[Verizon Droid Charge] ¿GotJazz?:
I am upgrading from an original MotoDroid. While that phone has served me very well for the last 18 months, it died a week ago, and had to be replaced. Time for an upgrade!!! :)

My MotoDroid was running CM7 Nightlies, so I'll be comparing to that.

Style:

While this is a matter of personal taste, I think the SamChg has sleeker lines, and the glass blends nicely with the buttons at the bottom. The MotoDroid was way more solid with more metal, though.

But, no more lip from the MotoDroid. :)

Winner: SamChg

Hardware:

MotoDroid Quadrant score: ~400. SamChg Quadrant Score: ~1500. Plus, the SamChg has 4G. I got 7 Mb/sec of real, sustained downloading (!!!), not just a benchmark speed. Even the SamChg 3G speeds measured about twice as fast as the MotoDroid.

Winner: Are you kidding? SamChg, by a long shot.

Battery Life:

I regularly have my email checked throughout the day. I have the same settings on both phones. I also have both phones set to 3G only.

The MotoDroid would be at around 70% battery after a moderate day's use. If I never used the MotoDroid during the day, it would be at 90% after 24 hours. The SamChg on the other hand, is at 70% battery after 6 hours of no use (left alone overnight). If I use the phone much at all, my SamChg battery life is in the 40's before my work day is through. I absolutely have to have a charger with me at all times, and now keep the SamChg plugged into my laptop at work.

Winner: MotoDroid

Desktop UI Speed:

The MotoDroid was significantly faster than when I first took it out of the box. I was running a 800 Mhz kernel with CM7's Gingerbread-based kernel. I also was running ADW Launcher EX, which significantly improved the desktop speed and appearance. Live Wallpapers were not an option, unless I wanted to live with a sluggish desktop experience.

Out of the box, the SamChg was a bit chunky with the desktop UI. Small delays occurred while using it. I also did NOT like the TouchWiz UI. So, I installed ADW Launcher EX, which improved the speed a little and usability a lot. Then, an hour or two after opening my SamChg, I installed the rooted Voodoo kernel and Lagfix. Everything runs silky smooth now, even with Live Wallpapers. Even better without LWP, of course. Very, very nice.

Winner: SamChg, hands down.

Functionalty:

This isn't a fair comparison. I'm using modified ROMs on both, and CM7 is a great Gingerbread-based ROM with a lot of added features.

There isn't much that the SamChg offers functionally over the CM7 MotoDroid, so I'll just list some of the hardware and software features that I really miss on my SamChg:

Stay "On" when connected to power.

Bluetooth Wireless tethering to our Honeycomb tablet.

Notification LED

Charging LED

Real Keyboard (But, I don't miss it too much)

Real Camera button (But, I don't miss it too much)

Not a big fan of the puzzle pieces in the TouchWiz UI. Maybe I'll get used to it.

One item in the SamChg plus column (for me) is the physical Menu/Home/Back/Search buttons at the bottom of the screen. I have had lots of times where I pressed the virtual buttons on the MotoDroid, and I wasn't sure they registered. At least now, I'll know that I pressed the button (even if the SamChg doesn't respond)

Winner: MotoDroid

Screen:

Not much to say here. The MotoDroid has Gorilla Glass, and it appears that the SamChg does, too (based on other postings). The SamChg has an absolutely beautiful screen with vivid colors, and it's larger than my MotoDroid's.

Winner: SamChg.

Camera:

Honestly, who cares? They both suck, and wouldn't even be sellable as low-end cameras. Totally worthless hyped-up megapixel ratings are listed for phone cameras with dusty gunked-up plastic lenses and no real focus or low-light capabilities. If you want to take quality pictures that you really care about, get a digital SLR. If you want to take pictures you don't care about, either one of these is fine. The MotoDroid has a physical camera button. The SamChg does not.

Winner: None.

Modability:

The MotoDroid has been hacked a lot longer, with a better set of ROMs and tools available. The SamChg is new in the game. The SamChg is not bootloader locked, though, which was a big part of my buying decision.

Winner: MotoDroid, for now. Hopefully, both will be winners as time goes on.

Overall winner: SamChg, with a few caveats.

Here are my main concerns:

1) The SamChg was a really, really nice upgrade. I would have loved to get a dual-core 4G phone, but with the poor battery life I'm seeing now, I'd be afraid that the dual core would only make things worse. My biggest complaint is that the SamChg won't make it through the day without recharging, even if I have 4G turned off. This problem may be fixed over time, as leaner ROMs are introduced. Hopefully so, or I probably have an early upgrade in my future. If the battery could easily make it through the day without recharging, the SamChg would have been the hands-down winner, and probably the best phone on the market.

2) The face proximity sensor is WAY too sensitive. The sensor is to the right of the earpiece. When in a call and using the dialpad, if I get a finger too close to the sensor (approx. 1 inch away), the screen blanks out and the dialpad is unusable until I move my fingers away. This has happened quite a few times now. Retraining myself should fix this over time, but maybe Samsung needs to adjust the sensitivity to really fix this issue.

3) Acquiring a 4G signal is kind of dicey, even in a strong signal area. Most times, I go into the phone settings and modify the Mobile Network System Selection to reacquire. An annoyance, but it should be fixable in software.

Cheers,

¿GotJazz?

If I've helped you out, send a little "thanks" my way ... :)