Since Samsung doesn't care about my Mac syncing with the Fascinate

[Townie33]

I was tired of talking with Verizon's "tier two" tech support on the phone. I was tired of hearing there is "nothing we can do from our end" from Samsung. I GREATLY APPRECIATE the workaround I found in these forums. BUT, it is still a major pain in my technical backside. And of course I had to reset my phone!

Anyway, I fianlly go into my local Verizon store and explain my dilema. I get the "you need to install the Samsung drivers to your Mac" story. After a brief exchange Mr. Verizon checks out a couple of things on his Verizon-type computer and realizes there is nothing he/Verizon/Samsung can do for me or my phone. I was PROMISED that this phone would work with my MAC. But it won't.

He puts me on the phone in the store with a "higher up" who offers me an iPhone since it is comparable and his sincerest apologies. This tech is a MAC user and understands my frustrations. He, of course, must clear this with his supervisor.

I have had my phone since the first of the year. I have enjoyed it. I am not that tech savvy. The most exciting thing I have done with it is used Launcher Pro to change it just a touch. I think I have one game app, twitter, one IM app. I like the Dolphin browser app. I really like MixZing for music, but then again downloading music is such a pain.

I have been so frustrated by the inability to not easilty access photos, music, videos, etc.

Thoughts.

 

[Avalanch3]

Hey if the iPhone is more suitable for your needs, go for it.

 

[Gevis]

If you want to keep android, try out the Droid x. If it doesn't matter to you, I would go with the iPhone. Sucks that you have to make the choice, but if if you're fed up, I would definitely fix the issue by getting a new phone. You shouldn't have to struggle to be happy with the device you paid for.

 

[d1c1ple]

yea same boat. can't get the device to mount on MAC or my WIN7 VM in Fusion. Worked fine until EA28 update. Frustrating!!

 

[Townie33]

If you want to keep android, try out the Droid x. If it doesn't matter to you, I would go with the iPhone. Sucks that you have to make the choice, but if if you're fed up, I would definitely fix the issue by getting a new phone. You shouldn't have to struggle to be happy with the device you paid for.

The part that really gets me is Samsung really isn't too concerned that their product is defective on this front. The Samsung tech basically told me there is nothing Samsung would be doing about this particular problem in the near future. (nice to know)

I have enjoyed the phone, BUT this has been a major drawback. AND I felt I was grossly misinformed.

 

[cvallarino]

I was tired of talking with Verizon's "tier two" tech support on the phone. I was tired of hearing there is "nothing we can do from our end" from Samsung. I GREATLY APPRECIATE the workaround I found in these forums. BUT, it is still a major pain in my technical backside. And of course I had to reset my phone!

Anyway, I fianlly go into my local Verizon store and explain my dilema. I get the "you need to install the Samsung drivers to your Mac" story. After a brief exchange Mr. Verizon checks out a couple of things on his Verizon-type computer and realizes there is nothing he/Verizon/Samsung can do for me or my phone. I was PROMISED that this phone would work with my MAC. But it won't.

He puts me on the phone in the store with a "higher up" who offers me an iPhone since it is comparable and his sincerest apologies. This tech is a MAC user and understands my frustrations. He, of course, must clear this with his supervisor.

I have had my phone since the first of the year. I have enjoyed it. I am not that tech savvy. The most exciting thing I have done with it is used Launcher Pro to change it just a touch. I think I have one game app, twitter, one IM app. I like the Dolphin browser app. I really like MixZing for music, but then again downloading music is such a pain.

I have been so frustrated by the inability to not easilty access photos, music, videos, etc.

Thoughts.

I have the Fascinate, non-rooted, running the last VZW OTA update (I500_CommercialPackage_DL09ToEA28), and I cannot mount the device any longer on my Mac either. However, I am running Parallels v5, and Windows Vista, and I am able to mount and copy/move files back and forth from the the Fascinate to a folder that is shared by both the Parallels VM and Mac. Hope that helps.

