Related
basically two simple questions: what phone did you have before, and what made you decide for the droid charge?
My answer is I had the samsung fascinate, I was pretty mad with samsung, because of the slowness of updates, specially froyo, but the developers made it happened.
I got the charge because I love the Amoled Screen, and the specs are pretty good, in my opinion, better than the thunderbolt, Im not sure if developement on this phone will be as good as the thunderbolt, but as it is right now, I love it, why brake what is not broken?
In the last year or so I've gone through the following to get to my charge:
Blackberry 9630 -> HTC Incredible -> Samsung Fascinate, then got a Samsung Epic 4G to carry alongside -> Samsung Droid Charge
During that time, I've also had lengthy personal experience using a HTC Thunderbolt (two friends have them), a Motorola Droid X (two friends have them), Motorola Droid 2 (three friends have them), Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" (owned), and Motorola Xoom Tablet (owned).
I love my Charge. I'd say the specs are on-par with the Thunderbolt, and while I'd take HTC Sense UI or TouchWiz 4.0 -- I can't stand the washed out look of even the best LCD's on phones on the market right now.
I loved my AMOLED Inc, I really loved my S-AMOLED Fascinate and Epic, and now I really love my S-AMOLED+ Charge.
I had a defective droid x out of the box and replaced it with a Fascinate. I upgraded to the Thunderbolt and it had really bad build quality issues so I ported to att and got an Atrix. The Atrix was awesome but att was the complete opposite. I was lucky to have my phone ring half of the time and ended up having to return it and port back into Verizon. I went to best buy and they said they had the Charge instock and sold it to me 11 days early. This phone has the best screen I have ever seen and amazing battery life. Gps performance is not perfect but overall this is the 4g device to have.
Went from a BB Storm 9530 to the Droid Charge. I have a Galaxy Tab so I knew what I was getting from the droid charge, but the screen is just fantastic! When I saw it in person I knew that was the phone I was going to upgrade to. 4G is great and I just prefer it over the thunderbolt for not only the screen but I have had good expierences with Samsung in the past, and I really didnt like the kick stand on the TB. Just picked it up less than 1 hour ago
burningembers said:
I love my Charge. I'd say the specs are on-par with the Thunderbolt, and while I'd take HTC Sense UI or TouchWiz 4.0 -- I can't stand the washed out look of even the best LCD's on phones on the market right now.
I loved my AMOLED Inc, I really loved my S-AMOLED Fascinate and Epic, and now I really love my S-AMOLED+ Charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Went from a Galaxy S i9000 to a Nexus S to a Thunderbolt, and I agree, other than the iPhone 4 (which I also have) the LCD screens just pale in comparison to SAMOLED. The Thunderbolt does just look "washed out" as you put it.
Still, I'm having a tough time making the leap to a Charge. Not sure why, there's a lot of good about it that calls to me, but a lot of stuff I wish Samsung hadn't done to the phone. That SAMOLED PLUS screen may be the trump card, though...I'm afraid to go actually look at one in person because I know I won't be able to resist.
distortedloop said:
That SAMOLED PLUS screen may be the trump card, though...I'm afraid to go actually look at one in person because I know I won't be able to resist.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I went in to look at it and walked out 300 dollars poorer
Went from verizon iphone, to the bolt, then to the incredible 2, and got the droid charge the day of release. Gotta love the screen and the battery life is Outstanding!!!!!
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
I went from the Samsung Omnia to the Charge, and given the option I would do it over again. I have a friend with the bolt, and the only reason that he doesn't complain about battery life is because he leaves his phone plugged in at work all day
I went with the Charge because I wanted a 4G phone for a wifi hotspot (two laptops and soon to have two tablets), and once I saw the screen on the Charge I couldn't go back.
I had a Samsung Nexus S on T-mobile. I have been wanting to get off of t-mobile for a while since their service is pretty worthless when I am most of the time. I wanted to get back on verizon, but needed a solid phone to replace my beloved Nexus S. The Charge was pretty close so I pulled the trigger. Very happy so far.
I began my Android experience on an HTC Eris and kept it until I got the Charge last Saturday. Although it was rooted running Froyo and overclocked, the Eris was such a piece of $!&#! I cracked the glass on it in January before CES and wanted to wait to see what the manufactures had in store for 2011. Nothing impressed me except the Atrix which obviously is on ATT. Well, I was being stubborn and waiting for the Atrix twin (dual-core, 1GB RAM, etc) to come to Verizon and...well, nothing yet. (You watch, the holy grail of Android phones exceeding the Atrix will be announced next month on Verizon, *rolls eyes*)
The night before the Charge was officially on sale at Verizon, I was flashing a ROM on the Eris when it began to loop. I knew it was probably going to happen, and the trackball didn't fully work which made navigating recovery all but impossible. I'm not skilled on the SDK or ADB so I said forget it and resolved to get the Charge the next morning.
Although I really wanted a more future proof dual-core processor, I am extremely satisfied with what Samsung has come up with here. I mean, this SAMOLED Plus display is AMAZING! Performance has been fine, GPS locks in a semi-quick fashion, camera pictures and video look great, and the physical buttons are a awesome, and battery life has been pretty good.
I don't live in a 4G area (yet) but right after I purchased the phone, I left for Nashville. Once there, the 4G symbol light up (didn't change my plan, just $30 unlimited 3G) and man oh man! Reached speeds up to 23 Mbps down! On a good night, my Comcast dedicated line doesn't get that (pathetic). God bless LTE.
Complaints (#opinion):
Brown and orange color scheme? Seriously, Samsung?
3G seems to be faulty, cuts out often for about 2 mins at a time unless I toggle the data switch off/on. Never had a 3G problem in my area with the Eris.
