Bionic or Galaxy Nexus

samwifi

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I have a Droid X which I dropped and cracked the screen, so I will need to replace the phone. My upgrade is not available until July, so wondering if I should go for the Bionic or the Galaxy nexus? The Razr doesn't look interesting to me, since I'm not interested in paying full price for another Motorola phone, but might consider the Galaxy Nexus if the hype turns out true.

I see a ton of complaints with the bionic and I have my share with the Droid X. The most annoying thing with the Droid X are the random reboots especially when playing music. Is the Bionic better in any of those areas? Also, interested in the Bionic as a used market for these keeps coming down in price which might help me get through until my upgrade in July. Appreciate any direction.
 

nateohio

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I'd you are just looking for a phone to get you through until your upgrade why not just buy another Droid x for $100-150 off of swappa our craigslist? even a used bionic is gonna run you at least $300.

Although I will say, if you go with the bionic, your chances of wanting a different phone by July are slim to none. The bionic is just that great, you just have to remember 2 things:

1. EVERY phone has issues when its first released

2. EVERY phone will have minor bugs and annoyances even after updating.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums
 

aaf709

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Adding:

3. EVERY time you look you'll see another phone coming out that'll be "The Beast."

4. EVERY person on this forum will have their own valid opinion on what is the best phone to buy, but in the end this is going to be a phone YOU will be using.
 
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Stelv

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I am adding another one too:

4. Don't let websites like Droid-Life over hype you into getting a phone. They hype the crap out of phones using words like sexy, drool and beast. I am pretty sure they are paid by manufacturers to over hype phones. I find CNet to have the most unbiased reviews.

Also all these 4g phones have one problem or another. I think the Bionic is nice, the screen just bothers me a little. It is nice also that it has a removable battery and it seems to have ok battery life. The battery life on the GNex is going to be horrendous IMO.
 
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Al Neri

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Bionic or nexus ? :D this sentence shoudn't even exist .
\

I am curious why you would say this? I am assuming because you believe the Bionic is really inferior. For me being able to read the screen in direct sunlight and decent battery life (I am assuming here that the Nexus cannot have good battery life with it's screen) make the Bionic more attractive to me. I say this having the option to upgrade to the Nexus as my brother is willing to let me use his upgrade and take my Bionic.
 

dlo-htown

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\

I am curious why you would say this? I am assuming because you believe the Bionic is really inferior. For me being able to read the screen in direct sunlight and decent battery life (I am assuming here that the Nexus cannot have good battery life with it's screen) make the Bionic more attractive to me. I say this having the option to upgrade to the Nexus as my brother is willing to let me use his upgrade and take my Bionic.


If you get the Bionic, just be aware that you are taking a chance on phone that is known to drop it's data connection. While it's usually correctable by using the Restart Connections app, it's pretty frustrating to have to jack around with your phone to get that to work.

There's some "leaked" patches on the websites that are supposed to have fixed it, but I've seen enough posts from people that have applied the patch and everything worked great the first few days, and then the data dropout problem reappeared, so I'm dubious that those patches really fixed that particular problem. The other thing with those patches is that they are not the "official" fix even. Coincidentally, when the phone is brand new, you don't see the data dropout problem, it only appears after a few days or even weeks.

I'd say it's a roll of the dice with the Bionic, unless the thought of the data dropout problem doesn't bother you.

Now having said that, I fully expect the Bionic Zealots to get all offended and come on here to try to discredit what I've just relayed about my own experience with this phone. Why they care what phone you get is beyond me, but apparently saying anything bad about the Bionic is enough to start a Phone Jihad here.

I don't care if you get the Bionic or the Nexus, I'm just letting you know what I've experienced with the Bionic so you can make an informed decision.

It's just a phone.
 

Al Neri

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If you get the Bionic, just be aware that you are taking a chance on phone that is known to drop it's data connection. While it's usually correctable by using the Restart Connections app, it's pretty frustrating to have to jack around with your phone to get that to work.

There's some "leaked" patches on the websites that are supposed to have fixed it, but I've seen enough posts from people that have applied the patch and everything worked great the first few days, and then the data dropout problem reappeared, so I'm dubious that those patches really fixed that particular problem. The other thing with those patches is that they are not the "official" fix even. Coincidentally, when the phone is brand new, you don't see the data dropout problem, it only appears after a few days or even weeks.

