We’re putting two of the top 4G LTE smartphones on Verizon’s network against each other to see who’s the best. It’s the Samsung DROID Charge versus the LG Revolution.
Hardware
Both devices offer distinctive hardware designs and pack 4G LTE data speeds. The DROID Charge comes with a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED display with physical menu buttons, 8 megapixel rear facing camera with 720p video capture, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and 1.0 Ghz processor. It’s a light device with a plastic build made well but to some may feel a bit like it’s a cheap phone. The screen super sharp and bright and a joy to look at. The 8 megapixel camera takes some great photos and video and is almost up there with Nokia in terms of cameras on cell phones.
The LG Revolution comes packing a 4.3 in standard LCD with touch sensitive menu controls, 5 megapixel rear facing camera, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and 1.0 Ghz processor. It’s a thick and heftier phone with a solid satisfying build quality. It has a more professional and sleek look with the chrome trimming, soft touch black finish and covers for the ports on it. The screen is pretty standard and on part with more cell phones. The 5 megapixel camera takes decent picture and video but nothing spectacular and you would expect more from a phone build this well.
I feel the Revolution wins on better build quality about how the phone is build but the DROID Charge wins on-screen quality and camera quality.
Software & Usability
Both devices come with Android 2.2 with their own skin on top of it. The DROID Charge uses TouchWiz which is well-known on all high-end Samsung android devices. LG is using their own UX or user experience for the Revolution which is something different for them as they have in the past left a device is a stock android as possible with minimal customizations.
LG’s UX experience has some nice points with able to open and close the app menu groups with just a pinch gesture and you can put apps into different groups for better organization. The notification center is also nice which groups all of your notifications in one place that is more organized than the standard notification tray in android which the phone still uses. However the UX still needs some work. If it can become smoother and better and they have definitely taken cues from TouchWiz in some areas which isn’t a bad this really. Give them more time as I can seem some great things coming. Take note that this phone has also been “bingified” with a full Bing experience in place of where Google’s services would be. You can still download those through the market but they won’t be as tightly integrated as Bing is in the phone. Bing is ok but it’s still a bit odd to use over Google on a OS made by them.
DROID Charge with TouchWiz is more refined and you can tell that Samsung has learned and updated to give a better experience. It’s still a fast and easy to navigate UI with plenty of useful widgets. The phone all Google services build into it and Samsung has greatly enhanced certain parts of android such as a the Task manager, Messaging app and Camera app. TouchWiz is just a bit ahead of LG’s UX and really its just for the fact that Samsung has used it in the market longer.
Data speeds are the same for both phones with fast 4G LTE data connections that give a fast browsing experience and very quick downloads. Both processor do well for each device and I didn’t notice and heavy or consistent lag on either device besides the usual points where Android OS itself lags. The battery life is where the two smartphones split again. The DROID Charge gets some of the best battery life I have seen on an Android phone with going 1.5 – 2 days on one charge with moderate use. The Revolution is standard Android battery life which means if you use it heavy look to charge during the day and if your just moderate to casual you can go for a full day.
Overall
In the epic battle between these two I have to choose the DROID Charge as the winner. It just comes with a better overall package. Not looking at the plastic build the phone offers the specs and features that you would expect in a 4G phone and those features do well. The Revolution is not a bad device by any means. Its one of the best 4G phones in the market but its shortcomings the few that it had come out in this battle. Be sure to check our full reviews of each review to get your own opinion on which is better.
DROID Charge By Samsung Review
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