Verizon's seemingly infinite amount of bloatware.
Power button location.
No LED notification light.
Obviously, no dual-core.
Samsung and their plastic, ugh. It's a little cheap feeling and slippery ($300 phone here and we get slippery plastic?)
--------------
Overall, I'm extremely happy with this device. And once it's rooted, some of those complaints will evaporate.
Moral of the story: it's a great looking, capable phone and if you're due for an upgrade, I would definitely consider it.
Sent from my DROID CHARGE using XDA App
Had every iPhone made before getting the Atrix... coupled with moving to the Bay area I realized how bad AT&T sucks overall. Switched to the G2x from Tmobile and LOVED it, but I had no signal at home which sucked. Now i am sitting pretty with the charge. Ironically I have LTE service at home with it, but no 3G service.
I guess i have a problem that is the first step, admitting it ...
anyway here are the phones i have owned in the last year..
Droid original, iphone 4 on verizon, ported to tmo galaxy S 4g, back to verizon with a droidx, tbolt, back to droidx, back to tbolt, now charge...
so the original droid was awesome except I learned I did not want a keyboard anymore. and the screen size was a bit small.
everyone talked about how great the iphone was so i had to try it to make sure I was not missing out on something great. although my 8 yo daughter has an ipod touch that I can't stand i figured I would keep an open mind. it was good I found that i really enjoyed the front facing camera after spending several months telling people that it was useless. The iphone was a decent phone, however I still can't stand the proprietary connections and software requirements.
galaxy s 4g, what a great phone... the only things i didn't like about this phone was gsm, compared to cdma in the DC area was appauling, no indicator light, no indicator light,
DroidX bought on ebay for $200 a great phone I rooted and had a rom on it before I activated it. great phone i still kep it as my backup.,.. no front facing camera, display is washed out, no 4 g speeds .,.. i find that the 4.3 screen was not too big for me.
Thunderbolt, battery life was horrible on stock.. took it back before root...
droid x again for a month or two untll I read how great the new roms were.
so i bought a used tbolt on ebay for $400. rooted and rom'd it. liked the roms but could not get the battery to last longer than about 4 hours. I decided to remove many apps and turn on the radios and was able to extend the battery life at the expense of usefullness of the phone.
then the charge... this is the phone I think i will be able to keep for a while. I only wish it had the msg indicater light... otherwise I am liking it very much.
Had a Droid Incredible before my Charge. So far I am really missing it aside from when 4G is behaving on my Charge.
Hey guys,
Currently have the incredible and love it but I need a bigger screen. Im due for an upgrade and like the charge. Would Anyone who upgraded to it from an incredible be down to post their experiences?
Thanks,
Sent from my 2.3.5 Incredible Obsession
bigsapz said:
Hey guys,
Currently have the incredible and love it but I need a bigger screen. Im due for an upgrade and like the charge. Would Anyone who upgraded to it from an incredible be down to post their experiences?
Thanks,
Sent from my 2.3.5 Incredible Obsession
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on you want. There is not nearly the amount of roms to choose from as there is for the DInc, but the ones we do have are great. If I had an upgrade, and was in your situation, I'd wait for the SGS2 or HTC Vigor. The Charge is a great phone but I wouldn't use an upgrade on it considering what is coming in the near future. Just my opinion though.
I did this in a roundabout way in that I used the Incredible for a year before getting my Charge, but I didn't use an upgrade (one of my kids had the Fascinate, but since he doesn't live in a 4G coverage area, I replaced his Fascinate with my Incredible and appropriated the Charge). I can say that I'm much happier with the phone having gotten it for free than I would be if I had paid for it, but overall quite pleased.
The Charge has has better:
-Battery life (by around 40%)
-Screen (I had both the SLCD and OLED DIncs- SAMOLED+ blows both away)
-Usability (screen size is much better for typing accuracy)
-Multimedia experience- SGX540 trounces the rather dated Adreno200
-Audio quality- especially with Voodoo Sound
-Bootloader design- ODIN mode is great for recovering from ****ups
Things that really don't impact my opinion
-4G is incredible in theory- in practice, Google Music and Netflix could both stream just fine over good old EV-DO RevA, and for anything else I need to download I have home wifi and 25Mbit Comcast Xfinity, so it's still sort of unnecessary. It is cool to be able to say my phone has a faster broadband connection than my home.... I'm regularly seeing 30mbit down/6 up. I'm not using it as a hotspot as I don't feel like either shelling out or risking my service, and I will say that I'm using 3-4x the data on LTE than I did over 3G, with better battery life as previously mentioned.
-Overall usability- the Hummingbird is a tad quicker than the Snapdragon, but overall I always found the DInc to be a quite responsive phone- no problems with either
-Call quality- though the Charge has a dual mic setup, they both sound the same on my end. Hard to find fault with Verizon.
Things that I still have to hand to the Incredible
-I have the Charge in an Otterbox Commuter to protect its incredibly vulnerable back shell. While this gives it a great solid feel in the hand, it also makes it a bit on the difficult side to slide in and out of pockets. The DInc was a very convenient size.
-ROM selection is way better for the DInc- though, let's be honest, I didn't care about anything else once CM7 for DInc was out. Here's hoping it hits the Charge soon.
Final thoughts- rumor has it the Bionic could be out within a week, but even if that's premature it's certainly not more than a month away. The Galaxy S2 and HTC Vigor are also both right around the corner. The Charge is about to be replaced as a flagship model. My approval of it is tempered by the fact that I got it for free. You may want to hold off a bit.
I came from the Droid incredible as well and echo the posts above. The charge is an upgrade but at this point just wait for gs2, vigor, or nexus.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
I came from the Dinc which I treasured. The dev community was awesome for the Dinc but I love eclipse.
Not sure why you would wait for the sgs2, it may not have 4G.
And the Bionic is just a bigger droid 3 with 4G. Of course to each his own, and I personally saw the samoled+ and just had to have it. I could have waited for the bionic or sgs2 but why? Whatever phone you get, im sure you will love. Afterall, they all do just about the same thing.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
I upgraded from the Dinc a couple of months ago and I'm semi happy with my upgrade. The 2 main reasons to upgrade to this phone are the screen and 4G. I guess it depends how important those two things are to you. All the phones coming out in the next couple of months will probably have those two things AND have upgraded processors, RAM, etc. So if I were in your shoes, I would wait a couple of months to see what else is coming out.
I came from the Incredible and am in love with mCharge. Has the hardkey buttons and 4g. Plus the screen it was everything I wanted. Before I got the Charge I was considering waiting on the Bionic but I personally am happy with the choice I made.
Sent from my GummyCHARGED Charge using Tapatalk
MillionManMosh said:
I did this in a roundabout way in that I used the Incredible for a year before getting my Charge, but I didn't use an upgrade (one of my kids had the Fascinate, but since he doesn't live in a 4G coverage area, I replaced his Fascinate with my Incredible and appropriated the Charge). I can say that I'm much happier with the phone having gotten it for free than I would be if I had paid for it, but overall quite pleased.
The Charge has has better:
-Battery life (by around 40%)
-Screen (I had both the SLCD and OLED DIncs- SAMOLED+ blows both away)
-Usability (screen size is much better for typing accuracy)
-Multimedia experience- SGX540 trounces the rather dated Adreno200
-Audio quality- especially with Voodoo Sound
-Bootloader design- ODIN mode is great for recovering from ****ups
Things that really don't impact my opinion
-4G is incredible in theory- in practice, Google Music and Netflix could both stream just fine over good old EV-DO RevA, and for anything else I need to download I have home wifi and 25Mbit Comcast Xfinity, so it's still sort of unnecessary. It is cool to be able to say my phone has a faster broadband connection than my home.... I'm regularly seeing 30mbit down/6 up. I'm not using it as a hotspot as I don't feel like either shelling out or risking my service, and I will say that I'm using 3-4x the data on LTE than I did over 3G, with better battery life as previously mentioned.
-Overall usability- the Hummingbird is a tad quicker than the Snapdragon, but overall I always found the DInc to be a quite responsive phone- no problems with either
-Call quality- though the Charge has a dual mic setup, they both sound the same on my end. Hard to find fault with Verizon.
Things that I still have to hand to the Incredible
-I have the Charge in an Otterbox Commuter to protect its incredibly vulnerable back shell. While this gives it a great solid feel in the hand, it also makes it a bit on the difficult side to slide in and out of pockets. The DInc was a very convenient size.
-ROM selection is way better for the DInc- though, let's be honest, I didn't care about anything else once CM7 for DInc was out. Here's hoping it hits the Charge soon.
Final thoughts- rumor has it the Bionic could be out within a week, but even if that's premature it's certainly not more than a month away. The Galaxy S2 and HTC Vigor are also both right around the corner. The Charge is about to be replaced as a flagship model. My approval of it is tempered by the fact that I got it for free. You may want to hold off a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came from the Incredible as well, and I echo everything this guy said. Although I did pay for the phone instead of free (lucky guy lol) I feel like it was worth it. I still use my Incredible (deactivated, but still works on wifi) just for random games and testing out custom roms because we all know the Inc has some great developers. Charge development is looking great too though and I can't wait to see the likes of CM7, MIUI, etc on this phone. It's not perfect, but if you convert from RFS to EXT4 it's really close.
DINC to Charge
bigsapz said:
Hey guys,
Currently have the incredible and love it but I need a bigger screen. Im due for an upgrade and like the charge. Would Anyone who upgraded to it from an incredible be down to post their experiences?
Thanks,
Sent from my 2.3.5 Incredible Obsession
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I echo all the "good" comments as I came from the DINC a month or so ago. The only thing I miss is the LED that the "DINC used for letting you know it's charging. The Charge experience is a little different than the HTC experience but it just lets you know what else is out there.
I would hold out for the Bionic. I upgraded from Dinc to Charge because Verizon was changing their unlimited tier plans and I was afraid of missing the boat so I used my upgrade to lock myself in. The Charge was the best at the time but if you can wait until the Bionic comes out 9/8-ish I would. Dual core, 4G, 4.3 inch screen plus the ability to use the Motorola dock/laptop thingy (if you're interested) is a def plus. I can't remember RAM and storage specs but I think they beat the Charge as well.
One thing I did notice coming from Dinc to Charge was the snappiness of the ROMs. Once lagfix was enabled though it was pretty hard to distinguish the difference.
wenzer said:
I would hold out for the Bionic. I upgraded from Dinc to Charge because Verizon was changing their unlimited tier plans and I was afraid of missing the boat so I used my upgrade to lock myself in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do realize if you were already on an unlimited data plan, you were locked in?
Anyway to the OP. I came from the Fascinate to the Charge. I got in on the free exchange. The Charge is a great phone. I would say it's a Fascinate 2. I don't think I would have used (wasted) an upgrade on this phone. I think it's best to see what the Bionic, Vigor, SGS2 & iPhone 5 bring to the table. This is especially true when you consider Verizon did away with 1 year contracts.
On a side note, my daughter has a Dinc. She absolutely refuses to upgrade her phone. She says it's simply "Incredible". Lol.
