Initial Charge Thoughts and Reviews

[whitenessj]

i addressed the 3.5 i another post..you have to "snap" it in...i thought it was a bust as well but it is actually just REALLY secure..It was gonna be a issue with me as well but were good

 

[whitepearl86]

there is an option to preview the pictures after you take them. If people spent some time reading the manual or playing with the phone they wouldn't be complaining about bs especially if youre doing a minor review for others to read. //rant

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.

 

[hooskins]

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.

I will test it again at lunch, but was able to use headphones last night. Like other posters mentioned, you really have to snap it in. To me that's actually a positive.

 

[mboverst]

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.

No problem. Wow, please ignore the first grade grammer and nonsensical sentences. I guess my brain was fried from staring at the screen for 20 hours straight yesterday!

Anyway, I use the Ookla Speedtest.net app that you can easily find in the market. I prefer this app out of the other options I've tried when testing my mobile devices. I'd chalk up the slow d/l speeds to the site you were using, or the perhaps the Charge flipping to 3g without you noticing it. Also, it can lag out during the test just like any internet connection showing an abnormally low test speed.

I say bite the bullet and go pick one up! You won't be disappointed!

 

[hooskins]

there is an option to preview the pictures after you take them. If people spent some time reading the manual or playing with the phone they wouldn't be complaining about bs especially if youre doing a minor review for others to read. //rant

Agreed. I also don't get the fuse about stock apps/utilities like browser, keyboard, ui, etc. I've never used stock features. That's the whole point of any Android phone. Launcher pro, dolphin browser, gingerbread keyboard, handcent, widgetsoid, etc. solve most "issues". I would do the same with a thunderbolt too.

Cons regarding bloatware, ram, etc. are legitimate. I'm hoping those concerns can be limited by hacks.

 

[rmreagle]

I will test it again at lunch, but was able to use headphones last night. Like other posters mentioned, you really have to snap it in. To me that's actually a positive.

ok got it to snap in.. i fell stupid lol... Drove down from boston using my D1 as a music player lol

 

[ellje]

ok got it to snap in.. i fell stupid lol... Drove down from boston using my D1 as a music player lol

It's okay. We've all been there before... maybe not to this extent, but close

 

[lpsquall]

Today is the first day I am using the phone at work and it's been disconnected from the charger since 6:30am est. I currently have 43% of battery left. Any ideas what I can do to improve this? Does anyone elses battery seem to drain fast?

I'm a first time Android owner. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[mboverst]

Kill the useless widgets, set those you use to refresh only as necessary (I keep mine at manual), set the screen brightness to auto, check your Task Manager and make sure any unnecessary apps are not running, and toggle off the GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi if you are not currently using them.

These are the easiest simple tweeks you can make. If your battery life isn't improving then let us know and we can hopefully give you some more tips! The good thing about Android devices is that you can customize them easily to suit your needs!

 

[reflekt2099]

the auto brightness has made the biggest difference for me so far.

quick question: for anyone using advanced task killer, how "aggressive" do you have your settings to kill programs? mine is set to "aggressive" and frequency is set to "when screen off".

the annoying thing is that as soon as many of those programs are killed, they re-load immediately. so i'm kinda failing to really see the point of ATK; feeling a bit skeptical. it actually looks like these programs are being loaded, then killed, then loaded and killed...over and over again, which makes me wonder if this is actually killing my battery life even more.

 

[DroidXcon]

the auto brightness has made the biggest difference for me so far.

quick question: for anyone using advanced task killer, how "aggressive" do you have your settings to kill programs? mine is set to "aggressive" and frequency is set to "when screen off".

the annoying thing is that as soon as many of those programs are killed, they re-load immediately. so i'm kinda failing to really see the point of ATK; feeling a bit skeptical. it actually looks like these programs are being loaded, then killed, then loaded and killed...over and over again, which makes me wonder if this is actually killing my battery life even more.

Why is this even a question we plaster this everywhere on this site that ATK and programs like it are not recommended. Most of the time it does more harm than good, despite what people percieve as improvement.

 

[mboverst]

I've just been using the samsung Task Manager instead of ATK. Every once in a while after I've been playing with multiple apps then I'll go in and clean them up with a quick kill and it appears to be working fine and not re-loading them until I physically open them again myself. As stated above, I've never been a fan of ATK and in my experience it usually does more harm than good.

 

[lpsquall]

Kill the useless widgets, set those you use to refresh only as necessary (I keep mine at manual), set the screen brightness to auto, check your Task Manager and make sure any unnecessary apps are not running, and toggle off the GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi if you are not currently using them.

These are the easiest simple tweeks you can make. If your battery life isn't improving then let us know and we can hopefully give you some more tips! The good thing about Android devices is that you can customize them easily to suit your needs!

Thanks for the tips. Forgot about turning off the GPS. I do have the screen brightness set to auto and everything else turned off. (wifi/bluetooth). I also installed the advanced task killer to kill any apps that refuse to close.

As for the widgets, which ones do you recommend I use?

Anything else we can do to improve battery life?

 

[whitenessj]

IMO most task killers are battery eaters as well for that exact reason. They kill programs and then the program runs battery by immediately reopening... set auto brightness and kill widgets is the first big step..

 

[mboverst]

I'm not a big widget fan. The only ones I find useful are weather/clock types that I keep on my home screen. Besides that, I'd rather just open up the browser or an app when necessary and exit out of it when I'm done.

 

[reflekt2099]

thanks for the confirmation. I just uninstalled ATK, haha.

 

[DroidXcon]

Thanks for the tips. Forgot about turning off the GPS. I do have the screen brightness set to auto and everything else turned off. (wifi/bluetooth). I also installed the advanced task killer to kill any apps that refuse to close.

As for the widgets, which ones do you recommend I use?

Anything else we can do to improve battery life?

get rid of ATK , if you need to kill a task, hold down the home button and select task manager.
Take the brightness off auto and lower it yourself...
Also uncheck power savings mode at the bottom which doesnt really help

 

[lpsquall]

Unistalled ATK as well. Hopefully this improves the battery as well.

mboverst, do you keep the other screens empty then?

 

[lpsquall]

I'm not a big widget fan. The only ones I find useful are weather/clock types that I keep on my home screen. Besides that, I'd rather just open up the browser or an app when necessary and exit out of it when I'm done.

Do you keep the other screens empty then?

 

[mboverst]

For the most part. I'll just fill them with shortcuts to apps that I use. I'm not a huge social networker or anything, so I just use their apps when I do check in. I just find most widgets to be more gimmicky than useful. I would use them, but I find that 99% of my phone usage is for e-mail, texts, calling, and browsing. I think the extended battery life outweighs their actual usefulness.