Droid Charge Many Issues

[rentien]

I have been having a lot of problems with my Droid Charge. I was wondering if other people are having the same issues? This is my first smart phone so I am new to smartphones.

Here are the issues I have been having.

1. 4G 3G reception is not consistent. I have been in areas (zipcodes 91304 and 94598) where 4G coverage is solid, but my phone is always down on 3G, and sometimes will even go down to "1X" when other friends around me are on 3G. Sometimes I restart the network connection by going to CDMA and then back to LTE and sometimes this will work, sometimes it won't.

I went to the Verizon wireless store today and they replaced my simcard. This has not helped however.

2. Charging using laptop - the phone charges extremely slow, but this isn't the issue because I heard this is normal. One time while charging off my laptop, it got really hot, not sure if it was the screen or battery or both, but the screen no longer accepted touch inputs. I couldn't even hold down the power button to restart or shut down the phone properly. I was afraid it would continue to get hotter, so I had to just unplug the battery to shut off the phone.

3. Charging in my car using a power inverter and a wall charger (the one that came with the phone) - when I do this, the screen goes wacky, and will not accept my touch inputs, or the puzzle piece you use to unlock will go somewhere my finger totally isn't. I have to unplug the phone in order to get touch input/control back. - this issue was solved by buying a car charger, but I have never had any electronic device that had issues with a power inverter before, cell phones, laptops, TV's, they were all fine so I don't understand why this phone can't use it.

4. Also, while using GPS, sometimes the phone shows me in a part of town 3 miles away from where I am, and then after a long time, like 5 minutes, it will get my location correct, after jumping around for awhile. I'm not sure if this is normal.

Has anyone else had these issues and no how to alleviate them?

[nbg2]

Your charging problem may be due to the particular charging device you are using.  I tried to charge my Droid Charge using a car charger that slipped into my cigarette lighter and that I had bought after-market.  My phone overheated, rebooted, etc.  ... all sorts of problems.  I then went to Verizon and got their prescribed car charger (it connects directly and then has a USB port for charging additional devices such as my bluetooth earpiece).  I now have absolutely no problems charging.     BTW, if you are going to use your phone in your car, I also recommend that you buy the Samung car window holder (sold as an OEM accessory).   You can then connect the charger to it, and use your phone hands free, and as a GPS navigator.  Once in this dock, your phone defaults to car mode, but you can be put into ordinary mode if you want to, by pressing the BACK button on your phone.  The one other quirk with this dock is that the Navigation default fault when your phone is in it is to VZNavigator (I prefer Google Maps to navigate).  You can override that either by pressing the Search button on your phone and use Android Voice Action, or by using your Navigator app from within Applications.

[WCMack]

The phone does get warm during charging, but you should not lose the ability to use it, as you describe.  I would definitely take it back to the store you bought it from and check this out; you may have a bad battery or a bad phone.

I believe the phone will also charge faster if you plug it in to a 110 volt outlet, rather than use the USB cord only for charging. 

[BobMano]

My phone is 4 days old and the 4G reception is unacceptable.

[vidguy7]

With post after post after post with people having the same data issue in this forum and many others across the Internet, wouldn't it be nice if VZW gave us some clue as to the status of this issue that makes their 4G network look like a dial-up at many times?

[HoustonHeart]

They need to vamp the new system faster in more areas. Where I live in Houston I get great steady 4g (at a cost of battery life). Out in between tower areas, it drops fast.

Anywhere aroudn Houston and immediate sub areas its great. Stady pings without packet loss, nice highspeed connection amazign for wireless. Problem is I cna't spend time out at my babe's house and get a seady connection since they lack towers out there. Seems Nextel owns the region.

[ChristinaB_VZW]

I can check your area for 4G coverage. Please send me a PM with your zip code and contact information. I am more than happy to assist you troubleshoot this issue.

Thank you!

[ElViscount]

I'm beginning to think that "Rule the Air" is the BIGGEST LIE in the wireless world or at least, with the Droid Charge.

I work in zip code 10041, live in zip code 10036, and work out in zip code 10019. My connection speed regularly drops to 1x or no connection. Sometimes, my phone displays 4G but takes minutes to load Google or return search results.

My associate who sits next to me  has the same experience.

I've read in other forums that the Dord Charge seems to have WEAK 4G radio (especially compared with the Thunderbolt). Some suggest there's a firmware issue as well.

I've mentioned this to a tech service rep who confirmed I shouldn't have connection issues in my area. He also recommended shutting dow the phone every two days. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Also, I've noticed that the battery is draining faster now (after jsut 1 month of use). I usually end up charging my phone at noon at in late afternoon.

I wish I could still return this Droid Charge.

[ididntdoit]

I got my phone in late May of 2011. At least twice a day I must soft reset the phone. While Iam talking on the phone,it just dies on me. This won't happen if I reset it first.. When I just got the phone one of the first apps I installed was the swimming fish for my wallpaper. The phone constantly would die on me, It took me two weeks to figure it out.I had too,nobody at the verizon store knew what to do.. I cleaned out all apps after that. And one by one I added apps. Taking the time to see if they affected the running of the droid. There are so many apps out there that do more harm than good. So after two months of droid use I have come to the understanding that this phone is not perfect by any stretch. But knowing what you got and keep all expectations low for now,I think it is possible to enjoy it for now. But, my patience will run out in time if I don't see verizon acknowledge this problem and say so to all who brought in to this thing called droid... 

[MBP2U]

I've had my Droid Charge for two months now and have had very few problems, in fact only one that I did not cause or just have to find an answer to.  New to Android, but have been grooving on computers for over 20 years... seems like some of the basics rules with computers definitely apply to these Androids.  Keeping them "clean" (re-starting at least once a day and close programs that you aren't using) and adding Apps one at a time (then, watch, WAIT).  Probably the old "garbage in/ garbage out" on these too.  Oh well - have fun!

[DC5_K20Z1]

My wife and I can't even have a phone call for longer than two minutes with one another. Either she can hear me and then I can't or vice versa and we hang up and dial again and sometimes drop the call all together. This is frustrating! Everything else seems to work well minus not being able to log into the my verizon app....ever!

[moca924]

I am having the same issue.  I have tested this and for the past 3 or 4 days been having this issue only when I talk to someone else on the verizon network.  I dont understand it and they continue to say that this is not the case!!!  Verizon really needs to go back to the drawing board for this one.  I love the phone but this is very fustrating as you say!!!  Have you found a remedy for this?  Has verizon been able to help you?

[Lyons]

My and my wifes phones are dropping calls about every two minutes.  It is driving us crazy. 

[DC5_K20Z1]

You all should try forcing the phone into 3g CDMA only mode...and if you have a case on it..take it off...reset the phone and try calling other VZW customers. My wife and I tried that today and so far none of the issues of dead air or dropped calls, however, the phone calls were only for about 4-5 minutes, so we are not 100% sure that this fixes the issues and or if maybe it just prolongs the time before the issues happen, or maybe it does nothing at all...and we just happend to get lucky and make a few phone calls to others on VZW without having these issues before we hung up. Give it a try though.....I've heard that Verizon is aware of this issue and that a fix could be coming soon, possibly one to two weeks in the form of an OTA update....I'd hope sooner though, we pay ALOT OF MONEY each month for these...."Phones"...thats the number one thing it needs to be able to do too...call and get calls on a regular basis. I can understand a dropped call...here and there....just not every day, 1-20 times a day over weeks...thats just not right.

[TominqueBo_VZW]

Hello Lyons,

I do understand the importance of staying connected.  I would like to assist you by first asking a few questions that will help determine a resolution.  For clarification, you and your wife both have the same device correct?  Do the dropped calls occur in a specific area or everywhere you go?  Has this always been the case even with prior VZW devices or did this begin with the devices you both have now?  Did this start right way or did this just begin?  Also, if you can advise me if there are other VZW customers around you two that are experiencing this as well, that would be great.  If you can reply with the information asked above we can definitely move forward with your success.  Thank you.  

[Wadester]

I was having a similar problem with my Charge shortly after I bought it (late August). At least once per day, mid-conversation, I could hear the other person but they could not hear me, except for bursting, gibberish sounds. I would have to hang up and call again. Lately it started doing that  several times a day. Last week I took it into the store and the rep set me up with a replacement phone that arrived the next day. I wasn't able to get it switched over until this morning. My first incoming call this evening had the same issue, the person I was talking to could no longer hear me and I had to hang up and reconnect. The next person I talked to, only minutes later, experienced the same thing except with a lot more squawking noises. With the first Charge, I had trouble with the GPS trying to locate me in Google maps. It would be off by about 16 miles for a solid 5 minutes before it figured out where I was. I traveled with a friend with a Motorola Droid (which I had before I bought the Samsung and LOVED). We would both start our Navigation apps at the same time to find a location. He would lock in with directions within seconds. 5 minutes later my phone was still trying to figure out where we were, let alone where we were going. I've had weird issues with the switching between 4G and 3G. It seems like it can't do that very well. And the audio has always been greatly lacking compared to my Motorola. But the biggest problem is the disrupted calls. I conduct my business from my cell phone and this can't happen anymore. But the phone DOES take nice pictures. It's just that I bought it because I needed a phone.  

[dlcj21]

I've had numerous issues with this phone.  Honestly I love the design and the screen but I'm now on my 3rd phone and now it's starting to have issues.

My first phone in the middle of a call, the microphone would stop working.  I could hear other people fine they just couldn't hear me.  I thought it was related to my bluetooth but it happened with my bluetooth connected and without it connected.  I had to restart the phone for it to begin working again.  I had the phone replaced about a month after purchasing it.  I got a brand new one since I was still in the 90 day warranty period from costco.

My second phone was working fine for a few months but after 2 months it started overheating for no reason.  It would be sitting idle and sometimes it would be too hot to touch.  The battery would only hold a charge for an hour and sometimes couldn't be charged at all due to the phone temperature.  I called customer service and she was going to send me a replacement right away but wanted me to get it tested in a store to tell her if it was the battery or the phone.  I took it in to be tested and he looked at my apps and told me since I had apps like netflix, flixster, and pandora, that he had to factory reset my phone, fully charge the battery and put it on a call for an hour to determine if there was anything wrong with it.  I had to leave the phone with them for several hours while they got it charged and tested.  First off I didn't think much about it, but after returning to work without my phone, the thought of factory resetting it and then performing the tests isn't realistic...how many people just use the phone as a phone?  I get putting it into a base case to see if anything was wrong with it, but when most people have the phone checking email, getting texts, etc factory reseting it and not registering any email accounts or anything else and simply putting it on a call for an hour doesn't make much sense.  Anyway, I came back and he told me that the battery was fine and he had it on a call for 2 hours and less than half battery life was acceptable after it being on a call that long.  When I asked him why it over heated he said that phones get hot while they charge.  He put the phone to his cheek and said, it's a little warm but nothing out of the ordinary.  I told the customer service agent that I spoke with on the phone the results and she sent me out a refurb phone.

First off, the thought of getting a refurb phone was annoying but if it was better than my other 2 and worked fine, I wouldn't mind.  First issue I noticed with the refurb phone was the second I turned it on.  I kept the other phones on automatic brightness and never had a problem.  Once I put the battery in this one and turned it on, I could barely see anything on the screen.  I had to go into the settings, turn off automatic brightness and turn the brightness up to 75% to be able to make out things.  All of my other problems went away, the battery life is reasonable, my microphone works fine.  The 2nd problem with this phone and I didn't notice it until recently was that when talking with the phone without my bluetooth connected, every now and then the speaker makes a loud static noise.  I'm not sure if that's because it was always like this or if it is due to the new android update that I installed yesterday.  I normally don't forget my bluetooth so this is the first time I'm noticing it.  It's happened on all of the calls I've made today.

I've been a verizon customer for going on 11 years now and I've never had any problems with any other phone.  I'm going to be putting in a ticket to get this one replaced but I'm not holding my breathe that a new phone will solve all these issues I'm having.  Hopefully 4th time is a charm.

[ddunaway2011]

trying to get back to ED2 to OTA to gingerbread. I followed the link's instructions WORD FOR WORD I downloaded Odin the PIT file and ED2 pulled battery held vol down pluged in cable had yellow triangle with droid sweeping checked re-partition box unchecked auto reset and f. reset time clicked PIT and the PIT file I downloaded then clicked PDA and the PDA ED2 file I downloaded then pressed start and this is what box said

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> MD5 hash value is invalid

<OSM> Samsung_Charge_ED2_Full.tar.md5 is invalid.

<OSM> End...

I never saw anything change as far as in Odin when I plugged phone in so I don't know if it recognized it or not???? In the black bar at the top of Odin box it says                                              ​    Odin3. [Android + SLP]                   Don't know if that helps or not but please please write me back with your thoughts on what I must've did wrong

[ddunaway2011]

trying to get back to ED2 to OTA to gingerbread. I followed the link's instructions WORD FOR WORD I downloaded Odin the PIT file and ED2 pulled battery held vol down pluged in cable had yellow triangle with droid sweeping checked re-partition box unchecked auto reset and f. reset time clicked PIT and the PIT file I downloaded then clicked PDA and the PDA ED2 file I downloaded then pressed start and this is what box said

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> MD5 hash value is invalid

<OSM> Samsung_Charge_ED2_Full.tar.md5 is invalid.

<OSM> End...

I never saw anything change as far as in Odin when I plugged phone in so I don't know if it recognized it or not???? In the black bar at the top of Odin box it says                                              ​    Odin3. [Android + SLP]                   Don't know if that helps or not but please please write me back with your thoughts on what I must've did wrong

[UMFootball1989]

Yeah my my service keeps switching between 4G/3G and even 1X still sometimes...im in a spotty 4G area..so I mostly get 3G...but my connection is still dropping at times...but not as much as it did with Froyo