Samsung Droid Charge Review - Droid Goes LTE
by Brian Klug on June 22, 2011 7:47 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- LTE
- 4G
- Droid Charge
- Mobile
WiFi, Hotspot, Audio Quality, Speakerphone, GPS
The Charge is yet another smartphone to use Broadcom’s BCM4329 for Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR and 802.11b/g/n WiFi. Thus, it connects at 72 Mbps using one spatial stream on 2.4 GHz WiFi. Range is just what I’m used to seeing with the Charge, there’s nothing to report here that’s out of the ordinary, as the Charge hands on and off of WiFi predictably well just like every other BCM4329 based device.
Likewise the Charge supports WiFi hotspot creation, though Samsung rolled its own software for the Charge and doesn’t use the native Android hotspot utility.
The Charge originally received a lot of press for being able to support 10 WiFi clients on 4G LTE and 5 on 3G EVDO, which has been free thus far. Hotspot functionality worked fine through the end of May, at which point it stopped working unless you manually set your date back inside May. After the EE4 update, functionality was restored, but I’ve encountered some problems of my own despite the free LTE hotspot creation period being extended.
Though it’s a bit wonky, the Charge hotspot software is relatively standard fare and lets you do the usual things like set an SSID, WPA/WPA2 pre-shared key, timeout, and view details on individual connected clients. I didn’t get around to trying to have 10 devices connect, but I’m sure it would have worked. As an aside, it seems odd that Verizon’s 4G LTE handsets support more attached users than their dedicated portable hotspot products, and the latter come with tiered data. Something is very wrong with that picture.
I know that audio performance is another huge concern for many smartphone shoppers, and I’ve heard more than one request for some analysis going forward. We’re absolutely going to start doing so, for now however I can say that the Charge has the same Wolfson Microelectronics WM8994 multi-channel codec as Galaxy S. I listened to lots of Google Music tracks on the Charge using some Shure SE535s and the whole thing sounded great to me.
Samsung Droid Charge - 1x Voice by AnandTech
The other important voice quality metric is how actual calls sound. The Charge of course has a unique baseband, and thus I was initially curious to see how calls were going to turn out. I don’t remember ever thinking calls were bad sounding before the update, but after the update things sound excellent. I took a recording using the same method we used in the Thunderbolt to illustrate how good the Charge sounds - there’s no squealing or random drop-outs. I’m actually very impressed.
Next up is speakerphone volume which is another important metric. We measure using a digital Extech sound-level meter while calling that same number on speakerphone at maximum volume. The Charge is nice and loud here, and that extra loudness is especially useful for more than calls – it’s also nice to have when using Google Navigation.
I guess that brings me to GPS performance. The original Galaxy S series had some big headline-grabbing GPS problems, and the Verizon variant seemed to never quite shake them either.
I tested anywhere between 4-10 seconds from complete reboot to a good GPS fix on the Charge’s GPS with WiFi turned off. This is a far cry from how broken GPS used to be with every other device. I used the Charge for Google Navigation and drove just north of 800 miles without GPS ever flaking out - trust me, this GPS is tested and passes. That said, that time to fix could still be a bit faster, and you do need a large swath of unobstructed sky for things to work nicely, but it isn’t anywhere near the flustercuck that was Galaxy S GPS.
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GrizzledYoungMan - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Howdy!I could use some wisdom from the thoughtful nerds at Anandtech here. I'm a Verizon subscriber (who won't be switching networks, on account of the fact that I like getting reception), and I've been holding onto my Blackberry Pearl for last three odd years.
Seriously. Don't laugh. The reason being that I haven't been so impressed with any Android phone that has come out in recent memory. I really like having a hardware keyboard, and I've found that for the stuff I need to do most - messaging, calling, mapping - the Pearl was as good as the first and second generation Android phones, except not fat.
Now, it's come time for me to move on. To what? The iPhone is out, since I'm not an asshole. And I would really prefer to get something with an LTE radio. So I'm left with the prospect of the Thunderbolt, which sucks juice like a fat baby, or the Droid Charge, which is just straight up ugly. And, in my experience, has a maddening color cast to the screen.
