The 4G Samsung Droid Charge

UPDATE: Amazon Wireless is taking preorders for the Droid Charge. Follow the link to view options and pricing. Free two day shipping included.

The Samsung Droid Charge is also available for preorder through online wireless retailer Wirefly. Order your Droid Charge today and get free shipping via FedEx.

Samsung Mobile & Verizon Wireless will launch the Droid Charge on April 28th, 2011.

The Samsung Droid Charge is the second 4G LTE smartphone for Verizon’s new 4G LTE network.

Samsung has engineered a wicked device that is a strong competitor to the uber-successful HTC Thunderbolt. The Droid Charge is based on Samsung’s Galaxy S series, a strong, successful platform to build from (see the Samsung Fascinate). The Droid Charge looks a lot like a Galaxy S phone, though there has been changes: the navigation touchscreen buttons on the Galaxy S series are replaced with clicky buttons on the Droid Charge; HDMI and MicroSD slots are added to the sides of the Droid Charge; the Droid Charge has a shield-like shape compared to the candybar Galaxy S phones (note: phones in following picture are not displayed to scale).

With its 4.3” Super AMOLED Plus display, the Droid Charge will be a bit larger than the Galaxy S phones. I prefer smartphones with screens no larger than 4” for their smaller form factor, but I think the largeness of the 4.3” display will be made up for by the stunning clarity of Samsung’s new Super AMOLED Plus display. This new display is bright, conservative with power, high resolution, and has easy viewing from varying angles. The Droid Charge’s state of the art display makes the Droid Charge the phone to have for heavy multimedia users. Incidentally, as a happy Galaxy S owner, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the Droid Charge’s improved display. View the display for yourself in the following hands-on video created in January during CES 2011.

The Samsung Droid Charge’s touchscreen display looks awesome during the demo of “Let’s Golf 2″. The display’s clarity and brightness is truly remarkable. On most other smartphones, displays are likely to be whitewashed at sharp viewing angles because of backlit LCD displays. With the Droid Charge, the display looks basically the same no matter what angle it’s viewed from. The Super AMOLED displays are also power-saving compared to other types, which is beneficial to battery charge. For me, Samsung’s Super AMOLED displays are tied with the iPhone 4’s Retina Display for being the best smartphone displays currently on the market. When compared to the iPhone 4′s display, the Droid Charge’s Super AMOLED Plus display may outperform based on most criteria aside from resolution (hardly lagging, though noticable).

There was one Skype glitch early in the video. Samsung has had a lot of time to fix these types of bugs, so expect a solid Droid Charge experience when trying the phone later this week.

The Droid Charge is going to be a strong phone, especially for users demanding a cutting edge multimedia experience from their smartphones. Compared to the Thunderbolt, there are only minor differences in hardware, aside from the displays. I expect consumers will prefer the Droid Charge’s Super AMOLED Plus display in side by side comparisons with HTC Thunderbolt, and that this will strongly affect purchase decisions.

As a happy Galaxy S user myself, I’m definitely looking forward to giving the Droid Charge a test run after its April 28th launch.

What do you think of the Droid Charge? Have you preordered the Droid Charge? Why or why not? Are you waiting for another 4G phone to land on Verizon’s network? Will the Droid Charge supplant the HTC Thunderbolt as Verizon’s best 4G phone?