I'm up for a contract renewal with Verizon next Tuesday, a week from today. I currently have a Droid Eris and want to get rid of it as soon as possible! One of the phones I am considering is the Charge. I am also looking at the Xperia Play and the Droid X2. Basically the choice is going to come down to Dual Core vs 4G (I currently AM in a 4G area) vs. taking the cheap way out (Play is free online) and getting the added bonus of the game pad.
I am trying to gather information from people who have used the phone for a few months, rather than reviewers who generally only test phones fore a few days or even hours.
I am mainly concerned about battery life and general performance (lag between button presses in actions such as opening the keyboard, pressing buttons on the keyboard, opening apps, switching home screens, etc.)
My daily tasks include:
Facebook-probably checked about 5 or so times per day, or more often if I get a notification
Email- approximately 10-15 emails per day from 2 seperate google mail accounts
Weather- generally checked in the morning and evening, but with weather alerts ON and having the temperature indicator on screen refreshed at a decent interval would be nice
Texting- approximately 50-60 texts per day. keyboard MUST be responsive while texting, this is the single most annoying thing on my current phone
Phone Calls- About 30 minutes per day in a relatively strong signal area
Web Browsing / Pulse News- About 20-30 minutes per day
Music Listening - about an hour a day
Youtube / Music Videos - 20-30 minutes per day
And probably around 30 minutes up to an hour (on a heavy day) of gaming
All this on 4g, and I would prefer NOT to have to turn 4G on and off, but I am curious how much of a power savings that gives.
Would it be reasonable to expect the Charge to last through this type of usage with a single charge? Most of the gaming and video viewing is done when I get home anyway, so plugging in wouldn't be a huge deal, but it would be nice to make it through a whole day.
Also, are there any applications that feel limited without a dual core processor? I was originally looking at the Droid Bionic, but the price on that is a little steep.
What is the picture/video quality like on both the front and rear facing camera?
Is Netflix available for the Charge?
What is the support supposed to be like for the Charge? (Will it be updated past gingerbread?)
And in general, are there any nitpicky or buggy aspects of the device that should be known before choosing it?
the charge is a great phone and has great developers but i would suggest you get the droid bionic which is suppose to be release this Thursday. also the bionic is suppose to be worth 300 which is how much the droid charge currently cost's. it might drop in price when the bionic comes out, but i doubt it
Though I am not sold on the Bionic being all that it might be, you can have the best of both worlds with it, dual core and 4G.
that being said, the Charge is fantastic, some complain about this and that, and they may have legit complaints, but in a solid 4G area I think you will find it fits the bill rather well. I am in a 4G area and I have no drops of any kind, battery life is really good and overall just very nice.
The picture quality is very nice. I believe it is a 5 MP on the back and 1.3 on the front. The standard card is lacking if you want to record video in HD (why ship it with a crappy card samsung?!?!?) but normal video is good.
I never had a dual core phone, but with the Charge I havent come up against anything that has been laggy or wouldnt run.
I think Netflix is supported now on the charge, but check me on that.
One thing about Samsung and Verizon, the updates take FOREVER. We will get GB more sooner than later, but do not expect ICS until the turn of the year (even though it is out in October). Even that may be optimistic. if you are into rooting and ROMs, I am sure that we have a few good ones coming down the pike once we get a final on GB, include the possibility of CM7.
One thing that should not be overlooked is the 4G. It is HUGE and hellafast. You will wonder how you got along without it
From the phones you mentioned, I would go with the Charge or the X2.
I suggest the bionic as well. I use to have an evo 3d with Sprint before I moved to Verizon with the charge. I thought man if I had this phone with Verizon with 4g id have the best phone possible. That phone with its dual core never showed any signs of lag whatsoever. I switched to Verizon for better coverage and faster 4g. I love my charge but I do wish it was a dual core so the bionic is what id go with. Or u can wait until hopefully the nexus prime comes out....
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
I love my charge.
As far as the bionic goes you know thats going to be a battery hog.
I am very happy on where the devs are going on this device couldn't be happier.
If you can deal with the screen, I recommend the Bionic. The SAMOLED+ is really the only thing the Charge has going for it.
Kyledoo said:
I am mainly concerned about battery life and general performance (lag between button presses in actions such as opening the keyboard, pressing buttons on the keyboard, opening apps, switching home screens, etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was some lag when I first got it, mainly when switching tasks, returning to home screen etc. Rooting and modifying the phone has improved this tremendously. Also, running the latest stock leak of Gingerbread appears to have fixed these issues as well. It's really a pretty quick phone when "optimized". Just as a meaningless benchmark, overclocked to 1300 and 1400 Mhz I was getting Quadrant scores similar (if not a bit faster) than a stock HTC Thunderbolt.
Kyledoo said:
All this on 4g, and I would prefer NOT to have to turn 4G on and off, but I am curious how much of a power savings that gives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Massively. Wifi and 3G sip power compared to 4G.
Kyledoo said:
Would it be reasonable to expect the Charge to last through this type of usage with a single charge? Most of the gaming and video viewing is done when I get home anyway, so plugging in wouldn't be a huge deal, but it would be nice to make it through a whole day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're at home, I'd use wifi when you can. If not, I doubt you could get through everything you listed while on 4G all on one charge. Streaming video, rendering in the games, plus all the screen on time, plus the 4G...I think you'd be pushing it.
As far as battery, it's really dependent (for me) on 2 things: network signal and method of data. When I'm at work, I have about 1 bar and it's constantly searching. The battery will drain from this within 6-8 hours usually (with wifi on as well). When I'm at home with full service (and on wifi) I can pretty easily get through the weekend one one charge (with moderate use).
Kyledoo said:
Also, are there any applications that feel limited without a dual core processor? I was originally looking at the Droid Bionic, but the price on that is a little steep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe some emulators would perform better, I was playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time and it did have a bit of slowdown with the panning camera. Other than graphically intensive things like that, I dunno...
