Android phone decision: Charge vs. Bionic?

[rmcray08]

Please, please do yourself a favor and reconsider waiting for Galaxy Nexus. My main gripe with the Droid Charge is that Samsung and Verizon have shown very little love for Charge owners in regards to updates. At least with the Bionic, you know that Motorola has promised the ICS update. The Galaxy Nexus will be a flagship Google device and will be the early adopter of any updates, and will be the phone that many developers will use as their measuring stick for app compatibility.

FWIW, if you need a smartphone right now for e-mail, web browsing, calendar, and basic phone stuff, go to Newegg, buy a Palm Pixi Plus for $50, and bide your time until the Galaxy Nexus is here.

 

[MaxBuck2]

I continue to be bemused by the fascination with "updates." I almost never update my apps; most of the time the "updates" cause more problems than they solve. OS updates may or may not solve specific problems we have with phones. I'm quite happy with Android 2.2. The Charge is a great, great phone for my purposes.

 

[yourbrokenoven]

In my opinion, the Charge brings shame to the Droid brand. The charge has a very pretty screen, a nice camera, is fast and reliable, and so on; HOWEVER, GPS is broken. The only place I can get a reliable location is inside my house. Even outside on a clear day I cannot get my phone to get a reliable GPS lock. Usually, after 5 to 10 minutes, the phone finally decides I'm off in the woods somewhere, and tracks my movement from that point, showing me going through peoples houses and such. Google maps is completely unusable on this phone. And it's a shame, because it was one of the main reasons I liked android over iOS.

Anyway, I had promised I was getting the next Nexus phone, but had also promised I wouldn't get another Samsung phone, because these are the same GPS issues the Galaxy phones had. So, you see my problem, now, with the new Nexus phone being a Samsung... I'd get an iPhone right now if I hadn't just blown my upgrade on the Charge.

 

[JihadSquad]

If you want a solid radio and gps go with Motorola. If you want a nice camera and screen go with Samsung.

This is usually the case, but it is exaggerated in Charge vs Bionic. The bionic's screen is TERRIBLE. If you use the charge for any significant period of time and then use a bionic you will puke. The charge on the other hand has a horrible GPS. Usually it takes me (and others) 5-10 minutes to lock outside on a clear day. Also some charge users (not me) report "data dropping" which is when you lose data and have to reboot the phone or switch into and out of airplane mode to get it back.

I would have bought the bionic but I overused my old blackberry so much that the battery didn't even last a day (Battery life is like the only good part of blackberry; it used to go for a few days the first year i had it). The bionic wasnt out when i upgraded so I just went with charge as I saw 4-6hr battery life on t bolt

 

[starbuckk]

Wow this GPS thing must have been part of a bad lot since it seems like several have had it.

I've had good luck with it so far. And Google Navigation I've used quite successfully.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Get the Bionic, the charge will be End of Life soon. Moto has already confirmed the Bionic will get ICS and while Samsung hasn't said much yet about what is getting updated, it seems unlikely that the charge will get ICS (it still doesn't have official Gingerbread) at least not anytime soon.

The charge is not a bad phone (we use it as the demo phone at work) but it's 6 months old and that is an eternity in mobile especially if you plan to keep it for two years or close to it. About the only thing the charge has going for it over the Bionic is the screen and if that is important to you wait a few days and look at the RAZR.

 

[shastrich2005]

I've had my Charge for a few month (unrooted) and I love my phone. No issues with rebooting or freezing up. Best camera, video and screen. I literally have had no complaints with this phone. As far as battery life, My battery will last approx 12 hours without me having to recharge it and that's with me using it quite a bit. I was going to upgrade to the Bionic, but outside of being a little faster, the Bionic was not impressive to me and all! If I do get rid of my Charge, it will be for the Prime when it comes out.