Initial Charge Thoughts and Reviews

[ncbryan]

Most have heard or read my posting on having a Charge in my hands, activated only to be taken from me and leaving the store with my Thunderbolt. I have read the early posts of folks getting this phone and initially loving it. Now I seem to be hearing some problems coming out with the device. Since I have a Charge with my name on it whenever it gets released, but haven't paid for it, I want to make sure I am making the right decision to move to the Charge from my Thunderbolt when it actually is released. Rather than jump all over the forum and find everyone's post of comments on the new phone, I figured I would start this thread for problems and concerns and of course what you like about the phone.

So let the reviews begin.....Tell us what you like, dislike about the Charge. Then from you Thunderbolt owners that have swithced, tell me if you are happy with the Charge vs your old Thunderbolt.

 

[Raptor007]

Good call. I have been reading a mixed bag of good and bad. Some reviewers like it and some think its terrible (see Android Police for their review). I tend to go with real world users who have been playing around, and at this point I am holding firm, but honestly the TB was a battery drainer, can't use it outdoors and the BT is a failure to connect to my car. I am considering moving just one of my lines to ATT to get the Samsung Inspire which has the specs the Charge should have gotten, 1.2Ghz, 16G Internal storage, its not dual core, but I am not in a huge hurry for that either.

 

[moondrius]

I love my Droid Charge, it's not perfect but I would not use anything else on Verizon. You will not be happy with att. I tried them for a month and it was horrible. You could always buy a Charge and if the don't like it you can return it. Use it to the few days and see if you like it more than the Thunderbolt. Both are great devices but I like my Charge more then the Thunderbolt I had.

 

[davey11]

Some reviews have said that the charge has a problem staying on the 4g signal. It jumps back to 3g and needs a reboot to fix. True?

 

[moondrius]

No, it will lose data sometimes but it usually comes back. Popping it into airplane mode and back out fixes it. My Thunderbolt did the same thing.

 

[ncbryan]

Both are great devices but I like my Charge more then the Thunderbolt I had.

That is what I was looking for! I have an upgrade to burn and if it is a better phone than TB, I will pull the trigger. Can always return it in 14 days if I don't like it, but with that screen, I doubt that will happen. I spend a lot of time outside and this screen will most definitely be nice. Not to mention the improved battery life.

 

[ellje]

Great thread... I'm looking for the same info.

What are the downsides of the Charge? Most reviews I've read say its better than the Thunderbolt, and others hate on it... why the differences?

 

[kb0uy]

My Original Droid used to do that with phone calls until the update to 2.2 I think.

 

[Raptor007]

Moondrius - Good point. I am not the biggest fan of ATT serivce in my area and their "4G" isn't worth crowing about. My bosses phone had the H+ symbol on it so I ran a speed test. about 552k down and 475k up, talk about fast.

Your right about testing it out and seeing how it goes, you only get one return so I have to make it count. I did read a new review today and it was not harsh on it and this reviewer used it as their daily driver for a week.

Samsung DROID Charge review | BGR

 

[ffac789]

Moondrius - Good point. I am not the biggest fan of ATT serivce in my area and their "4G" isn't worth crowing about. My bosses phone had the H+ symbol on it so I ran a speed test. about 552k down and 475k up, talk about fast.

Your right about testing it out and seeing how it goes, you only get one return so I have to make it count. I did read a new review today and it was not harsh on it and this reviewer used it as their daily driver for a week.

Samsung DROID Charge review | BGR

Good pointing that out, I completely forgot about BGR for their review on the Charge.

 

[czm2000]

Some reviews have said that the charge has a problem staying on the 4g signal. It jumps back to 3g and needs a reboot to fix. True?

This is true.

 

[Raptor007]

I have the sites I read daily, hourly and I know which sites have a fair view of their devices. Its a passion, and should not be politics. Sure plastic phones suck I get it, but I also don't go caseless and my phones always look new when I sell them 3-5 months later for the next phone.

I read BGR, Engadget, AC, AndroidPolice and a few others, but I also put a lot of stock into everyday users who are not testing a phone but using it just like I would, users here on the forums. Its their phone and their hard earned ca$h in their hands. Its not a review unit so they have even more involved in returning it in 14 days if they are unhappy.

So far I feel good about it, with developer support to debloat/deodex a ROM and Kernel support for speed and file system that is all I need since I will run a 3rd party launcher anyways right over that touchwiz ui.

Now I would like Verizon to either cancel this phone or announce a date, if the stock is there and the phone works there isn't a reason for further delays, unless of course 4G LTE is so buggy still they are pushing all launches back.

 

[DroidXcon]

Some reviews have said that the charge has a problem staying on the 4g signal. It jumps back to 3g and needs a reboot to fix. True?

Same problem with the thunderbolt but it would hang on 1x for hours on end

 

[DMZoh]

With my call in issue, it's hard for me to make any suggestions.

If this delay is waiting for the development of patches, my few issues might be gone come launch. If that is the case I'd highly suggest this phone to anyone.

It really depends on what is still lingering post launch.

 

[ffac789]

I'm thinking I might just go for this phone. LTE won't be available until the end of the year at the latest here, so I'll be running it on 3G unless I head up to Phoenix. I'm gonna see if the Best Buy I work at can sell it to me next Friday, since I'm friends with some people in that department.

 

[clarkst]

How is the speakerphone on the Charge? I'm about to pull the trigger on one this morning, but the speakerphone has to be loud...

 

[czm2000]

How is the speakerphone on the Charge? I'm about to pull the trigger on one this morning, but the speakerphone has to be loud...

I also need a loud speaker phone. It's plenty loud for me and I have to turn it down a hair. All the way up can be too loud. I like having that extra. It's certainly louder than the Bolt's speaker phone. I was disappointed in the TB speaker phone. The grill runs from one edge to the other, so you think, yeah, this is gonna be loud. But it really isn't. I thought just the opposite about the charge. I thought since the speaker openings were smaller it might not be loud enough, but it's more than sufficient.

 

[Maverik]

How is the speakerphone on the Charge? I'm about to pull the trigger on one this morning, but the speakerphone has to be loud...

I watched a review of the charge, yesterday. The hump on the bottom raises the phone up so the speaker slot is off of the surface of whatever you have it lying on. In the video they made a call and had the speaker phone on. It was pretty loud.

 

[chullen1202]

I work as a subcontractor for verizon and just picked my charge up today at 10 am. I absolutely love the phone compared to my previous phone (Blackberry Bold 9650). Not that my last phone was bad, but I had no use for it anymore. I love this new phone, I love the fact that you can make calls while in your messaging screen just by swiping your finger across the contact when in the text message section

 

[Stang68]

Keep the early impressions coming!