 

[Gevis]

The part that really gets me is Samsung really isn't too concerned that their product is defective on this front. The Samsung tech basically told me there is nothing Samsung would be doing about this particular problem in the near future. (nice to know)

I have enjoyed the phone, BUT this has been a major drawback. AND I felt I was grossly misinformed.

I completely agree. I don't know what is up with Samsung but they seem to just not care. There isn't a lot of info about if they're fixing issues or if they're doing anything at all. I mean I love the phone, and I rooted it to put 2.2 on it and debloat and such, but I shouldn't have had to to be up to date.

I'm a fairly patient person, but the fact the Samsung is seemingly having so many issues, really makes it unlikely I will buy one of their phones in the future.

But yeah, if you can't use the phone how you want, there's no real reason to keep it unless the pros still outweigh the cons. And that's up to you.

 

[ggt1_02]

I don't understand being frustrated that your apple product is not compatible with the rest of the technology world. Apple is about 15% of the world wide computer market right now. Now what percent of that 15% own a Samsung Fascinate? I am willing to bet the number is pretty small. Maybe instead of bashing Samsung for not spending it's resources chasing a fix an unfriendly competitor, ask of apple why not make your product easier to use with the other 85%.

 

[Townie33]

I don't understand being frustrated that your apple product is not compatible with the rest of the technology world. Apple is about 15% of the world wide computer market right now. Now what percent of that 15% own a Samsung Fascinate? I am willing to bet the number is pretty small. Maybe instead of bashing Samsung for not spending it's resources chasing a fix an unfriendly competitor, ask of apple why not make your product easier to use with the other 85%.

OUCH to Apple! LOL

I hear what you are saying, I truly do. BUT this phone DID sync when I first got it. But now I get, "Sorry, nothing we can do."

 

[PSkeptic]

The part that really gets me is Samsung really isn't too concerned that their product is defective on this front. The Samsung tech basically told me there is nothing Samsung would be doing about this particular problem in the near future. (nice to know)

I have enjoyed the phone, BUT this has been a major drawback. AND I felt I was grossly misinformed.

It's not really "defective". They just don't have the drivers for your OS (One that has a very tiny slice of market, therefore, for the most part, not cost effective to support). It's the price you paid for going with a non-popular OS.

I mean, I can't get the Fascinate to USB mount on my BeOS box. Should I consider it to be "defective" for this reason?

One solution you can do is to do the EB01 Odin to your phone, and not perform any updates.

 

[Leonard1818]

I think people are missing the point here...

IT WORKED

NOW IT DOES NOT WORK

That's the problem. If it never worked to begin with and the OP was told that at the time of purchase, it would be a different story...

 

[PSkeptic]

I think people are missing the point here...

IT WORKED

NOW IT DOES NOT WORK

That's the problem. If it never worked to begin with and the OP was told that at the time of purchase, it would be a different story...

No, the problem is that an update make it stop working with a minority OS. At the time of purchase IT WAS ABLE TO. Now, it's not.

If it originally worked with BeOS, and an update made it stop, should I fault the device, or my choice in using BeOS? Should Samsung now write a driver for a single person who uses BeOS?

 

[ggt1_02]

Then the question that begs to be asked is, what has changed? What troubleshooting steps have you taken, not including calling a service tech? Have you checked all of the sections in the phones setting that may have been changed accidentally?

 

[Leonard1818]

No, the problem is that an update make it stop working with a minority OS. At the time of purchase IT WAS ABLE TO. Now, it's not.

If it originally worked with BeOS, and an update made it stop, should I fault the device, or my choice in using BeOS? Should Samsung now write a driver for a single person who uses BeOS?

Well, I don't know about phones too much but I do work tech support for Microsoft (for one of the ERP systems) and when we release a service pack that breaks something that worked prior to the service pack, we don't blame the end user for their OS or anything in their environment. We call it a "REGRESSION", put it in as a "REGRESSION BUG" and fix it with a HotFix.

Like I said, I don't work for Samsung, Verizon, or any cell phone companies but my line of work is similar in a lot of regards. I know how these things *should* and *could* be handled by the manufacturer.

 

[PSkeptic]

Well, I don't know about phones too much but I do work tech support for Microsoft (for one of the ERP systems) and when we release a service pack that breaks something that worked prior to the service pack, we don't blame the end user for their OS or anything in their environment. We call it a "REGRESSION", put it in as a "REGRESSION BUG" and fix it with a HotFix.

Like I said, I don't work for Samsung, Verizon, or any cell phone companies but my line of work is similar in a lot of regards. I know how these things *should* and *could* be handled by the manufacturer.

Odd, Microsoft ensuring Microsoft products keep working with Microsoft products...

But of course, this is wholly different. This is ensuring a product works with the most popular OS on the planet. Not trying to ensure it works for a small minority of users.

 

[Speed_419]

Odd, Microsoft ensuring Microsoft products keep working with Microsoft products...

But of course, this is wholly different. This is ensuring a product works with the most popular OS on the planet. Not trying to ensure it works for a small minority of users.

Most popular?.. Really..

 

[nunyazz]

.. really..
Windows XP is still the most popular OS - PS3Crunch

 

[PSkeptic]

Most popular?.. Really..

Yes really.

Unless you'd like to name an OS which is running on more PC's?

 

[Leonard1818]

Odd, Microsoft ensuring Microsoft products keep working with Microsoft products...

But of course, this is wholly different. This is ensuring a product works with the most popular OS on the planet. Not trying to ensure it works for a small minority of users.

What you're still missing is that it WORKED (so they know how to make it work) now it doesn't. It doesn't matter how "popular" the OS is...

For what it's worth, a lot of REGRESSIONS that we have are our product working in conjunction with NON MICROSOFT products such as Adobe. In version 1.0, we may be able to export reports to adobe. They may release a service pack (1.0 service pack 1) that breaks this functionality. They don't just walk away and say "welp, you can export to Excel, word (which is pretty pouplar), and everything else just fine, looks like you're just gonna have to live with it and NOT use Adobe" Heck, the workaround is to export to word and save that as a .pdf... So does that mean it doesn't warrant a fix?

No... they consider this a REGRESSION (A function that used to work and due to a modification made by the manufacturer, it no longer works) and they figure out how to fix it.

I'm no Microsoft fanboy by any means -- but I do respect them in this regard.

That's no way to do business. You don't say "well, we'll lure you in by supporting our device on your "non-popular" operating system, knowing full well that you're likely on a 2-year contract and can't switch out your device, then we'll update the device and make it so it doesn't work on your OS. Then we'll just claim that you're OS is not popular and therefore we don't need to make it work."

I'm not saying that's what Samsung is doing, but that's the stance you're taking.

You're probably one of the people who's going to be first in line to complain when Verizon nix's unlimited data usage and goes to a tier-style data plan. Sucks when you start off with something and then the manufacturer changes things on you...

 

[nitsuj17]

the fact is that the phone should sync/work with apple/linux/windows...thats on samsung...personal opinions/comments on OS aside

 

[PSkeptic]

What you're still missing is that it WORKED (so they know how to make it work) now it doesn't. It doesn't matter how "popular" the OS is...

So, if something happened to work on my BeOS machine until an update, Samsung should be strong-armed into fixing it?

For what it's worth, a lot of REGRESSIONS that we have are our product working in conjunction with NON MICROSOFT products such as Adobe. In version 1.0, we may be able to export reports to adobe. They may release a service pack (1.0 service pack 1) that breaks this functionality. They don't just walk away and say "welp, you can export to Excel, word (which is pretty pouplar), and everything else just fine, looks like you're just gonna have to live with it and NOT use Adobe" Heck, the workaround is to export to word and save that as a .pdf... So does that mean it doesn't warrant a fix?

Ok, now consider that PDF's are standard document exchange format, which is in use on EVERY platform out there. Now, compare that to compatibility to a platform only in use on 15% of the entire computing base, and maybe 3% of it's users.

