I know quite a bit about computer hardware, but have largely ignored phone hardware until recently.

My brief story is this. I am one of the unfortunate souls who owns a palm pre plus. I got it a while back because of the WiFi hotspot feature, which I used to death at our campsite in western maine (which gets great verizon service). Problem is, the sucker is always dead (i.e., out of battery power). And if its not dead, it has crashed for some unknown reason. This, and the utter lack of application support has me desperately wanting a new phone. (Before you ask, yes, I did change the battery).

That said, I have almost pulled the trigger on the droidX/Samsung fascinate (yes, I know they are two different phones) three times in the last three days. Each time, my concience barely pulls me back from the brink, whispering, "wait for the 4g devices."

Now, mind you, 4G is not coming to Portsmouth NH anytime soon (rollout scheduled for middle/end of next year), but I the capability would be nice (especially if I can get 4G service at our campsite).

So, I ask, should I pull the trigger on a droid now? Or should I wait for 4G? FWIW, my phone is crashing 4-5 times a day now. So I will need at least a cheap replacement to get me through until 4g devices arrive.

What do the tea leaves say?

CLIFFS:
-OP's palm pre crashes and generally sucks balls
-OP wants a new phone bad, but concience says to wait for 4G.
-OP still really wants doid/win7 phone now, but wants to avoid buyers remorse.

 

[Bateluer]

CLIFFS:
-OP's palm pre crashes and generally sucks balls
-OP wants a new phone bad, but concience says to wait for 4G.
-OP still really wants doid/win7 phone now, but wants to avoid buyers remorse.

Honestly? When Verizon launches its 4G services, rollout won't be quick. I'd sure you could probably buy either device, the Droid X and Fascinate, and not really have buyer's remorse. I'm not a fan of either device, I don't like the locked bootloader and Blur on the X or the Bing infection on the Fascinate.

Supposedly, there's going to be some high end devices launching between Thanksgiving and Christmas that will offer more hardware then current devices, but if LTE is your major motivation, then I wouldn't worry about it. 4G won't be really needed until the end of 2011, IMO, as there won't be enough coverage to justify it.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i would wait for better hardware. once 4g is out in the next few months they will need much faster chips than 1ghz, and that will be a great thing, even if you dont get 4g in your area right away

 

[Dulanic]

Honestly you can always wait for something better because there will ALWAYS be something better coming around the corner. If you hate your phone, swap. I mean I swapped to sprint due to 4G there and got myself a Epic 4G, but honestly I rarely use the 4G portion of it. By the time 4G gets rolled out to NH you will probably be eligible for another upgrade anyways

I had a touch pro and hated it, I am glad I did not wait to upgrade and am very happy with my decision.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Now, mind you, 4G is not coming to Portsmouth NH anytime soon (rollout scheduled for middle/end of next year), but I the capability would be nice (especially if I can get 4G service at our campsite).

4G isn't that big of an upgrade over 3G. Don't get me wrong, it's faster, but if I'm getting 1.5Mb on 3G and then I hit 10.5Gb on WiFi I don't notice a huge difference(nothing like going from Edge to 3G which is *very* noticeable).

That isn't to say I wouldn't wait, I just wouldn't be waiting for 4G. Lots of other more compelling reasons to hold out a few more months IMO(overall much better phones coming shortly, although I suppose this is something you can always say in this market).

 

[s44]

4G = data capped service

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Update: I decided to pull the trigger today and went with the fascinate. Can't wait until it arrives. I ordered through the Verizon website to avoid the BS $20 early upgrade fee.

Had a devil of a time deciding between the DroidX and the fascinate. Ultimately (and this is sad), it came does to the fascinates use of capacitive buttons. I HATED the DroidX's face buttons. Maybe it's my fat fingers, but I couldn't ever seem to get the demo model to respond the first time I pused the X's buttons. I always had to push them twice, or three times, for a reaction.

 

[gsaldivar]

"Unlimited" 3G > Metered 4G

Also, stay away from Samsung's Android phones, unless you want to be locked into Bing search and mediocre GPS performance...

 

[Stang289]

Cliffs are at the bottom for those of you who don't like words.

Hi all. This is my first time posting in this particular subforum, so bear with me. I know quite a bit about computer hardware, but have largely ignored phone hardware until recently.

My brief story is this. I am one of the unfortunate souls who owns a palm pre plus. I got it a while back because of the WiFi hotspot feature, which I used to death at our campsite in western maine (which gets great verizon service). Problem is, the sucker is always dead (i.e., out of battery power). And if its not dead, it has crashed for some unknown reason. This, and the utter lack of application support has me desperately wanting a new phone. (Before you ask, yes, I did change the battery).

