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Droid Charge reviews

Early reviews have it better on Batt life then the TB....ofcourse, its a bigger battery at 1600 compared to 1400 on the TB...And the Super Amo plus will help as well...I will say it doesn't look so bad in the few reviews I watched...ofcourse the screen is beautiful, I loved my Fascinate screen, and this a lil better being its Amo plus. Call quality will vary upon where u are.. my Fascinate had awesome call quality..however a lot of people disagreed, and had choppy call quality from time to time, mine was perfect. The Big gripe is the browser and how slow and laggy it looks...looks like its crawling in some of the reviews, and even touch wiz is still very laggy compared to Sense. Either way, I don't see it being worth $299! $199 yes, but $299 is a hefty price for a single core phone in 2011.
 
I had the fascinate and the voice quality was horrible I hope this isn't a recurring theme with samsung. Otherwise I loved the phone samsung does make great hardware its just the software that brings it down.
 
People are also reporting that it has the dreaded GPS issues we saw in the Fascinate. Bleh. I'll pass.
 
Halcyon said:
People are also reporting that it has the dreaded GPS issues we saw in the Fascinate. Bleh. I'll pass.
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Well weirdly enough my Thunderbolt now takes forever to lock with the GPS. My Fascinate had the same issue, would just search and search, and take up to 10 minutes some times. Now my TB is doing the same thing. Never had that issue with my EVO, would lock on in seconds. Get you act together VZW...lol
 
Yikes, GPS problem could really be a deal-breaker for me. There are many times I don't care about GPS (and don't even have it on) but there are also times (e.g., I've driving around and I've gotten lost . . . or I really do want to locate the nearest store of some type) where I really really need the GPS and want to be able to rely on it locking in on my location etc.

Halcyon, has the GPS problem been mentioned with Droid Charge be mentioned in other forums or on-line reviews? (I'd be interested in reading what's being said about that, and follow-up comments posted) ...
 
Halcyon said:
Yeah. On other forums its being talked about. Just picked up my new Droid Charge from Best Buy - Page 7 - Android Forums
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Thanks, I'm gonna read that.

After posting my question I had a "doh!" moment and started Googling "GPS issues with Samsung phones" and came across lots of references to problems with some of the other Samsung phones.

But then, just for kicks, I Googled "GPS issues with HTC phones" and guess what -- I found a bunch of forums where HTC owners reported issues!

And likewise "GPS issues with Motorola phones" and also found reports of problems.

Btw, some of these other issues pointed to VZ as part of the problem, yet other complainers were using AT&T networks.

Now, obviously my little search doesn't prove anything. It could well be that the frequency of GPS problems with Samsung phones is much greater. But just to put things in perspective, it might be as hard to pinpoint the extent of these problems as it is for malfunctioning GPS to pinpoint one's locatoni.

Finally, here's one Droid Charge reviewer who claims the Droid Charge does NOT have GPS problems that some other Samsung phones did -- Samsung Droid Charge Review
 
The Charges gps works well most of the time outdoors but not so well indoors. My Atrix would have an instant accurate lock in the same spot that the Charge struggles in. Its going to take a little more time to see if it really has issues or not. I had gps issues with a Droid x and my Fascinate so I am almost sure that it might just be a Verizon thing.
 
mrblahblah said:
I would love to wait for the Samsung Galaxy 2, but is probably true by that point the data plan will be tiered?
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That's exactly my thought. I've been wanting to switch to Verizon and a Samsung for a while so I'll just get the Charge for the time being until the S2 comes out.
 
Here is my review:

Call quality: excellent...the calls are clear and perfect.

Screen: beautiful display with vibrant colors that make other phones jealous.

Battery: lasts all day long even into late at night with a 1600mAh battery you cant go wrong(kills the TB)

Browser: yes lags alot but if you dwnload an alternate browser like dolphin hd or xscope(what i use) the lag goes away.

Speaker: LOUD AND SHARP sound quality i put my phone against a TB and Iphone 4 and my speaker took out both great speaker even when making calls very clear.

Processor: very good processor it doesnt set benchmarks but that shouldnt matter still very snappy.

Stock home: its laggy because of touchwiz BUT get an alternate home like launcherpro+ and your lag is gone..the screens move flawlessly with no hiccups.

Camera/video: better than any phone i've seen or used...pics come out crystal clear..nd i mean crystal clear with its 8mp camer..video comes out even better and clearer with 720p recording...cant go wrong with a samsung camera...

Front facing camera: even at 1.3mp its very clear and sharp.

Phone itself: light and has a very cool nice shape(unlike the TB that looks and feels like a brick).

GPS: i havent had a issue yet...works like a charm and smooth.

Keyboard: i myself didnt like the keyboard but installed better keyboard from market and now i have no complaints.

Overall: great phone, great quality..definetly a phone that friends will envy you for..the price is a little steep but if you can still return your TB and afford the 35$ restocking fee plus the difference of the phone(94$ all together in PHX,AZ) then do it or if you have a upgrade coming get the phone for the discounted price...either way u wont be mad and you wont be let down.
 
My review is very similar to Outsider with a few minor differences.
Call quality: I've had some good calls and some bad calls. The speaker sounds a little tinny at times, but the worse part is that some of the calls have cut out about 1 in 20 words. Not sure if it's related to reception issues (I started a thread on it) or what, I live in Dallas area and almost always have full bars.
Battery life: I would classify myself in the medium to heavy usage category. I have 3 email addresses that I attach to the phone, 2 using Push (corprate and gmail) and 1 personal email that checks every 30 min. Some days I will use Pandora for a couple of hours, sometimes just a few apps, just depends on how busy the day is really. The battery life could be better (it wont get me through a full day yet) but at the same token, its fast (LTE woot!), has a HUGE screen, and I'm not familiar with Android enough yet to set everything to it's most optimal settings. I'm not familiar enough with the TB to say how it compares, but I read that the TB was horrible on battery life, so I had to steer clear of it. I can make it most of the day at work without plugging it in, but when i get home (around 430PM) it's sitting at 14% and needs a charge.

For everything else, it's a good phone so far. I know some people complain about lag here and there, but if you just came from an HTC Touch Pro 2 running Windows Mobile 6.5, just about anything is blazing fast. lol
 
I just got back from the Verizon store and I think the Charge looks nasty. Why all that cheap plastic and fake chrome? YUCK! Nothing about this phone looks high end its a Shame but thats Samsung for ya.
 
sean76 said:
Well weirdly enough my Thunderbolt now takes forever to lock with the GPS. My Fascinate had the same issue, would just search and search, and take up to 10 minutes some times. Now my TB is doing the same thing. Never had that issue with my EVO, would lock on in seconds. Get you act together VZW...lol
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Now I have noticed this on my phone. GPS takes a lot longer than it use to, I also noticed that it was taking longer and longer on my Incredible too tho.
 
Silent Thunder said:
I just got back from the Verizon store and I think the Charge looks nasty. Why all that cheap plastic and fake chrome? YUCK! Nothing about this phone looks high end its a Shame but thats Samsung for ya.
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Yes it is made with cheap plastic but if you really mess with the phone you can see and notice the beauty. You must be the type that likes style..thats cool to each his/her own. Hope u find what ur looking for
 
I used the Charge for one "entire" hour last night and compared to my Incredible (stock os & clock speed).

1. Call quality = Way better than my Inc
2. Display = Way better than my Inc
3. Sound quality from speaker and 3.5mm = Better than my Inc
4. Storage = 1gb more device storage, but 6.6gb less media storage (by default since none on the Charge). Charge ships with 32gb card, but one should expect this at $300.
5. Build = Inc seems better, since feels more solid, though both are plastic.
6. Hardware interface = I prefer the Charge, since it is too easy to hit the soft keys by accident when playing games.
7. Camera = Way better than Inc
8. OS UI = Too subjective, but I prefer stock UI
9. UI speed = The Inc is a lot faster
10. Browser speed with Dolphin HD = Inc is faster
11. Game speed and emulators = I only had time for a few games / emulators, but the Inc was faster.
12. Quadrant was 960 range on the Charge and 1,160 range on my Incredible. The performance seems to fit the brief browser, game and emulator results.

The Charge performance is being hurt by the file system and already pointed out by XDA folks. If the file system issue were to be fixed, I would consider buying one.

The Hummingbird in the Charge should be kicking the 8650 in the Inc's butt.

Added:

Test games equal Gun Bros, N64Oid and Tiger Arcade.
 
What kind of data connection was on both Charge, Incredible when you tested Dolphin HD browser? Most demo phones in store are not activated for wireless data and with only WiFi. I also got hands on Charge at Costco, BB and they were in WiFi connection only. The screen is really beautiful and physical button feels better to push than DX. Stock TW UI doesn't lag so much as I was concerned and it feels much lighter than its size suggests.
 
Referring to speed within browser and response time on sites.

Flash heavy sites stood out.

The Charge showed a 3g connection and full bars. added: as did my Inc.

Good point if about calls, but was working and clear as opposed to my muddy Inc.
 
Honestly, my HTC Incredible 1 had the BEST GPS performance of several Android phones I've played with. Lock was instant, even indoors.

I wonder why?

Even when my Fascinate gets a lock, it loses it easily and has to re-lock, plus the accuracy is generally off by at least 40m if not 100m. Every time. I've tried every thing, too.
 
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