My Honest Take On The Charge Vs Thunderbolt Debate...Now That I Also Have A Charge

[PJnc284]

Why is this? Isn't the Android platform pretty much the same? If this is the case whay does Google contract Samsung to make there branded handsets?

No because the manufacturer's like HTC and Samsung screw things up and tie a lot of things from their UI's into the underlying Android Framework so you can't just substitute AOSP code. The Kernel and RIL are a whole different can of worms. Maybe Adrynalyne can comment on it as he developed for the Fascinate so he should be able to explain it better.

 

[Mortiel]

I'm waiting for someone to pop in their two cents with the Revolution, since its out as of today.

And why, oh why, does the Revolution have a 1.9 GHz PCS radio in it? Yes, you heard me. P. C. S.

 

[SAVJR]

It will be interesting to read your review of the new LG, compared to the TBolt and Charge. I love my Tbolt and have learned to live with the battery issues.

 

[PJnc284]

The Revolution looks like a decent phone and was the only other upcoming LTE device that I was considering. If it had been spec'd similar to the G2x or Optimus 2x, I probably would've waited but there really isn't much hardware difference between the Thunderbolt and Revolution. Plus the UI also looks like a Touchwiz rip off.

 

[broadwayblues]

Why is this? Isn't the Android platform pretty much the same? If this is the case whay does Google contract Samsung to make there branded handsets?

Kinda like saying all cars are the same because they all have an engine and four wheels.

Each company uses Android as the base, kinda like the chasis of a car.

The hardware of the phone is like the engine, some phones have a great engine, others not so much.

The most obvious part is what each company does on top of the Android UI, also known as the skin. HTC has Sense, Motorola has Blur, Samsung has Touchwiz. Some do it right, some don't. None are as lightweight as a stock Android phone.

So looking at my analogy, the hardware is the car's engine, the skin is how heavy the car is. Doesn't matter if you have 300 HP, if your car weighs 17,000 pounds, it isn't going to feel like a powerful car.

Same with the phones. You can have great hardware, like the new Droid X2, with dual-core processors, but weigh it down with poorly programmed and heavy Blur, and the phone is sluggish and lags. Once the devs get in to the phone, remove all the unnecessary weight, and lighten the impact that Blur has on the phone, you will realize a huge increase in the phone's responsiveness and see that you really do have a nice phone underneath all that baggage.

So when we look at phones, we have to consider what's riding on top, Sense is pretty good, I actually like it. When I had a Droid X, I had to use a launcher on it, ADX just to get rid of Moto Blur as much as possible, and went ended up putting Gingerbread on it just to get the phone to live up to its potential.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope that I helped you understand why all Android isn't the same.

 

[rcpa]

First of all the Charge pushes 3rd party emails almost as fast as a Blackberry I'm still amazed my AOL mail arrives within 3 minutes every single time and Gmail is of course even faster.

I have my work email, from an Exchange Server, set up for push during my work hours. My work email usually is announced on my Thunderbolt almost a second before it's announced in my desktop Outlook client. And that's with the Thunderbolt accessing the Exchange Server through the cell network / internet, and my desktop Outlook client using the office ethernet network. I don't connect to my office WiFi.

 

[Forgetful]

I've played with 3 to 4 charges for 45 minutes and it's a decent phone. But for me the bolt is much better. Honestly the laggyness and cheapness of touchwiz makes me want to toss it across the room. Only way I'd survive is a custom rom. But the dev community for the bolt is much bigger / better.


Also there are key differences like kickstand, led light, physical buttons (yuck), 50 percent more ram (and this is a important one, I have many processes running and I don't think the charge could keep up. People were complaining about this day one), frequency of updates (this is important for roooted and unrooted users since custom roms are built off leaks and current firmware aside from AOSP). Heck I thing the bolt is sexier (visually) too.

If I were having reboot issues or battery issues I might feel differently though.

 

[Mortiel]

The Revolution looks like a decent phone and was the only other upcoming LTE device that I was considering. If it had been spec'd similar to the G2x or Optimus 2x, I probably would've waited but there really isn't much hardware difference between the Thunderbolt and Revolution. Plus the UI also looks like a Touchwiz rip off.

Either LG ripped off Samsung's UI, or vise-versa. I highly doubt I'll ever know for sure, but I saw that UI first on the Samsung Rogue a few years ago. It was not an Android phone either (it was released a bit before as the Droid A855... lol) What does that tell me? Samsung and LG need to put on their big boy pants and stop making Android UIs that are near identical to a two year old feature phone!

 

[Mortiel]

Kinda like saying all cars are the same because they all have an engine and four wheels.

Each company uses Android as the base, kinda like the chasis of a car.

The hardware of the phone is like the engine, some phones have a great engine, others not so much.

The most obvious part is what each company does on top of the Android UI, also known as the skin. HTC has Sense, Motorola has Blur, Samsung has Touchwiz. Some do it right, some don't. None are as lightweight as a stock Android phone.

So looking at my analogy, the hardware is the car's engine, the skin is how heavy the car is. Doesn't matter if you have 300 HP, if your car weighs 17,000 pounds, it isn't going to feel like a powerful car.

Same with the phones. You can have great hardware, like the new Droid X2, with dual-core processors, but weigh it down with poorly programmed and heavy Blur, and the phone is sluggish and lags. Once the devs get in to the phone, remove all the unnecessary weight, and lighten the impact that Blur has on the phone, you will realize a huge increase in the phone's responsiveness and see that you really do have a nice phone underneath all that baggage.

So when we look at phones, we have to consider what's riding on top, Sense is pretty good, I actually like it. When I had a Droid X, I had to use a launcher on it, ADX just to get rid of Moto Blur as much as possible, and went ended up putting Gingerbread on it just to get the phone to live up to its potential.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope that I helped you understand why all Android isn't the same.

This analogy = win.

Kudos!

 

[PJnc284]

ha funny thing is that LG even went so far as having similar quick toggles in the pull-down bar. Wish all manufacturers would go that route. The Sense 2.1+ toggles are ok, but it's annoying having to hit another tab to get them.

 

[SoDev]

The Brown and orange is unusual but it doesn't bother me at all. IMO its one of the only aspects other than the AMOLED screen that makes this handset unique.

That's cool man, glad you like it, but of the 7 agreement points that is the one I least care about even if it is a tad funky.

 

[AndroidXTC]

Battery and email works fine for me. Besides these two an volume, anything else? If not, still the thunderbolt is a winner here.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt.

Like I said I don't think there is a real winner just a lot of trade offs. The Charge has a better screen the Thunderbolt's Sense IU is smoother then Touch Wiz it depends on the user and what is more important to them. They are both good phones both not without quirks.

 

[ipb_11]

I don't know why people act like the Thunderbolt doesn't just work. It just works perfectly fine for me. I know this is not the case for everyone obviously, but I wonder how much of the not "just working" is due to human error?

I agree. I never really have any problems with my Thunderbolt and it seems to work perfectly for me. Definitely no big problems, especially after my storm1, I know what it's like to have major problems.

 

[Vance14]

I think the OP is a fair and honest overview.

I messed around with both phones enough to know I like the TB better, but that is because I just don't like TouchWiz and physical buttons at all. And I like the heavier build of the TB. But the screen on the Charge is very nice and the phone shape and feel in the hand is very nice.

 

[dms76]

Haha did you read your own review? After reading it, it seems like your 90% in favor of the tbolt, and think the email client is faster on the Charge, I gotta tell you though, my emails are literally near instant on my Bolt, honestly my gmail sometimes shows up on my phone before it shows up on my computer even when I'm hitting refresh... My exchange account is also pushed and is nearly instant.

Nothing would bother me more than a laggy interface, and the bolt is the fastest interface I've ever used on a phone hands down. Sense is great, especially when I lay launcher pro over it which imo has better widgets the only thing I miss is the clock because I haven't found one that is as good looking as the sense clock but everything else is so far superior that it's just worth it.

Enjoy whichever you choose, oh and the battery life is probably a little better because as I recall the charge comes with a bit bigger stock battery

Check out fancy widget pro as it is a fare replacement for sense clock and look the same. You can config 3rd party apps for weather, alarm, date etc

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[dpham00]

Check out fancy widget pro as it is a fare replacement for sense clock and look the same. You can config 3rd party apps for weather, alarm, date etc

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

I love fancy widget pro, got it free a while ago.. There are so many options for clock. I use the 1x4 widget with weather and battery meter.and you can set any app for alarm, date and weather.

 

[NotJustAPhone]

I like my ThunderBolt so I guess that means I have a weakness for runway models.

The Samsung UI strikes me as a bit too iPhone inspired, which is not my preference.

 

[AndroidXTC]

I like my ThunderBolt so I guess that means I have a weakness for runway models.

The Samsung UI strikes me as a bit too iPhone inspired, which is not my preference.

Nothing wrong with that as I see it.

 

[SpaceHippie]

Post again when it's christmas and it still doesn't have Gingerbread. #justsaying.

LMFAO THIS x200000

 

[AndroidXTC]

LMFAO THIS x200000

Oh its true Samsung is terrible at updates. They usually do them, but at a snails pace for sure. This is why I only signed on for a 1 year contract, my contract renews in January of 2012 im sure there will be pleanty of new handsets and operating ripe for the picking by then. Maybe even a super duper 4G IPhone!