Great Phone, Great Price, Great Service!! August 13, 2011

Reviewer:  Patti Stoll  (WA) -

You can get info about this phone from many other sources, so, I'll just say it's everything good that I read and hoped it would be. I want to focus this review on the buying experience I had with Amazon Wireless.

This was my first phone bought outside my provider, Verizon. I was able to get the Droid Charge for a much lower price than from either Verizon or Costco Wireless, but I was nervous about not getting it directly from Verizon. What if it didn't work and Amazon left me out on a limb, and what if Verizon wouldn't talk to me if I had problems with the plan? Well, I now know I had ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO WORRY!

Received the phone, charged it fully first, put the SIM card in and turned the phone on. It was supposed to automatically activate with Verizon, but was having trouble. Restarted it a couple of times. Then remember I had forgotten to turn off and remove battery from my old phone, a Blackberry. So did that, then did a hard reboot on the Charge--still no happiness in connecting and activating. So, I called Amazone Wireless and the Customer Service rep was simply outstanding. He told me no problem, and called Verizon for me to make sure everything was right on their end and after one more restart, instant success - and this was at about 8pm at night. Amazon also automatically came through with the $15.00 of credits, as promised,in their various online stores.

All I can say, is, if you can read and follow directions, you will have no problem getting your phone from Amazon and setting it up yourself. Even if you miss a step, as I did. After my initial experience dealing with Amazon Wireless Customer service, I feel confident that if I need anything else from them, they will come through. In fact, the customer service was SO much better than I've had from a Verizon employee for the past few years.

OK phone, nice internet, but no CS from Samsung August 12, 2011

Reviewer:  Vampire Reader 5 "VR5"  (California, United States) -

There are several sections to review about this phone: The phone and call quality, the Internet, and Media Hub.

I bought my first Samsung Charge about 6 weeks ago and already needed a replacement. The first one started acting up soon after I got it. It would "chirp" every few seconds during calls. I could hear this, but the other person I was talking to couldn't. Then, the sound would drop from the call even though the call itself still seemed in progress. The phone was still counting the time, but either I couldn't hear the other person, the other person couldn't hear me, or neither of us could hear the other. I would have to press End Call at this point. I would try to call back but still couldn't hear the phone ringing or the other person answer even though I know it rang at the other person's phone as they would text and ask what was going on. I finally turned it off and pulled the battery out for 30 seconds to reset the phone. I called my carrier (Verizon), and they had me reset the phone back to factory defaults. This briefly fixed the problem but the "chirping" returned, then the dropped sound returned. Verizon has since given me a replacement which I have used for about 5 days. So far, so good. However, the call quality of this high-end phone doesn't seem to be much better than my previous phone, the LG Chocolate. (See other 1-star reviews about the sound dropping out.)

The Internet and some of the apps are quite fun. I like that I can download and surf using WiFi or 4G. The WiFi doesn't cut into my data package, which is nice to know even though I have unlimited data at this time. The phone doesn't always stay on 4G, though, sometimes going to 3G. This doesn't always depend on the area as I have had it go from 4G to 3G in the same room in my house. I have only had an issue with one website that streams video as this site says my "platform" cannot handle the streaming from their site. Others, however, have worked fine. I stream some TV shows from sites like TBS.com, and they are fairly smooth with only a few streaming/buffering problems here and there. But, overall, not bad for a little phone. I have had other people look at the screen and think the picture is great, but I think it is decent, so this could be debated, but the picture is still decent to very good depending on what you are streaming or playing.

Now, for the ugly: Media Hub. BEWARE OF THIS PROGRAM. This program came with the phone and is used for purchasing movies and TV shows from Samsung. I had a $25 gift card that I redeemed and downloaded my first movie for $9.99. This worked fine with no problems. I went to purchase another movie for $9.99. This movie will not download even though Samsung took the $9.99 for it. I called them, and they said someone would call in 24-48 hours. When I finally got a call, I was told to reset Media Hub and call back if I couldn't download the movie. I couldn't, so I called them back. They said someone checked it, and the movie file is fine. I told them it downloads 533 MB out of 815 MB, stalls, then restarts the download. I asked for a refund so I could try another movie. I was told that now, since I am asking for a refund, I'd get a call in 4-5 business days! I never got that call. I have e-mailed them. Their response e-mails tell me to call. I call and am told someone will call back in 24-48 hours! This has been going on for 4 weeks now. It is obvious at this point Samsung has no intention of refunding my $9.99 they stole from me through their Media Hub. My last e-mail told them that they lost a customer over $9.99. They responded by thanking me for being a loyal customer! That just shows that they don't read e-mails or listen to customers. I was thinking of getting a Samsung Galaxy Tab, but after this, I know that there would be absolutely no customer support should I have a problem with it, so I'll go elsewhere for any electronics in the future. Samsung's customer service number should be 1-800-DO-NOTHING!

Final advice: If you can wait until the 4G phone issues are worked out, I'd advise that. After I got my phone, I was told that 4G is still new technology with new technology bugs, so I'd advise waiting for the phones to come up to speed. Then, I'd advise you to look elsewhere for a phone. Your carrier might help with physical phone issues, but don't count on any help from Samsung - you'll be on your own.

Edit: I've called Samsung since approximately 7/12/11 regarding the Media Hub issue. As of 8/23/11, they finally reimbursed me for the $9.99 movie that didn't download. I will say, they gave me a $25 credit instead of just $9.99.

Awesome phone June 17, 2011

Reviewer:  Bweb2185 

Samsung Droid Charge is awesome!! Beautiful screen, light weight, good battery life, amazing 8mp camera oh and 4G LTE!! I get an average of 15.34mbs download speed and 6.47mbs upload speed with Verizon true 4G network.

Worst Phone EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! January 5, 2012

Reviewer:  racizzledizzle 

I have had this phone for almost 6 months and it is absolutely HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dropped calls, screeching noises that are almost unbearable, no battery life etc. What a waste of money! I've tried to resolve these problems for months. I'm now on my second replacement and still have the same problems. Verizon said it is a manufacturing problem. Thanks a lot Samsung.

I LOVE THIS PHONE, BUT. . . July 10, 2011

Reviewer:  TTYME in Atlanta "healthshark"  (Atlanta, GA) -

I am a moderate user (I could be a heavy user, but barely brave enough to use the phone moderately! - More on this later). I like to check email, surf the net, download, upload, text, send messages, you name it (not much of a talker on the phone - but still important - it IS a phone!).

I LOVE this phone for the following reasons:

1. Absolutely user friendly
2. Fantastic call clarity - sometimes the person on the other end sounds like they are literally sitting on the ledge of my ear lobe and talking right in there. Crystal clear!
2b. No background noise or hiss (white noise) whatsoever on a call.
3. Even when I am on one bar signal strength - the call will not falter! Have not tried calling with a single bar.
4. Very intuitive typing - about 90% of the time, it correctly guesses the word (Had an HTC Inspire briefly - words always wrong!)
5. Touch screen is just sensitive enough so that when you move it or hover near it, it doesn't just launch off into something (HTC Inspire - you couldn't even tip it or apply pressure to the sides as in picking it up without it changing your whole display or opening up something.). Yet when you need it to be responsive - it is johnny-on-the-spot.
6. Great built in app manager
7. Highly customizable with a fantastic offering of Android Market apps.
8. Easy to hold and manipulate.
9. Absolutely beautiful and vibrant graphics - even on a 30% brightness setting. The full setting actually hurt my eyes!
10. Pretty descent speaker.

Now, What I DESPISE about this phone!!:

1. The battery life is absolutely hideous! Even when I leave the phone to sit on my desk - I have no battery life (or barely) by the end of my work day (unplug 6AM, leave work at 5PM). Maybe I am missing something - but these reports of 10 or 12 hours without a charge by other users must be by those who don't turn the phone on at all. LOL! j/k. But, seriously, if the Charge has the better battery life of the 4G SP's - I am truly scared to see how bad the Thunderbolt is (it is reportedly markedly worse)!

2. I don't like the plasticky feel of the phone (HTC's feel MUCH better constructed) - but I can live with that. The battery life is my biggest gripe.

3. Size. The HTC models definitely beat the Samsung Droid Charge on this one - this almost qualifies as HUGE!

As you can see my pros far out paced my cons. But even the cons have descent work-arounds. You can get great inductive charging covers/pads, or portable power packs, or an extra charger, or an extended battery (if you like the bulk) to manage your power needs. Smart phones in general have bad battery ratings - accept for the iPhone. As far as the plasticky feel of the construction - a nice phone cover takes care of that problem. You forget you had the issue!
In short - this phone is worthy of your consideration.

Excellent Phone - Stunning Display and 4G performance June 17, 2011

Reviewer:  Shawn 

I have had the Droid Charge for a week now. One of the most impressive features is the Super Amoled Plus display - on auto-brightness level - the display is beautiful and adjusts well to all ambient lighting levels. Sometimes, just to show it off, I'll take it off of auto-level and crank it up to full brightness just to blow people away. The clarity, contrast ratio, color fidelity - everything is incredibly good. It is at this time, the most stunning display in it's size class in the world. And yes, you can read it in direct sunlight.

The User interface is also excellent - animation rates are good. swipe scrolling is very smooth - my iphone co-workers now say that the UI is just up to par with their iPhones (they still think the iPhone scrolling is slightly smoother - but no longer enough that they think it's a discriminator).

The 4G performance is also incredible. In both the Anaheim area (down to Irvine) and east San Gabriel Valley areas, I typically measure mid-teens (~16Mbps) down and 7-10Mbps up. I was blown away yesterday morning when I got a speed test result in Tustin, CA of 26Mbps down and 10Mbps up. Had to run the test twice to confirm! . These numbers are better than my FIOS service!

Only downside is, yes, the battery life. In my first day of playing with it heavily - I wiped out the battery by early afternoon. Probably being a new battery didn't help. After a week, I'm typically down to one bar by 5-6pm (still playing with it a Lot). So, I bought a dock for my desk at work, a mount/charger for my car, and another dock for my desk at home. Problem solved. I also bought an extra battery - mainly for a travel backup.

So all-in-all - I am extremely happy with this phone. At this time, the trade-off seemed to be between a Verizon droid with dual 1Ghz processors and 3G, or a 1Ghz processor with 4G and the Super AMOLED Display. I believe the 4G performance and stunning display far outweigh the dual processor. Of course, it won't be long, I'm sure, before somebody will have both 4G and the dual-processor - but Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus display is going to be a tough act to follow.

Solid phone for those who want the Galaxy S2, but can't have it May 29, 2011

Reviewer:  Barry Orlov 

I was dying for the Samsung Galaxy S II, but reading online it doesn't look like thats coming to the US until at least this fall, if not later. I have been using and iPhone 4 with ATT, but I am so tired of not being able to use my phone because ATT charges $25 for 2 measly GB of data. Also I desired to go back to Android since it is a much more useful phone os.

So I saw the Droid charge was coming out, and I do love Verizons network, and I kept hearing about how amazing LTE is and that this is the future. So I went and played with the Thunderbolt, which was awful, the screen is ugly, the phone is extremely chunky and heavy, and it was just all around bad. Then next to it was this beautiful screen, and it was the Droid Charge. This is the same screen as the Galaxy S II, and the same Camera as well. The phone is great, I actually really like the design, its like a Lamborghini and a Transformer had a phone baby.

Sure Toughwiz is ugly, but all you need to do is download Launcher Pro and things are all good from there. The phone is fast enough, though not as amazing as the dual core offerings right now. Only problem is there is no good dual core phone on a network with a good fast unlimited internet service. So in my opinion, at the moment, for the all around package, the Droid Charge is king.

Also now I am on Verizon with unlimited LTE, so when Apple decides to make a phone with at least a 4" screen and a less childlike OS and adds LTE, I will be all set to jump back into an iPhone.

Or if and when the S II comes to Verizon maybe I will sell my Charge and grab one of those, because that is truly the king of phones right now.

Disappointed August 20, 2011

Reviewer:  Matthew R Shufro  (Boston) -

I've been using the Droid Charge for 2 months and I am disappointed. I consider myself a power user. My previous phone was the HTC G2. I'll keep it succinct.

First the positives:

1. Gorgeous Super Amoled+ screen.
2. Excellent camera/video capture.

Now the negatives:

1. Processor/Ram feels under-powered. The phone often lags or feels slow. This phone would have been much better served by a dual core CPU or more RAM.
2. The GPS is terrible. This is my second Samsung phone that takes a while to find the satellites (I briefly owned the first generation Galaxy). Compared to my previous phone (G2), the GPS performance almost borders on unacceptable.
3. Terrible network switching. Since I live in NYC, I'm often going in and out of the subway. The Charge often takes way too long to find either a 3G or 4G signal. I sometimes turn off and on the wireless to speed it up. Again, not acceptable.
4. Charging the phone takes FOREVER. It's mystifying considering the phone's name.
5. Wi-Fi antenna not as sensitive as my previous phone. This is not a big deal, but worth mentioning.

There you have it folks.

Fire the product manager September 4, 2011

Reviewer:  Bjorn E  (San Francisco, CA) -

Seriously - there are so huge deficiencies here that someone for sure hasn't been doing their job. Did the people at Samsung actually try this phone before they started selling it?

If they had, here are some examples of obvious deficiencies they would have caught:

*) It is using auto completion when you are typing in the names of your contacts. For example: you try to find the phone number of Mathias but it _won't let you_ type that, and instead suggests something totally off.

*) The GPS is really bad. If often puts you on the wrong street or in the wrong neigborhood when my wife's phone puts you right on the spot.

*) It takes an absurd number of clicks to make phone calls. This is really dangerous if you have to make one from your car.

*) You can't turn the screen off while in camera mode. That means you can never be standby to take shots because it takes half a minute to turn the camera on.

These are just a few examples. This phone is just a really clunky and unfinished user experience. Avoid!

(But yeah, the 4G is fast. Faster than the WiFi in my office actually)

Good internet device; terrible phone August 18, 2012

Reviewer:  marka82331 

If you need a device to do things on the web with 4g, this is an OK device.

If you need a phone (particularly if you're using it for business), don't trade in your flip phone.

This thing drops calls, CONSTANTLY drops audio, mis-dials, does stupid things with your contact list (like moving contacts around randomly), etc.

Truly a piece of crap (as a telephone).

Another bad phone June 16, 2012

Reviewer:  BadassEX-Sailor "The boy ain't right"  (Pittsburgh, PA) -

I got this phone as a replacement for my HTC Incredible 2.

This phone is not as bad as the HTC, but it does have its own problems.

1.) Battery life is bad. 4g is more battery intensive, but it's still annoying when your phone is always needing a charge, and a car charger barely keeps it at the current level let alone charging it.

2.) phone "forgets" my ringtones. Weird, because if I have an MP3 as a default ringer, it will still play that, though not the custom tone I have set for a contact.

3.) Interface, holy crap is it slow, it takes forever to bring up the app list, phone, contacts, or even return to home screen.

4.) Music app is horrible.

5.) Memory usage is terrible. Why would a phone running higher than android 2.0 have to include a factory task killer? Oh, because it sucks at managing memory.

6.) the default weatherbug clock/weather widget does not have the option to show a digital clock. I know, small complaint, but why the heck isn't that an option? If I want a digital clock and a weather widget, I have to install 2 additional apps on the phone? every other manufacturer has a digital clock with weather, it's like including a rotary dial for the phone.

Really wish I kept my original droidx.

The screen is nice December 31, 2011

Reviewer:  Alicyn  (Alexandria, VA United States) -

I have been counting down the days till I can upgrade this horrible phone. I live in the DC area so our connection is decent. The only way I have ever gotten a full day out of a charge is if I spend the day on a wireless connection. I watch the battery die so fast that it can go before noon if I'm not careful. I have my little portable external battery to get me past times when I can't be charging it.

The other thing is it's slow, slow to load aps, sometimes the key board freezes and is slow to respond. I have to reboot it almost every day. I am on the second battery and the second phone since I got this phone last Spring.

When I launch the Gmail app it takes forever to load the new emails (my old original Motorola Droid was much faster).

I'm also frustrated with how the satellite cannot find me when it's raining. I mean every single time it rains I can't use the satellite navigation.

It has another fun thing it does when I make a call that requires entering numbers like say, calling the bank. I get a few numbers in, then the key pad goes black, then it comes back, but won't take the numbers. Finally the computer is asking me to enter the numbers again. I have to go to a landline for these types of calls. They replaced my old phone for this issue, and now the new one does it. The screen freezes frequently, where it just won't respond and I have to restart it.

A little about how I use the phone
I don't play games, I don't watch videos.

I check my email, I check FB, I text and I take pictures. Sometimes I hit the web or do a google search, or use the navigation feature. We're not talking heavy user here.

My friends all make fun of me for my phone always dying or freezing. It happens so often that I can no longer defend it, and I am constantly being teased about how horrible my phone is.

The only pros I can think of is the screen is beautiful and the call quality is great. It does take nice photos too.

Come Jan 2013 I'm getting a Motorola Droid again.

A penny is still too much for this quality control nightmare December 13, 2011

Reviewer:  S King "S King" 

Pros:
4g
makes phone calls

Cons:
quality control issues (replaced this phone 3 times due to issues - each phone had similar issues)
randomly reboots itself
GPS takes literally 10 minutes to connect if ever
must reboot several times a day due to various malfunctions

I don't have many goods things to say about a device with a pricetag like this one has - there is no excuse for it to be this poor quality of a device.

The phone verizon eventually replaced this with after 3 or 4 bad charges - is the Droid Bionic - which is a pretty awesome, solid phone.

Samsung doesn't usually disappoint me when it comes to monitors, tv's and the like but, I'm crossing them off the list of smart phones I would consider.

Motorolla and HTC are the brands I would look for in a non-iphone.

Perhaps the worst smart Phone November 29, 2011

Reviewer:  SAM 

I have used several cell phones including other android and I Phones. But this phone is the worst.
1 Battery very bad: do not believe if somebody says battery life is great, if you use for 3-4 hrs intermittently , battery is gone and once the battery is on yellow mode you can hardly use any other features but calling

2 Screen display: they boast of amoled but what kind of amoled once you are out in the sun light you can hardly see anythin on the screen, nothing is visible on screen in the day light

3 Phone hangs up invariably every 2-3 days

4 yesterday all my contacts were deleted from the phone , reason still unknown to

I own this phone for almost a month now and i am writing this review not in any hurry, i have used the phone and know what are the real faults .

camera: it boasts of 8mp camera but i dont think its of any use if all the photos and photographs taken have a yellowish background to everything

Sincere advise do not buy this phone

OMG what a giant POS!!!!!! November 21, 2011

Reviewer:  Gregory 

Unfortunately I signed a 2 year contract to get this phone. I went in to the verizon store and asked for the latest greatest. This is the phone they suggested. I had the first one replaced under warranty. The second isn't much better. I have so many complaints, I don't know where to begin. I actually miss my blackberry. The most basic functionality is a problem. It's great for games and video but I use my phone for work. For some reason it won't remember my email password. After trying to download my emails for sometimes hours it finally gives up and gives me a message that I need to re-enter my password. When trying to retreive my voice mails, it won't let me dial my PIN unless the phone is sitting on a hard flat surface. After one digit the screen goes black. I shake the phone to light it up again but it says incorrect password. After 3 tries it says I made too many attempts and cuts me off. When I dial it back I have to listen to a message about how somebody has made several attempts to access my voicemail and it recites my own cell phone number!!!! I want to kill myself!!!!!

Great phone, out of date software October 1, 2011

Reviewer:  Praty  (New York, NY) -

I updated from motorola droid: the hardware on this phone is far superior
The good
-> Super AMOLED screen is great
-> phone is reasonably faster
-> In NYC, the voice and data quality is great
-> 4G tethering is very fast

The not so good
-> Verizon has crippled the phone with out of date software. This phone does not have gingerbread even a year after it was released to the rest of the world. I guess they like spending the $$ on marketing rather than updating good phones. Unlike apple, samsung has allowed them to fiddle with software, and this out of date software is the unfortunate outcome
-> poor battery life because of old software: the outdated software causes the fully charged phone to drain in 8 hours if you are running apps (I have 8 or so apps running: facebook, latitude, etc), Battery dies in 2 hours of google maps gps navigation.
->Phone is bloated with verizon ware such as "verizon navigator" which you cannot remove
-> Skype front camera not available with out of date android software

Verizon has no ETA for software release. I do not recommend the phone with the old software. It cannot compete with iphone 5 (slated for oct 5 release) with this old software.

