Tillmorn
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Messages
- 185
- Reaction score
- 6
I figured that it was about time to toss in my two cents about the Bionic.
The Good:
-I actually love the pentile display! I had mixed feelings at first, but after watching an episode of Better off Ted on Netflix in direct sunlight, I'm sold.
-The 4G speeds are of course impressive, and it's nice being in a city that has full coverage.
-Battery life is great, for what it is. Most days, I simply use my phone as a phone: Calling and texting. Maybe a little light web surfing, gaming, etc. On those days I can go around 20 hours without needing to charge the device. On the days where I decide to do a lot of gaming, particularly when using the emulators, battery life takes a major hit. But that's expected, and what the spare battery is for!
-Also, I am experiencing NO lag, whatsoever, on any app I decide to run. Makes me dance a little jig every once in a while.
-Root was simple and the USB PDA.net feature works wonders. I happily torrent away in most of my classes now. Don't you love college?
-Call quality has been great so far.
-I'm picking up full signal in my apartment. When I had my Eris this time last week, I had one bar of 3G, if not 3 bars of 1X most days.
The So-So:
-Let's talk camera. A lot of people have complained about it, but it works fine for me. Perhaps I'm just savvy enough to understand that 8MP does not guarantee great pictures. Or it could simply be the fact that I don't take many pictures as it is, and this works well enough for me when I need it to.
-Speakers. While the back speakers are nice and loud, I feel that the sound becomes a little tinny or robotic? at volumes above the 1/2 full mark.
-Price. I realize that $299 is the standard for new top-tier LTE devices, but that's a hard pill to swallow for most if they don't have any upgrade discounts. With that said, I think it was well worth the money. Accessories, however, are not currently worth the price with the exception on the spare battery/battery charger combo for $29.99.
The Not so Good:
-For some reason, my Bionic decides to switch around my incoming call and alarm tones. While not unbearable, this does create a little confusion in the mornings or while hanging around campus.
-I've run into the "Insufficient space" problems when downloading apps a couple of times, or "Missing files", etc. Oddly enough, this seems to happen on smaller downloads rather than larger ones.
-Random force closes on some apps, most notably the Words with Friends app.
-Like most people, I'm experiencing the squealing noise when I plug my headphones or auxiliary jack in to listen to music. Unlike most people, the squealing can be faintly heard at most times instead of just the quieter parts of songs. This is disappointing, as I am a bit of an audiophile...So much in fact, that while writing this I just noticed a hissing sound coming from the speakers on the back of the device during a song's intro. It's sitting a good five feet away from me...:unsure:
The Nit-picky:
-I installed LP+ rather quickly on my device. While the stock launcher was by no means poorly made, it just was not to my liking. I prefer a clean, minimalistic look on my home screen. Plus the scroll-able dock is just too damn useful in my opinion to give it up.
-The stock Gallery groups most pictures together instead of in separate folders. An easy fix with 3D gallery or Quickpic thankfully.
-The only time I truly dislike the pentile screen is when adjusting my volume. The light blue they use for the level indication shows heavy pixelation.
-The raised edge around the screen loves to collect dust, lint, and hair.
-Slapped Swiftkey on as soon as I purchased it.
As to the whole Bionic vs new iPhone vs Galaxy SII debates:
-The SII's specs may be slightly better, but personal experience with their devices makes me hate their build quality for phones and their interface.
-The iPhone...well, I shouldn't need to bring up the "car hood welded shut" metaphor. Some people enjoy simplicity. I enjoy mucking around with my devices, and will stay loyal to Android because of that.
The Good:
-I actually love the pentile display! I had mixed feelings at first, but after watching an episode of Better off Ted on Netflix in direct sunlight, I'm sold.
-The 4G speeds are of course impressive, and it's nice being in a city that has full coverage.
-Battery life is great, for what it is. Most days, I simply use my phone as a phone: Calling and texting. Maybe a little light web surfing, gaming, etc. On those days I can go around 20 hours without needing to charge the device. On the days where I decide to do a lot of gaming, particularly when using the emulators, battery life takes a major hit. But that's expected, and what the spare battery is for!
-Also, I am experiencing NO lag, whatsoever, on any app I decide to run. Makes me dance a little jig every once in a while.
-Root was simple and the USB PDA.net feature works wonders. I happily torrent away in most of my classes now. Don't you love college?
-Call quality has been great so far.
-I'm picking up full signal in my apartment. When I had my Eris this time last week, I had one bar of 3G, if not 3 bars of 1X most days.
The So-So:
-Let's talk camera. A lot of people have complained about it, but it works fine for me. Perhaps I'm just savvy enough to understand that 8MP does not guarantee great pictures. Or it could simply be the fact that I don't take many pictures as it is, and this works well enough for me when I need it to.
-Speakers. While the back speakers are nice and loud, I feel that the sound becomes a little tinny or robotic? at volumes above the 1/2 full mark.
-Price. I realize that $299 is the standard for new top-tier LTE devices, but that's a hard pill to swallow for most if they don't have any upgrade discounts. With that said, I think it was well worth the money. Accessories, however, are not currently worth the price with the exception on the spare battery/battery charger combo for $29.99.
The Not so Good:
-For some reason, my Bionic decides to switch around my incoming call and alarm tones. While not unbearable, this does create a little confusion in the mornings or while hanging around campus.
-I've run into the "Insufficient space" problems when downloading apps a couple of times, or "Missing files", etc. Oddly enough, this seems to happen on smaller downloads rather than larger ones.
-Random force closes on some apps, most notably the Words with Friends app.
-Like most people, I'm experiencing the squealing noise when I plug my headphones or auxiliary jack in to listen to music. Unlike most people, the squealing can be faintly heard at most times instead of just the quieter parts of songs. This is disappointing, as I am a bit of an audiophile...So much in fact, that while writing this I just noticed a hissing sound coming from the speakers on the back of the device during a song's intro. It's sitting a good five feet away from me...:unsure:
The Nit-picky:
-I installed LP+ rather quickly on my device. While the stock launcher was by no means poorly made, it just was not to my liking. I prefer a clean, minimalistic look on my home screen. Plus the scroll-able dock is just too damn useful in my opinion to give it up.
-The stock Gallery groups most pictures together instead of in separate folders. An easy fix with 3D gallery or Quickpic thankfully.
-The only time I truly dislike the pentile screen is when adjusting my volume. The light blue they use for the level indication shows heavy pixelation.
-The raised edge around the screen loves to collect dust, lint, and hair.
-Slapped Swiftkey on as soon as I purchased it.
As to the whole Bionic vs new iPhone vs Galaxy SII debates:
-The SII's specs may be slightly better, but personal experience with their devices makes me hate their build quality for phones and their interface.
-The iPhone...well, I shouldn't need to bring up the "car hood welded shut" metaphor. Some people enjoy simplicity. I enjoy mucking around with my devices, and will stay loyal to Android because of that.
