Where Is the Samsung Droid Charge?

Last week, Verizon got a bit of egg on its face when its 4G LTE network failed across the entire U.S. This was especially bad timing for this carrier, as it was scheduled to release its second smartphone with LTE support, the Samsung Droid Charge, the next day. Verizon got the network running again in about 24 hours, but still postponed the launch of its next 4G handset.

More than a week later, the Droid Charge is still MIA. I had expected it to launch on May 5, as this carrier likes to introduce new models on Thursdays. But this didn’t happen, and Verizon is keeping mum about why. And, in fact, the company has never said what the problem was that caused its LTE network to fail.

Verizon customers have been able to access LTE service again for more than a week now, but this carrier has yet to release the Droid Charge. Why the extra delay?

Is the Droid Charge at Fault?
I’m slightly suspicious about the timing of the LTE outage — less than a day before the launch of the Samsung Droid Charge. Is it possible that a bug in this model is somehow responsible?

I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but the fact that the network failed at the same time Verizon stores all across the U.S. were getting this model in stock, followed by the long delay in the release of this smartphone, seems to stretch coincidence more than a bit.

Whatever the case, I’m sure there are plenty of Verizon customers across the U.S. who will be happy when they can finally get their hands on the Samsung Droid Charge. Assuming it’s bug free, of course.

UPDATE
The Samsung Droid Charge finally launched on Saturday, May 14, over a week after this blog post was written.

Samsung Droid Charge Preview
The Droid Charge is going to be a cutting-edge smartphone with a 4.3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen. It is going to debut with Google Android OS 2.2 (Froyo) running on a 1GHz processor, with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface layered on top.

In addition to Verizon’s 4G service, this Samsung model is going to have Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS, and DLNA. Multimedia features will include a rear-facing 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash, a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera for video conferencing, and an HDMA (720p) video-out port.

It is being priced at $300 with a two-year contract, well above the typical cost of similar models.

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