The comparison here is much different than being able to export to a PDF (Which is a specified function). OS Compatibility is never a mandate. It's like getting mad at a wifi card manufacturer for not supporting my Ubuntu installs.

No... they consider this a REGRESSION (A function that used to work and due to a modification made by the manufacturer, it no longer works) and they figure out how to fix it.

This isn't a function, it's a compatibility issue. No manufacturer can be expected to ensure compatibility with every platform out there. It's impossible.

I'm no Microsoft fanboy by any means -- but I do respect them in this regard.

Of course. If I buy something that says it does PDF exporting, and suddenly, that feature is removed, then yes: They'd fix it.

However this is not a programmatic function. This is basic OS compatibility.

That's no way to do business. You don't say "well, we'll lure you in by supporting our device on your "non-popular" operating system, knowing full well that you're likely on a 2-year contract and can't switch out your device, then we'll update the device and make it so it doesn't work on your OS. Then we'll just claim that you're OS is not popular and therefore we don't need to make it work."

I'm not seeing anywhere on this page where OS compatibility is mentioned: Features and Specifications - Samsung Fascinate? Android Smartphone | Samsung Mobile

If something happens to work on a fringe OS, and breaks after an update, you don't blame that on the manufacturer. You blame that on your decision to use a fringe OS.

I'm not saying that's what Samsung is doing, but that's the stance you're taking.

No, it's not my stance. My stance is that since Mac OS users are such a small minority of Samsung Fascinate users, it's makes no fiscal sense to support that OS. It would be akin to them supporting BeOS.

You're probably one of the people who's going to be first in line to complain when Verizon nix's unlimited data usage and goes to a tier-style data plan. Sucks when you start off with something and then the manufacturer changes things on you...

No, I'm not going to complain. As long as I stay with my contract, I have unlimited data. When I enter into a new contract, they can change the terms if they like, because I have the option to find another carrier.

If they change it mid-contract, then I'm released from my contract.

So, this person always has the option to buy a PC, and load either Windows or Linux. Or, keep his/her current PC, and just load a copy of Windows or Linux.

 

[PSkeptic]

the fact is that the phone should sync/work with apple/linux/windows...thats on samsung...personal opinions/comments on OS aside

And I have to say again: Where on this page does it specify Mac OS as being compatible?

Features and Specifications - Samsung Fascinate? Android Smartphone | Samsung Mobile

It's a phone. In fact, the great thing about Android phones is that one does not need a PC to use it. Syncing is always a "side benefit" to these phones.

---EDIT---
I just looked at the User Manual. It specifically mentions that Mac OS and Linux are not supported.

 

[nitsuj17]

And I have to say again: Where on this page does it specify Mac OS as being compatible?

Features and Specifications - Samsung Fascinate? Android Smartphone | Samsung Mobile

It's a phone. In fact, the great thing about Android phones is that one does not need a PC to use it. Syncing is always a "side benefit" to these phones.

android phones have been mac compatible for a very long time in most cases...and clearly it worked for the op previously...and given samsungs lousy track record with the dl09 update breaking compatibility with windows sync for many, its an known issue

hopefully this is something that gets sorted out

 

[Leonard1818]

So, if something happened to work on my BeOS machine until an update, Samsung should be strong-armed into fixing it?

nobody said anything about strong-arming anyone into doing anything. I said "they should..." and then followed up with "...it's bad business". I couldn't care less what Samsung does/does not do in regards to fixing this on a mac. They shouldn't (and probably couldn't) be legally forced into doing anything unless their documentation says that it specifically has x capability and it clearly does not. Now, not trying to complicate things further but what samsung promises out of their devices and what Verizon promises out of their devices... well...

Let's just say someone needs to be held accountable for things like promising 2.2 by the year end or failure to acknowledge that a car dock doesn't work as it should... be it Samsung or verizon...

Ok, now consider that PDF's are standard document exchange format, which is in use on EVERY platform out there. Now, compare that to compatibility to a platform only in use on 15% of the entire computing base, and maybe 3% of it's users.