Kyledoo said:
What is the picture/video quality like on both the front and rear facing camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like a high resolution camera phone? I dunno. Still not a replacement for a good camera but it works in a pinch.
Kyledoo said:
Is Netflix available for the Charge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes
Kyledoo said:
What is the support supposed to be like for the Charge? (Will it be updated past gingerbread?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes
Kyledoo said:
And in general, are there any nitpicky or buggy aspects of the device that should be known before choosing it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock filesystem is RFS which is not "ideal", but you can convert this to the quicker EXT4 filesystem, which helps to reduce lag. The latest Gingerbread leak is RFS though and performance is still much better than Froyo.
I am very happy i thought the evoke was great but this phone is superior i love everything about it
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
I have a coworker who is up for renewal and we have been discussing what she should do. Verizon is dropping at least 4 new phones within the next month.
The Boinic comes out Sept 8,
HTC Vigor on Oct 6,
LG Revolution 2 on Oct 20, and
Samsung Droid Prime sometime in Oct.
I would considering holding out past the Bionic and picking up the next flagship Samsung phone that is dropping next month. It should be the first Icecream Sandwich Android phone and will likely be dual core/4g.
I say hold out for the greatest so that you won't be stuck with 6 month old technology (Boinic and Charge) as soon as you use your technology update.
I had the Fascinate and have been on the Droid Charge for a while now. I have been extremely happy with it.
I believe the Charge has the best screen you can get. Period.
Battery life: That is going to vary. I think it will hold up, but if it doesn't there is a pretty handy dock with an extra battery available.
I didn't use my phone a lot last night. From 6pm to 6am this morning used 25% of my battery. During that time, my phone performed a complete backup and a couple other automated operations I have scheduled. It also sync's data at that time. I also used my phone a little bit, but by far the most power was used by the backup operation which is processor and storage card intensive.
So, I'm pretty happy with this... 25% in 12 hours means that with light to moderate usage I'd have 50% used in 24 hours.
As for the menus / responsiveness of the phone. I was okay with it. I would have liked it to be a little snappier, but I wasn't annoyed by the time it took to bring up most things. I did switch over to the Go Launcher to replace the default home screen because it was far more customizable and it was a little snappier that way.
Of course, yesterday, I did just flash my phone with the leaked GingerBread build since it has been reported as being pretty stable... so that battery life I mentioned is on GingerBread and not on Froyo. The GingerBread TW Launcher (home screen) is better, but I still switched back to Go Launcher because it gave so many more choices / controls over how it behaves and how it works.
JuiceDefender has not been working very well on the Droid Charge, but it seems like the developers are finally working on fixing it for the Droid Charge, so that should help. You'll get a lot better battery life if you let JuiceDefender turn off your radios / data when you don't need it.
Charge is a great phone. You can start to find cheap deals on it if you upgrade online now too. There will always be something better a few months down the line. So upgrade to something a little older for free or close to it or upgrade to something brand new for $200-300.
The choice is all yours.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium
quarky42 said:
I had the Fascinate and have been on the Droid Charge for a while now. I have been extremely happy with it.
I believe the Charge has the best screen you can get. Period.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree.
I was very happy with my Liberty ROM DroidX & was waiting on the Bionic. Recently however, I fell in love with the awesome screen in the Charge & decided to buy one (it had dropped to under $200 on Amazon).
I turned on the new Charge & on the very first boot I flashed it to Gummycharge 1.9.1 & I absolutely LOVE the thing. I was still planning on replacing it with a dual core 4G phone when they became available, but at this point I like the Charge & that screen so much I don't think I will do that.
I have found that by far the best battery saving tip is to lock it in on 3G except when you are actively using 4G. Where I work, my phone was constantly switching back & forth between the two which absolutely KILLED the battery life.
With setting it to 3G & lowering the screen brightness to 18% except when I'm out in the sun, my battery life is just fine.
One thing I really don't like in the design of the Bionic is the way all Motorola screens are kinda tall & skinny compared to the Charge/iphone etc that have a little wider side to side design which helps when reading web pages etc.
~John
I meant to add that the price of the Charge is $120 on Wirefly with free shipping. It is not worth the $300 that Verizon is asking for it. Of course, I have had very good luck with taking in the best offers and asking a salesperson to do their best to beat those offers. I tell them that I would rather do business with them directly, but I need them to try and beat these deals that I have online. Sometimes you get someone that isn't interested in putting in the effort or you get a stubborn manager who won't budge... but it is worth a try.
Otherwise, just buy it on Wirefly that way and wait the 2-3 days that FedEx takes to deliver it to you. $180 can sure buy a few days of waiting.
I had the fascinate and got the free upgrade to the charge. If the charge was designed like the fascinate it would definitely top my list. I love the screen on the charge, but thats it's main pull. If i had went to the store and picked out my 4g phone (at the time only option was charge, thunderbolt and revolution) i would have picked the thunderbolt. My favorite phone ive ever owned was an EVO 4g which i had for about 3 weeks but sprint sucked.
That being said im not dissatisfied with my Charge, but things could be better.
quarky42 said:
I meant to add that the price of the Charge is $120 on Wirefly with free shipping. It is not worth the $300 that Verizon is asking for it. Of course, I have had very good luck with taking in the best offers and asking a salesperson to do their best to beat those offers. I tell them that I would rather do business with them directly, but I need them to try and beat these deals that I have online. Sometimes you get someone that isn't interested in putting in the effort or you get a stubborn manager who won't budge... but it is worth a try.
