latest
Verizon is just not letting up on the updates. Which is kind of a crazy thing to say about the carrier. Today's is an oddity, though, as the Droid Charge will be getting a mild upgrade. Yes, really. It's not a huge change, though. Unfortunately, it's not Jelly Bean (or even Ice Cream Sandwich), but it does bring a couple of the features from those platforms, including face unlock and a photo editor.
Ah, the Droid Charge -- the Droid that never should have been. It was the first LTE Droid to hit Verzon and... well, its accomplishments stopped there. In fact, this once-flagship device is still running Froyo, rendering some of its hardware basically useless (like the front facing camera). Fortunately, Gingerbread may be just around the corner for those who bought into the Charge hype, as a new leaked build just landed on MyDroidWorld, courtesy of P3Droid.
When I switched from AT&T from Verizon and swapped my aging, battered, and bruised Nexus One for a DROID BIONIC, the possibility of buyer’s remorse was not on my mind. I was coming from AT&T - America’s single least reliable network in terms of dropped calls. So, I thought the last thing I’d end up doing was wishing I was back there. And now, at least part of me does.
Yesterday we highlighted a deal with VZW's first LTE phone, the HTC ThunderBolt. If the TBolt isn't your cup of tea, then Amazon Wireless has come through with yet another amazing deal on an LTE phone: the Samsung Droid Charge.
The Droid Charge was the first 4G phone with Droid branding to hit VZW, and as such, has been the flagship phone of the Droid lineup since its release back in May. If you were to walk into a Big Red retail store and buy the Charge right now, you would leaving with $300 less than you went in with, and, lets face it, who wants to drop that much coin on a new phone?
Regardless of what carrier you're currently shackled to, you have to admit that Verizon's LTE rollout is very impressive. Already the 4G service is available in more markets than Sprint's - despite being publicly available for about half the time.
Yesterday, Skype with video was officially released to the Android Market. There was one problem, though: it was only supported on a small number of seemingly random handsets, like the Nexus S (but not the Nexus S 4G), Desire S, Xperia neo, and Xperia pro. Thanks to the ingenuity of skilled Android modder 0mie, that's no longer the case.
If you're a Droid Charge owner, there's a good chance you're wondering when Gingerbread will be coming your way. After all, we've heard many Gingerbread rumors lately - but not a mention of the Charge. Until now, that is.
It looks like VZW has an update ready for the Droid Charge that should be hitting handsets pretty soon - but it's not Gingerbread. It's mostly a bug fixer, so don't expect anything too astounding to come from it, although the info on Big Red's site does make mention of improved switching between 3G and 4G LTE, which was one of the biggest gripes we had with our review unit.
If you have been patiently waiting for the first 4G LTE DROID to hit Verizon's network after last month's 4G outage that delayed the original release, you'll be pleased to know that your wait ends tomorrow, as the Samsung DROID Charge is finally set to hit the shelves of Big Red.
Neither z4root nor SuperOneClick is currently working on the Charge (though I'm sure someone will come up with a one-click method soon enough), but guess what - Gingerbreak sure does. Follow these instructions, and you should have root and full /system unlock on your Droid Charge in a few minutes. Credit goes to the Exploid Crew and unnamed testers.
Verizon's pair of LTE handsets are sure to confuse some shoppers - though one is from Samsung (the DROID Charge) and the other from HTC (the ThunderBolt), the two sport relatively similar feature sets and designs that somewhat resemble one another. So what's the difference? Well, aside from the Charge being $50 more expensive than the already-pricy ThunderBolt, there really aren't many differentiators - let's take a side-by-side look at their spec sheets:
Big Red has always been renowned for its awe-inspiring commercials, but this latest spot for the DROID Charge takes things to a whole new level. Trapdoors, monolithic Microsoft Surface-style touchscreens, mind-boggling explosions - you name it, Verizon's included it. I won't spoil the fun for you, though; go ahead and watch the ad for yourself:
April 28th is going to be a big day at Verizon for Android lovers, as three new phones are scheduled to hit the sales floor, adding even more choices to the already vast lineup of VZW Android powered goodness.
We've been hearing rumors about the release date for the Samsung DROID Charge for a few weeks now, but VZW has just announced that the official launch date for Sammy's first 4G LTE smartphone will be April 28th. Considering that Samsung released the source code for the Charge last week, this comes as little surprise.
We all know about the update woes that owners of Samsung handsets have faced over the past several months - owners of the VZW Fascinate are still waiting on their update to Froyo. It looks that wait may be coming to an end as the source code has finally shown up on Samsung's Open Source Release Center. Even if the official OTA doesn't hit phones soon, you can rest assured that XDA devs will be hard at work hacking and compiling this source, so you'll be able to enjoy all of the Froyo goodness that you can handle soon enough.
Are you sitting down? Assuming you're reading this on your PC, I would imagine that you are. Unless, of course, you have a standing desk, in which case I urge you to sit down. We've seen it pop up on the web but haven't really heard anything about its price. This time, however, it looks like it made an in-store appearance at Walmart and brought a price tag along with it. Are you ready for this? $298.88 with a two-year agreement. No, that's not a typo.
Last we heard, Samsung's DROID Charge was scheduled to be released on April 7th - yesterday. Well needless to say, that date has come and gone without so much as a mention of Samsung's LTE handset; however, thanks to Sears, we now have a new timeline: April 14.
Have you been itching to get onto Verizon's speedy LTE network but just aren't sure that the HTC Thunderbolt is the right phone for you? New options are likely just around the corner, as more details are surfacing for what will be the second or third LTE smartphone on Big Red. The Samsung handset formerly referred to as the Droid Stealth will be released as the Droid Charge - and, if a leaked internal document from Costco is correct, it will be launching on April 7.