It doesn't matter how "standard" .pdf is... like said above, there's nothing saying that a .pdf needs to work or should work. The fact is, it "looks bad" (makes the company look bad) when it works on one version and not on a later release.

The comparison here is much different than being able to export to a PDF (Which is a specified function). OS Compatibility is never a mandate. It's like getting mad at a wifi card manufacturer for not supporting my Ubuntu installs.

But you just used the comparison to try to make your point above... I would argue that syncing via USB and exporting to .pdf are both "functions" of a set "system". But you can really use any words you want for those in quotes in the previous sentance.

Function/feature/attribute/etc. system/device/product/etc.
So we're either comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges. My thought is regardless of which one, you're still in the fruit asile... So use it to make your argument, but don't continue on by saying that the comparison can't be made.

This isn't a function, it's a compatibility issue. No manufacturer can be expected to ensure compatibility with every platform out there. It's impossible.

see above.

Of course. If I buy something that says it does PDF exporting, and suddenly, that feature is removed, then yes: They'd fix it.
However this is not a programmatic function. This is basic OS compatibility.

how is this not a programmatic issue? Last I checked, the only thing that changed on the phone between the time it worked and the time it did not was of or relating to the program [on the handset]. They updated the program, it stopped working.

I'm not seeing anywhere on this page where OS compatibility is mentioned: Features and Specifications - Samsung Fascinate? Android Smartphone | Samsung Mobile

If something happens to work on a fringe OS, and breaks after an update, you don't blame that on the manufacturer. You blame that on your decision to use a fringe OS.

I think at the very best you would share the blame in that situation. This argument almost lends itself to the mindset that you should only cater to the masses... yet from what you are describing about your "BeOS" and your "linux" installs, you obviously see some benefits in these "fringe" OS's. So which is it? Should a company cater only to the masses (let's just say the 'Microsoft-based' market")? Or should they consider "Fringe" systems as well? Why do YOU use/install these "fringe" systems?

What I'm saying is that your argument(s) seem to be contradictory. In one sentance you state that comparing the "breaking of export to .pdf" to "Fascinate not being able to sync with a mac" is not a true/fair comparison to make but go on to use the example to prove your point.

You go on about your BeOS and your Linux installs (i.e. fringe operating systems that you obviously have a lot of contact with) but then take the stance that a company should only cater to the microsoft-based PC world as it makes more sense financially.

My stance is that since Mac OS users are such a small minority of Samsung Fascinate users, it's makes no fiscal sense to support that OS. It would be akin to them supporting BeOS.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you're not a decision-maker at any kind of big company. Why? not to be insulting, but it takes a quick search of google to find articles forecasting the growth (market-share) of apple/mac. If companies always just acted upon the current market conditions, they would struggle or fail. With the success of the iPad, companies with complimentary products would be stupid to not take note of Apple as a strong player in the market. Maybe not today... but moving forward. If you were a higher-up at Samsung, would you want your device to be known as "not working with apple" ? Your comparison of mac to BeOS is silly. Raise your hand if you've heard of Apple/Macintosh. Now raise your hand if you've heard of BeOS. Based on the hands in the air which one do you think is going to have a clear presence in the future? If you were a company that was going to produce a product/service that could work in conjunction with one or the other, which would it be? NOW we're talking apples to tomao soup.

 

[Leonard1818]

ironically, my father-in-law wants an iPad. BADLY. He's also up for a new cell phone. The iPad is a done deal, he's not considering any other tablet-like PC. The phone could really go either way.

Is Samsung doing themselves any favors by becoming known as "..the company that no longer works with and has no desire to function with apple products?".

I can't recommend to him to buy a samsung android device because I'm doubtful it will work how he wants it to with his iPad. Now I'm not quite sure what he wants to do between the two but I thought this example was worth mentioning. A real-world example of why companies like Samsung shouldn't turn a "blind eye" to the "fifiteen percent AND GROWING" market share of apple/mac.