Droid Charge to Nexus...back to Droid Charge

[dman2275]

Hi everyone.

I thought I would share my experiences with the members here since I always read posts (on numerous forums) asking the same question. Should I buy the Nexus or not? I had been going back and forth since the Nexus came out in December on whether to buy one or wait for the next best thing.

I pulled the plug on February 29th and picked one up for $149 plus the extended battery. A smoking deal in my opinion for the flagship VZW phone. My main concerns were signal strength, dropped data and battery life.

I played with the phone for ten days and realized the Nexus was going back. There are so many good things about the phone - ICS, screen is very nice, phone is sleek. The development community is incredible on this phone. So many roms to choose from. There are a lot of things to like about the phone. Battery life was not an issue at all for me. I installed BB rom after a few days and I could get the whole day with the extended battery.

Signal strength - not nearly as good as my Charge. Many places I would normally have a strong signal, my Nexus had a weak (or no) signal. Data was soooo slow when the signal is low.

Profiles - I always use Quick Profiles on my phone to shut off notifications at night. I could not get anything to work with ICS (hopefully they will fix this in the future with a software modification).

Accessories - the lack of accessories, mainly a desktop charger. I use the desktop charger at night so my phone is my night clock (and I charge my extra battery). The OEM Samsung Nexus desktop dock is $99 (and not even available yet....three months after the phone came out). Too much cash for me.

In conclusion, I could not keep the Nexus mainly due to the low signal strength of the phone. I know a lot of people do not have signal issues. Perhaps the coverage is better where they live, but in my area my Droid Charge gets a strong signal no matter where I go. I wish the Nexus did the same. I will definitely miss ICS.

 

[KoukiFC3S]

Sorry to see you go.

I'm running Codename Android right now and profiles are built in the rom.

Sucks about the signal though.

 

[zero neck]

Sorry it didnt work out for you. I like your pros/cons analysis, very fair.

 

[DaPoets]

I use both the Droid Charge (stock) and my Gnex running Codename 1.5.5 and I have to say that I now only use the charge as 24/7 tether slave to my Xoom running Codename 1.5.5 as well. The charge just pails in comparison to my Gnex and I don't like talking on the phone w/ it. I use Google Voice and can use either phone for text/voice anytime on either and I always go for the Gnex while the charge is just plugged in somewhere broadcasting a tether signal.

 

[ScooberJake]

If you had signal issues, I don't blame you for going back. For me, signal is good but not great, with the occasional data drops. Usually turning off mobile data and turning back on will solve it. This is quick to do from the notification widget with CNA.

As for the other issues, the profiles and desktop charger, they are solvable. Tasker and Touchstone mod.

Loving my GNex.

 

[adambomb6]

Huh?

I've been using quick profiles pro since I got my gnex the week it came out. No idea what you mean.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[dman2275]

The main issue was signal strength. As I said before, I didn't drop any calls on the second phone but the data was very slow if I didn't have two bars. Even then was not as fast as my Droid Charge.

Quick profiles does not work (it has been documented in many of the forums here) in ICS. I didn't work for me when I was on stock or the ROM I flashed. The dock was more of a personal choice. As I said, not a deal breaker but an annoyance.

I wish I had more time to experiment with the phone. I ordered the phone on a Thursday and did not receive it until Monday. I lost four days of my "14" day trial window. I was told by VZW csr that I could not return the phone to a store. It had to be shipped back. I would have liked to try more ROMs. Love how easy the Nexus is to customize. I wish we had 30 days.....

I will keep an eye out when 4.0.5 hits and see what it does for the signal. I will truly miss ICS......

 

[dman2275]

Sorry it didnt work out for you. I like your pros/cons analysis, very fair.

Thanks for the kind words Zero. I think anyone who is on the fence should consider trying it out and decide for themselves if the phone is right for them. Everyone lives and works in a different area so the only way you will know is to try it out. I would recommend buying from an actual retail location rather than the web site or telesales so you have more time to try out the phone.

 

[Davidoo]

The Charge is actually a very good phone now since the GB update back in December. Not going to be a troll and claim it is superior to the Nexus as I know the specs are much better on the Nexus and I would love the ICS. The Charge does get a much better/stable signal on 4G as I have put them side by side multiple times at the VZ store with the Charge in the diagnostic mode where I can view the 4G signal. Also the Charge has a 32GB SD card, so plenty of storage. After the Nexus the Charge may be the best value out there for the money as I saw some type of promo about it being free now? If you want a good, stable phone that gets a good signal and are just a beginner with Android and you don't care about bloat (the Charge is loaded with bloat) it is probably a good choice for you.

 

[davey11]

One thing I remember vividly about my charge was the lag and stuttering. I loaded every custom rom and kernel there was and no help.
The charges cpu is woefully underpowered. One saving grace is the screen is great but the resolution compared to the gn is not so hot.

Sent from my Th3orized GN

 

[eric3316]

The main issue was signal strength. As I said before, I didn't drop any calls on the second phone but the data was very slow if I didn't have two bars. Even then was not as fast as my Droid Charge.

Quick profiles does not work (it has been documented in many of the forums here) in ICS. I didn't work for me when I was on stock or the ROM I flashed. The dock was more of a personal choice. As I said, not a deal breaker but an annoyance.

I wish I had more time to experiment with the phone. I ordered the phone on a Thursday and did not receive it until Monday. I lost four days of my "14" day trial window. I was told by VZW csr that I could not return the phone to a store. It had to be shipped back. I would have liked to try more ROMs. Love how easy the Nexus is to customize. I wish we had 30 days.....

I will keep an eye out when 4.0.5 hits and see what it does for the signal. I will truly miss ICS......

It should be 14 days from the day you activate the phone not from the day they ship it...

 

[dman2275]

It should be 14 days from the day you activate the phone not from the day they ship it...

That is what I thought Eric but the first day I received the phone (when I swapped out the defective one), the girl at the Verizon store told me my "14 day window" started on the 9th (Friday), the day after my purchase went through.

Davey, since I installed Eclipse ROM on my Charge, it has made a HUGE difference. That is really why I still have the Charge. It is so fast and responsive. A little slower than the Nexus but with overclocking, not by much.

 

[DaPoets]

One thing I remember vividly about my charge was the lag and stuttering. I loaded every custom rom and kernel there was and no help.
The charges cpu is woefully underpowered. One saving grace is the screen is great but the resolution compared to the gn is not so hot.

Sent from my Th3orized GN

I do have a very slight lag on my Charge from time to time but it's nothing for me to complain about as I don't really use it much more than for wifi tether.

 

[Bob61]

Hi everyone.

I thought I would share my experiences with the members here since I always read posts (on numerous forums) asking the same question. Should I buy the Nexus or not? I had been going back and forth since the Nexus came out in December on whether to buy one or wait for the next best thing.

I pulled the plug on February 29th and picked one up for $149 plus the extended battery. A smoking deal in my opinion for the flagship VZW phone. My main concerns were signal strength, dropped data and battery life.

I played with the phone for ten days and realized the Nexus was going back. There are so many good things about the phone - ICS, screen is very nice, phone is sleek. The development community is incredible on this phone. So many roms to choose from. There are a lot of things to like about the phone. Battery life was not an issue at all for me. I installed BB rom after a few days and I could get the whole day with the extended battery.

Signal strength - not nearly as good as my Charge. Many places I would normally have a strong signal, my Nexus had a weak (or no) signal. Data was soooo slow when the signal is low.

Profiles - I always use Quick Profiles on my phone to shut off notifications at night. I could not get anything to work with ICS (hopefully they will fix this in the future with a software modification).

Accessories - the lack of accessories, mainly a desktop charger. I use the desktop charger at night so my phone is my night clock (and I charge my extra battery). The OEM Samsung Nexus desktop dock is $99 (and not even available yet....three months after the phone came out). Too much cash for me.

In conclusion, I could not keep the Nexus mainly due to the low signal strength of the phone. I know a lot of people do not have signal issues. Perhaps the coverage is better where they live, but in my area my Droid Charge gets a strong signal no matter where I go. I wish the Nexus did the same. I will definitely miss ICS.

I had a Charge (it's now my wife's phone) and can say I don't miss the Charge and have no desire (even remotely) to go back to the Charge. That the GPS takes easily 5-6 minutes to lock on the Charge was very frustrating.

Signal strength is a bit flakey for some, but side by side with my wife there are times I have a better signal and times when she has a better signal.

As for Profiles, I'm not sure which Quick Profiles app you are referring to. I had that app (or similar named app) and had no problem with it. However take a look at Llama, it blows away what you can do with Quick Profiles, you can set it up so your profiles automatically change based on time, location or other various conditions.

Accessories has been a bit of a disappointment. But I worked around those. I initially picked up a business card holder (was a couple of bucks) that I could set my phone in at night. I just purchased a docking charger off Ebay, was $7 shipped. It mounts phone in portrait mode but for $7 it was reasonably priced.
Other than the desktop charger I usually don't use any other accessories that are phone specific (e.g. my bluetooth headset works on any phone).

Sorry it wasn't what you were looking for.

 

[Davidoo]

Good catch bob61 on the terrible GPS on the Charge. I neglected to mention that in my earlier post. It sucks sometimes taking 10 or 15 minutes to lock, even with some helper apps.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

I hated my Charge. Not as much as I hated the Thunderbolt though. The Nexus is about the longest I've used a phone since my Droid X. The Bionic, stunk in my opinion, between its signal issues, and then the release of the first Razr.

The Nexus is the first phone that I'm actually satisfied with and one that doesn't have me sitting and looking, or waiting to see what is next on the horizon.

 

[dman2275]

You guys are right about the stock GPS on the Charge. I always run GPS fix from the market before starting GPS or navigation. Usually takes 1-2 minutes and then GPS is dead on accurate within 15 seconds. GPS on the Nexus was outstanding for me. Locked in accurately within 30 seconds every time.

With Eclipse ROM, I have no lag what so ever. I could never stay with the stock software. It was too laggy and that brown color.....awful.

 

[Jodiuh]

Not as much as I hated the Thunderbolt though.

What didn't u like about the Tbolt that the Nexus fixed?

I'm curious because the Tbolts been with me for a year and I've been pretty happy with it.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

What didn't u like about the Tbolt that the Nexus fixed?

I'm curious because the Tbolts been with me for a year and I've been pretty happy with it.

The first thing that I hated about the Thunderbolt was the battery life. It flat out stunk! Second thing, the phone was too big and bulky and heavy. Third, Sense UI. I simply can't stand it, finally, the screen on the device was not very good. For as much as the phone cost, they could have done far better.

 

[Bob61]

The first thing that I hated about the Thunderbolt was the battery life. It flat out stunk! Second thing, the phone was too big and bulky and heavy. Third, Sense UI. I simply can't stand it, finally, the screen on the device was not very good. For as much as the phone cost, they could have done far better.

Agree with you on first two points, Sense didn't really bother me.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk