• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

The Droid Charge could be Great, if Verizon and Samsung let it!

sean76

Android Expert
May 5, 2010
4,459
779
NYC
OK so I've had my Charge for a few days...I have to say, its grown on me! Now I covered alot of the phone in my review, so this is just my take on how this phone could potentially end up being a real worthy 4G device on vzw.

First things first, this phone needs Touchwiz 4.0, ASAP...that alone will give it a bump in speed...couple that with Gingerbread and you have a winner...I'm not kidding, if Samsung and vzw bring an update to this phone of that nature, this will probably be the phone to have right now. However, without those 2 things, the phone has some serious lag issues. Yes the lag has become pretty annoying,,,to the point where I'm seeing it even with some tweaks on the phone...I have Launcher pro running, Go SMS, and the Gingerbread keyboard...those 3 things really made me like using the phone ..but the Lag has started to creep up!

Today has been the worst yet! All day, even after a few battery pulls, app killing, and even as far as a hard reset, have done nothing! Plain and simple, the phone just has Lag issues and gets tied up on alot of simple tasks that even my old incredible would handle with ease. Take the lag away, and I have to say between the really nice screen, the cool form factor, exceptional camera, and very good call quality...it could be a winner!

I hope vzw and Samsung get together and make an effort to make this phone as good as it can be, however, with Samsung and vzw's track record with the Fascinate...It may almost be safe to say..what you see is what you get!
 
More the reason I will get the DX2 or Rev, since neither have the RFS file system to deal with, so no worrying about when Ginger may be coming to the devices.

A lot of "ifs" in regards to resolving speed issues with the sweet displayed Charge.

I'm also thinking about the X2..I wish they changed it a little bit..and the lack of 4G is a bummer...however, the phone is probably plenty fast just running on 3G...I want to see a speed test.
 
Upvote 0
More the reason I will get the DX2 or Rev, since neither have the RFS file system to deal with, so no worrying about when Ginger may be coming to the devices.

A lot of "ifs" in regards to resolving speed issues with the sweet displayed Charge.


Would Gingerbread fix or change the rfs file system on the Charge?

Im not that interested in the X2 since i already have a xoom. Looking forward to some Revolution reviews soon.
 
Upvote 0
sean,

X2 seems a great device, sans the 4G, of course, but 4G is problematic with the first wave of devices and an immature LTE network. I posted a review from infoSync in the DX2 forum. The reviewer usually slams devices if laggy.

Streak,

The international version of the Charge apparently is significantly faster, but nothing confirmed. Hence the "ifs", since "if" roms come out for it, or "if Gingerbread" fixes the slow down.

Two knowns: Hummingbird should be zippy on the Charge and Samsung is infamous for lagging bad with updates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: StreakTheQuad
Upvote 0
sean,

X2 seems a great device, sans the 4G, of course, but 4G is problematic with the first wave of devices and an immature LTE network. I posted a review from infoSync in the DX2 forum. The reviewer usually slams devices if laggy.

Streak,

The international version of the Charge apparently is significantly faster, but nothing confirmed. Hence the "ifs", since "if" roms come out for it, or "if Gingerbread" fixes the slow down.

Two knowns: Hummingbird should be zippy on the Charge and Samsung is infamous for lagging bad with updates.


I agree man....Samsung drags they're feet so bad...this phone could be really good...too bad it will probably never see the brighter side...oh well!

Hmm...X2 or Revolution....I'd say X2
 
Upvote 0
The international Galaxy S got updated Gingerbread recently. They should be working on updates on U.S versions too, Epic 4G being the first probably. Given the similarity of Charge to Fascinate except bing, Charge will get it soon after it rolls out to U.S galaxy S if not the same time. I saw report that international Galaxy S got roughly 50% speed bump from froyo to ginger.
 
Upvote 0
You have to remember Verizon has to put their hands on the gingerbread update and take out what they dont want in there for the phones. Then put in useless crap to bog the phone down further. Everybody seems to have to "tweak" a program to what they see fit. So in the end we get the shell of its former self.

I know the Gingerbread rom I flashed on my droid1 woke that bad boy up. I am seeing more and more to get unmolested programs rooting seems to be the way to go. Wish these companies would just look at sites like this and see what we like and dont like. I dont need blockbuster,golf, rockband and so on.
 
Upvote 0
You folks notice the touch response to be lacking on the Charge? I noticed significant response issues, compared to the Inc , TB and DX1. Some reviews have pointed this out as well. Same related issues, perhaps?


Yessssss....lol, I was just going.to make thread about it...the touch response throughout the whole phone is much slower then what I'm used to...
 
Upvote 0
Oh Sean you big baby lol<3

Haha are you(and any of you other guys/gals) returning your charges?

and No to the Droid X2...Last years hardware(with a few increased on the inside) and a higher res screen....not worth 199

maybe 149


Don't know yet Missy...at this point yea probably going to return it. Only because I just don't feel that VZW is going to really do what they have to do to help the phone out. I still can't get it out of my head how they left me and a ton of Fascinate owners twisting in the wind for months. They'll probably do the same with the Charge. I love the size, and light weight of the phone compared to the heft of the TB, but I don't think that's enough to have me keep it, and waste an upgrade when so many things are in the pipeline for Summer, and early fall. What I would really like is a Bionic please...lol
 
Upvote 0
Oh Sean you big baby lol<3

Haha are you(and any of you other guys/gals) returning your charges?

and No to the Droid X2...Last years hardware(with a few increased on the inside) and a higher res screen....not worth 199

maybe 149

lol @ "last year's" Tegra 2 benchmarks being miles ahead of the Xperia Play you're buying and its even older 1GHz Snapdragon.

Definitely returning the Charge. I'd much rather have the LG Revolution, which is coming much sooner than I thought initially. So it has Bing on it, which everyone is complaining about. Oh no, I'll have to deal with that for a week or two, tops, until we get root?
 
Upvote 0
lol @ "last year's" Tegra 2 benchmarks being miles ahead of the Xperia Play you're buying and its even older 1GHz Snapdragon.

Definitely returning the Charge. I'd much rather have the LG Revolution, which is coming much sooner than I thought initially. So it has Bing on it, which everyone is complaining about. Oh no, I'll have to deal with that for a week or two, tops, until we get root?

lol i was actually talking about the actual hardware...not the internals.
It's a great upgrade for someone who never owned the Droid x but someone
who already owned the Droid X i can't imagine buying the Droid X2

and the Revolution looks great....Honestly, I like bing(on the pc) and I am not too worried about using bing on a phone....then again I do like Windows phone :p

and too my understanding the xperia play is using 2nd gen Snapdragon so it's not that old vs a 1st gen snapdragon :D
 
Upvote 0
Don't know yet Missy...at this point yea probably going to return it. Only because I just don't feel that VZW is going to really do what they have to do to help the phone out. I still can't get it out of my head how they left me and a ton of Fascinate owners twisting in the wind for months. They'll probably do the same with the Charge. I love the size, and light weight of the phone compared to the heft of the TB, but I don't think that's enough to have me keep it, and waste an upgrade when so many things are in the pipeline for Summer, and early fall. What I would really like is a Bionic please...lol


lol and watch the Droid Bionic come out, people get it and then are up in arms about it as well haha

It does seem like Samsung Devices get the short end of the stick on Verizon much like Motorola's devices get the short end of the stick on T-mobile(look at the cliq line) which is sad because they make great devices.

I liked the original Droid Bionic's look so i am hoping they haven't changed it too much...although i have no interest in buying it(the old or new one)
 
Upvote 0
I played with a charge for about 20 min at a verizon store today. I liked it quite a bit!

TW does suck and was totally laggy, so i downloaded go, adw and launcher pro and they all improved the home experience. I also turned off the live wallpaper. I thought that the default TW home was no better or worse (in terms of lag and responsiveness) than the demo DX1 and D2 units (although i know that all demo units are suspect)

Dolphin hd seemed really smooth. I thought it was snappy overall (coming from an overclocked og droid, which is fast but has low ram and isnt always smooth)

Forgot to run Quadrant but Speedtest gave me 10mb download speeds on 4G. The hardware buttons actually felt good, unlike the tiny and brittle DX buttons.

The whole experience reminded me of a smaller version of my old galaxy tab.

I didnt try the gps out, any major issues there?

I think i'm sold on this guy, especially for the price i can get it for ($100 through work).
 
  • Like
Reactions: jinwons
Upvote 0
lol i was actually talking about the actual hardware...not the internals.
It's a great upgrade for someone who never owned the Droid x but someone
who already owned the Droid X i can't imagine buying the Droid X2

and the Revolution looks great....Honestly, I like bing(on the pc) and I am not too worried about using bing on a phone....then again I do like Windows phone :p

and too my understanding the xperia play is using 2nd gen Snapdragon so it's not that old vs a 1st gen snapdragon :D

... How do you define "hardware" besides the internals? The case? Would you buy a Motorola Backflip because its design is "novel" (read: crap)? There's a reason we haven't deviated for the most part; the candy-bar and QWERTY sliders work the best of all the form factors.

Yes, Xperia Play is using the 2011 Snapdragon, but it's still slower than Tegra 2. Isn't that the CPU in the TB as well?
 
Upvote 0
... How do you define "hardware" besides the internals? The case? Would you buy a Motorola Backflip because its design is "novel" (read: crap)? There's a reason we haven't deviated for the most part; the candy-bar and QWERTY sliders work the best of all the form factors.

Yes, Xperia Play is using the 2011 Snapdragon, but it's still slower than Tegra 2. Isn't that the CPU in the TB as well?

How exactly is a Backflip even comparable to a Droid X?

I define Hardware as both the phone I am holding in my hands as well as what is on the inside.

But i am also superficial as well...If the phone isn't attractive or is something that I have owned(ala an original Droid X) i have no interest in it...No matter how great Tegra 2 is.

I don't really get into "OMG, DUAL CORE YAY!" or "That's Gay, it's not dual-core or it's using a slower processor" because I've yet to see anything CURRENTLY that dualcore truly helps with.

I've used a dual core phone..and to be honest, I just don't see much of a difference from single core phones. It's just my opinion.

Personally, I think it's a waste of a money for anyone who owns a Droid X to buy a Droid X2...

But it's just my opinion.

Software wise, the Droid X2 is great. I believe Android 2.2 or 2.3 and I love Blur and all that good stuff...and it's internal hardware is AMAZING it sounds like but i just can't get over how this is the same exact hardware as last year.

ME: I got a new phone today....Yay

Friend: Isn't that the same phone you had?

Me: Yeah...but it's what's on the inside that counts.


It's a waste to me
 
Upvote 0
How exactly is a Backflip even comparable to a Droid X?

I define Hardware as both the phone I am holding in my hands as well as what is on the inside.

But i am also superficial as well...If the phone isn't attractive or is something that I have owned(ala an original Droid X) i have no interest in it...No matter how great Tegra 2 is.

I don't really get into &quot;OMG, DUAL CORE YAY!&quot; or &quot;That's Gay, it's not dual-core or it's using a slower processor&quot; because I've yet to see anything CURRENTLY that dualcore truly helps with.

I've used a dual core phone..and to be honest, I just don't see much of a difference from single core phones. It's just my opinion.

Personally, I think it's a waste of a money for anyone who owns a Droid X to buy a Droid X2...

But it's just my opinion.

Software wise, the Droid X2 is great. I believe Android 2.2 or 2.3 and I love Blur and all that good stuff...and it's internal hardware is AMAZING it sounds like but i just can't get over how this is the same exact hardware as last year.

ME: I got a new phone today....Yay

Friend: Isn't that the same phone you had?

Me: Yeah...but it's what's on the inside that counts.


It's a waste to me


As far as Dual Core goes...I would 100% pick up an LG G2X if it was on vzw...the phone is crazy fast...everything is automatic as soon as you press it...phone is insanely smooth because of the Dual Core and pretty much Vanilla over lay...

The Charge doesn't need a Dual Core to really become a speed demon, I think it needs Touchwiz 4.0 and Gingerbread...couple those 2 on here and the Hummingbird will be plenty fast enough with 4G...as well as Gingerbread bringing better battery life as well...IMO,,,That's how the phone should have been released.
 
Upvote 0
So how hour that thunderbolt on gingerbread? It's pretty snappy! Lol. If I had the opportunity to put my sin in a charge for a day. Except for the larger display and the physical buttons, I thought I was using a fascinate again. Same processor, same UI, same lag. And it felt cheap. I've never been a fan of Sammy but I like to keep an open mind. Maybe the updates you're talking about Sean will help, but with Sammy you never know how long that's going to take.
 
Upvote 0
So how hour that thunderbolt on gingerbread? It's pretty snappy! Lol. If I had the opportunity to put my sin in a charge for a day. Except for the larger display and the physical buttons, I thought I was using a fascinate again. Same processor, same UI, same lag. And it felt cheap. I've never been a fan of Sammy but I like to keep an open mind. Maybe the updates you're talking about Sean will help, but with Sammy you never know how long that's going to take.


I agree on the point of Samsung,, they are very Suspect these days! However,,,the one thing that the Charge has on its side is the Droid Branding...Walk into a vzw store and all u see is charge marketing material all over the place. And the commercials are everywhere, I doubt this phone suffers the same handicapped issues that the Fascinate suffered through as far as updates go. This phone will most likely be taken care of by vzw...

And if they don't..well once bitten, twice shy...If that happens, I will 100% never buy a Samsung phone again, and be moving along to another carrier that cares about keeping they're customers up to date. The Sensation is on the way...that phone along with the EVO 3D will entice alot of people looking for carrier alternatives and the newest version of Android, along with the newer version of sense which is sweet. So vzw better get they're act together and get a move on. Both those devices are only a few weeks away.
 
Upvote 0
Fair enough. I'm locked in to Verizon (lol I work for them and so does my wife) so switching carriers is not an option for me. I have learned that I will never go MOTO again until they change their policy on the bootloaders. The sensation will be an awesome phone though. Cant wait see if VZW gets its hands on a dual core HTC!


I think they'll get a 4G Dual core at some point this year. But I doubt anytime soon...I gotta believe that's why they refreshed the Moto X with a dual core, and are calling it the X2. Most likely 4G is not playing well with the dual core chips...which would explain the Bionic delay...
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones