(Q) charge or thunderbolt

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kendav911

Senior Member
Dec 15, 2006
60
4
Atlanta
OK folks,

I have been a member follower of these groups for a longtime now. I love the android environment. I bought a charge yesterday that is giving me problems. I have not even begun to hack and am having lockups, robot voice, slow response, etc.

I have just factory reset before I take it back but wanted to know what the groups feel about the 2. I will be submitting this same question in the thunderbolt forum as well. Looking for opinions with a reason, please no flaming either device or me. I have read nearly every post under the charge group of forums.

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imnuts

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jul 27, 2007
3,808
3,174
West Chester
www.imnuts.org
What were the issues you had with the Charge? Maybe others had the same problem and know of a way to fix things, or a work around?

Overall, I've heard of issues with both devices, but I have heard of more serious problems with the Thunderbolt compared to the Charge. The Thunderbolt is having reboot issues with the latest OTA update, and before that, had significant battery drain problems, with a full charge lasting just a few hours, regardless of use. The other problem, which is semi-manageable is the screen and its washed out look, and I've also heard of light bleed around the edge. The other issue, which I haven't heard as much about recently where times when the Thunderbolt would get stuck in 1X or 3G when in a 4G area.

With the Charge, some users seem to have random battery drain problems. Myself, I haven't noticed it being to bad, but I only just got my phone. Signal bouncing around has been reported to, but so far, when I'm in a 4G area, it stays in 4G unless I send a text or get a call (haven't tried voice/data simultaneously yet), and if I'm in a fringe 4G area, it seems to only pick it up if it is a better signal than 3G. Software may be a downside here to, depending on how you look at it, but so far, this is the best Samsung phone I have used, and best phone overall, despite the current lack of mods (which will be fixed in the coming days/weeks now)
 

ghettomuffin

Senior Member
Jan 15, 2011
120
29
Rochester, MN
I just picked up a Charge about a week ago after returning the Thunderbolt. I can honestly say if you want a 4G device, the Charge is the better option. I used the Thunderbolt for about six weeks and had way too many issues with it. I won't say that the Charge is problem free, but its minimal in comparison and managable. With the Thunderbolt I had worse battery issues, syncing that wouldn't shut off, terrible signal that would go from 3G to 1X to no service, and reboots multiple times a day. The only problems I've had with the Charge has been Touchwiz and the battery. Touchwiz is an awful launcher but that's what ADW or Launcherpro is for. And the battery life for the Charge is rough, but probably double than what I was getting out of the Thunderbolt. Before these phones came out, I had no faith in either manufacturer when it came to android. Now, some has developed for one. Hope this helps.

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kendav911

Senior Member
Dec 15, 2006
60
4
Atlanta
Thanks both of you for your responses. I have read the complete forums about my issues and some are common and involve a bad phone. I actual got 2 and the other one does not have the same issues so back to Verizon for a replacement I will go.

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bunklung

Senior Member
Mar 20, 2011
532
109
I have a thunderbolt too and have and still do have random reboots and battery drain. I also get 1X lock in 3G areas too.

My wife owns the Charge and so far it's nice. I haven't really had it long enough to really compare the two.

How did you return your Thunderbolt after 6 weeks? Or did you just pay full retail for the Charge and ebay the thunderbolt?



I just picked up a Charge about a week ago after returning the Thunderbolt. I can honestly say if you want a 4G device, the Charge is the better option. I used the Thunderbolt for about six weeks and had way too many issues with it. I won't say that the Charge is problem free, but its minimal in comparison and managable. With the Thunderbolt I had worse battery issues, syncing that wouldn't shut off, terrible signal that would go from 3G to 1X to no service, and reboots multiple times a day. The only problems I've had with the Charge has been Touchwiz and the battery. Touchwiz is an awful launcher but that's what ADW or Launcherpro is for. And the battery life for the Charge is rough, but probably double than what I was getting out of the Thunderbolt. Before these phones came out, I had no faith in either manufacturer when it came to android. Now, some has developed for one. Hope this helps.

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Z51

Senior Member
Nov 28, 2006
1,060
138
I bought my charge yesterday. Came from a tbolt. The tbolt is a piece of **** compared to the charge. ****ty battery. Poor build quality.bluetooth sucks. Screen sucks. And for some reason htc cant seem to send me a good replacement for my original tbolt that randomly died on me. Samsung makes a fine product.

Sent From My VooDood Charge
 

angry english

Senior Member
Oct 7, 2010
308
95
Fairborn Ohio
The ONLY thing i preferred on the TB over my Charge was the 256mb of extra memory really does make a difference, everything is that bit snappier on the TB, but the crap battery, poor visible screen when outside, the piss poor signal, the fact it looked just like my mates htc surround windows 7 phone just bigger and finally some of the software is garbage like when it saves drafts and you dont want it to of your half written text, and the fact the browser instead of being able to type and google search appears, you have to delete the http:// that appears everytime, make the charge stand head and shoulders above the HTC, will be interesting to see what this new LG Revolution is like as that seems identical to the charge


Quick edit: But i have to add that when changing over from rfs with the voodoo lag fix could make things even out in speed, im yet to root so i cant answer
 
Last edited:

imnuts

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jul 27, 2007
3,808
3,174
West Chester
www.imnuts.org
Thanks both of you for your responses. I have read the complete forums about my issues and some are common and involve a bad phone. I actual got 2 and the other one does not have the same issues so back to Verizon for a replacement I will go.

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I had to take back my first Charge as the vibrate motor was dead :( The new one though seems to be fine thus far though.
 

sir2545

Member
Nov 7, 2010
24
3
I had the Thunderbolt the first day it came out and returned it on the 14th. I really like the Charge, compared to HTC and Motorola, I think Samsung offers a good blend of things. The media player on this phone f-in ROCKS! The camera is good, much better low light performance than Motorola and offers great controls, and the screen is beautiful. The only thing I absolutely HATE is the **** brown color scheme. I hope that this can be resolved soon and I hope that developers will jump on board and give us a great community of ROM's and support because I think this phone has great potential
 

bunklung

Senior Member
Mar 20, 2011
532
109
I *think* the Charge has dedicated video memory, where the TB doesn't.

So the Charge may only have 512M RAM, but I *think* it has 128M of video memory, where the TB has 768 of shared memory.

Someone chime in and correct me if I am wrong.

I do have both a Charge (wife) and a TB. I think the Charge, even with the Voodoo lag fix, is not as snappy as the TB. Not because of the memory, but because the TB has a bumped processor over the older hummingbird.


The ONLY thing i preferred on the TB over my Charge was the 256mb of extra memory really does make a difference, everything is that bit snappier on the TB, but the crap battery, poor visible screen when outside, the piss poor signal, the fact it looked just like my mates htc surround windows 7 phone just bigger and finally some of the software is garbage like when it saves drafts and you dont want it to of your half written text, and the fact the browser instead of being able to type and google search appears, you have to delete the http:// that appears everytime, make the charge stand head and shoulders above the HTC, will be interesting to see what this new LG Revolution is like as that seems identical to the charge


Quick edit: But i have to add that when changing over from rfs with the voodoo lag fix could make things even out in speed, im yet to root so i cant answer
 

kendav911

Senior Member
Dec 15, 2006
60
4
Atlanta
Thanks all for the feedback. I still have the Charge and I did a factory reset and most of the issues have resolved itself. I am still looking at the thunderbolt but for now I have the Charge.