Low battery life September 26, 2011

Reviewer:  J. Zhang "jing1126"  (Bethesda, MD USA) -

The phone is generally well made. I especially like the powerful Mobile Hotspot which saved my life in the days after Hurricane Irene when we lost power. We were able to watch movies on Netflix through Roku by using Mobile Hotspot. But battery life is a big problem. A fully charged battery lasts only about 30 minutes of talk and no more than 30 minutes of email and browsing before the low battery beeps start. This despite I set the display on auto energy save and the screen goes dark in 30 seconds. I have bought several chargers for different room in my house and different cars, because the battery drains just too fast. I don't think any smart phone should be pushed out onto the market before the maker has figured out how to allow a normal user use the equipment for a full day without having to charge it.

This Is A Phone Worth Buying...but September 21, 2011

Reviewer:  Dwayne 

This is such a great phone! I am a phone fanatic just let me start by saying that lol! I alway get a new phone when I get bored of my current one, ive went from iPhone to Blackberry to Android and even had all three at once, electronics are really my thing, so I feel suitable giving a review on this great device.

PROS: The Super AMOLed Plus screen is beautiful in person, colors are really colors on this phone!

Super fast 1Ghz Hummingbird Processor is great, hardly any lag in this phone, switch from
app to app effortlessy!

8mp cam is pretty good for a smartphone, and 1.3mp front facing cam is nice addition!

Fast Verzion 4G LTE capabilties, web browsing, movies streming (Netflix, Hulu Supported

CONS: Battery life is not so good, doesnt bother me much because I use airplane mode during
Work, but could be a issue for others!

Doesnt hold signal strength too well...i get 4G where I live so im pretty good at home,
but my job area has no such luck! Maybe because I work right on the beach it may interfe
with service but even in other good areas it tends to fall on "1X"

Overall this is a pretty well rounded smartphone, better than the iPhone you ask? Yes and No...i really dont like to compare the two, kind of a apple and oranges type thing! Great phone for a great price...im pretty sure there is better out there...but I think I found home in my Droid Charge!

Charge vs iPhone September 14, 2011

Reviewer:  Robdthatsme 

If you're trying to decide if you should go with the charge or iPhone, here's a couple of things to consider. I've had an android phone from the beginning . Android is a lot more intuitive. You can do a lot more with your android than you can with the iPhone The charge has a bigger brighter screen. There are more free apps available for the charge than there are for the iPhone however, the iPhone's OS is a lot more stable. My charge was constantly shutting down & restarting. The battery was great as long as you were in a 4G area. When I was traveling and there was no 4G service, I was lucky to get 3-4 hours out of the battery. I remember standing in the airport, not being able to make a call, while all my iPhone friends were chatting away. The resolution on the iPhone is a lot better, however, it's not as bright. After having my charge crash one too many times at a critical moment I finally decided to make the switch to the iPhone. I've been extremely happy with it. No issues whatsoever. Although I did have to get used to not having a couple of features. Something I believe the new OS upgrade will fix. If you're a real techie, you want to go with the charge and hack it Otherwise, go with the iPhone

Better than other 4G LTE offerings with some issues as always August 14, 2011

Reviewer:  T. Lasota 

Let me start off by saying that I like the phone, its look, its large screen size with super amoled plus display, and so on. It is the LEAST flawed 4G LTE phone that Verizon currently has to offer.

Pros:
* Better than the HTC Thunderbolt and the LG with battery life
* Awesome super amoled plus display
* Almost no random reboots compared to the HTC Thunderbolt
* MicroHDMI output works great
* Overall better than the other 4G LTE phones currently available from Verizon

Cons:
* When 4G LTE connection is lost it usually never comes back without restarting the phone (airplane mode toggle trick usually doesn't work) - improvements seen with leaked Gingerbread 2.3.4
* When DATA all together (4G,3G,1X) is lost it will never come back on its own, a restart is required - improvements seen with leaked Gingerbread 2.3.4
* Sometimes the phone will stop charging when a notification is received such as an email or text message
* Using the flash on the camera immediately powers off the phone like a blackout without the shutdown process, just black screen completely off, a battery pull is required to turn it back on
* Sometimes you receive a 32gb Class 2 microSD card, sometimes you receive a 32gb Class 4 or 6 microSD card with it, luck of the draw I guess, poor quality control/marketing/packing/distribution/logistics I guess
* Bluetooth is buggy, Samsung uses their own bluetooth stack implementation and it doesn't play nice with all bluetooth devices out there, but what bluetooth does, but theirs is the bully on the playground

Additionally:
Some people speculate that the speed of the microSD card is why sometimes their phones shut off completely when attempting to take a picture. That's not true at all, it just takes longer to save the picture. The phone shuts down completely when using the camera flash. My thoughts on that are that the flash capacitors are drawing too much current, kind of when the lights in your car dim when you start it up.

-> Excerpt from my Samsung Droid Charge Dock review:
The volume controls on the dock are terrible. When pressing up or down on the volume it is not incremental. Pressing left (volume up) just once results in the volume rocketing to maximum. Pressing right (volume down) just once results in the volume rocketing to silent. I thought I was doing something wrong, how hard could it be to operate a volume control right? I called Samsung and they stated they have had reports of the issue and were working to correct them. The AC adapter that comes with it has less output (just 700ma) than the OEM Samsung AC USB Adapter (1000ma). First off, that is a 30% decrease in output which means that you will be charging the battery in your phone 30% slower than with the OEM Samsung AC USB Adapter that your phone came with, or at least the adapter that most of the Samsung phones came with. I have an Otterbox case and I was planning on being content with removing it to use the dock, but what a piece of junk. I returned my dock.
<- End Excerpt

The inconsistencies are extremely disturbing. Samsung's engineering is severely flawed. I could go on an on.

Aceptable phone computer / Could be better August 12, 2011

Reviewer:  New York 

I have the Droid Charge for 6 weeks now and I belive I can give my fair opinion on this divice, on the positive side overall I tink is a very good small " phone-computer" : EXCELLENT SCREEN DISPLAY, I could say is better than the Iphone, I have no issue with the keyboard (horizontal display is better and easy), camera is good (I took photos of documents with very good results, also I know that there are scanner app on the market), voice command acceptable, speaker ok., audiphone sound ok.. downloading excellent, no experience uploading.

Task manager app EXCELLENT enable to close all the apps that you might have open before allowing to save battery energy, I have no problem with the battery if as I said before, CLOSE THE APPS when you are no using the phone. I have power for a full day (10 hrs) receiving calls, web surfing, watching youtube videos with the same standard battery, when I stop using the phone I make sure I close all the open apps and save power, really no kidding. I never have to use an extra charger on my job if I learn how to use the phone.

Video camera I have no use, but watching the reviews in youtube I belive is acceptable.

Reason I bought this " computer-phone" are the options and freedom you have changing the battery, having a memory card, EXCELLENT DISPLAY, etc.

ON THE NEGATIVE side when I been on the web I've been disconected or frozen, I don't know if is the phone or the network, I notice an intermitent change between 3g and 4g on the display bar, this is something VERIZON HAS TO LOOK AT if the network technology is working properly. I have managed the problem turning off the phone then turned on and go back to normal.

As I said before this is an excellent divice regarless of the cheap outside design (plastic) and SAMSUNG COULD DO MUCH BETTER at this price, anyway I waiting for the release of the Galaxy S2 ( prefer LTE 4g same Europe disign) if FINALLY the corporations find the way to do it.

It is a great phone I ever had! July 29, 2011

Reviewer:  BlackBerry 

I love it, of course Droid Charge is not the only one that has problem with battery, all other 4G devices has same issue. It is true that Droid Bionic will have better battery, but still will empty the battery less than ten hours. The screen looks great and I now love the Android OS. It is very fast 1Ghz processor, I experienced very good video chatting. No problem so far, I'm happy with it so far.

Problem with people can't hear you. August 9, 2011

Reviewer:  H. Kuo 

amazon has already replaced my droid charge once,and i still have problem where all of a sudden people start to say "hello...hello..." and unless you reboot, any calls there after no one will be able to hear you. search the net and you will see more people have this issue.

Awesome phone January 30, 2012

Reviewer:  Mr Mexico 

I think a lot of these reviews must have not had the free android update. This phone is great. IT is very fast, beautiful screen, great camera, I love everything about this phone. It looks really cool once you get the case on it. Samsung makes good easy to use phones.

ITS NOT A PHONE January 9, 2012

Reviewer:  LORI 

I have a desk charger. give it a new battery everyday. Have to keep hitting the screen to answer phone. Cant see in the sunlight. I am going back to buy a real phone. I do not need a dumb toy. What a waste of $300 bucks.

All Charged Up! October 20, 2011

Reviewer:  Thor  (Chanhassen, MN United States) -

2 months ago I was like you, sifting through all the reviews here on the Droid Charge, trying to figure out if it should be the new smartphone I should buy. I read many negative reviews about battery life, performance, etc., and quite a few good ones, too.

However, I was still confused, so I went to the nearest Verizon store and actually looked at one (and others) and tried it out. There is nothing like holding it in your hand and using it! It immediately felt good to me compared to others, and I liked its performance as well. I got a "sixth sense" that this was my phone, regardless of battery life, complaints about "if it only did this" by tech heads, etc.

I highly urge you to read the reviews here, but then actually go see it, use it, and then decide. Any piece of equipment is relative to your needs and what turns you on about a product. For me, buying the Droid Charge was a total success, and I couldn't be happier with my purchase.

I can't say it will be right for you, but I can say this: overall, Samsung makes great products. The screen is fantastic, the OS makes sense and has neat features, the performance is great - for me, this is a big, bright beautiful phone that does everything I need, and that's the bottom line.

Good luck!

p.s. - I bought it through Amazon wireless and saved $90 over Verizon! Also, I bought the "Samsung microUSB Car Charger with USB Cable" for $9 - this way, I can charge the phone in my car, then detach the USB cable and plug it in to my PC and keep it charged wherever I go.

Best Dam Android Phone October 1, 2011

Reviewer:  Richard Glass  (Tampa Fl.) -

I had to buy a new phone from Verizon I had a Blackberry Storm 2 Well my Verizon rep told me about the HTC Incredible 2 well it was hell from the beginning ,dropped calls no bars,people called went right to voice mail,Well after 3 refurbished phone I had it and went back to Verizon,for help well I got a great woman named Cherlyn she got me into the Samsung Droid Charge,what a phone!!! battery life was excellent and I got calls A+++ get this phone it will serve you much better,I got an extended battery and now I can go 12 hours with battery still left .

Battery life is really bad! August 18, 2011

Reviewer:  T. TIEU "maki808"  (California) -

I think the phone features and everything is better than iPhone but the only compliant I have is the battery life. It will only last me half a day (since I'm a heavy user surfing the web, download videos,...). The suggestion I get from other users and Verizon work, is to buy extra charges (for your car and at work or to carry around). Who wants to carry that around all the time? If Samsung improves the battery life (lasting ten times longer than 30 mins), then I would give it a 5 stars...otherwise only a two star. Trust me on this one! Everywhere I go, I always worry about running out of battery.

I really don't get why people like this phone August 15, 2011

Reviewer:  missgord 

Am I missing something? My phone is pretty glitchy. When I run games, it freezes fairly often and restarts itself. The battery life sucks. I can't make it through the day on a single charge, and I lowered the backlight to where I can barely see the screen. I would consider myself a regular user - not heavy, but certainly not light. It says that the display uses 75% of my battery - I really don't understand why. I also don't really notice a difference between 4g and 3g, nevermind that you're supposed to use WIFI to save battery life. I also really hate the keyboard, to the point that I dread texting. Sending it back and getting a Droid 3. I don't care if touchscreen keyboards are the way of the future, I'm holding onto my physical keyboard as long as physically possible.

Fantastic July 11, 2011

Reviewer:  Ted Ulson 

I upgraded early from the Droid Incredible to the Charge and have never looked back. The first thing I noticed was the weight it is super light compared to phones like the HTC Thunderbolt. The design appears pretty sleek and almost appear like they wanted to imitate carbon fiber on the back cover ( even though it is obviously not ). The battery life is fair as far as touch screen phones go, the screen is a significant upgrade over my past phone as well as the OS I have liked most everything about it. I would have prefered the small buttons in the front to have been touch screen tabbed like the Droid Incredible or HTC Thunderbolt but you cant win them all.

Great Phone, LTE Rocks! July 1, 2011

Reviewer:  matmatician 

Upgraded from my Droid 1 last month and wanted to get some time of use under my belt before I reviewed it. So far, I really like this phone. As far as some of the reviews go that say there is bad call quality or screeching in the background... I haven't had any of that what so ever.

Pros:
-Great screen, looks beautiful especially in games and youtube videos.
-PHYSICAL BUTTONS!!!
-4G speeds on the nations fastest network. I was pulling down 35MBPS according to Ookla's speed test app. That's right. 35MBPS, not KBPS. That's faster than my home Comcast internet.
-HDMI Output
-Very responsive screen, no lag.
-Did I mention its fast? Like, never buffering a youtube video fast? Like, it takes longer to install an application than it does to download it from the Android market fast? Yeah. Its that fast.

Cons:
-Blah blah blah battery life... whatever. Its a computer in your pocket. That's to be expected.
-The screen isn't quite as glaringly bright as I would like it sometimes, especially in direct sunlight, but its still definitely manageable.
-Screen is actually a bit TOO bright in the dark sometimes. Just my opinion though.
-Speaker seems a bit quiet... Could be my bad hearing though.

This phone was reviewed in Seattle, WA

Droid Charge review after 1.5 weeks June 30, 2011

Reviewer:  songtree 

This is a great phone! The user interface is awesome and super intuitive! Upgrading to this after the Blackberry Tour was revolutionary for me, BUT when people say the battery life on this phone kind of sucks, don't take the light-heartedly. I usually wake up, check my email on the phone, use the 3G/4G lightly throughout the day, and place a perhaps 10 minute phone call, and within 5-6 hours of being pulled off the charger, it is needing to be plugged in again. This is with the wifi turned off, the screen turned all the way down, the GPS off, and only my email syncing. I just bought the extended battery which I hope will allow me to get through the entire day without charging it.

Decent phone, but not great. May 24, 2011

Reviewer:  J. McDonald  (Houston, TX) -

I've had my Droid Charge for a week now, having upgraded form an iPhone. My feelings are mixed.

Pros:
- Beautiful display... very bright and clear.
- Nice design... not too heavy, and doesn't 'feel' too big, even though the screen is nicely spacious.
- 4G is AMAZING, when you can get the signal (see below). When I get a 4G signal, I regularly get
better download speeds than my home wired internet (AT&T U-Verse).

Cons:
- Battery is *significantly worse* than I expected. I get ~8-10 hours of moderate (not frequent) use
before I'm around 25%. It's better than my co-worker's Thunderbolt, but not by much. Certainly
not the ~2 days I read in some other reviews.
- Data reception appears to be *significantly* worse than Thunderbolt (in side-by-side comparison).
My Droid Charge frequently loses data signal and/or switches 4G <=> 3G <=> 1G, in situations where
Thunderbolt reports steady 4G reception.

All in all, I think I prefer it to the Thunderbolt, but mainly because of the slightly better battery life.
But at the time I ordered mine, it and the Thunderbolt were the only 4G options.

Samsung Droid Charge sucks August 21, 2011

Reviewer:  Walter Payfer  (Minneapolis, MN USA) -

I got my Verizon Charge from Amazon at the beginning of June. I had sound issues from the start. Finally got around to complaining about 2 weeks ago and after 6 calls they replaced the phone, first with a used one and then with a new one. They both had the same problems with sound. It sounds like a speaker with a hole in it. I've had friends try my phone and they all feel the same. It sucks. And the people I talk with ask me to call on a landline. The Verizon Charge by Samsung just is terrible. I tried 3 of them now and they are all bad. Really bad. No matter what state I'm in nor if I'm calling a landline or another cell phone. It sucks.

Dropping All Calls August 11, 2011

Reviewer:  keith 

This phone was great until it started dropping calls. This has been going on nonstop for the past two weeks non-stop. Verizon has no solution....buyer beware.

Droid Charge Does May 26, 2011

Reviewer:  Adam M. Rice "jeepfreak"  (Pittsburgh, PA) -

Upgraded from an HTC Droid Eris to the Charge the day the Charge was released.

LOVE IT.

Battery is lasting all day. Beautiful screen. I was considering the iPhone4, but have no regrets. Very snappy, and light in your pocket. It's not like a brick that the Motorola's seem to feel like.

Android just keeps improving. Don't hesitate. It's a great smartphone.