In my mind, it's worth it to wait a few more months, after years of avoiding upgrades, for the Droid 3, Bionic, GS2, etc. Any thoughts on the following?
I like the look of the Droid 3, and my hunch is that battery life would be at least reasonable without an LTE radio on-board. But would I miss that connectivity? Overall, I prefer faster connectivity to a dual core proc. The hardware keyboard on the Droid 3 would seem to be a big draw, but the keyboard on the Droid 2 is so awful that I feel like I'm taking crazy pills every time people rave about it.
The Droid Bionic sounds like an awesome beast - and like something that could also replace my kindle, my ipod and my netbook to a limited degree - but I have an ugly hunch it's months and months away. And that when it does arrive, it's gonna be gigantic and require a portable nuclear reactor to run for more than a few hours.
I hear that the Samsung GS2 is coming to Verizon, but is that likely to happen in my natural lifetime? And if it does, what are the odds that it also has an LTE radio without the accompanying diabetic-5-year-old appetite?
Alright, this has degenerated into a semi-rant, but thoughts from others in the same situation are appreciated! Thanks!
Pessimism - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
You're right that the QWERTY market for Android is sadly lacking. Motorola seems to be the only vendor even taking a decent crack at it. Downside is they refuse to open their handsets to the community (bootloader/system is locked down and encrypted up the wazoo) and they have already orphaned many of their earlier, otherwise capable droid phones on obsolete releases.GrizzledYoungMan - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Yeah, the locked bootloader thing also bugs me. It really wouldn't if handsets shipped with stock Android, and some measure of confidence that the OS would be updated in a timely fashion. But given that handsets ship with absurd bloatware and crappy UI overlays - I guess that's what we need these dual core procs for, to get all that crap working? - and heinously slow update cycles, I want control of my own ROM.Sigh. I gotta say, this is all really frustrating. Relative to the choices I had back when RIM was king, the smartphone market seems to have gotten crappier. Reviewers get very excited about big screens and kickstands and video streaming (I mean, jebus, who gives a crap about video streaming? I need to live, people), without noticing that phones have gotten obese and slow and half-assed.
PeteH - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
"The iPhone is out, since I'm not an asshole."C'mon dude, don't be that guy. Just say you don't want an iPhone.
GrizzledYoungMan - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Yeah, you're right. Maybe I am an asshole.I thought long and hard about the iphone. Unlike other Apple products which fall mind-blowingly short of the hype - I'm looking at you, OS X, you fat, slow, stupid bastard - It's clearly the best hardware package out there as far as size/performance/battery life, and iOS has definite advantages over Android (although neither is a clear winner in my mind, given the applications I have for a smartphone).
But, I mean, man. I just can't do it. I can't be part of the whole Apple "thing" - the implied smugness, ignorance, the submission to an authority that clearly has contempt for me.
Just can't do it.
Omid.M - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Yeah, seriously! I will admit when a product is well executed. I'm not the " I hate brand X" guy. I like BMW, I like the Hyundai Tiburon V6. The Nissan 370z...etc. If it's well-done, it's well-done.Apple makes a great product. It's just a different philosophy in terms of design and UX. They use high quality parts and their testing is good and pretty thorough. If there isn't a good Android phone out by the time there's an iPhone with a 4" screen and LTE on Verizon, I may go with iPhone. But, I do love the kind of apps that are available for Android, in terms of monitoring system resources, etc. Some cool stuff is available that you can't get on iOS unless you jailbreak.
robco - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
"The iPhone is out, since I'm not an asshole."Actually with that comment, you proved that you in fact are...
piroroadkill - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
You probably own an iPhone though, right?robco - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
I do, and I like it. But there are things about it I don't like. There are Android handsets that look good. I'm even open to WP7. I use a Mac, but it's a laptop. Say what you want, but Apple makes great notebooks. If I were in the market for a desktop, it would likely be a Windows box.I'm an asshole, but not because I own an iPhone. I was an asshole long before I got one. Assholes use all different kinds of technologies, drive different types of cars (not everyone who drives a BMW is a douchebag for example), live in all types of places. Being an asshole and owning an iPhone are mutually exclusive.
name99 - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
"Being an asshole and owning an iPhone are mutually exclusive."You mean they are ORTHOGONAL.