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can't seem to decide.. I have a Blackberry Bold right now and both these new phones blow this POS away!!!
Droid Charge easily. Better screen and better battery life.
Droid is Nice buTTT
I currently have both. I have to say up front - I had a Sammy Fascinate and loved it. If I could have done Skype I'd have stayed with it. Buttttt - I couldn't so I went with the first available - the Iphone 4. My family and I travel a lot for leisure via auto and we like to stay in touch face to face.
The iphone was very dependable - does what it says it will do every time. Buttt - it is locked down pretty tight.
Out comes the HTC Bolt and I waited for things to settle in with various ROMs. I jumped in the pool about 3 weeks ago and after considerable tinkering I get about 10-12 hours of battery life.
Out comes the Sammy Charge. Remembering my experience with the Fascinate - I get one. The screen is TERRIFIC!!!! Feels good in the hand, battery life is a little better than the Bolts (probably will get better with rooting, custom ROMs and tinkering) and the GPS works fairly quickly.
Now the bad news:
1. Data connection - data connection - data connection. Not good, erratic drops, slower than the Bolt, not good.
2. No Skype yet.
3. Sammy history. Sammy/Verizon are slow with any major updates and as a consequence developers are slow to develop custom ROMs. This is just a personal observation.
All in all - I am back with the Bolt - after some tinkering now it "just works" all the time. No freezes, lots of Skype and FAST!!!
Hope this helps.
benlane said:
I currently have both. I have to say up front - I had a Sammy Fascinate and loved it. If I could have done Skype I'd have stayed with it. Buttttt - I couldn't so I went with the first available - the Iphone 4. My family and I travel a lot for leisure via auto and we like to stay in touch face to face.
The iphone was very dependable - does what it says it will do every time. Buttt - it is locked down pretty tight.
Out comes the HTC Bolt and I waited for things to settle in with various ROMs. I jumped in the pool about 3 weeks ago and after considerable tinkering I get about 10-12 hours of battery life.
Out comes the Sammy Charge. Remembering my experience with the Fascinate - I get one. The screen is TERRIFIC!!!! Feels good in the hand, battery life is a little better than the Bolts (probably will get better with rooting, custom ROMs and tinkering) and the GPS works fairly quickly.
Now the bad news:
1. Data connection - data connection - data connection. Not good, erratic drops, slower than the Bolt, not good.
2. No Skype yet.
3. Sammy history. Sammy/Verizon are slow with any major updates and as a consequence developers are slow to develop custom ROMs. This is just a personal observation.
All in all - I am back with the Bolt - after some tinkering now it "just works" all the time. No freezes, lots of Skype and FAST!!!
Hope this helps.
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The erratic data may only be affecting a small number of LTE devices since I read some Thunderbolt users have had similar problems.
Have you tried both Skype apps from the Market?
Remember, Google is promising faster updates for 18 months after a phone releases. That may include the Droid Charge.
Bow chika wah wah
Charge vs Bolt
Like I said, I have both the devices. The Bolt never acted as erratic as the Sammy. When I say erratic I mean complete dropouts not just shifts. A little better when you download, install and use LTE switch program.
About the Skype - nothing to do with Google all about the Skype/Microsoft universe. Remember that the Bolt originally had Skype installed. When it finally came out - no Skype. Still no authorized Skype just the grey area apk.
My take remains, the Bolt is my choice based on these issues and Sammy's history.
benlane said:
Like I said, I have both the devices. The Bolt never acted as erratic as the Sammy. When I say erratic I mean complete dropouts not just shifts. A little better when you download, install and use LTE switch program.
About the Skype - nothing to do with Google all about the Skype/Microsoft universe. Remember that the Bolt originally had Skype installed. When it finally came out - no Skype. Still no authorized Skype just the grey area apk.
My take remains, the Bolt is my choice based on these issues and Sammy's history.
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Click to collapse
my fascinate had skype preinstalled... I had to root to remove the pos app. If Im thinking right, you want the full version of skype?
