By 
After a two week delay thanks to 4G LTE outages, Verizon has finally let loose the Samsung DROID Charge, their second LTE phone. It was rumored to be here May 14th on Friday and Verizon confirmed that those rumors were indeed true. You can now buy it for $300 at their corporate locations and online.
The Samsung DROID Charge is a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus phone with Android 2.2, TouchWiz 3.0, 4G radios, a 1GHz processor, an 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording and flash, a front-facing camera to accompany that and more.
We’ve already gotten our hands on it, though, so be sure to take a look at our official Samsung DROID Charge review and use it to help you decide if it’s the phone for you. If you need more convincing, ask the many owners already swarming the DROID Charge section at AndroidForums.com.
Overpriced….
$300 for a 2-year contract and $570 off-contract? I just don’t see $300 and two years in this thing. in 2-years, they’ll probably be on 8-core processors, and people are already (and I thank the commenters for it, I made a decent chunk of change in bets for saying daft things like “no dual core? FAIL” or what won my bets – people already saying that dual-core is old news and quad is the way to go (you have to love uneducated people who know nothing about architecture or the way processors and the memory communicate, etc.- I have running bets with some co-workers on what the ADD-infested masses say about this or that. They know the difference between one and two, but not the difference between, say, 70nm and 45nm architecture and what it actually means). Big Red is really trying to cash-in on that Droid-branding, aren’t they? I think if it didn’t have “Droid” in the name, it would’ve came in under $250. Just my speculation.
That’s seems weird that the on contract price isn’t much less then the off contract price.
Maybe if the off contract price were like 650 or something.
But man 3 hundie?
The cellphone companies and the manufacturer’s sure have a good racket going on.
I agree 100% – the off-contract and 2-year contract prices are very close comparatively speaking. Both the Thunderbolt and the Charge are $570 off-contract (from VZW’s site), but one is $50 more than the other? That is exactly why I think they are charging for the Droid name – the Charge is comparably specced to the Thunderbolt: both have 800×480 (SAMOLED+ and SLCD respectively), front and rear cameras with the same resolution (although, from some of the reviews I’ve read/watched, including Rob Jackson’s review here, the Charge may have an edge on the Thunderbolt camera-wise), 32GB microSD card pre-installed, the Thunderbolt has about 25% more internal memory (you don’t have 8GB at your disposal despite what the ads tell you, more like 2.5GB) vs. the Charge’s 2GB (I haven’t had a Charge in my hands, so I don’t know how much of the 2GB internal is available). I am sure the Charge is a good phone, but If I was in the market for one, or due for an upgrade, I would just pay full retail, that way I’d still have my upgrade discount available to me for something else that comes along that really wows me and it would still be new enough that I wouldn’t take too much of a loss if and when I sold it. By no means am I saying that it is junk – in my opinion, it’s just not worth $300 for two years. $300 for a one-year contract (which VZW no longer does) would be more appropriate IMO. Perhaps it is because VZW is comparing Apples and Androids – the 32GB iPhone4 is $750 off-contract and $300 with a two-year contract – the iPhone is selling more than a few phones because it says iPhone on it, just as the Charge has the Droid name on it and the Thunderbolt is no longer Big Red’s only LTE phone. Makes you wonder what they’re planning on charging for dual and quad-core phones in the future – especially ones with Droid branding.
Droid Charge? Hmm, nope never heard of it. It isn’t like there are currently three articles on the front page talking about this phone or anything.
Pass. Glad I got my Bolt!
I love my Droid Charge :) Now bring on the Xperia play and I’ll sell mine haha that’s the one i really want, Verizon
seriously overpriced and not worth signing a two year contract without a 1 year early upgrade. No way pay full price or pass on it
I don’t understand how they justify this price considering the hardware. Even with the LTE radio.
I love how people bash this phone, yet hail the EVO. This phone blows that out the water, wich it should considering the evi is a year old. My point is, if there is a phone that is overpriced, its the evo.
I picked up my EVO for the standard 199 about a year ago. I can not see spending 300 on a phone when I still have to sign a 2 year contract. 199 has been the standard price for high end phones for a while. Why change it now. If I am going to pay 300 for a phone, the phone needs to be amazing. This phone is not amazing enough to justify a price tag of 300.
The point is, it is still 200, NOW. No longer a “highend” phone. Go buy a larger sd card and an extended battery to bring the evo CLOSER to the charge, that along with the 200 for the EVO brings it PAST 300. That, and the charge has some amazing things going for it. Its only real downfall is the older processor. The screen is amazing, the camera is amazing, and the battery, for a 4G Android, is amazing.
NO THANKS VERIZON. You guys over charge your 4g phones more than Sprint. I’M fine with my Atrix 4g n just wish could of waited for my Infuse 4g.
Verizon is testing to see if the market will tolerate $300. If sales are brisk, it will set a new benchmark. If sales are weak, the price will likely fall rapidly to 250 or 200 – IMO.
exactly! The only reason the TB is flying with 250$ is because you have the the techies (us) encouraging our friends to buy it. But lets be honest here, who would by any phone at 300$ on contract, much less one made by samsung riddled with touchwiz. That. Will. Go. NOWHERE
It isn’t even Samsung keeping me away from the phone but the specs are bland. There isn’t enough 2011 tech to get me to pay more for this phone over the TB. But really, the TB isn’t enough of a draw to get me off my out of contract bum to re-enlist with verizon (and I still have a NE2).
Verizon, if you screw up the SGII or a similar phone (big or delays) I am gone… Get it together.
Thanks,
Just another customer….
Interesting, it oddly has similar specs to the other Samsung phones, except 4g… does the 4g radio really command a $100 markup?
be happy pfff… phones in europe are much more expensive thn in US
I believe its about $600 off contract. How does that compare to Europe?
in europe its 600 euros -_-“