DROID CHARGE by Samsung (Verizon) (Verizon Wireless)

Who should get this phone? Consumers who want an Android 2.2 cell phone with a spacious, vibrant display that also works on Verizon’s 4G LTE network.

What cell phone compares to this model? The Droid Charge by Samsung has a similar interface to the Samsung Fascinate and the power and speed of the ThunderBolt by HTC.

Why should I get this phone? You want a powerful Android 2.2 smartphone that works on Verizon’s 4G LTE network and prefer a touchscreen keyboard to that of a tactile QWERTY keyboard.

In a nutshell: The Droid Charge by Samsung has a lot to offer consumers that want an iPhone-esque user interface but boasts all the features found in the Android 2.2 OS. It’s also fairly lightweight so it won’t take up a lot of space in a pocket or in a purse.

The Droid Charge by Samsung is similar to the Samsung Galaxy cell phones currently available, in that sports a Super AMOLED display and similar user interface. The screen is simply beautiful; colors are bright, letters are crisp, and the screen is viewable in direct sunlight. The 4.3-inch display doesn’t seem as overpowering of that of cell phones with a comparable screen size. That’s likely a result of the style of the rest of the cell phone. The casing is a gray plastic that feels good in the hand and is fairly easy to cradle between ear and shoulder. Also, on the back of the cell phone you’ll find an 8-megapixel camera with a flash. There’s also a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera located in the top right hand corner of the cell phone that can be used for video chats or snapping self portraits.

Surrounding the face of the cell phone is a silver lining, which gives it some style. The cell phone’s spine subscribes to the minimalist philosophy with just volume keys and a microUSB port on one side, a power button and microHDMI our port on the other side. On the top of the cell phone you’ll find a 3.5mm headset jack. Like other Google Android smartphones currently available there are only 4 touch keys at the base of the phone for maneuvering through the cell phone’s features and none of them are a send or end key. Instead there are Menu, Home, Back, and Search keys. However, at the base of the cell phone’s screen there are stationary dedicated icons for the Phone, Contacts, Messaging, and Applications that appear on all seven home screens. You’ll need to remove the back cover of the cell phone to swap out the included 32GB microSD card and into insert the 4G LTE SIM card (note: You will not be able to use the Droid Charge by Samsung without a working 4G LTE SIM card inserted), but not the battery.

The Droid Charge has a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard that can be accessed in horizontal or vertical mode. You can use it either to send messages or write notes. We found the keyboard fairly easy to use, but did suffer a few mistypes. However, you won’t find the SWYPE keyboard instead the cell phone supports XT9 predictive text, which does a decent job. We did find the on-screen dial pad fairly large and easy to read.

Testing the Droid Charge by Samsung 

• Making Calls: During calls we could hear callers pretty clearly, but it didn’t sound like they were right in front of us. Callers said we sounded clear. Regardless of how close you hold the smartphone to your face, the “End Call” button never seems to get “accidentally” hit.  

• Volume Adjustment: You can use the side buttons to adjust the volume, but we rarely needed to use them.  
• Speakerphone: Call quality is acceptable when using this feature, though callers said we sounded distant. We didn’t cut each other off when speaking simultaneously.

Operating System: The smartphone comes loaded with the Android 2.2 OS, sports a 1GHz processor, and comes with a 32GB microSD card installed and has 2GB of storage space onboard. There’s plenty of room to store files, music, and pictures out-of-the-box. It also supports multitasking and multiple screens with the ability to organize apps just about any way you want. Overall, the user interface is fairly straightforward and icon friendly. Verizon has included some fun apps on the Droid Charge by Samsung such as BitBop TV and Video service, Amazon Kindle, BlockBuster, and Samsung’s Daily Briefing app to keep your schedule organized and news at your fingertips.

• Web Navigation: You can easily access any website you want simply by entering the name of the site in the Google search bar. The cell phone does support Adobe FlashPlayer 10.1. We did also appreciate that you can have multiple browser windows open simultaneously and easily navigate between them. Overall, surfing the web on the Droid Charge by Samsung was fast over Verizon’s 4G LTE network. It was also a fluid experience with the ability to zoom and scroll around web pages with ease.
• Social Media: There aren’t any Social Media Apps included on the cell phone except for IM apps and Google Talk. However, you can easily find social networking options the Android Market and VCAST App store. 

Camera Features: The Droid Charge by Samsung sports an 8-megapixel camera with a flash on the back of the cell phone. It lacks a tiny mirror for framing self-portraits. We also appreciated that if you wanted to take a self portrait you can easily switch the front facing camera in the application

• Shutter Speed: We found the shutter speed on the Droid Charge by Samsung to be a bit slow, so you will not be able to capture action shots with the camera.
• Picture Quality: We found colors to be true and details sharp when looking at pictures on the phone.
• Photo Settings: You can control the contrast, flash, exposure, focus, timer, resolution, white balance, ISO setting, metering, blink detection, anti-shake, select a scene mode (automatic, portrait, landscape, sport, night, party, beach/snow, dawn, Fall, Firework, text, sunset, candlelight, or backlight), effects (normal, black and white, negative, and sepia), choose single shot, beauty, smile, action, cartoon, panorama assist, add yourself, or multishot, and add geo tags.
• Video Features: You can record 720p HD with this Android cell phone. We found quality was acceptable, but we preferred watching YouTube videos on the cell phone to our own creations. If you want to download more movies or TV shows you can purchase them via the Samsung Media Hub, Blockbuster, or BitBop.

• Music Features: Playback of music through the Droid Charge by Samsung speaker is solid; songs sounded loud, but not distorted or too tinny. Music also sounded great through headphones and when those are plugged in you can get even fuller sound by turning on the 5.1-channel feature. When music is playing on the phone and its locked, there’s a CD at the top of the screen that you can pull down to control the music without needing to unlock the cell phone’s screen. Other music features include Slacker radio, Tune Wiki, and VCAST Media for purchasing music on-the-go.

• Formats Supported: We were able to play MP3, unprotected AAC (Apple’s audio format), and unprotected WMA (Microsoft’s audio format) music files.
  • Features: Repeat, Shuffle, and Playlists (you can even create playlists on the cell phone). You can also save tunes stored in your cell phone as a ringtone or as an alarm. You can also adjust the equalizer, set visualization (a graphic that changes based on the music playing), and sound effect (normal, wide, concert hall, music clarity, bass enhancement, and externalization).
  • Connectivity: The Droid Charge by Samsung works with Verizon’s 3G and new 4G LTE networks. The cell phone is automatically set to use 4G when available and it is fast. There's no need to manually turn the feature on or off. When the network is not available it will use an available 3G network for data connectivity. You can opt to turn off the data completely by pulling down the drop menu from the top of screen and turn off Mobile Data. It also has the Mobile HotSpot feature so you can share the data connection with up to ten other WiFi-enabled devices. When we used this feature it did tend to drain battery life, so we recommend leaving it plugged into while the Mobile HotSpot is activated.
  • Bluetooth: The cell phone worked seamlessly with the Motorola T505 and callers didn’t know we were using a Bluetooth connection. We were also able to connect the Droid Charge by Samsung with a MacBook Pro andf transfer contacts, pictures, and music.
  • WiFi: It has 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (that’s pretty secure) and we were able to log onto available WiFi networks to surf the Web or send/receive e-mail. It just takes moments to set up. The only thing you need is the WiFi network you want to use and password if needed.
  • Battery Life: We found battery life on the Droid Charge by Samsung to be on par with similar devices. We were able to go about a day before needing to recharge the cell phone, when we had the cell phone’s screen to the brightest level and used it to check e-mail, surf the web, listen to music and take a few pictures. We should note that the 4G LTE connectivity feature didn’t seem to put any added stress on battery life. 

  We were impressed with the speed and the features of the Droid Charge by Samsung. The cell phone offered many multimedia options that were easy to use and well implemented.

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