Trying out a Droid Charge

[tuanster1119]

How would someone just switch phones without paying through the nose? I don't see this as an option for anyone on a budget.

Well, if I were to make a permanent switch... Thunderbolts go for about 375 to 400, used, on ebay. You can pick up a Charge from Verizon for $569. So you end up paying around $169 to $194. It's obviously not cheap, but I also wouldn't consider that "paying through the nose".

 

[esmith818]

For anyone considering a jump from TB to Charge, what are your thoughts about less RAM, no LED for notifications, TouchWiz UI and the plastic case? The lack of LED alone seems like a deal breaker for me, and I'm not convinced the battery life is a whole lot better...

 

[jcnyc]

Just played with one at the verizon store. In addition to everything else that's already been mentioned about this phone, one of the negatives is that it is quite large. It is noticeably lengthier than the thundebrolt with the same screen size. It is probably a good 0.2-0.3" longer than the tbolt. Should be a 4.5" screen at that point. Anyway, might not be a big deal to most people but just thought I'd throw that out there, personally think the tbolt is perfect size if not already on the larger end.

 

[JEcht]

I just played with one at best buy and yes the screen resolution is good but you need more than eye candy from a phone. I tested loading web pages compared to my bolt and the dc loaded as fast as my original Droid. That would be a big reason as not to buy one. Not even the screen resolution could sway me. It's a nice phone but is larger in size when next to the bolt. It has some features that I wouldn't mind having on the bolt. Plus the screen is super slick and not use to it just feels wierd.

 

[rcyphermd]

For anyone considering a jump from TB to Charge, what are your thoughts about less RAM, no LED for notifications, TouchWiz UI and the plastic case? The lack of LED alone seems like a deal breaker for me, and I'm not convinced the battery life is a whole lot better...

One of the biggest reasons inswitched from the TB was its weight. Even though the charge is slightly longer, it is thinner and much lighter. Much easier to pocket. I have not noticed the RAM difference at all. I do miss the LED, but I use a 5 minute reminding sound for handscent SMS, and have voicemail and email set for sounds and vibrate as well, so I never really miss the LED. The battery is SO much better than the TB. I use dolphin browser. I compared them side by side TB and charge....same load time. I am selling my TB with three extra batteries if anyone wants it!!!! I needed three for the TB!!

 

[qingshan]

Just played with one at the verizon store. In addition to everything else that's already been mentioned about this phone, one of the negatives is that it is quite large. It is noticeably lengthier than the thundebrolt with the same screen size. It is probably a good 0.2-0.3" longer than the tbolt. Should be a 4.5" screen at that point. Anyway, might not be a big deal to most people but just thought I'd throw that out there, personally think the tbolt is perfect size if not already on the larger end.

Right on with the size - in every way it is bigger than the TB except for weight and the TB has more ram.

Anyone notice the reviews? A review place I go to has the TB at 4.16 and the Charge at 2.9 and that counts a guy who gave it a 5 and did not even own the phone.

I am not a heavy user and as a result get 1-2 days regularly, I do turn off WiFi 4g when I am not using them and I just got reminded about that Blockbuster app that needs to be shut off - it might get better

 

[nkd]

Right on with the size - in every way it is bigger than the TB except for weight and the TB has more ram.

Anyone notice the reviews? A review place I go to has the TB at 4.16 and the Charge at 2.9 and that counts a guy who gave it a 5 and did not even own the phone.

I am not a heavy user and as a result get 1-2 days regularly, I do turn off WiFi 4g when I am not using them and I just got reminded about that Blockbuster app that needs to be shut off - it might get better

reviews dont mean jack. if you dont personally like it than its your choice. I have the thunderbolt, I could care less what the guy right next to me thought about as long as I liked it.

I am using the das bamf 2.0 right now based on gingerbread radio. It has some neat sense 3.0 features and the lock screen, fricking loving it right now. The gingerbread radio has been the best for me so far, the 3g to 4g switching is much much better.

 

[xkingofgodzx]

reviews dont mean jack. if you dont personally like it than its your choice. I have the thunderbolt, I could care less what the guy right next to me thought about as long as I liked it.

I am using the das bamf 2.0 right now based on gingerbread radio. It has some neat sense 3.0 features and the lock screen, fricking loving it right now. The gingerbread radio has been the best for me so far, the 3g to 4g switching is much much better.

