brandonsmash
Member
I just finished Day 6 of life with the Droid Charge.
It's going back to the store tomorrow.
Initially I had very high hopes. Then I noticed that the calendar was buggy (it received all events synced from Google, sure, but didn't actually display them all in month/week view) and e-mail didn't work right (only received some e-mails, and at inconsistent times though auto-sync was enabled).
Then I noted that I couldn't remove bloatware apps bundled with the phone: Blockbuster is still around? I don't want that app. ESPN? No thanks. Golf game? No. But I can't delete them? Oh HELL no. I reverted the phone to an earlier (rooted) firmware, installed Titanium Backup, and deleted the extraneous apps. Great.
My first time actually playing with the data function of the phone was disappointing. I live and work in the Phoenix metro area -- the 5th-largest metro area in the US -- and Verizon touts extensive, full coverage of the area with 4G. Not so much. Occasionally (four times in the first fifteen minutes I used it) the phone would just drop all data connection altogether and then reconnect maybe 30 or 60 seconds later. I noticed this pattern again and again in the east valley, south central, and west valley. It's everywhere. I even have screenshots.
I went to the Verizon store yesterday. They tried to fix the phone with software. No dice. Hard reset? No luck. SIM card swap? Useless. They replaced the entire phone, too.
Three hours later I walked out with no service (their activation servers were down). This morning -- 15 hours after I received the replacement phone -- I was finally able to activate the device. Great.
Second verse, same as the first. Data connection intermittently dropping with no rhyme or reason; 4G switching to 3G sometimes in heavily-covered areas, and then even with full cell signal I'd just lose data altogether.
I was trying to have a short conversation with my wife via text message today. I tried to send a total of 10 text messages.
Of those 10 only 2 made it through, even after repeated attempts to re-send.
My BlackBerry wasn't terribly reliable, but it was better than this. At least e-mail was flawless and I could always count on data/text service, even if it was slow.
Tomorrow morning I'll take my Charge back to the Verizon store and get a refund (it's within my first 14 days of purchase, I've had documented problems and the customer support rep today said it was fine). I wanted badly to like this phone, I really did. I did a lot of research before buying it, but it's just not something for which I want to have to compromise this much. Instead I'll wait for the Droid Bionic, or at least wait for the bugs to be fixed from these devices.
It's going back to the store tomorrow.
Initially I had very high hopes. Then I noticed that the calendar was buggy (it received all events synced from Google, sure, but didn't actually display them all in month/week view) and e-mail didn't work right (only received some e-mails, and at inconsistent times though auto-sync was enabled).
Then I noted that I couldn't remove bloatware apps bundled with the phone: Blockbuster is still around? I don't want that app. ESPN? No thanks. Golf game? No. But I can't delete them? Oh HELL no. I reverted the phone to an earlier (rooted) firmware, installed Titanium Backup, and deleted the extraneous apps. Great.
My first time actually playing with the data function of the phone was disappointing. I live and work in the Phoenix metro area -- the 5th-largest metro area in the US -- and Verizon touts extensive, full coverage of the area with 4G. Not so much. Occasionally (four times in the first fifteen minutes I used it) the phone would just drop all data connection altogether and then reconnect maybe 30 or 60 seconds later. I noticed this pattern again and again in the east valley, south central, and west valley. It's everywhere. I even have screenshots.
I went to the Verizon store yesterday. They tried to fix the phone with software. No dice. Hard reset? No luck. SIM card swap? Useless. They replaced the entire phone, too.
Three hours later I walked out with no service (their activation servers were down). This morning -- 15 hours after I received the replacement phone -- I was finally able to activate the device. Great.
Second verse, same as the first. Data connection intermittently dropping with no rhyme or reason; 4G switching to 3G sometimes in heavily-covered areas, and then even with full cell signal I'd just lose data altogether.
I was trying to have a short conversation with my wife via text message today. I tried to send a total of 10 text messages.
Of those 10 only 2 made it through, even after repeated attempts to re-send.
My BlackBerry wasn't terribly reliable, but it was better than this. At least e-mail was flawless and I could always count on data/text service, even if it was slow.
Tomorrow morning I'll take my Charge back to the Verizon store and get a refund (it's within my first 14 days of purchase, I've had documented problems and the customer support rep today said it was fine). I wanted badly to like this phone, I really did. I did a lot of research before buying it, but it's just not something for which I want to have to compromise this much. Instead I'll wait for the Droid Bionic, or at least wait for the bugs to be fixed from these devices.
