Droid Charge...epic fail?

[bull1962]

I'm getting fed up with these phones, and Verizon.

We have two of the Droid Charge.  My wife's phone randomly turns off and has recently dumped her contacts.  Mine decided to lock up on the splash screen requiring a hard reset to fix; randomly dumps my apps; and now is telling me that I don't have enough memory to install the apps I was forced to dump with the hard reset.  What gives?  A search on Google shows that the android platform is well known for this issue yet no one is coming up with any possible solutions other that rooting the phone - the LAST thing I want to do!

OK readers & Verizon Techies, what is the answer?

[vzw_customer_support]

@bull1962,

That's no fun! We all rely on our phone to stay connected so I definitely understand your concern. But don’t worry because I'm here to help!

How long have you had these issues? You mentioned that you performed a hard reset and are still having the same issues. Did you re-download the same apps? It may be an App causing the problem. Try running the phones in Safe Mode to make sure the issue is not caused by a 3rd party App.

To enable Safe Mode:

1. Press and hold the Power button.
2. Select Restart.
3. Once the Samsung logo appears, press and hold the Menu button.
4. Continue to hold the Menu button until Safe mode appears in the lower-left of the unlock screen. This may take up to 1 minute.

To disable Safe Mode:

1. Press and hold the Power button.
2. Select Restart.

If you continue to have these issues you may need to perform the hard reset again. Make sure not to download 3rd party apps for a while just to make sure it isn't an app causing the issue.

Keep me posted if you need further assistance.

John B

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[___vince___]

funny that doesnt work lol!

[carguyjb]

I understand the limited old single core design. I expect find a new version of this tough phone. I will not settle for the other wimpy class cracking phones. I have yet to see another gorilla glass phone.

HELP PLEASE.

Sir. Drop Alot

[deb1980]

make Verizon give you a free upgrade to different phones. These are all known issues to Verizon, the Droid charge is an awful piece of crap. Hopefully you won't get to experience all the other problems that come with the charge....... As for the Verizon rep, find a real solution to this problem or start offering up the free upgrades. No one should have to hard reset their phones multiple times.

[lmb02]

Would love to do that.  So far, they have shown no interest in doing anything other than send another Droid Charge (this will be my third).

[aly94]

I have all the same problems with my charge. I have called multiple times and they have me do the same process every time. IT DOESN'T WORK! I'm now on my second charge and it still has the exact same problems. I'm not happy at all. It's soon to be going out the window into the garbage. This phone is terrible. They tell me it's not a known problem with this phone when they only need to read all the forums to know it definately is a very known problem that everyone with a charge seems to be having.

[mrsbullfrog]

My husband and I BOTH got the Droid Charge and I've got to say I'm absolutely fed up with them. Mine would restart itself all the time, erase text messages and call logs, freeze at any given moment, get EXTREMELY hot and run ridiculously slow. I'm on my second one (Verizon replaced after a hard reset didn't fix the first one) and I'm still having the exact same problems. My husband's has the same problems as well, he just won't do anything about it to try to get it fixed because my replacement has proven to be so much better. I'm ready to smash this phone into little bits and be done with it. I don't want another replacement of the same piece of crap...I would prefer to have BOTH phones changed out to something that actually works. It's so frustrating I haven't even called Verizon to have the replacement replaced because I know I'll just end up with another one with the same issues.

[lmb02]

I'll be on my THIRD Droid Charge when the replacement arrives tomorrow.  Not being replaced because it is slow, eats the battery, takes almost 3 minutes to boot, freezes, or such.  But because the USB port wiggles, so charges are a musical concert as the unit chimes as it switches from charging to not charging, all without anyone being within 15 feet of it.

I will be so glad to dump the Droid Charge when I can switch without paying a fortune.  Pity that is months away.

What I can't understand is why Apple sued to take the Droid Charge off the market.  If any phone will push users to the iPhone, it has to be the Droid Charge.

[lmb02]

The only saving grace has been being able to physically pull out the battery when it freezes on the password screen (which happens every couple of days.  Maybe Droid Charge No. THREE won't have that problem).

Which is rather pathetic as a solution, isn't it?

[jeparham]

Add me to the list of those who think the Charge is a great big bucket of FAIL.

About a week ago I awoke to find my Charge either powered off or frozen.  I had to pull the battery and reinsert it to get it to restart.

But then it only booted to that weird droid eye thing, and then stopped. After waiting 30 minutes for it to finish booting, I pulled the battery and reinserted it, again, turned on the phone and it booted.  However,

• All of my contacts were gone.
• All of my email accounts were gone.
• All of the custom sounds I had set up were gone.
• All of the display options I had set had reverted back to factory settings.  For some reason, the custom themes were still intact.  Go figure.

So, I reconfigured all the settings and things were back to normal... I thought.  Over the weekend I noticed my Home and Search buttons no longer work.  Press them all you want, nothing's happening.

And then today, another problem arrived. 

Something decided that ALL my incoming calls should go straight to voice mail and not even let me know a call had came in.  The only way I know a call comes in is if the caller leaves a voice mail, or if I check the call log which clearly shows the incoming calls and their timestamps.

I realized something was wrong when my employer asked me why I had ignored his calls to me all day.  I had to get him to call my phone while we were in the same room to prove to him that my phone was not working correctly.  (Thanks, Verizon, that was just loads of fun.)

I can send and receive text messages.  I can make calls.   I just can't receive calls.  I don't even know how to turn on Forwarding To Voice Mail, so I am fairly certain that isn't what is wrong.

[___vince___]

DITTO FOR ME!!!! three days ago !!!!

[No_Samsung_Charge_4_m]

You could do what I am doing.  I have had same problem with having to do hard reset to check email or go to the web since I first purchased my Samsung Charge phone in September 2011.  My daughter on my same plan had that problem and other problems as well.  She called in and they tried all the changes until sending her another Charge.  It had not only the same problems but more problems right out of the box.  Verizon continued sending her more Samsung Charge phones until finally they sent her a Galaxy Nexus.  She has had no problem with it.  Although she told them about my problem on my phone they did not do anything for me.  Finally, yesterday after over a year of frustration she called in to see if they could fix my phone.  Support could not even delete the email account.  Then their suggested solution was just what the Tech told you may be the problem.  They wanted me to try a 3rd party app for my email.  I firmly told them that I purchased that phone and their service for this type of application, and if it was junk I don't want it.  So, finally they said all they could do was send me another Charge for $80 requiring another year contract.  I told them NO, that I did not want more problems than what I already had.  So, I decided to calmly wait until my 2 year subscription is up next September and then switch to AT&T. 

Today I received an email from Verizon that made me change my mind on that.  The email had a direct link (with my phone number appearing) for support on my device (Samsung Charge).  When I clicked onto that link I was brought to a page showing your post and others having the same problem.  So, I called them back to give them one last chance to keep me as a customer.  Now they are offering me a Samsung Charge phone replacement at no cost and no subscription replacement.  They told me that there was no known issues with the Samsung phone.  I told them just read their own forum.  Verizon then told me their definition of "known issues".  I told them that was different than my definition and perhaps how a court would define it if it goes to litigation.  I told them that if they did not send me a different brand of phone then I was going to terminate my contract with them and not pay any early termination penalties because they are the ones that breached the contract by not providing products/services as contracted.  Furthermore, their product/services has proved defective and I would dispute any future charges including penalty fees.  I am awaiting for a Verizon supervisor to call me back, but it looks like I may be shopping ATT&T tonight.  Sad for Verizon because I have 5 phones on this one account that they could be having residual revenue on perpetually.

Hope this Helps,

No_Samsung_Charge_4_me  >Personal info deleted<

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[Ellenchka]

Wow, and I thought I was the only one with these issues.  Freezes unexpectedly, with need to shut down and restart, battery running out, sometimes for no reason in 4 hours....and frequent messages that I don't have enough memory, even though I move apps to the external memory stick.  I have 3 batteries, and they take increasingly longer to charge in the charger, so I find I have to take them out and reinsert them in the charging dock...Verizon service has never been helpful, and I don't bother now, since I also had this problem under their service with the previous phone, which was a Blackberry touchscreen.  With known problems, all they ever did was replace that 2 or 3 times, without success.

And now that I can replace my phone, I see there is a $30 "upgrade fee."  What the heck...If I am eligible for an upgrade why is there a fee, when I will be paying for a new phone.  What crap!  Frankly all of the cellular carries lie.  Sprint was like that too, which is why I switched.  As long as we are locked into a 2 year contract, we have no recourse that I can see here.  If I could afford an "unlocked phone" I am sure these carriers would try to figure out ways to add in all sorts of fees even if you pay for a plan month to month.  Greedy!!!

[boobdole]

Good choice.  I'm jumping ship to AT&T as well.  For a premium flagship phone, they sure ignored and turned their back on it pretty quick.  Good riddance, Verizon. 

[danceinside23]

I agree, EPIC FAIL! I'm on my 2nd Charge and after having it for about a month, I have to take it in again for force closes, texting, and freezing issues. Ridiculous.

[vzw_customer_support]

dancinside23, thanks for posting. Are you still having issues with the device? Have you tried a hard reset http://bit.ly/Zr1btu ?^SP

[danceinside23]

Yes I have. I have had this replacement phone for a little over a month and have to take it in for another replacement.

[wmhop]

I'm having similar issues. Programs crashing. The recommendation that was made to me was to go use "Clear Data" on the apps that crash. Of course this didn't work. The other recommendation was a hard reset. Ridiculous. I'm on my second phone have had it for about a week but it started having the same issues as my first phone on the day I booted it up.

I haven't tried a hard reset but it appears that others have. Is there a genuine solution that has been proven to work?

[Scoufal44]

I relate to this big time. My Charge has had a lot of problems and it feels like I keep getting the run around. If I spend anymore time in the store or on the phone with Verizon I think I will qualify for their health insurance. In addition to all the time wasted in the store and on the phone (In the rare instances it is working) I have repeatedly had to run to the FedRx store to ship their defunct equipment back to them. I work two jobs! I don't have time for this! Ready for my contract to end so I can go to AT&T and get an iPhone.

[tallllcathy]

Hi - I'm SO glad I found this message string.  I had a Droid Incredible, which I loved, but the charger port broke last June and Verizon was very happy to give me an upgrade to the Droid Charge.  It has had problems from the beginning.  It's super slow and glitchy - the only thing better than the Incredible is that it sends photos faster.  Otherwise it's been a problem.  In late December it started randomly shutting down.  I took it to my local Verizon store and the kid at the counter suggested we restore factory settings, which we did, while a Verizon rep was on the phone with us.  I don't download much, so I lost a few apps including a transit tracker app (Chicago) and a weather app.  The kid at the store told me he would remove the sim card and then re-insert it and all my contacts would be the same, but the phone automatically pulled all the records from my work email and my gmail account into the phone.  I never told it to do that, and now I've got multiple records for a bunch of people, and professional contacts whom I never call, but about whom I had some notes on in my work Outlook.  This is dreadful - now I have to go through every contact and write down phone numbers on a piece of paper then re-type them in to consolidate contacts, and I've got to manually delete the folks from my work record whom I don't want to ever call accidentally.  It's going to take me hours.  The phone is still really slow and glitchy, and has shut down a couple of times this month even after factory setting were restored.  I called a rep again a week or two ago, and all they suggested was to restore factory settings again.  Can't wait until I can unload this thing.  grrrrrr