The HTC Thunderbolt Android smartphone was the first phone to employ Verizon’s 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), but when it was first released in March it had a rather hefty price tag. It was followed not long after by the debut of the Samsung Droid Charge 4G smartphone. Just recently, after the release of the second wave of 4G handsets with more impressive specs and feature set, as well as much higher price tags, Verizon became very aggressive with the pricing of their first generation 4G phones.
Accordingly, they dropped the price of the HTC Thunderbolt 4G smartphone to one penny with a two-year activation. The Droid Charge joined the LTE not long after the Thunderbolt made its debut. Just as it followed the HTC Thunderbolt then, Samsung’s Droid Charge 4G Android smartphone was recently dropped to one penny an authorized Verizon retailer.
Similar in size to the HTC Thunderbolt, the Samsung Droid Charge 4G smartphone delivers a 4.3 inch capacitive touchscreen at 800 x 480 pixel resolution, although setting itself apart from the average slab 4G handsets by slightly curving the corners and making the Droid Charge’s width at the middle a little thicker than other parts gives the Droid Charge a unique look. At 5.11 x 2.66 x 0.46 inches (130 x 68 x 12 mm) and 5.04 ounces, the Samsung Droid Charge is slightly larger and heavier than the average 4G smartphone. Samsung employs their proprietary Super AMOLED Plus technology on their display.
The processor on board the Samsung Droid Charge is identical to that of the HTC Thunderbolt, a 1.0 GHz Hummingbird single core chip, with Android’s 2.2 Froyo operating system running the show out-of-the-box. However, owners of the Samsung Droid Charge recently received access to an unofficial (and potential risky) update to the Gingerbread operating system, with an official release in the works. The Droid Charge is long on battery life, delivering 11 hours average talk time when the 4G smartphone average is eight hours. Buy the Samsung Droid Charge starting at just one penny.
The Samsung Droid Charge employs a dual camera set up, with an eight megapixel rear facing camera which delivers the video recording capability of 720P high definition, and a front facing 1.3 megapixel chat cam and video call camera. HTML and HTML 5 web browsing and Adobe’s Flash media player are supported.
A microSD slot for storage expansion and a microUSB port for charging and device connectivity are on board, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. The Samsung Droid Charge has the ability to transport video, movies and slide shows from your handset to a large screen HDTV wirelessly through DLNA technology, or via a wired HDMI port. Learn more about the technical specs, features, and where to get this powerful Droid phone for just a penny in our detailed Samsung Droid Charge 4G Review.
September 16, 2011 at 12:41 pm
When did this phone receive an OFFICIAL OTA GINGERBREAD UPDATE?????? It has not yet. the EP1W build is NOT A FINAL VERSION. When will we get it???? I have no idea but the article is NOT ACCURATE.
September 16, 2011 at 1:21 pm
You are correct – there has only been access to an unofficial update thus far, the official one has not yet been released and though some reports have circulated indicating that it is in the works, there have been no official release dates to my knowledge.
September 16, 2011 at 7:05 pm
The article says Unofficial.