That said, I have almost pulled the trigger on the droidX/Samsung fascinate (yes, I know they are two different phones) three times in the last three days. Each time, my concience barely pulls me back from the brink, whispering, "wait for the 4g devices."

Now, mind you, 4G is not coming to Portsmouth NH anytime soon (rollout scheduled for middle/end of next year), but I the capability would be nice (especially if I can get 4G service at our campsite).

So, I ask, should I pull the trigger on a droid now? Or should I wait for 4G? FWIW, my phone is crashing 4-5 times a day now. So I will need at least a cheap replacement to get me through until 4g devices arrive.

What do the tea leaves say?

CLIFFS:
-OP's palm pre crashes and generally sucks balls
-OP wants a new phone bad, but concience says to wait for 4G.
-OP still really wants doid/win7 phone now, but wants to avoid buyers remorse.

WiFi hotspot should be used with the pre plugged into a power source. I have never had crash issues with my pre plus, and the battery life is similar to my iPhone 3g that I had previously. You may have received a bad phone. If you haven't already, you could check out the precentral forums to research any issues you are having, and tweak your phone for better performance.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

4G isn't that big of an upgrade over 3G. Don't get me wrong, it's faster, but if I'm getting 1.5Mb on 3G and then I hit 10.5Gb on WiFi I don't notice a huge difference(nothing like going from Edge to 3G which is *very* noticeable).

That isn't to say I wouldn't wait, I just wouldn't be waiting for 4G. Lots of other more compelling reasons to hold out a few more months IMO(overall much better phones coming shortly, although I suppose this is something you can always say in this market).

I notice a huge difference. Especially when it comes to HQ videos on youtube and loading anything online. Its night and day with my Epic 4G.

I get ~6-8mbs down on 4g compared to 1mbs down on 3G depending on area.

 

[swanysto]

"Unlimited" 3G > Metered 4G

Also, stay away from Samsung's Android phones, unless you want to be locked into Bing search and mediocre GPS performance...

I have a Samsung droid phone and it is all google, haven't seen bing once..... Maybe you meant the Samsung Windows Mobile phone?

I will admit the GPS is not too spectacular, but I don't use my phone for that anyway.

 

[gsaldivar]

I have a Samsung droid phone and it is all google, haven't seen bing once..... Maybe you meant the Samsung Windows Mobile phone?

Nope.

Samsung Fascinate (VZW) is "locked" to Bing search. Until only recently it was impossible to download or install Google Search app from the market. Verizon now permits this app to be installed, but the long-press search button is still "locked" to Bing, and it is currently not possible for the user to change that.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/205138/samsung_fascinate_why_verizon_why.html

Epic carrier fail.

 

[richierich1212]

can't you just install a different rom any ways?

 

[gsaldivar]

can't you just install a different rom any ways?

Perhaps, but the bottom line is that 99% of Samsung Fascinate owners aren't going to do that...

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Nope.

Samsung Fascinate (VZW) is "locked" to Bing search. Until only recently it was impossible to download or install Google Search app from the market. Verizon now permits this app to be installed, but the long-press search button is still "locked" to Bing, and it is currently not possible for the user to change that.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/205138/samsung_fascinate_why_verizon_why.html

Epic carrier fail.

Personally, I don't care too much about being locked into bing on the long press search. I know that goes against the whole android flexibility motif, but since I don't mind bing, I don't care.

But FWIW, Ib read somewhere that once Android 2.2 is pushed onto the fascinate (supposed to happen any day now), the bing lock should be removed.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

WiFi hotspot should be used with the pre plugged into a power source. I have never had crash issues with my pre plus, and the battery life is similar to my iPhone 3g that I had previously. You may have received a bad phone. If you haven't already, you could check out the precentral forums to research any issues you are having, and tweak your phone for better performance.

My pre was and is crashing at random intervals, including during phone calls. I took it to the Verizon store, and a tech "reset" it (wiped the memory, reinstalled WebOS, etc.). 2 hours later it crashed again. To me, that proves that it is a hardware issue (though perhaps limited to my specific phone). When I took it back to verizon, the tech gave me some run around about how they couldn;t service the phone, and that I would have to contact palm directly for support. Whether that's true or not I don't know. But it was enough for me to say screw it and upgrade to the fascinate.

In all honesty though, 1 month after I got the pre plus I wished I could return it. WebOS is slick, but I hated the fact that there were so few apps that were actuially interesting/useful to me that were available for the phone. And the fact that the pre STILL doesn't have any flash support is ridiculous. It would be one thing if the phone supported another format well (ala the iphone), but the pre (or at least my pre) just doesn't do video well.

All that said, if you like the pre plus, GREAT! To each his own.