Samsung Droid Charge
Phone Scoop Review
May 1, 2011 by Eric M. Zeman
Verizon's second Long Term Evolution 4G phone, the Samsung Droid Charge, is a huge, spaceship-sized device that represents all the promise of things to come. Does it fulfill those promises? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Good work Samsung and Droid!
I LOVE THIS PHONE!!!
PROS:
1. The screen size
2. The battery is decent in comparison to other android phones
3. Camera is amazing for a phone
4. Screenshots are easily captured
5. 4G lite is so quick! And auto so battery doesn't wear
6. Texting is easy for all touch
7. Sound quality is good
8. Front facing camera!!
CONS:
1.Really cant think of too many at this time
I have had probably over 60 phones. I love this one. Besides the Iphone this is my favorite.
Nice Work VZW and Samsung!
Wow! I have had this device for about a month and a half now. I wanted to use it long enough to give an honest review..
The 4G itself is truly enough to sell this phone. Lets face it, if you are like me, you spend about 60% of the time with data and 40% of the time with voice.
I find the voice quality to be excellent.
The screen is in a class by itself. Right up there with the iPhone 4. The bigger screen truly gives the web browsing a whole new level of surfing the web.
The slick style also makes this phone very attractive to look at. I get a lot more questions over what phone I have then ever before, which is sad.... ITS A PHONE PEOPLE, NOT A HOUSE OR SUV!!
The 150,000 android apps and open market make this device my choice over the iPhone4. It is just waaaay more customizable and cant live without those widgets!
If you are looking for a device that covers the whole ice rink and covers all bases.. get this device!
Fast Phone, Amazing Screen, Great Features, Solid Feel
I'm a phone junky and average switching phones about every nine months. I think I've actually found the keeper for a while.
I'm calling this one "great" in all of these categories:
- screen brightness and color
- reception
- call quality
- app running and stability
- button feel
- overall solid phone feel
- build quality
- camera and photo quality
- Swype
- Voice-to-text translation that I use when driving
- GPS connection
- Call, notification, and music volume
I'll give it a "pretty darn good" for battery life. I've had the Incredible and briefly tried the Thunderbolt, so I am well-versed in watching a battery drain at a senseless rate. (-;
My thoughts on some of the negatives that you may have heard/read about:
- LED Notification: I actually prefer using the NoLED app over having a single light. With the latest versions, I now only now know if I received, for example, a text versus an email. But I also know from whom I received the text as the app displays the person's contact photo.
- Single-core Processor: It's good enough to allow me to navigate with Google Maps, play music blue-toothed to my car stereo, and surf the web. Admittedly, I don't do any crazy gaming, but this thing moves along just fine. My main concern with the upcoming dual-core processors is that they'll be battery suckers. And let's face it, we barely get enough decent usage out of smartphone batteries anyway these days.
I guess that's about it. Great phone, great features, great form, great function.
Best 4G phone by leaps and bounds
I went with the Samsung Charge after 'test driving' the Thunderbolt for a couple of weeks. When comparing the two, the Charge comes ahead in nearly every aspect, and where it doesn't, merely breaks even.
PROs:
-Super AMOLED Plus screen- just beautiful.
-The Charge has good battery life for a smart phone.
-Fantastic camera- and camcorder, even in dark conditions.
-I have been tethering with a MacBook Pro and a Toshiba with no problem.
CONs:
-Froyo- hopefully there is a 2.3 update
-Bloatware
-No LED indicator- that is an easy fix, though.
Overall, the Samsung Droid Charge is an amazing phone, good voice quality, few instances of apps needing to force close, and no power cycling. I would pick this phone over any other 4G LTE phone that Verizon has.
Awesome Phone !!
After 8 years of Windoze Mobile devices, I have to say this phone IS THE BOMB. I find most of the complaints are from people who either haven't taken the time to figure it all out and/or were biased to begin with. Best display in the industry, lightening fast on 4G, adequate speed on 3G, great camera, great music player, and very easy to use. The battery life complaints stem from the fact that over 90% of the drain is from powering the screen. So given the fact that youâre almost always playing with it (no pun intended), the screen is almost always lit, and the faster the battery drains. Installation of NOLED from the Marketplace provides the indicator for missed calls, text & email notification, and charging that Samsung left out.
