Samsung Fascinate

The saga is now complete, as Samsung’s fourth Galaxy S phone has been released to the US market; the Fascinate i500 for Verizon Wireless. The Fascinate follows in the footsteps of the Captivate (AT&T), Vibrant (T-Mobile), and Epic 4G (Sprint), as all share an impressive 4” Super AMOLED display, 1GHz Hummingbird processor, and Android 2.1 OS with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. But with lofty competition within Verizon’s own smartphone line-up, most notably from the Motorola DROID X, DROID 2, and HTC Droid Incredible, does the Samsung Fascinate have what it takes to stand out from the crowd? Let’s see if it is truly fascinating, or just “another Android smartphone”.

Size and Weight :

The design of the Samsung Fascinate closely resembles that of the Samsung Vibrant, and almost has an iPhone-esque style to it, with the all-black plastic construction and chrome accent encompassing the sides. It feels well made overall, almost like it’s one solid slab, though the back is slippery and occasionally it felt like it would slip out of our hand while using it; unlike the soft-touch coating used on the back of the Motorola DROID X (among others) that provides a good grip. Due to its slim size and rounded corners, the Fascinate sits comfortably in the palm of your hand, and at only 0.39” thick, it can be tucked away in the thinnest of pockets without the extra bulge that’s atop of the DROID X.

Network and connectivity:

The Fascinate comes with Wi-Fi connectivity, which is becoming standard on smartphones these days, with support for 802.11 b/g/n. The phone is also capable of becoming a 3G mobile hotspot so that its cellular data connection can be shared with up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices, but you’ll need a corresponding subscription plan to utilize it.

Camera and Video:

The camera on the Fascinate seemed just about identical to its brethren the Captivate and Vibrant, save for the fact that it's actually got a flash. We're not sure why Samsung chose to leave the GSM models flashless, but we're happy to see the LED here. In terms of photo quality, we thought that the Fascinate performed admirably in most settings, though like our previous experiences with the other Galaxy S phones, photos the devices produce have a certain quality of, well... phone pictures. Still, the whole line is capable of pretty handsome shots in the right setting, and on the Fascinate, night shots and low light settings were obviously easier to work with now that we have some artificial help. On the video front, we were particularly impressed with the 720p video quality of the device. Even indoors, the camera produced smooth, stable images that looked good when we blew them up on our TV. We don't think anyone should consider the fascinate for the next Citizen Kane, but for family outings (or just general partying with friends), the phone stands in nicely for a dedicated video camera.

Memory and Display:

It includes 2 GB of internal storage and is bundled with a 16 GB microSD memory card. Users will have the option of purchasing higher capacity cards, up to 32 GB. Your world just got brighter and you don't even need shades. Experience HD-quality video recording that's clearly detailed, extraordinarily vivid and astonishingly colorful on the brilliant 4-inch Super AMOLED screen. Movies, games and websites all come to life even in broad daylight thanks to an anti-reflective screen. One of the thinnest, most responsive smartphones in the world, it also uses less power and has a longer battery life.

Entertainment Features:

Multimedia consumption, meanwhile, includes support for DivX and Xvid video content, rather than simply Android’s standard provisioning for MPEG4, H.264 and AVI. Coupled with the amazing Super AMOLED display.