+1 especially with imosayen kernel. My god my Thunderbolt is amazing. I havent been this impressed since i took it out of the box and activated it. GB is fantastic to say the least. I was running stock GB on my Inc. I will be on my Thunderbolt too when its available and its going to eat lightning and sh!t thunder. I do like GB with the sense implimentation. i am actually a fan of sense but i like having the choice.

 

[CharlzO]

One of the biggest reasons inswitched from the TB was its weight. Even though the charge is slightly longer, it is thinner and much lighter. Much easier to pocket. I have not noticed the RAM difference at all. I do miss the LED, but I use a 5 minute reminding sound for handscent SMS, and have voicemail and email set for sounds and vibrate as well, so I never really miss the LED. The battery is SO much better than the TB. I use dolphin browser. I compared them side by side TB and charge....same load time. I am selling my TB with three extra batteries if anyone wants it!!!! I needed three for the TB!!

Personally, I still like my TB. I mean, yeah, the screen on the Charge is better. But other than that, for me, it doesn't matter. I actually like the weight of the TB (I also use a holster, so weight of the phone means nothing on my hip). It makes me feel like I'm holding something nice. I do think the Charge feels a little...cheaper?...in construction. I also live in a 3G area, so my battery has been decent. I can go pretty much all day with average use, plus, on that rare instance where I need talk & surf, I gots it. Now...if HTC had a screen like the Charge, in the TB's body, then I'd be in trouble...

 

[chris2k5]

Played with one in the store real quick and was surprised. Screen is very nice. Touch Wiz is awful though. When scrolling through the apps menu, it was hard to find and navigate to the right app.

Funny how Thunderbolt got a lot more marketing funds from Verizon when they should've spent that money on the Droid Charge. It is a much cleaner experience I say. I think the Thunderbolt looks better though.

 

[iAstonish]

I really really hope that gingerbread will resolve most of these issues.....

Not sure how relevant this is, but I'm running Das BAMF 2.0-4.0.1 GB beta and the battery life on my phone has been excellent. I do use the extended battery, but still the results seem great. Unplugged my phone today at 4 P.M, very light use until 10 P.M. and it's only went down 5%

 

[michaelkahl]

I've owned a Sprint Hero, Eris, Incredible, and now the T-Bolt and all of my HTC phones have had terrible battery life. There's always been things I could do to get through a day without plugging in.

I've been interested in the Samsung devices, but they were always ill timed for me. I don't really regret it, I like Sense that much. If I have to buy a 1750mAh battery or root it and run customer kernels/roms then that's what I'll do. So far I've had a much better experience with my TB than I did with my Inc. Battery life was horrible on the Inc when it first came out. Updates would eventually fix these issues. I think the TB's battery life issues will be improved upon.

 

[jroc]

About the battery life...

The rated talk time for the Charge is 11 hours. I'm assuming its all 3G since I dont think you can talk over 4G yet. Thats better than the Droid X1, Droid X2 Droid 2 and Atrix all which most users and reviewers say get good battery life. 11 hours talk time is insane.

The rated talk time for the Thunderbolt is 6 hrs, 20 min.

The Charge has a 1540 or 1600 battery, the TB a 1400 or 1450 battery depending on which sites specs to go by. Thats not much of a difference in battery sizes.

Normally Phonearena and Anandtech does real good battery life tests.

Samsung Droid Charge vs HTC ThunderBolt - Performance and Conclusion - Phone Arena

Phonearena's test got 10 hrs talk time for the Charge, 7 for the TB and 10-12 hours mixed use for the Charge, 5-6 hours mixed use for the TB.

I am inclined to think its a hardware thing. I could be wrong but talk time is just using the phone to talk.

 

[JEcht]

You dont talk over 3g either . Voice and data are separate. On regular 3g phones on Verizon when you got a call it woukd turn off the 3g.

 

[jroc]

^Thats right, 1X. I keep forgetting about that.

 

[tuanster1119]

some quick updates. The camera on my phone died over the weekend. I've tried to see if I can resolve the issue by googling, but it doesn't seem like this is a common issue. It's still annoying though. Another issue I've noticed is that the screen will sometimes have a blueish tint to it when I hit the power button. It goes away when I just lock and unlock the phone again, with the power button.

If this wasn't a corporate eval, I would probably just bring it into a Verizon store and swap it out.

Also, regarding the notification light, I didn't think I'd miss it but I'm starting to miss having it. I'm not really sure if I would consider this a deal-breaker, all things considered, but it's an annoyance. I can easily check notifications by turning the screen on and off, but a notification LED would be a welcome addition.