The MUST HAVE add-ons include the Desktop Multimedia Charger w/extra battery, the Shell/Holster Combo which gives the phone a handy kickstand like the Thunderbolt, and a screen protector. An $ saving assortment of Genuine Samsung headsets & chargers are available on ebaY. I bought a Samsung brand AC charger there for $4.95 and a Samsung brand Car charger for $6.99 versus $20-$30 each from Verizon direct. The AC and car chargers seem to charge the battery a little more rapidly than the USB connection, so it's a good idea to keep one of each handy.
Though there's a bit of a learning curve, this phone can compete with the iPhone on practically all fronts. Itâs not only faster then the currently available iPhone 4, but Iâve been able to surf and talk SIMULTANEOUSLY even when running on 3G. Thereâs a facility to turn off 4G to help conserve battery power. If thereâs software for the iPhone that tickles your fancy, chances are youâll find it in the Android Marketplace too, and often for free. Notice how Apple is running all those âIf You Donât Have an iPhone .â¦â ads on TV? Well guess what Apple, I found something at least as good if not better.
After 2 weeks of ownership, Iâd still buy this phone again in a heartbeat.
GREAT PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!
this is my second droid phone from the original droid.was going to wait for the bionic but i could not get out of my head on how this phone felt and the amazing screen display.i would highly reccommend this phone.it is extremely fast,easy user friendly and light weight.bought the optional black case from verizon and it surprisingly had a kick stand on the back.this phone does everything i need it to do for me.don't need dual core processor personally.i enjoy music player thru tunewiki etc..installed no-led from market and now have a notification light for text messages and set my notification sound.so far so good.thanks for reading...try it for a week if in doubt.
Amazing phone
My battery lasts about 12 hours a day with me constantly on it with 4g automatic on. The screen is better than my galaxy s fascinate screen which is itself an awesome screen. I personally like the shape of the phone. the physical buttons took me a day or two to get used to coming from the touch buttons. I would recommend this phone over any other verizon 4g phone except maybe the bionic which may not actually ever come out lol.
Excellent Phone
I love this phone. The Super amoled plus display measures 4.3" and a 32 gig micro-SD card comes standard. The battery life is exceptional for a 4g device -- I've been able to get through a full day without having to charge the phone mid-day. The camera is pretty good, too, as long as you realize it's not ever going to replace a good point-and-shoot or SLR. The reception is pretty good and the call quality is clear. I've had one dropped call in 8 days. Contrary to what I read in one review, it does not have to be re-booted once it loses a 4g signal in order to get back on to the 4g signal. The Verizon 4g network is still suffering through some growing pains but I've still been able to get download speeds between 20 and 50 times faster than 3g. In my mind, that's definitely worth the extra $50 or $100 this phone is likely to cost you over any 3g only device. I downloaded a 2-hour movie in about 5 minutes while on 4g.
It doesn't have a dual core processor and it does have minor issues navigating certain flash-intensive sites. It's also priced a little high through Verizon at $299, but if you have a Costco near you (or catch it on sale at Amazon or somewhere else) it can be had for a regular price of $249 with a mail-in rebate for the activation fee and a free case, car charger, and ear bud. There's also a $25 Samsung Media hub credit offer in the box. Not too bad of a deal for this device. Better yet, Verizon still has unlimited data plans available so it might not be a bad time to lock into a contract.
Great Droid.
Pros, I will make this short, this phone is the ultimate thought my HTC incredible was the best, which i had no problems and it was a great phone, but the Samsung Droid charge impresses me so much, it is so fast and the screen is so perfect. Can actually see the screen in the direct sunlight,this is amazing. Call quality is so clear and no dropped calls. Best phone i have ever had.
Cons: There is no led to let you know that the battery is charging, but there are free aps for that. But when battery is charaged you will see an icon in upper left that lets you know it is charged..
