Fascinate

Dec

Editorial: Samsung To "Review" Possibility Of Galaxy S, Tab Ice Cream Sandwich Upgrades, But Why?

Posted by David Ruddock in Captivate, Editorials, Fascinate, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

After initially deciding it wouldn't update Galaxy S phones to Ice Cream Sandwich last week, Samsung has now (supposedly) given some semi-official lip-service to vocal Galaxy S and OG-Tab owners who have been clamoring for an official update to Ice Cream Sandwich. The English-speaking side of Samsung's media arm hasn't commented on the alleged statement as of yet.

According to a translation of the Korean source articles, Samsung has officially committed to "reviewing" the "possibility" of an Ice Cream Sandwich update for its Galaxy S phones, as well as the original Galaxy Tab. If that's not a concrete statement ...

Dec

[Update: Rolling Out Now] Gingerbread Update Finally Ready For The Samsung Fascinate (Build EH03)

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Fascinate, News, Verizon Wireless

Update: We just confirmed that the update is rolling out now. Hit Settings > About phone > Software update to see if it's available on your device!

Fascinate owners, you've been waiting for a long, long time for the update to Android 2.3, and it's finally here. The Gingerbread update is ready to go according to Verizon's support documents, and it could begin rolling out in full force as early as today.

The update brings the expected enhancements and bug fixes:

We're starting to hear reports that this update could be on its way out now, but will update when ...

Jul

[Update: Nightlies Are A Go!] Samsung Fascinate Officially Joins CyanogenMod

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Fascinate, Mods, News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless

Verizon Samsung Fascinate has finally joined the official ranks of the ever-growing CyanogenMod custom ROM empire, following its brothers Captivate, Vibrant, Nexus S 4G, the original Galaxy S, and Nexus S.

Update 7/28/11: After some delays, nightly builds are finally up! Proceed here to download.

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting
Top Android Apps Every Rooted User Should Know About: Part 1 (Apps 1-8), Part 2 (Apps 9-16), Part 3 (Apps

...

Jul

[Updated x3] Netflix Adds Support For 16 New Devices, Including The Thunderbolt, EVO 3D, Droid 2, 3, X2, Charge, Atrix 4G, Bionic (!), And... One Honeycomb Tablet

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Atrix 4G (Olympus), Droid (Sholes), Droid 2, Droid 3, Droid Bionic, Droid Charge / i510, Droid Incredible, Droid X (Shadow), Droid X2, Epic 4G, EVO 3D (Shooter), EVO 4G (Supersonic), Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, G'zOne Commando, G2 (Vision), Galaxy S, Galaxy S 4G, Gingerbread 2.3, Incredible 2 (Vivow), myTouch 4G Slide (Doubleshot), News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Revolution, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

Netflix this evening appears to have quietly unleashed the Android app on 16 more previously unsupported devices, all without updating the application at all.

The whole situation threw us off quite a bit, as the Netflix app description now lists both the new devices and a reference to a new version 1.3, while the app itself is still stuck at 1.2.2.

Nevertheless, after trying to find it in the Market using devices that were previously unsupported (HTC EVO 3D and Thunderbolt), to our pleasant surprise, we succeeded. So... it seems that Netflix indeed simply updated the list in the Market ...

Jun

Official Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) Build Leaked For Samsung Fascinate, Now Available For Download And Install

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Fascinate, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Verizon Wireless

P3Droid of MyDroidWorld has scored an early (debug) Gingerbread build for the Samsung Fascinate, and it's apparently quite polished. So far P3 and Justin (of AndIRC) are the only two to have laid hands on the build, but the issues they have found are that Tetris force closes, Google Maps isn't pre-installed, and some market apps don't show. Otherwise, they say it's a very solid build. P3 has provided a quick (37 second) video preview:

Justin was also kind enough to snap a few quick photos:

Ready to take the dive? Hit up the source for ...

Jun

Verizon Is Sending Maintenance Update ED04 To The Samsung Fascinate

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Fascinate, News, Verizon Wireless

Owners of the Samsung Fascinate on Verizon should be getting prompted to install an OTA update pretty soon - but it's just a maintenance update with a couple of bug fixes. When I say a couple, I mean it in the most literal of ways - it fixes two things. The two things in question? It improves the delivery of over-the-air updates and incoming call connectivity. That's it. I do find it ironic that they're sending out an OTA update to improve OTA updates, though.

You should be able to pull this update now, if you haven't gotten it already. ...

May

CyanogenMod Gets First Official Galaxy S Release - Captivate Nightlies, Now Serving Gingerbread 2.3.4 (GRJ22) On Aisle You

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in AT&T, Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, Mods, News, Samsung

Galaxy S owners, you may have a reason for some early celebration. CyanogenMod 7 for the GS variants, which has been around in relatively unsupported early alpha stages for the last couple of months, has just gone quite a bit more formal with the introduction of the new "captivatemtd" device branch.

What does it mean? Captivate is the first device of the Galaxy S bunch to move to the official CM download area in the form of nightlies. Once the nightlies, which, as the word implies are rebuilt nightly, are stable enough to warrant a daily driver, you can expect ...

Apr

[Deal Alert] Samsung Fascinate and HTC Inspire 4G Free At Best Buy Mobile This Weekend [UPDATED]

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, Fascinate, Inspire 4G (Ace, Stallion), News, Verizon Wireless

Update: It looks like we jumped the gun on this one. The Inspire 4G will not be offered for free, it will be the Samsung Captivate.

It's no secret that we all love Android. But what do we love more than Android? Free Android phones, of course! Best Buy Mobile wants to feed our addiction with the newest episode of Free Phone Fridays (and in this case, Saturday, too). If you mosey on into BBM this weekend you can pick up the Samsung Fascinate on Verizon or the ~~HTC Inspire 4G~~ Samsung Captivate on AT&T free of charge (with a ...

Apr

[Updated: Download Link And Instructions] Just In: Samsung Fascinate ED01 Froyo Update Starts Early, Rolling Out Now

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless

What an incredible day for Samsung Fascinate users on Verizon Wireless - earlier this morning, we reported that the coveted Froyo update was finally set to arrive tomorrow, April 21st. Looks like someone at Verizon pulled the trigger a little earlier, as we are seeing multiple reports of the update rolling out as we ~~speak~~ write.

Want some proof? Have a look at the screenshot (that can easily take the top prize in the ugliest Android screen ever contest) our own Justin Case just pulled from his Fascinate:

So, grab your Fascinates and start mashing the Check for Updates button ...

Apr

The Wait Is Finally Over For Samsung Fascinate Owners: Froyo Update Is Ready

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, News, Verizon Wireless

All that time Fascinate owners spent waiting for Froyo has not been in vain - your day is finally coming. Officially announced by VZW via Twitter, all the frozen goodness that you can handle should start rolling your way first thing tomorrow. Assuming that it's handled the same way that past VZW updates have been, this update should drop in stages, so be sure to leave us a comment when you get yours.