Otherwise, just buy it on Wirefly that way and wait the 2-3 days that FedEx takes to deliver it to you. $180 can sure buy a few days of waiting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most places (verizon included) will not match wirefly's price. They claim that it's because with wirefly you are essentially signing a second contract, that you will keep your phone for at least 6 months before cancelling. If you break that, they charge you a $300 ETF on top of what verizon charges. They can sell the phone cheaper because they know for sure they will either get $300 from the customer or whatever the commission from verizon is.
foister82 said:
Most places (verizon included) will not match wirefly's price. They claim that it's because with wirefly you are essentially signing a second contract, that you will keep your phone for at least 6 months before cancelling. If you break that, they charge you a $300 ETF on top of what verizon charges. They can sell the phone cheaper because they know for sure they will either get $300 from the customer or whatever the commission from verizon is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I can attest to is my first hand experience. I bought my Fascinate and my wife's Droid2 for LESS than what Wirefly and Amazon were advertising by taking the printouts into Verizon and telling them that I would rather do business directly with Verizon, but I needed their help in beating these prices. The salesperson talked with his manager and they made it happen. It was through a combination of service credits, instant discounts, and a mail in rebate, but the fact was my final price was far less than what was advertised elsewhere.
Oh, and I bought my Fascinate back in September of last year... the day they launched. I hadn't even heard about the Fascinate before that day. I had decided to buy an Android phone and was researching what was out there and it happened to be available so I priced it out. I didn't realize until later that it was the launch day for that device.
If you get a sales rep that doesn't want your business, kindly take your business elsewhere.
foister82 said:
If i had went to the store and picked out my 4g phone (at the time only option was charge, thunderbolt and revolution) i would have picked the Thunderbolt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not disagreeing, but wondering why you would prefer the t-bolt to the Charge??
I had a t-bolt for a couple weeks (a Verizon rep loaned it to me) and I hated it. I had the choice of either one when I bought my Charge and I prefer the Charge hands down.
I actually liked my old Liberty ROM DroidX better than the t-bolt except for the lack of 4g
~John
I love my Charge. It is a great all around phone with an amazing screen. The bionic is out tomorrow, so definately check that out as well.
Isn't there an htc phone coming out soon for Verizon? I believe its supposed to have dual core, 4g, a gig of ram, etch. Its going to replace the thunderbolt. But u would be losing the super amoled plus... which I happen to love on the charge.
Oh and htc phones are better suppported by developers. I learned the hard way after leaving the EVO for my charge.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
Things I love:
Super AMOLED screen. It's only 800x480, but it doesn't matter, still second to none (or the iPhone)
4g. It's super fast and luckily in alot of places I frequent in NJ.
32GB memory. Thoughful
Things I hate:
Touchwiz. Die please, thank good for LauncherPro.
Single Core Processor. For a phone this expensive...come on. I'm sure gingerbread will speed things up thought, it's not a major concern. Fast enough I guess.
Battery Life. I guess I'm used to my LG Thrive (ATT Optimus One), but it's pretty weak, no real difference between 3g and 4g use from my observations.
Gets hot. Plug it in to charge (no pun intended) and play angy birds...ouch.
Connectivity. 3g is bad with data drop outs, too bad I'm 3g at home . 4g works nearly flawlessly and is impressively fast.
Free RAM. 80MB after a reboot? Come on!!! To be fair, about 150 after I kill all the bloatware, but still, my Optimus One had more than that, like 100mb more!
I just feel for a flagship phone it skimped on some expectations I had...
I'd give the phone a 7/10, with MAJOR points added for the screen.
Right now I'm using a Dinc2 replacement I can ungrade to the Thunderbolt (free)but was wondering if it's really anything different other than 4G between the two as I'm not a big user of the Internet nor gamer on my phone? So to the gents and ladies who have the thunderbolt...what would you do?
Sell your Dinc and use the cash towards a Nexus
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
I love the tbolt coming from an og dinc. With 4g, basic internet use is smoking fast. This is a huge improvement in all around speed over the dinc. I dont need the latest and greatest nor do i want to spend big money on a phone. Lots of roms for tbolt, im an htc/sense guy anyways. Want beats audio? Dont need a rezound, plenty of beats roms here. I love this phone.
Sent from my HTC Mecha using XDA App
I feel you, donnyp1, I'm exactly in the same boat and sentiments as you, don't need the latest and the greatest, besides, could use $300 on anything else yet, still have a killer fast *****in' phone!
If you don't want to spend any money, both the Inc2 and Tbolt are good phones. I have the Tbolt and my wife has the Inc2. Mine is rooted and hers is stock. They both have the same processor and same ram, but when they are both on wifi, the Tbolt will load web pages a lot faster. Also, I have notice when receiving notifications & emails, the Tbolt will get them about 1 to 2 min. before the Inc2 will. That is receiving and email from the same person and both phones side by side on wifi. Besides 4G, the biggest difference is size and weight. I know .3 inches on screen size don't sound like much, but it is when you been looking at it all day and look at a smaller one you can tell. The inc2 does fit into the hand better, but since I have big hands, I have no problems. Like I said, both phones are great with no real problems, but I like the Tbolt for the size and the 4g speeds. If you get the Tbolt, I would get the rezound battery. I can go all day with normal use and still have battery left. I can not compare battery life to the inc2, because she talks on it a whole lot more than I do.
If I was going to spend money on a phone right now, I would get the rezound. I got my Tbolt a few weeks before the rezound came out, and I was not going to spend $300 on a phone. Now it is at a price I would think about, but a free Tbolt is very hard to beat.
Kama45 said:
Sell your Dinc and use the cash towards a Nexus One problem...I love sense. I had a fassy and I was great. But now hooked on sense. Thx tho
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my ADR6350 using XDA App
Ol' Blue said:
If you don't want to spend any money, both the Inc2 and Tbolt are good phones. I have the Tbolt and my wife has the Inc2. Mine is rooted and hers is stock. They both have the same processor and same ram, but when they are both on wifi, the Tbolt will load web pages a lot faster. Also, I have notice when receiving notifications & emails, the Tbolt will get them about 1 to 2 min. before the Inc2 will. That is receiving and email from the same person and both phones side by side on wifi. Besides 4G, the biggest difference is size and weight. I know .3 inches on screen size don't sound like much, but it is when you been looking at it all day and look at a smaller one you can tell. The inc2 does fit into the hand better, but since I have big hands, I have no problems. Like I said, both phones are great with no real problems, but I like the Tbolt for the size and the 4g speeds. If you get the Tbolt, I would get the rezound battery. I can go all day with normal use and still have battery left. I can not compare battery life to the inc2, because she talks on it a whole lot more than I do.
If I was going to spend money on a phone right now, I would get the rezound. I got my Tbolt a few weeks before the rezound came out, and I was not going to spend $300 on a phone. Now it is at a price I would think about, but a free Tbolt is very hard to beat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm rooted and will root the tbolt. Yes and free is always better
Sent from my ADR6350 using XDA App
donnyp1 said:
I love the tbolt coming from an og dinc. With 4g, basic internet use is smoking fast. This is a huge improvement in all around speed over the dinc. I dont need the latest and greatest nor do i want to spend big money on a phone. Lots of roms for tbolt, im an htc/sense guy anyways. Want beats audio? Dont need a rezound, plenty of beats roms here. I love this phone.
Sent from my HTC Mecha using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel you. Same here I love sense just didn't know if I should get the tbolt or wait for the next HTC. Thx
Sent from my ADR6350 using XDA App
If you want a new phone now for free get the Thunderbolt. If you can wait then you should. I have the Thunderbolt and love it. The 4G and kick stand are awesome.
I just sold my Dinc 2 and got a Thunderbolt and I'm loving it! Don't get me wrong, dinc 2 is a awesome phone but I like th the Thunderbolt dev community, it's a lot bigger and a 4g phone. I also realized I the Dinc2 was too small for me. I prefer phones to feel heavy, makes it feel more durable but that's my opinion. If I had the money I would get the Rezound no questions asked but my upgrade isn't until April 2013 lol.
T-bolt Hands down. I had a evo for days about wore it out, nothing coiuld compared to the $35 a month shrinkage but the net was way to slow, when my friend and i speed tested his cricket kicked my ass no matter how many servers i changed to, so i ditched boost to page plus wow what a diff, 1.5 mb dl and 1 mb upload.. I really didnt like it that much when i first got it, but now its growing on me daily..
big ups !
ghostt021 said:
Right now I'm using a Dinc2 replacement I can ungrade to the Thunderbolt (free)but was wondering if it's really anything different other than 4G between the two as I'm not a big user of the Internet nor gamer on my phone? So to the gents and ladies who have the thunderbolt...what would you do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming you haven't decided yet, they are quite different in terms of size and weight. I am currently using a Dinc2 but I have a Tbolt that I switched from sitting around and I am tempted to switch back. The Dinc2 is light and easy to use with one hand but the screen is noticeably smaller and it doesn't have the kickstand. I never thought I would use it but the kickstand is nice for watching videos and such. My Tbolt has a Rezound battery and that makes the battery life about the same between the two. If you can deal with the difference in size and weight and LTE is an option in your area, the Tbolt is a great phone.
I have had both the bolt and INC2 and would definitely recommend the Bolt (esp for free). The Rezound battery, which you can still get for $20, is worth every penny as it makes the phone much better. 4G, bigger screen, and great development make the Bolt a great choice. I actually just sold my INC2 because I never really felt it was a good phone for me. I still have my Bolt though and think that would be the way to go.
Ol' Blue said:
If you don't want to spend any money, both the Inc2 and Tbolt are good phones. I have the Tbolt and my wife has the Inc2. Mine is rooted and hers is stock. They both have the same processor and same ram, but when they are both on wifi, the Tbolt will load web pages a lot faster. Also, I have notice when receiving notifications & emails, the Tbolt will get them about 1 to 2 min. before the Inc2 will. That is receiving and email from the same person and both phones side by side on wifi. Besides 4G, the biggest difference is size and weight. I know .3 inches on screen size don't sound like much, but it is when you been looking at it all day and look at a smaller one you can tell. The inc2 does fit into the hand better, but since I have big hands, I have no problems. Like I said, both phones are great with no real problems, but I like the Tbolt for the size and the 4g speeds. If you get the Tbolt, I would get the rezound battery. I can go all day with normal use and still have battery left. I can not compare battery life to the inc2, because she talks on it a whole lot more than I do.
If I was going to spend money on a phone right now, I would get the rezound. I got my Tbolt a few weeks before the rezound came out, and I was not going to spend $300 on a phone. Now it is at a price I would think about, but a free Tbolt is very hard to beat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
don't forget that the tbolt has two radios so that even when not on 4G you can have simultaneous voice/data. there are a few benefits still left in the ol' machine!
deff a bolt...
Okay same question here except I'm researching for a friend who may not let me tweak her phone, so what if they're both going to remain stock? Which do you think will run the best for a light user? Calls, txts, emails and occasional surfing/youtube.
I've read about past issues with the Bolt, are they resolved so that the new ones shipping are okay?
I"m trying to get her to get the Rezound but she doesn't want to spend the money and both these phones are free atm. She's coming froma 3-4 year old flip phone that only shows pic in thumbnail size.
No compromise. Make her get the Rezound. I hate to say it, but I'd probably take the Droid Incredible 2 over the Thunderbolt (which is what I have now), but only because there's no LTE in my area yet. The Droid Incredible 2 is a world phone, and can be unlocked to T-Mobile or AT&T (or Simple Mobile, Red Pocket, etc) - not that I would recommend any of those since it will connect to the Edge network and Verizon is the best service in the US, period, but it's a nice option. Other than that, the screen is only .3" smaller and the rest of the specs are essentially identical (unless you count the Thunderbolt's included 32GB MicroSD vs the Droid Incredible 2's 16GB), gets way better battery life, and the Dinc 2 weighs about half as much as the Bolt.
I can get a used charge for 80 bucks. I have a DINC2, my contract is up in 2 months, and 4g just hit where I live.
What does everyone think about the phone? I had a fascinate which was good for the most part, but it did have its issues and I was finally swapped out for the DINC2.
I love the DINC2, but would like to enjoy some 4g.
Ultimately, I want to wait until Verizon gets the HTC One X, or something similar in performance.
thoughts?
420fan said:
I can get a used charge for 80 bucks. I have a DINC2, my contract is up in 2 months, and 4g just hit where I live.
What does everyone think about the phone? I had a fascinate which was good for the most part, but it did have its issues and I was finally swapped out for the DINC2.
I love the DINC2, but would like to enjoy some 4g.
Ultimately, I want to wait until Verizon gets the HTC One X, or something similar in performance.
thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I think you should. I have 2 right now and they both working great.
420fan said:
I can get a used charge for 80 bucks. I have a DINC2, my contract is up in 2 months, and 4g just hit where I live.
What does everyone think about the phone? I had a fascinate which was good for the most part, but it did have its issues and I was finally swapped out for the DINC2.
I love the DINC2, but would like to enjoy some 4g.
Ultimately, I want to wait until Verizon gets the HTC One X, or something similar in performance.
thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using both the past week and hands down, the inc2 blows the charge outta the water. But I do like the charge for its large and bright screen.
Sent from my vivow using xda premium
brd912 said:
I've been using both the past week and hands down, the inc2 blows the charge outta the water. But I do like the charge for its large and bright screen.
Sent from my vivow using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so, Screen is better, camara is better, with FP1 eclipse 2.0, the charge is super smooth, no lag, fast or even faster, and the 4G.... This alone put the charge in a different level.
buhohitr said:
I don't think so, Screen is better, camara is better, with FP1 eclipse 2.0, the charge is super smooth, no lag, fast or even faster, and the 4G.... This alone put the charge in a different level.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, 2-3.5 Mbps on 3G vs. 20-35 on 4G! I'll take the Charge any day of the week.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium
buhohitr said:
I don't think so, Screen is better, camara is better, with FP1 eclipse 2.0, the charge is super smooth, no lag, fast or even faster, and the 4G.... This alone put the charge in a different level.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. No Verizon 3g phones besides iPhone 4 (iOS), Droid 3 (dual core + QWERTY), and HTC Rhyme (special features) are comparable to this one except for battery life.
first of all, verizon is not getting the htc one x. it uses a tegra 3 processor which is not compatible with lte. second, i wouldn't say this phone is an upgrade from the dinc2.
4g and having a large vivid super amoled+ screen is great but other than that, everything else about the dinc2 is better than the charge. we have little ram, a relatively slow processor (compared to what you have), and no usabled AOSP roms (at the moment), and no official ics at least for a year.
dont get me wrong, i love my charge but sometimes it really really pisses me off with a crappy specs.
streetlightman said:
first of all, verizon is not getting the htc one x. it uses a tegra 3 processor which is not compatible with lte. second, i wouldn't say this phone is an upgrade from the dinc2.
4g and having a large vivid super amoled+ screen is great but other than that, everything else about the dinc2 is better than the charge. we have little ram, a relatively slow processor (compared to what you have), and no usabled AOSP roms (at the moment), and no official ics at least for a year.
dont get me wrong, i love my charge but sometimes it really really pisses me off with a crappy specs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you want to buy a super laptop with dial up modem?
re
im in the same boat.. i had the incredible from 2 years ago.. and was waiting on the new q2-q3 phones to come out.
I got a charge brand new for $100 off craigslist/met at a verizon store to verify.
Now i have a pretty solid 4g phone that will get me by until the new quad core phones come out.
The only thing that bugs me on this phone is that its not the fastest when loading huge web pages over wifi or 4g.. and that it has a slightly hard time with newer games like 6guns and dungeon defenders that require alot of system resources, ie ram and cpu/gpu. Plus theres the crazy slippery back of the phone that almost makes it jump out of your hands if they are the slightest bit damp.
but other than that, for $150 or under its an awesome phone.. plus you should be able to sell it for close to what you paid for it on craigslist after you get your new phone.
so its a WIN WIN for the winninig.
Phones are mostly a personal preference. I prefer the display and the DAC in the Charge. Most of the Charge's issues seemingly can be resolved with software and some patience. The radios do work pretty well if service is decent. Compared to my feature phone, the Charge radios perform much better all around.
The Charge is not perfect, but once you get used to the display, other devices really are lacking. The GSII would be nice unless you wanted the Charge's DAC.
Personally, I'm biding my time for the next insane superphone. The GS3 is so far the most likely candidate, but time will time.
Personally, I would get the $80 dollar Charge, which is nice for an contract-free 4G device. It is always nice to have an extra phone in case of loss, damage, hook up a buddy, etc.
The us version of the HTC one x doesn't have a Tegra 3 it has a snapdragon s4 (dual core) and it is probably only gsm...
Sent from my handheld Linux computer using electromagnetic radiation.
Just tried to buy the charge. No go, bad esn. Thanks for all the feedback. I'll keep looking tho.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium