Thinking of defecting from the revolution to the charge

[Chris2183]

I currently have a revolution and the phone is great with one exception,I lose the signal in the building I work in. My droid 2 would get a spotty signal through most of the building however the revolution only gets a signal in 2 corners of the building.

Anyone else work in a building with a lot of interference and still get a good signal or know of a link that tells which phone has the best radio?

 

[Raptor007]

Not sure what type of building you work ing, I take it there a lot of concrete around you or at least really thick walls? If we have learned one thing from the iPhone its that the bars you see mean nothing, after all the iPhone was giving off bogus signal strength for 3 years until Apple admitted it was a "bug" like all of their other "bugs".

I would check the signal strength under settings => about phone => status and see what it gives you. At my house I get 2 bars showing but my signal strength is actually -81dBm to -90dBm so it does fluctuate but my calls are great, both parties can hear.

I can say the Charge is very good for me and they just issued a software update to EE4 which addresses some bug fixes:

The Samsung Droid Charge is getting itself a nice little slew of bugfixes, courtesy of an update slugged EE4. And it's a pretty good list of fixes:

- Improved battery life when placing a voice call
- Easily return calls within the call log entry by pressing the phone icon
- Outgoing calls from visual voicemail will be placed propely
- Pressing and holding the 1 key will automatically route the user to the voicemail service
- Audio has been adjusted to avoid "No audio" or "screeching sounds"
- Accurately detect and connect to LTE
- Enhanced browser performance
- New email folder struction
- Exchange password change fixes
- Email and calendar sync fixes
- Mobile hotspot capability restored
- USB mass storage mode now automatically recognized
- Phone recognizes ringtones purchased from Verizon
- GPS improvements

Not sure if helped or confused

 

[Chris2183]

There are no bars and the phone says searching for service. I work in a manufacturing plant so it's all thick brick walls and interference from the monitoring equipment. it sucks because I could text my wife and get some data in the break area with my D2 and now I can't do anything.

 

[Raptor007]

That is a bummer. I would say its the equipment generating all that interference. Odd they don't have any type of signal boosters in the plant anywhere, executives would want their phones to work I'm sure.

 

[Chris2183]

That is a bummer. I would say its the equipment generating all that interference. Odd they don't have any type of signal boosters in the plant anywhere, executives would want their phones to work I'm sure.

It is the building and equipment. Im not expecting miracles but I would like to be able to text and use data on 1x like I used to be able to do.

As far as executives go, the ones who matter have offices in the very front of the building where signal is not an issue.

 

[jhowle9475]

well i will say if you made the move then you would be doing yourself a favor. The carge is way better then the revolution and you would think that a company like LG who makes top notch electronics could muster a better screen. When i first saw it in the verizon store only one word came to mind..... YUCK!!!

 

[Chris2183]

well i will say if you made the move then you would be doing yourself a favor. The carge is way better then the revolution and you would think that a company like LG who makes top notch electronics could muster a better screen. When i first saw it in the verizon store only one word came to mind..... YUCK!!!

I went ahead and grabbed one this afternoon since I was on day 13 of my 14 day window. I didnt mind the screen on the Revo to be honest.

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

I went ahead and grabbed one this afternoon since I was on day 13 of my 14 day window. I didnt mind the screen on the Revo to be honest.

So do you like the Charge better?

 

[Chris2183]

So do you like the Charge better?

Ive only had the Charge for 24hrs so Im trying to give it a fair chance, but so far I have been slightly underwhelmed by it.

I dont like Touchwiz, the puzzle unlock screen, or the horizontal sliding app drawer. Luckily I found a setting to change the lock screen in the Display Settings from the puzzle lock to glass one. I then found a launcher called Gingerbread Launcher Free that I liked

I miss the LED light from the Revo
I miss the collapsible app drawers on the Revo
I hate the brown and orange color scheme (I understand they used dark colors to help with battery life, but they could have found better colors to use)
GIFs do not animate
GPS is not as good as the Revo even after the EE4 update I got this morning
The side power button. All my previous droids have had the button on top

Now there are some things about the Charge that I do like, and I think after I get the phone arranged to my liking it will become a much better experience.

The shape. I really like the curved bottom, I know its polarizing and people either like it or hate it, and Im in the like it category.
The extended battery door. It matches the contours of the phone, unlike the Revo which juts out abruptly
The stock keyboard on the Charge is better than the Revo (I use Swype in portrait mode but I prefer the other keyboard in landscape)
The slider that lets you move the cursor around to edit text in the text box
Not having to reboot when toggling from 4G to 3G
The reboot button in the phone options (when you long press the power button)
The data toggle in the notification bar. (No more hunting the market for a reliable data toggle widget, the ones I tried all became spotty after some use)
The Dev community. I am looking forward to rooting and freezing all the bloat, once my return period has passed.


Overall my leanings are still towards the Revo, but I had time to use it and set it up to my liking, in a couple of weeks I should be as familiar with the Charge and be much more objective.