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
Camera Performance
The Charge includes an 8 MP rear facing camera with single LED flash, and perhaps most notably a front facing 1.3 MP camera. For comparison, the LG Revolution has a 5 MP rear camera and 1.3 MP front, and the Thunderbolt has an 8 MP rear.
The camera on the Charge isn’t overwhelmingly good, just above average. The Charge appears to have a shorter focal length than the Fascinate (and thus Galaxy S), and has slightly better white balance on the rear camera. Autofocus happens with the LED turned on, and in the dark the Charge performs pretty well. The front facing camera looks like a smartphone camera from two years ago, like it probably is. It’s a fixed focus optical system that seems to have a very close hyperfocal length, and thus still works fine for close-up things like a face for video chatting. Front facing camera quality is par for right now.
We’ve done the usual thing and taken comparison photos in the lightbox with a small test scene. Our camera bench is going to change slightly - moving and construction at the test site has made locations 1, 2, and 5 inaccessible, and 6 is next due to some construction that’s just getting started. We’re going to standardize things shortly between the whole team, but just a quick heads up that this is why 1, 2, and 5 are missing for the Droid Charge. The Charge also has the same standard fare camera application as the Galaxy S series, and I don’t think it’s really worth going over again since nothing is changed.
Video on the Droid Charge is recorded in 720P 30fps MPEG-4 baseline with 1 reference frame at 12.0 Mbps, with a single channel 60.9 Kbps AAC audio stream on the rear camera, and at VGA 15fps MPEG-4 with 1 reference frame at 1.5 Mbps with the same audio stream on the front camera.
Video on the Charge is actually pretty good quality wise. There’s continual autofocus going on and doing its job in the video, not too much wind noise, and nice detail in high spatial frequencies. I should note that the Charge actually records 720P at a higher bitrate than some smartphones do 1080P video recording, and as a result things look nice here.
The front facing camera flips things horizontally and looks about as good as you’d expect VGA to look. It isn’t super stellar, but it’s adequate for video chats. As usual we’ve uploaded videos both to YouTube and in their original form to the AT servers for your enjoyment.
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name99 - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
"Now, it's come time for me to move on. To what? The iPhone is out, since I'm not an asshole."Absolutely. This line totally proves it.
JasonInofuentes - Friday, June 24, 2011 - link
I don't think I've ever read such a pessimistic comment! I'm puzzled since you sound like an enthusiast, but I think I know where the problem lies.My wife loves going shopping but hates shopping. She likes new things and enjoys the excitement that comes from knowing that you're going to go get it. But she hates that you have to distill from the myriad of options the one item that will make her happiest. The end result is that she inevitably buys several options and then returns them after closer inspection.
You shouldn't sound pessimistic you should be thrilled. When you invested in your Pearl the number of smartphone models per carrier numbered in the single digits. Now you have some 30 or so devices to choose from and 5 platforms, and all on one carrier (VZW)! So here's my advice to you. Go buy one. Is it going to be the right one? I don't know. But if you feel like the options are going to be better in a few months then wait. And then buy one.
Say you get the GS2 variant. And it sucks. Carriers want you to be happy and not leave. So with their 30 day guarantee in mind they will likely let you trade for a different phone so long as you didn't break the first one. Try, rinse, repeat.
I'm not saying this to be discouraging. I love that you're so passionate about this that you can end up having a rant about it. But trust me, this is an awesome and enviable position to be in. You ahve ltos of options. And lots of them are great options. Can you go wrong? Yep. But don't let your preconceptions about the users of a particular platform (::ahem:: iOS) cloud your choice. And don't let FUD rule your choice either, Brian's graphs clearly show that on LTE and WiFi the Thunderbolt and Charge have comparable battery life and that the Thunderbolt trumps the Charge by some margin in talk time.
Lastly, if the Pearl was great for you for three years, why are you going to upgrade? I'm serious. What is the missing feature that you think you need this phone to fill? Seriously, write it down, and don't make it too generic. Is it video? Flash? A particular type of app (career or hobby related)? Music? Better browsing experience? Write that feature down and then look at your choices with that in mind. It could turn out that a suitable phone is already in the bargain bin.
Either way, enjoy the hunt and let us know what you turn up.
Jason
gungan310 - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Its actually 12 mm thick, and so just about 1 mm thinner than the thunderbolt and revolution, not 6mm as you've stated.Brian Klug - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Should be fixed now, thanks!-Brian
FATCamaro - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
So ridiculous. Should be an iphone5 killer tho right. LULZ!gshayban - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Can't really dock the phone for not having SVDO.LTE gives you simultaneous data and a phone call.
scook9 - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Except that there is 3G in a lot more places then there is 4g right now making that a gimmick at bestThat is one of the key reasons I got a ThunderBolt and not the other 2
vision33r - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
All GSM devices on Tmobile/AT&T gives you data/voice at the same time. It's only stupid CDMA devices that can't support it.robco - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
Stupid CDMA devices that, depending on where you live, will actually let you make phone calls. AT&T has a fast network - when you can get it. For those of us who live in areas with poor AT&T and TMo reception, there aren't any other options at the moment.Omega215D - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
CDMA is still inherently better than GSM as it depends on code division rather than time division of GSM. This means more streams per spectrum which means less towers need to be built as each tower can accommodate more users. This is why 450MHz CDMA is popular in small less developed countries.GSM is just Europe having its way as many asian countries have embraced CDMA for the longest.
Stop being an asshole and do some research instead of following the shitfaced sheep. You wanna troll go troll somewhere else fag. I saw your previous comment about people who use android flip phones every 6 months.