Fast, Big and Light: Hands-On With Verizon?s Droid Charge

Verizon's second 4G phone, the Charge, is Samsung's first offering to use the "Droid" brand. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

A new handset maker is joining Verizon’s Droid party: Samsung’s Droid Charge recently appeared on Verizon’s network, and we got a chance to take one for a test drive.

Android phone manufacturers in 2011 seem to regard bigger as better. The Charge sports a 4.3-inch screen, a size more common than ever in smartphone releases. This may be a welcome change for you, but only if you’re into big phones. A 4-inch screen suits most of my needs, so the extra space felt a bit unwieldy to me at first. But after tapping away on the very responsive capacitive-touch keyboard, the extra screen space grew on me.

I appreciated the size when I used Amazon’s Kindle e-reading app, which comes bundled with the phone. It’s difficult enough reading Jane Austen in any form, so more screen meant more space for my eyes to relax and focus on each “page.”

Despite such large dimensions, the Charge is surprisingly airy. At about 5 ounces, the phone feels lighter than you’d expect. Samsung uses mostly lightweight plastics in its Android phones — for instance, the Galaxy series of handsets all have a chintzy feel to them (my only major qualm with the Nexus S was its lack of sturdiness). I’ve always found the lightness strangely off-putting, and the lightweight Charge is no exception.

As the second 4G device on Verizon’s network, I had high expectations for the Charge’s download and upload speeds. Verizon’s flagship 4G device, the HTC Thunderbolt, blew us out of the water. Luckily, the Charge didn’t disappoint: Results on our speed tests averaged between 7.5 to 8.6 Mbps on download speed, and 5.6 to 6.3 Mbps up. That’s a far cry from the theoretical peak speeds Verizon’s site boasts, but still faster than most phones we’ve seen.

It almost goes with out saying that the Charge comes with two cameras — a 1.3-megapixel front-facing one for video chat and face pics and an 8-megapixel back-facing camera for everything else. Fairly straightforward stuff, though the test shots we took were better than what we’re used to. In the handful of photos we took, pictures came out crisp and properly exposed.

An interesting tidbit for smartphone modders: Blockbuster’s recent app comes bundled with the Charge and lets you stream movies directly to your phone (the more-popular Netflix is only available on a handful of Android phones at the moment). But if you’ve rooted your device (obtained superuser access and have full permissions to install any types of programs you want on your phone ), you’ll be blocked from using the Blockbuster app.

The app uses Widevine’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) software to restrict rooted phones from access. It’s not a huge surprise — the Android Market’s recently released movie-rental service is also restricted to those using rooted devices — but it’s still annoying to those who want to modify their phones.

Unfortunately, Samsung isn’t deviating from the trend of shipping phones that aren’t running the latest version of Android (Gingerbread, 2.3.4). The Charge comes with version 2.2 (Froyo), cluttered with a host of pre-installed apps that clog up the home screens. Most of those are related to Verizon, which come with the company’s “Droid” branding. Many users may find apps that let you check your monthly minutes or direct you to Verizon’s “V-Cast” proprietary app store helpful. I consider them bloatware.

And not to pour more fuel on the Apple vs. Samsung fire, but Samsung’s Android skin makes the app icons look a bit too iPhone-esque for my taste.

All in all, it’s a decent phone if you’re a Samsung loyalist. If not, HTC’s Thunderbolt or LG’s Revolution may sate your thirst for Verizon’s 4G network speeds.