I'd say it's a roll of the dice with the Bionic, unless the thought of the data dropout problem doesn't bother you.

Now having said that, I fully expect the Bionic Zealots to get all offended and come on here to try to discredit what I've just relayed about my own experience with this phone. Why they care what phone you get is beyond me, but apparently saying anything bad about the Bionic is enough to start a Phone Jihad here.

I don't care if you get the Bionic or the Nexus, I'm just letting you know what I've experienced with the Bionic so you can make an informed decision.

It's just a phone.

I already have the Bionic and have had very few connecting issues. I do assume that when the official update comes it will fix this issue. I am considering the switch just because of the ICS and a vanilla android but I more than likely will stick with my Bionic-I really like this phone.
 

dlo-htown

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I already have the Bionic and have had very few connecting issues. I do assume that when the official update comes it will fix this issue. I am considering the switch just because of the ICS and a vanilla android but I more than likely will stick with my Bionic-I really like this phone.


I too like how fast it is both in 4glte network speed (when it's connected) and the dual-core making apps really snappy. But if not for the Restart Connections app, I doubt I would have kept it as I hate that it drops the network connection. But I have decided I will give the official fix a chance to see if this problem is resolved. Its times like when I'm driving and my phone is in the car cradle, and I start the navigation app, and it refuses to run because suddenly there's no network connection. I don't think it's safe if I jack with my phone when driving just to get the network connections re-started, so then I'll have to pull over to jack with it... those are the times it's a really frustrating issue.
 
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aaf709

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I too like how fast it is both in 4glte network speed (when it's connected) and the dual-core making apps really snappy. But if not for the Restart Connections app, I doubt I would have kept it as I hate that it drops the network connection. But I have decided I will give the official fix a chance to see if this problem is resolved. Its times like when I'm driving and my phone is in the car cradle, and I start the navigation app, and it refuses to run because suddenly there's no network connection. I don't think it's safe if I jack with my phone when driving just to get the network connections re-started, so then I'll have to pull over to jack with it... those are the times it's a really frustrating issue.

Out of curiosity, where do you live? City and State would be nice. I'm not saying your problems are entirely due to location, but I just wanted to see. Me, I live in San Diego, CA which was one of the first cities to have 4Glte. I also live in a valley where connections change from room to room. It's been like this since I changed from Clamshell phones to Candybar phones.
 

dlo-htown

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Out of curiosity, where do you live? City and State would be nice. I'm not saying your problems are entirely due to location, but I just wanted to see. Me, I live in San Diego, CA which was one of the first cities to have 4Glte. I also live in a valley where connections change from room to room. It's been like this since I changed from Clamshell phones to Candybar phones.


I live in Katy, TX, which lies up against the western city limits of Houston, TX. Houston usually has a very strong 4G LTE signal around town (all 4 bars) when I'm driving there. I've pulled a 39.7Mbps down, 6.76Mbps up SpeedTest there. But the 4G LTE signal drops about a bar or two when I'm driving around Katy, and even drops down to around 1 bar when I'm inside my house. I've always had a very solid 3G signal however, so it should switch to 3g instead of just disconnecting.
 

tjk629

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Play with a Bionic and if you like it get it.

You have 14 days to ditch it if you don't like it.

There is nothing wrong with the Bionic hardware wise.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums
 

alboboy10

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I sell you my used thunderbolt when the nexus comes out. Good price :D haha
 

aaf709

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I live in Katy, TX, which lies up against the western city limits of Houston, TX. Houston usually has a very strong 4G LTE signal around town (all 4 bars) when I'm driving there. I've pulled a 39.7Mbps down, 6.76Mbps up SpeedTest there. But the 4G LTE signal drops about a bar or two when I'm driving around Katy, and even drops down to around 1 bar when I'm inside my house. I've always had a very solid 3G signal however, so it should switch to 3g instead of just disconnecting.

While I do feel that location is a problem I don't think it's the only think it's entirely the problem. I didn't own a Thunderbolt, was there dropouts on that as well? I don't mean you had one dlo-htown, but others might be able to answer it.
 
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samwifi

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Thanks to all for the comments. I am, as my sons call me, a "screen guy".. but constant connection and battery life etc.. is critical as I travel a bit and need a stable platform. Does the Bionic respond well to rooting and a ROM? Does that help the connection issue? Maybe I keep my "cracked screen Droid X" that is rooted and bloat frozen..
 
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