My vote is for the sammy. I have owned both and having to throw the thunderbolt on the charger 3 times a day got old fast. I also think the samsung feels a lot better in my hand.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
benlane said:
Like I said, I have both the devices. The Bolt never acted as erratic as the Sammy. When I say erratic I mean complete dropouts not just shifts. A little better when you download, install and use LTE switch program.
About the Skype - nothing to do with Google all about the Skype/Microsoft universe. Remember that the Bolt originally had Skype installed. When it finally came out - no Skype. Still no authorized Skype just the grey area apk.
My take remains, the Bolt is my choice based on these issues and Sammy's history.
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Click to collapse
Funny, my experience with both devices is exactly the opposite. My Thunderbolt (recently sold) was horrific with data drops, often refusing to hold any data connection whatsoever. 3 days with the Charge and I can already tell data connectivity is much improved.
Agreed. I didn't have the TB, but I had the Fascinate and I would drop data at my house all the time. I've got about a 10pt better db signal with the Charge and haven't had as many drops (if any) now.
Had the Thunderbolt and hated it. That little douchebag of a phone would drop my LTE constantly and make tears appear on my face and try to drown me.
Sure Charge isn't rooted or ROM'd yet but so far it's better in every possible way. The battery life is way better which is huge for me since I need to be in touch with my hookers constantly and can't always be near a charger.
Also the screen kicks golden beans
hahah funny description...
what's the cheapest place to get the Charge from right now? I have a $50 verizon new every two credit to use too.. I don't think Amazon or best buy honors that right?
Best Buy will match the price that you would get at Verizon, so you should still get it for $250
costco has it for 250 as well, which my best buy price matched without even verifying. the main benefit of shopping at costco i believe is a 90 day return policy on the phone, so if the bionic, galaxy 2, or something else comes out in the next 3 months and you want to trade phones you are able to do so.
a verizon store is the last place i'd buy the phone as they charge a $35 restocking fee if you happen to return it, and you only have 14 days to do so
I had the tbolt twice... I bought it day one ... and within 5 days it was returned due to horrible battery life.
in the DC area i have had GREAT lte reception, however in the phoenix area the LTE is horrible. so i think much depends on your location.
I bought the tbolt again when there were a decent amount of roms and plenty of people saying they had better battery life... the only way I could use the phone for more than 4 hours was to turn off all the radios ... that made the phone useless to me...
i now have the charge and it runs with all my apps and my level of use for a full day... i don't have to charge every 2- 3 hours anymore... so i am very happy with the charge even though it is not rooted... (I was too quick with the update).
again even with the charge and my lg lte modem I found the area around scottsdale and tempe to have either no or horrible lte coverage. i think that verizon should work on better coverage in cities before saying they have lte in them...
I too would like to have skype working with video ... it would just make sense but there are other apps that work well such as oovoo.
eagle17 said:
I had the tbolt twice... I bought it day one ... and within 5 days it was returned due to horrible battery life.
in the DC area i have had GREAT lte reception, however in the phoenix area the LTE is horrible. so i think much depends on your location.
I bought the tbolt again when there were a decent amount of roms and plenty of people saying they had better battery life... the only way I could use the phone for more than 4 hours was to turn off all the radios ... that made the phone useless to me...
i now have the charge and it runs with all my apps and my level of use for a full day... i don't have to charge every 2- 3 hours anymore... so i am very happy with the charge even though it is not rooted... (I was too quick with the update).
again even with the charge and my lg lte modem I found the area around scottsdale and tempe to have either no or horrible lte coverage. i think that verizon should work on better coverage in cities before saying they have lte in them...
I too would like to have skype working with video ... it would just make sense but there are other apps that work well such as oovoo.
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Click to collapse
I'd have to agree on the spotty coverage in Tempe/Scottsdale/Mesa. Sitting in my office right now in Tempe I have no LTE coverage. If I walk outside it will pick it up; this is usually the case no matter where I go (in the cities listed). I have not tested it in any other city.
thanks for the Costco note.. I am going to buy from them for $250 and they give you an accessory pack for free.. plus the 90 day swap window which is very nice to have!
632627 said:
costco has it for 250 as well, which my best buy price matched without even verifying. the main benefit of shopping at costco i believe is a 90 day return policy on the phone, so if the bionic, galaxy 2, or something else comes out in the next 3 months and you want to trade phones you are able to do so.
a verizon store is the last place i'd buy the phone as they charge a $35 restocking fee if you happen to return it, and you only have 14 days to do so
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aliensquale said:
can't seem to decide.. I have a Blackberry Bold right now and both these new phones blow this POS away!!!
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Click to collapse
I would recommend testing both if you can. I got the thunderbolt on release and love it. I got the Charge on release and love it as well, but prefer sense over touchwiz. Thats just my personal preference. Id keep the Thunderbolt over the Charge if I had to choose, but I dont.
I dont see how some that complain about their LTE dropping when they had their Tunderbolt do not take into consideration the national LTE outage....their wasnt a second LTE phone at the time to compare whether their LTE dropping was due to the phone or the service...yet they blame the phone. For all you know, your data dropping at that particular time could have been service related, not phone related. You had nothing to compare it to. So far, my Thunderbolt consistently has better LTE speeds, while my Charge had better 3G speeds. Both drop LTE and revert back to 3g in the same area at the same time. Only speeds differ. Im in a 4G area FWIW.
Both are great phones and just like any phone, it depends on your needs. I would advise you to play with both, and if you dont mind the re-stocking fee buy one and return it for the other if your not happy. In my experience, if youre crafty you can get out of the restocking fee and talk your sales rep into allowing you to buy one phone and return it if youre not happy.
I need the voice/data to work at the same time. But I still want this beast cuz of tthe beautiful screen
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Your posting in the Samsung Charge forum, of course people are going to say the Charge. I promised I would never buy another Samsung product after the upgrade problems I've had with my fascinate and am going to stick with that. My wife has the Thunderbolt and that is going to be my next phone. Battery doesn't seem to be as bad and I already have the options to apply an undervolted kernel to save battery life. My wife's nephew has the phone also and he doesn't have issues with the battery. YMMV, IMHO, TIFWIW....
jv
how much battery life savings can you get with the undervolted kernal? if you do the undervolted kernal.. doesn't that slow down the processor in the phone thus make the overall use of the phone slower?
Like the subject says, I currently have the Charge. I just upgraded on Wed. and have 14 days to decide to keep it. I upgraded to it from my beloved DX because:
#1: Battery Life
#2: Lock in my Unlimited data plan prior to the 4G change (its technically not available in my part of Alabama yet, but am on the list to get it by the end of the year.)
What I did not check out was the custom ROM situation for the charge. I love the phone but have been into flashing ROMs since my D1 and sort of miss it.
I just read about the extended battery and I wanted to know what the average battery life is with it, mixed use. I had been considering returning the Charge and keeping my DX till I see the stats on the Bionic (dont really care that much about the duo processor). But the extended battery might push me into taking the charge back for a Tbolt.
Thoughts and opinions would be great!
So I currently have a thunderbolt, and to be honest, I am technically outside the return policy with best buy, but I am trying to get them to agree to exchange the phone since in my opinion it is terrible. I have an evo 4G and it was a great phone, and the thunderbolt has the potential to be great, but the battery life, crappy screen, light leakage all around the capacitive buttons and spot lights on the screen from the capacitive buttons, is just terrible.
If they let me exchange the phone, I don't want to be an ass, and get a charge, only to turn around and exchange it for a thunderbolt again if the charge is that bad.
Anyone who has switched from a thunderbolt to a charge care to shout out how they feel about the switch?
CM7 support seems iffy for the charge, and I know I want a real CM7 for the thunderbolt not the alpha that works half the time, but if it has been that hard to get a well working CM7 on the thunderbolt, probably never happen on the charge? since the current GB leak from HTC is bigger than Froyo...
The screen, the battery life, and the physical buttons make me want this phone, but I don't want to switch if it means worse headaches than I currently have. No need to trade a demon for a devil.
If battery life is a big issue for you, then you might want to rethink the Charge unless you buy the bigger battery. But from what I can tell, if you buy the larger battery you also have to buy a new back cover as well. So figure spending an extra 50 bucks. In all, with my purchase I got a car charger and screan protecters and ended up paying 375 after taxes. Add an extr 50 for the battery and cover and your well over 425. As for the standard battery life, I have to charge it every day. I'd say if you use it alot through out the day it'll last about 5-8 hrs max. But I havent really took the time to tell exactally. Just know you want go a whole day without charging it.
Bryan
I had the Thunderbolt and returned it for battery and reception issues, 1st i went with an iphone as i know they last forever on a charge, im a heavy business user and was getting 2-3 hours per battery with the TB ( i had to have 3 and swap them out thru the day ), i got the charge yesterday and ran the battery down to zero, then charged full, then blasted it back down which still took a while, back on charge over night, took it off charge this morning at 6:15am, ive been listening to music for a little over an hour, downloading market items, around 20 calls, 20 texts and 10-15 emails, and ive not used 25% yet
i love the charge, best thing i did was return the TB, the TB is a faster phone due the the extra 256mb of ram but not much thats gonna drive you crazy, im used to it already, also dont use the stock browser as it sucks, i also use launcher pro with my charge and it makes life a lot better again, give me the charge anyday, better screen, i think it looks better, i really like the physical buttons, you can hotswap sd cards ( not in the TB due to sd slot under battery) miles better battery, just over all better
I had a Thunderbolt for roughly 5 weeks and recently swapped to a Charge. So far, I'm very glad I made the change and plan on sticking with this phone until a dual core LTE phone is released. Here are the differences that I see :
Battery life: Charge definitely wins here, although I still wouldn't say the battery life is "good." The main difference seems to be idling. My Thunderbolt battery would drain VERY quickly while in my pocket. (assuming i was on LTE) The charge does not do this.
Screen: No contest. I did not care for the Thunderbolt screen and the Charge screen is amazing.
Software: Sense is far better than Touchwiz, although I don't personally care for either. Root for ED1/ED2 as well as clockwork mod was just released for the Charge, so it is only a matter of time before we have full roms that nuke the nasty orange and brown menus.
CDMA/LTE radio : Signal strength seems to be about the same for me on both phones, although I'm often on a "fringe" LTE area in Las Vegas. The Thunderbolt would always hang onto 1 bar of LTE leaving me with no data connectivity whatsoever. (not to mention draining the battery in record fashion) The charge sits on 3G in these areas - which i DEFINITELY prefer.
Also, I love the physical buttons and the lighter weight of the charge. Honestly, the touchwiz software and slightly laggy stock browser (easily fixed by downloading another browser on the market) are my only "complaints." I'd do the swap over again in a heart beat.
Goronok said:
I had a Thunderbolt for roughly 5 weeks and recently swapped to a Charge. So far, I'm very glad I made the change and plan on sticking with this phone until a dual core LTE phone is released. Here are the differences that I see :
Battery life: Charge definitely wins here, although I still wouldn't say the battery life is "good." The main difference seems to be idling. My Thunderbolt battery would drain VERY quickly while in my pocket. (assuming i was on LTE) The charge does not do this.
Screen: No contest. I did not care for the Thunderbolt screen and the Charge screen is amazing.
Software: Sense is far better than Touchwiz, although I don't personally care for either. Root for ED1/ED2 as well as clockwork mod was just released for the Charge, so it is only a matter of time before we have full roms that nuke the nasty orange and brown menus.
CDMA/LTE radio : Signal strength seems to be about the same for me on both phones, although I'm often on a "fringe" LTE area in Las Vegas. The Thunderbolt would always hang onto 1 bar of LTE leaving me with no data connectivity whatsoever. (not to mention draining the battery in record fashion) The charge sits on 3G in these areas - which i DEFINITELY prefer.
Also, I love the physical buttons and the lighter weight of the charge. Honestly, the touchwiz software and slightly laggy stock browser (easily fixed by downloading another browser on the market) are my only "complaints." I'd do the swap over again in a heart beat.
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Click to collapse
I second everything said here except the physical buttons.
I also had a TB for almost 5 weeks. I enjoy the Charge more, but honestly the lack of ram is very noticeable.
Either way, this will be me phone until dual-core LTEs come out (excluding Moto Bionic).
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
I did and the difference is day and night.
-A lot more battery life
-Amazing screen
-Screen does not scratch easy like TB did
-Weighs a lot less
yyhd said:
I second everything said here except the physical buttons.
I also had a TB for almost 5 weeks. I enjoy the Charge more, but honestly the lack of ram is very noticeable.
Either way, this will be me phone until dual-core LTEs come out (excluding Moto Bionic).
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So five weeks. Did verizon let you just exchange the phone? I am pretty sure best buy will let me exchange it as i will be a reward zone silver member in a few days,but just incase id love to know.
Edit - thanks for the feedback everyone, i am definitely interested in getting the charge now. I had the evo befor the thunderbolt and it had the 512 ram and ran fine. So i dont see that as being an isssue
yyhd said:
I second everything said here except the physical buttons.
I also had a TB for almost 5 weeks. I enjoy the Charge more, but honestly the lack of ram is very noticeable.
Either way, this will be me phone until dual-core LTEs come out (excluding Moto Bionic).
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And i THIRD WHAT HE SAID.....LOL...I LOVE THIS PHONE, I ENDED UP GETTING THE THE CHARGING DOCK/EXTRA BATTERY COMBO ALSO, AND I COULD NOT BE MORE SATISFIED, NEED I NOT TELL YOU I HAD MY TBOLT SINCE MARCH 18TH AND I ENDED UP HAVING TO CALL *611 AND GET TO TIER 2 SUPPORT MANAGER, AND THEY WERE ABLE TO CHARGE MY ACCOUNT FOR THE CHARGE AND THEY SENT ME A RETURN LABEL FOR AND EXCHANGE FOR THE TBOLT SO AS SOON AS THEY GET THE TBOLT BACK THEY CREDIT MY ACCOUNT, ONE TIME THING DUE TO ALL MY TBOLT CUSTOMER SUPPORT PROBLEMS.........HOPE I HELPED SOMEONE
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
The charge has the greatest screen I've ever seen on a phone. The physical buttons (IMO) are better than capacative buttons. Touchwiz is not that bad(this is coming from an HTC user for the last 2 years that has had and loved sense on an evo 4g and touch pro2).
Give the charge a shot u should enjoy it more than a thunderbolt
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
So... I lost my DINC last week and I can pay Assurion 90 bucks for a replacement (probably used and probably one of the later models without the AMOLED screen) or... Verizon said I can get a new Droid Charge for 199. I've heard so much bad stuff about the Thunderbolt that I'm tempted to just go ahead and get the Droid Charge. I think the phone looks gorgeous, but I'm worried Samsung will be slow with the Android updates. I can live with that really.... I'm just wanting something that is fast, nice to look at and use and has good battery life. It also looks like the Charge has a nice useable camera in comparison to HTC phones. While, I might miss Sense.... I don't dislike the way the Charge looks.
Are you happy with yours? Any thoughts or extra info?
Get a charge i have both.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
About the updates. Because its a "Droid" phone the updates might be quicker. I would think if they didn't give good updates it wouldn't just hurt samsung but the droid line. because if someone hears the droid charge didn't get so and so update the normal person would think the whole line of droids is bad. I'm just guessing and if this doesn't make sense sorry I'm very tired
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
Verizon rep told me gingerbread is coming by end of june. But they don't know **** so take it as you will
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
i got the charge and after a week and a half, i went to a thunderbolt
pro:
-awesome looking screen, great for under the sun
-good camera quality
con:
-camera takes ages after taking a picture, to be ready to take another photo (2-5 seconds) I've missed multiple great photo ops in the week i owned the charge.
-rtf system lags, and the voodoo lagfix is a bandaid. even the animation of speedtest apk studders (when it's scanning for a server)
-4g reception is poor, average of 5mb/1mb. most places my wife's thunderbolt got 4g, the droid charge didn't(sitting at a restaurant, at the park etc.). additionally, since i got the thunderbolt, my 4g average has been 10mb/3mb
-randomly lost all signal and takes about 15-20 seconds for it to be restored
i would most likely never touch another samsung phone until they come out with another nexus
i also have both phones but prefer the thunderbolt ... sense is faster and smoother than touch wiz, the social integration, i think, is better, if that matters to you...also the browser seems to perform better and the keyboard (or any of the replacement ones) feels 'snappier' on the thunderbolt than the charge ... now the charge is really good in sunlight, as someone said, which can NOT be said for the thunderbolt ... big minus for the 'bolt, as i use my phone outdoors a lot!!
games seem to lag more (angry birds, etc.) on the charge and i've also already scratched the back of the charge in several places, inadvertently, and there are two little 'pits' in the screen of the charge
while there are plusses and minuses of both, i find myself using the 'bolt more as it's just all around, a much faster phone ... at least in my experiences.
Sounds to me like someone with a h**d-on towards Samsung. Obviously I only have a couple of weeks worth of experience with the Charge, I got it the day they released it a couple Saturdays ago. But I drive a truck so I am in and out of a lot of different 4G areas. I run speedtest.net as I am going through areas and I find the speeds on average to be well above what you are claiming here. Not only am I running the speed tests, they are being run on my laptop which is connected to the phone via wifi hotspot. Have I seen some 4-5dn/1-2up 4g speeds? Sure but I have also seen 21.6/8.5 in the greater Cincinnati area !! So far I have been able to test speeds in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, OH, Cincinnati, Charlotte, NC. The vast majority of the time I am seeing speeds of between 10 & 15 mbps on the downstream with 12mbs being a fair average. Suprisingly enough, much of the time the upstream speeds are similar to the downstream!! From my experience, the ping times are 75ms on average with a high in the 110 range and low of about 65ms. This is real world testing in many different 4g areas ...
As for the Charge? I love it. I personally don't like the feel of the HTC Sense overlay. I know many love it and good for you!! Plus, the T-Bolt doesn't even come with Swype installed on it !! As stated, I am all over the place and I have never once had any type of issues with lack of signal. I am on the phone a heck of a lot during the course of my day and it has always been rock solid ...
I drive a truck also and I can agree with you. My Co-Driver has the Bolt and our 4G speeds are close most of the time. The Bolt does get better ping times sometimes, and it kicks the Charge's ass in a Quadrant test, but Im assuming that's due to more RAM. On another note, both of our phones were charged this morning and ATM mine is at 40% and his just died.
Another thing I really love about this phone is the media player. Its AWESOME! That was a really big issue for me, as I listen to alot of music and I like it loud. I've had the OG, DX, the Thunderbolt, and I still have an iPhone, and the media player on this phone kills all of the others. With the exception of the iPhone, the others don't get loud enough. The music clarity even trumps the iPhone and I have a $500 set of Shure headphones that I listen with.
My opinion is that the Charge is a great phone and even though the Thunderbolt is faster, its at the expense of poor battery life. Once the developers open this phone up though I think it is really gonna make a big difference. It may not be the fastest, but its well-rounded and will be a great phone to ensure you keep that Unlimited data plan, until something better comes along.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
Upgraded from my problematic Thunderbolt and no regrets. I love the Charge.
As everyone else before me replied, I also have both. I definitely prefer the Charge over the TB, but really it depends on the end user: you. Which do you like better? Which can you see yourself using for a while?
You can read over a thousand posts from people like us, and each will prefer one over the other. So take everyones replies with a grain of salt, including mine.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
I have the tbolt and my cousin has the charge. I think they are both great phones.
The charge has a better screen and battery life (out of the box) imo.
The tbolt I believe has better dev support atm, since the charge just came out. People complain about the battery of the tbolt, but im rooted with the extended battery, in 4g area and my battery lasts 1 1/2 days on moderate to heavy use.
I think the pros and cons to each are slim, it just depends on what you prefer. Go to the Verizon store and compare them both. I think you will be happy either way.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Thank you for all your input!
I luckily had my lost DINC returned to me today, so I'm still going to go tomorrow and check out the Droid Charge and see if it begs me to take it home. Now, I just am not so desperate.
While I love everything about HTC phones, I think the display on the TB looks like crap. I got my DINC the day it came out before the amoled shortage and the switch to SLCD and that alone is the reason why I cried when I lost it. If the Thunderbolt got better battery life and had a nicer display, I'd def. go that route.... but until HTC brings an LTE phone to Verizon with a display as nice as the ones Samsung makes... I think I'm moving towards Samsung. I'm just trying to weigh the positives and negatives of going with the Charge now or seeing what else Samsung throws our way and when Verizon officially pulls the plug on unlimited data. (Not that I'm a data hog, but with 4G and all the great things that it can do, it seems pointless to be limited for something that doesn't cost them nearly as much as they are passing on to us.)
The Charge is the first "modern phone" I had in years. My previous was an HTC Windows Mobile at least 3 years old, maybe older than that. And before that were Palm phones.
I spent time debating between the Thunderbolt and the Charge and I really couldn't be happier I went with the Charge. I'm in NYC so I have 4G all the time pretty much. Speed tests as high as 25 mbps down and 10 up.
My deciding factor on the Charge vs. Thunderbolt was battery life. I can't imagine having to constantly keep a Thundebolt plugged in all day and 8 hours of life with average use was not acceptable to me at all. The Charge battery life I can live with. I just went 2 days without charging it with light use, and even under heavy use a nightly charge is all that is needed.
Unfortunately I took the OTA update as soon as I turned it on so hoping for a new rooting possibility so i can remove/freeze the bloatware but that would have been an issue with the thunderbolt too.
BirdOPrey5 said:
Unfortunately I took the OTA update as soon as I turned it on so hoping for a new rooting possibility so i can remove/freeze the bloatware but that would have been an issue with the thunderbolt too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ed2 root has been out for awhile now. Easiest way is to install cwm and flash imnuts debloated, prerooted rom.
I'm waiting for a new phone to arrive and I may sell my Thunderbolt so.... I un-rooted and installed the stock ROM and let it update.
Really ODD results:
I'm getting the best battery life I've EVER had with any ROM. I've run several ICS ROMs and they all had the usual poor battery life but I've also run several GB sense, de-sensed and no-sense ROMs, all with poorer battery life than I have now, go figure?????
If it wasn't for the HUGE amount of useless crap VZW puts on a phone I'd probably have been happy w/o rooting the T'bolt...
I'd like to thank all the devs for the very good ROMs I've used, I'm hoping to see some of you over in the Samsung Galaxy SIII forum as I know I'll have to de-bloat the critter when it arrives.
NOTE: I ran my T'bolt almost two full days before I rooted it, I wonder if I can beat that record with the SIII?
I think your s3 is going to get about the same battery life as the bolt. I've used my niece's s3 quite a bit and it seems to lose battery almost as fast as my bolt does. Either way I don't think it's going to be much better.
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I plan on doing the same as I do with the T'Bolt. Get a charging dock with a place for a spare battery and switch batteries around 5 - 6 PM each day.
However, if the SIII give the same battery life as the T'bolt does now with the stock ROM I'll not need to do that, I turned on at 7 AM Tuesday morning and had 40% battery at 10:30 PM. It's NEVER done more than 12 hours with any other ROM, wondering if the last VZW update had something to help battery life? Who knows....
OK, days later plus one trip of several days and.... the battery life on the S3 is a little better than the T'Bolt. I'm getting a low battery warning maybe once a week or so. I usually take it off the charger at 7AM and hit the sack around 11PM, only VERY unusual use will trigger the low battery warning, otherwise I go to bed with maybe 25% remaining.
I consider it adequate, I'd like better but....