Initial Charge Thoughts and Reviews

[DroidXcon]

OK so far i love this phone the buttons feel solid, its big but not heavy like a brick. I am not in a 4g area right now but i have not dropped 3g since ive had it. With my TB i would drop all the time to 1x or no data at all. So that is making me really happy. Screen is great movies look amazing on this thing.

It is very fast but i can feel touchwiz dragging it down , hopefully some development soon will take care of this.
Also i am not happy with the brownish color that they used for notification bars and contacts but again development will take care of that.

So to anyone who says its a glorified Fascinate. I agree, but its like a fascinate on Steroids and that is not a bad thing. I am lonving this phone hopefully battery life will hold up and i dont see random reboots like the TB.

all that being said i miss the kickstand from the TB but thats it.

 

[brianct1972]

So far I couldn't be happier but the TB did do a better job at rendering browser pages. Double tapping on the Charge doesn't seem to render as quickly or as clean. Minor complaint though.

 

[chullen1202]

To make pages render faster and be less laggy you could set the plug ins to on demand. I did this a it, it makes a difference when you are loading a very flash heavy site. I have been playing with it some more and like it more and more, I have big hands so the size is perfect for everything from texting to using the browser. The weight is fine if not lighter than my old blackberry. Have yet to try out the mini HDMI port but will soon as I used the $25 media hub credit that is included in the box to buy a few tv shows. Only thing I don't like is the fact that when I bought this new it only had 1.1 GB internal storage from all the bloatware taking up space and u cant delete. I wish they would include so much of it. That is my only complaint.

 

[BobR]

Okay, I know this isn't what Android and Charge fans want to hear, but the first impressions of my new Charge are actually somewhat disappointing. Probably more due to being unfamiliar with Android, more than due to the phone. Also, I come from an old PalmOS personal phone and a Blackberry Bold for work, and iOS in the form of an iPad, so I certainly have a different perspective than a long time Android user.

The Bold is really solid for email. The Charge appears to be decent there, using Gmail. But once you set up the Google account, you end up with "extra baggage" on your phone in the form of contacts. And, of course, the Android Market seems to be tied to the Google account. I don't know that I like it that way, but I guess it's just how it is. Not clear which contacts were loaded up, so it will take some thinking to determine how to get the contacts right on my phone and Google account - I have a subset that I want on my phone and don't know if that will be possible without taking them out of my GMail account, but I'm somewhat disappointed that it's not obvious how Android is treating contacts. By trying to make it simple, they've obscured the info I need. On the other hand, I'm sure it's available with some Google searching, so I'll just chalk it up to the learning curve.

The browser was much more like a phone browser and didn't seem all that fast. Granted, I'm in a 3G location right now, so I suppose I shouldn't have expected a single core phone to do that much for me.

Various limitations or inconvenient patterns seem to pop up over and over. When I tried to edit an RTF file in the Google Docs app, or the browser, it was impossible. My iPad has no trouble, so I assume an iPhone would work fine also. But on Android I get pushed into ThinkFree Office which can't edit RTF files. (iOS doesn't do RTF editing either, but you can use the browser and mobile Google Apps to get some simple editing done.) Maybe there's a work around, or a way to de-link editing from ThinkFree?

When I try to use a couple of the weather widgets, they only give me very basic weather and then force me to the browser for more info, and I get a couple of alerts on the way.

When you take a picture, you don't get to see the picture unless you tap the picture icon, and it's just very cumbersome if you want to know if you got a good shot or not before taking the next picture.

So many things seemed either cumbersome or slow, and non-intuitive. Other than the RTF Google Apps thing, nothing really stopped me from getting something done, it just made it so unpleasant that I probably won't bother to do some things. Maybe I just need to expect less, and do simple things, letting the phone determine how it happens instead of trying to make it work the way I want it to. That's either a consequence of my lack of Android knowledge, or it's the consumer device influence. Don't know yet. I could go on and on, but I won't because I will give Android the benefit of the doubt and assume that in a month none of this will be an issue for me. But today was definitely a let down for me. I found myself almost longing for a (nonexistent) updated PalmOS device, or even (horror of horrors) an iPhone.

Okay, I can feel the rage already. How can I say such a horrible thing? Please don't turn this into another iOS vs Android thread. All I'm trying to do is give a fresh perspective of someone using the phone that isn't an Android pro. You may have 1001 reasons why Android is better than iOS, but this isn't the place to go into that. I may be won over in the next month or year. And, obviously, I'm hoping for Android to win me over or I wouldn't be sticking with this phone. But for now, I just want to share my first impressions. They may be helpful for someone out there to see another side of things. And don't even bother slamming me with comments like "Well if you don't like it, take it back". That's not what I'm saying. If you don't like what I said, please send me some angry PMs, and don't waste everyone else's time.

So I definitely don't want to give the idea that this is not a good phone, however, or that I don't want it. I will give it a good try. What I am trying to communicate, without starting a flame war, is that everything is not peaches and cream for every new user. (So far I find Android Community remarkably civil for the most part, so please don't prove me wrong!)

On the plus side, the phone has a remarkable screen. It's probably about as good as any Android phone out there for my tastes. Battery life looks like it will be reasonable, and if I don't decide to get a dock, I will probably get the extended battery. The phone is so nice and light that I don't think I'd mind the extra weight. I kind of like the dark background theme (probably used because AMOLED displays use more energy displaying whites than darks, unlike standard LCD screens that use more energy displaying the dark colors.)

I like that the browser is much better than on my Blackberry or Treo. It seems a little slow, but may be decent speed when I get to a 4G area. I had no trouble using the HID bluetooth profile to pair up with a BT keyboard. The Wifi connection was easy to set up and works quite well. And for such a "young" OS, I was pleasantly surprised with the options available in the OS.

Okay, that's just my first impression in line with the thread intent. These are just my opinions, and they are likely to change as I use the device more and learn more about Android. Hopefully folks here are mature enough to not be offended because my opinions don't necessarily line up with others, or offended because I dared to mention the "i-word". I know I am taking a chance by posting this, and I'm an easy target for petty comments and cheap shots like "Shut up until you know something about Android" or "You've got really stupid expectations" or "Go get an iPhone if you love Apple so much". If you want to jump on this and ruin a perfectly good thread, I can't stop you. I will simply take it as proof that such discussions are not possible here, and will try to never bring such topics up again.

Okay, so enough pleading for people to be civil. Haven't been here long enough to know how this will turn out, but my apologies to the OP if people can't handle this post. I hope others will share their thoughts candidly as well. You never know - there might even be one or two people out there that have similar impressions.

 

[Cozmosis]

Same old Galaxy GPS issues.

Couldn't get a lock in like, 2-3 minutes. Gave up.

Smooth device going through it, but the lack of copy/paste in the email app still is poor. And god knows when it would get Gingerbread to fix this..

GPS is kind of a dealbreaker, though. Need to wait to see how the devs work the device.

 

[moondrius]

Give it some time. I had the gps not work once in awhile but now its instant every time.

 

[DroidXcon]

Same old Galaxy GPS issues.

Couldn't get a lock in like, 2-3 minutes. Gave up.

Smooth device going through it, but the lack of copy/paste in the email app still is poor. And god knows when it would get Gingerbread to fix this..

GPS is kind of a dealbreaker, though. Need to wait to see how the devs work the device.

mine locked and gave me directions in my house within 20 seconds, are all 3 services checked?

 

[ckstou]

BobR -The title of this thread is "Initial Charge Thoughts and Reviews" and that is exactly what you gave. I'm in kind of the same boat in that I have never had an android phone so I am expecting a fairly steep learning curve myself. I expect to be initially frustrated but from what I have learned from my limited experience with AC is that there are a lot of good people willing to help with whatever problems you may be experiencing. Good Luck with your new phone

 

[TrendyProfessional1]

Thus far the browser seems to be a bit touchy. When I go to scroll sometimes it zooms. Also the keyboard seems to be a bit sensitive.
The plus, call volume on the bt is great. Im going to exchange it and see if that helps with the browser, and keyboard.

 

[hockeymn25]

You can't copy and Paste? Is there an app for this for android? That is not cool, I do that constantly with work e-mail. Anyone know if there is a fix for that

THX

 

[Grenex]

I switched from a Droid1 to the charge. I got mine at 8:30am EST yesterday so I am well past 24 hours of ownership and have used it extensively.

My thoughts so far...


The Good:

• Although it was 100% DEAD at purchase time (had to plug it in at the Walmart counter to activate it) the Battery life seems to be doing well so far.
• Phone is MUCH faster than my old Droid1. Instant response times! Gallery and photos load FAST!
• Camera seems good thus far
• Despite other people's posts, my GPS is DEAD ON with no delays
• Nice text selection tool (part of Swype keyboard?) that makes it MUCH easier to place your typing curser exactly where you want it

The Bad/Annoying:

• My biggest gripe is the power button on the right hand side. I am ALWAYS hitting it while holding and using the phone. I wish they would have put it on the top of the phone!
• I am used to a "silent mode" slider on my Droid1 unlock screen. It was fast and easy to silence the mode without having to unlock it.
• Volume button would be better if placed on the right side of the phone instead of the left (should be where the power button is. I would like to use the volume rocker with my right thumb, and it just seems so awkward on the left side of the device
• I have loaded "NoLED" and it works. But I still miss a physical LED notification light
• I found the default keyboard to be "touchy" and hit a lot of wrong characters with it. I am mostly a swype user and since enabling Swype, I am much happier, but find that my occasional touch type to enter words that Swype does not know yields some inconsistent letters

 

[booboolala2000]

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.

my TBolt did the same thing. My Charge does too. Must be something to do with the radio or software. Not all the time and isn't dependant on 3g or lte.

 

[Ytown]

I tried the Thunderbolt for a week and returned it. The main problems being the earpeice was too loud with a hissing noise, light leakage on the bottom of the screen and piss poor battery. The Charge has not had any battery or build quality issues for me. The Thunderbolt has better software and ran smoother in my opionin but the complaints I listed were deal breakers for me. Also once you get a taste of Verizon's 4 G it's hard to go back

 

[mboverst]

Here's my $0.02's. This review is coming from a guy who is pretty picky with electronics and not afraid to find faults, return it, complain, etc.

Honestly, I'm loving it right now. I've been on a couple of Android phones over the years and this is my favorite. To counter some of the negative reviews or issues I've heard, I'll hit on those. Obviously, I'll leave out most of the pros since they've been covered everywhere. The phone feels very solid, in no way does it feel cheap at all. It's very well built and the buttons are very secure and responsive. Saturday it came half charged and I pretty much just plugged it in every other hour so that I could keep toying with it. Today was my first day on a full charge. I was on it just about the whole day looking for an excuse to surf the web, forums, text, e-mail, call, game, etc. My house is located in a place where I have 3-4 bars 4G and was using it all day. It lasted 20 hours before I just plugged it back in (and it was not completely dead). This was from heavy use with typical first day shiny new toy use.

I never lost data, dropped calls, switched networks or anything. The phone ran solid on 4G all day and held some very impressive speeds. I am in Dallas and my hourly speed tests ranged from 8.5-25 mbps down with the average being about 18ish. I was extremely impressed. The browser was a little catchy on some flash heavy sites (but not a big issue at all). I switched over to Dolphin and had no issues as I flew around the net with multi-tabs open.

I have experienced no GPS issues. I have used the resident apps and a couple of 3rd party ones. I never had to wait more than 1-3 seconds to get a near perfect lock. I'll update if I have any issues in the future, but I drove around a lot today trying it out everywhere with no issues.

The only issue I had whatsoever was the general touchwiz lagging switching through screens and the occasional delay backing out of apps. This is pretty trivial since we are literally talking about a 1/4 to 1/2 second delay which is no big deal. I was able to open work documents, play games, etc with no real issues. I can live with a small delay every once in a while until I'm able to root it.

Overall, it's the best phone I've tried and does everything I've wanted/needed it to Feel free to PM or ask about specifics and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.

 

[ellje]

Here's my $0.02's. This review is coming from a guy who is pretty picky with electronics and not afraid to find faults, return it, complain, etc.

Honestly, I'm loving it right now. I've been on a couple of Android phones over the years and this is my favorite. To counter some of the negative reviews or issues I've heard, I'll hit on those. Obviously, I'll leave out most of the pros since they've been covered everywhere. The phone feels very solid, in no way does it feel cheap at all. It's very well built and the buttons are very secure and responsive. Saturday it came half charged and I pretty much just plugged it in every other hour so that I could keep toying with it. Today was my first day on a full charge. I was on it just about the whole day looking for an excuse to surf the web, forums, text, e-mail, call, game, etc. My house is located in a place where I have 3-4 bars 4G and was using it all day. It lasted 20 hours before I just plugged it back in (and it was not completely dead). This was from heavy use with typical first day shiny new toy use.

I never lost data, dropped calls, switched networks or anything. The phone ran solid on 4G all day and held some very impressive speeds. I am in Dallas and my hourly speed tests ranged from 8.5-25 mbps down with the average being about 18ish. I was extremely impressed. The browser was a little catchy on some flash heavy sites (but not a big issue at all). I switched over to Dolphin and had no issues as I flew around the net with multi-tabs open.

I have experienced no GPS issues. I have used the resident apps and a couple of 3rd party ones. I never had to wait more than 1-3 seconds to get a near perfect lock. I'll update if I have any issues in the future, but I drove around a lot today trying it out everywhere with no issues.

The only issue I had whatsoever was the general touchwiz lagging switching through screens and the occasional delay backing out of apps. This is pretty trivial since we are literally talking about a 1/4 to 1/2 second delay which is no big deal. I was able to open work documents, play games, etc with no real issues. I can live with a small delay every once in a while until I'm able to root it.

Overall, it's the best phone I've tried and does everything I've wanted/needed it to Feel free to PM or ask about specifics and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.

Thanks, that's some well thought-out information, and I appreciate the fact that you're willing to tell it like it is.

You touched on some of the important things I've been wondering about: battery & GPS, both with high reviews. I told myself to wait a week to see what issues (if any) come out, but I found myself at VZW toying with the Charge AGAIN today... I see a new Charge in my very near future.

I'm curious what speed test you guys are using. I typed phone speed test into google and pulled the the first site. The Charge that I played with today picked up 693kbps, which was disappointing next to my buddy's iPhone at 500 and some change. This was in a 4G area in Denver... it made one of the two of us happy... I'll say that.

 

[davey11]

Thanks, that's some well thought-out information, and I appreciate the fact that you're willing to tell it like it is.

You touched on some of the important things I've been wondering about: battery & GPS, both with high reviews. I told myself to wait a week to see what issues (if any) come out, but I found myself at VZW toying with the Charge AGAIN today... I see a new Charge in my very near future.

I'm curious what speed test you guys are using. I typed phone speed test into google and pulled the the first site. The Charge that I played with today picked up 693kbps, which was disappointing next to my buddy's iPhone at 500 and some change. This was in a 4G area in Denver... it made one of the two of us happy... I'll say that.

If you're in a 4g area, your speed should be MUCH higher. Maybe the icon was showing 3g and you weren't aware of it? mboverst above said he was getting 18mbps...that would be 18,000kbps.

 

[ellje]

I thought so, too. The phone said 4G LTE on the top of the display, so I assume it was on 4G at the time. Don't know, it was very confusing. I chalk it up to user error since I had no idea what I was doing, anyways.

 

[davey11]

I thought so, too. The phone said 4G LTE on the top of the display, so I assume it was on 4G at the time. Don't know, it was very confusing. I chalk it up to user error since I had no idea what I was doing, anyways.

Hey, you're a phone addict like all of us here and we love phone addicts. (Myself being a major one)
You say you been in the store more than once to play with the phone? I been in store like maybe 8 times prior to and after release just to check up on the DC.

 

[nikolasmason]

I switched to the Droid Charge from a Droid Incredible. This is only my second Android phone, but I love it more than any others I have messed with. I immediately downloaded ADW Launcher though because I hate the Touchwiz interface, and things seem to run smoother now also.

There is no 4G in my area yet, but the screen and everything else about this phone are incredible. Especially the camera. It really impresses me how great the quality is. A HUGE step up from my Incredible. Same with the battery life. I can actually make it more than three hours without losing all the power.

Sent from my Droid Charge

 

[rmreagle]

I picked the charge up saturday morning and so far it's a mixed bag for me... The speaker is ok but nowhere neare as good as my D1, screen is simply amazing though. I accidentally d/l'd the OTA update so now i can't root to play around with superuser permissions to make the phone smoother. My biggest complaint is actually with the 3.5mm headphone jack. It works with my regular headphones but when i plug in the cord i have for my car stereo i get no output to the speakers. This might end up being a HUGE dealbreaker for me as I use my phone as a music player while driving constantly. I'm hoping the issue is with my particular phone and not a manufactured flaw across all devices... Could anyone else test this before I take my phone back and try and swap for a new one... At least this will get me a new phone maybe and i can keep it from OTA update so i can root... Would still like to know if this is a major hardware issue or not though.