Underpowered September 13, 2011

Reviewer:  angelsix  (California) -

This is a beautiful phone -- works great and I agree with the glowing reviews, except:

#1 -- It's underpowered, in that the battery doesn't keep it running all day, or even for 12 hours. Yes, I am a heavy user, using wi-fi, 4g, Lookout, but, still, I seem to be getting only about 6 hours without the need for a charge. This is notably larger and heavier than my Samsung Vibrant (on which the USB port broke 1 month after warranty ran out, but I digress), so it seems likely they could have further beefed up the battery. On my Vibrant, I could have added one of those fat backs for a bigger batter, and it would have seemed OK. Adding that to the back of my bigger, heavier Charge Droid would be too much.

#2 -- It's underpowered, in that the processor can't keep up with the apps. The nightmare is receiving a call, with the phone vibrating, but too it is too busy doing some !@#$%^&*! other thing to allow me to actually answer the call. I had to root my Vibrant, to flash a better Android, to stop that problem. I thought surely, with Samsung having another year to develop phones, this would never happen with my Charge Droid. I did root the Charge Droid, so I could freeze the bloatware, and figured that would be enough, but the 3rd call I got I could not answer. So, I flashed a new Android, and now it's lovely. Flashing the phone took me hours to figure out how to do (then, finally, doing it was relatively quick and easy). If you want a full featured phone, but don't plan to root & flash, I'd recommend you get either an iphone, or something with a dual processor.

FANTASTIC CUSTOMER SERVICE !!! August 31, 2011

Reviewer:  Otis 

I am enjoying my new Droid Charge. Being a bit of a novice with smartphones I thought the 4G LTE sim card was the same as the SD card that comes preloaded on the phone. Well, inadvertantly , I had a slight problem with one of the cards and my problem was resolved very quickly and beyond my expectations, so hats off to Amazon Wireless customer service. I will continue to do business here ( oh yeah, prices are great too !! )

Nice phone, a little bulky and drains battery a little faster than I would like. August 6, 2011

Reviewer:  Ryan K. Winterbower  (portland, or) -

This is a great phone, I do not give 5 stars unless the item is beyond my expectations. This phone lasts about 12 hours for me with continuous use. 4G is fast, using speakeasy I got 22 mbps down. Upload is not nearly as fast but still decent, around 2mb. Just for fun, I connected my laptop to the phone using the wireless modem 12mb down 1 up, very good for a phone. I bought it right before the 6th of July for the unlimited usage (was waiting on bionic). I haven't had any of the issues the 1 star ratings have had. The battery is good, not comparable to the iphone but it lasts a full day. The camera is not very good but that is about the only complaint I have besides for the battery. The single core processor does everything I need quickly enough. Overall, I love the phone and am very happy with it, especially at the price. 4G has been great for me. But if I were going to get a phone at this point I would just wait for the bionic or new samsung, both are set to arrive soon. I am happy with the phone.

Samsung Charge for old Blackberry user July 30, 2011

Reviewer:  Dawn Voss 

I recently purchased Samsung Charge from amazon wireless. The local verizon store tried to scare me from making my purchase through amazon. They said the warranty was different and no one would get my contacts into my new phone. After checking a bit further on the phone, verizon does in fact back up the manufacturer warranty for 1 year. So first 30 days the issue is handled by amazon, and the other 11 months it is handled by verizon. Saving contacts and loading them into the new phone was easy. Activation the device was very easy.

I am learning the new device and like it so far. One thing I find difficult is if you are outside in the sunlight is is hard to see the screen.

The data plan requirements is not so easy to figure out. The phone is promoted as having the capability to download TV shows and movies, etc. but a 2 hours movie is about 2 GB of storage and if you have a 2GB data plan from Verizon it is shot with one movie. So that part isn't clear BEFORE you buy the device. You have to be committed to spending a boatload on the data plan from verizon to be able to download movies. This part is a real bummer and wish I knew it before I purchased the phone.