DROID bionic. Best phone ever?

solution

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My take on the whole Bionic thing

I've had the Bionic for almost 14 days. Coming from the OG Droid (rooted, romed and OCd--that whole bit), perhaps I'm not the best person to review the phone, since any sought after smartphone after the OG would probably be super awesome in comparison, then again maybe I am.

Current Pros:


  • The phone is blazing fast, I mean head-to-toe fast. I have yet to bog this phone down. Even the on screen keyboard keeps up with me, which is pretty cool. Games, apps, UI, all are very quick and responsive. Amazing.
  • First 4GLTE phone: There's many great things to be said about LTE, and the fact that the Bionic is the first to have this makes a great sales point.
  • The fit and finish of the Bionic is what you'd expect from Motorola: Solid. The phone has just the right amount of weight to it; which is surprising since the battery cover is plastic. Overall the unit does not feel cheap. It has the perfect balance of "Shiny" and "Not Shiny"
  • One-click Root was available 2days prior to launch. So for those who like to root away and remove unwanted apps, who want to tether and overclock, they can do so from day 1.
  • Bootstrap recovery is also available. Between this and root you can know one thing for sure: The community is working hard on the Bionic. With that kind of popularity you can count on seeing some fantastic stuff from this community for the Droid Bionic. *webtop hack for xmas.. PLLLLZZZ!* :biggrin:
  • Gallery and Caller: I love the Gallery, I think its a neat idea to have 3d scrolling for the app. The caller screen is also great to me. The contrast between the green and red buttons against the blue background looks nice.
Current Cons:

  • THE SCREEN::confused: OK heres the thing: If you can't see what is wrong with the screen, bless your soul and congratulations go buy a Bionic. LOL It's such a quirky thing. It's like looking at an attractive woman/man, acknowledging their beauty, then two seconds later you see them from another angle and you want to run away screaming. I've tried my best these past 11 days to come to terms with it, but with the knowledge that there may be something better around the corner, I just can't make that kind of commitment right now. Call me shallow. Whatever.
  • There's an issue with HDMI mirroring. I haven't tried this myself, I was actually about to go buy the cable but then I ran accross a thread in DF where they were taking about resolution issues with HDMI output and I thought it would be best to hold back on that for bit.
  • White noise: There is a bit of a hiss when ever the audio chip is active on the phone. You can't notice it during loud songs but whever there is silence you can hear it. This doesn't really bother me, kinda reminds me of the hiss from a record player. To be quite honest I think all audio devices have this hiss. Maybe some bionics are worse off than others, idk.

Do I think the Droid Bionic is a great phone?
Absolutely

Would I recommend the Bionic to anyone? You betcha.

Am I going to keep my Bionic? No

And here's why: Well for starters, my screen has a dead pixel, so no matter what I have to return it. Defects happen, its a side effect of mass assembly, I'm not mad about it. But with other offerings a few weeks out I can't settle on the Bionic just now. Plus, there's a lot more deals on the Bionic that I missed out on, since I bought it early. I can always go back to the Bionic if the other phones suck.
 

Liderc

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Too bad the SGSII is basically catching fire. Maybe when Samsung gets a patch out to control the overheating we can talk about it again. For now though the SGSII is out of the discussion. Overheating to that degree is a fatal flaw.

What are you talking about lol, the SGSII has been out in Europe for 5 months and there has been nothing said about this.
 

jroc

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Seeing as how the Photon is seen by some to have better reception than the Epic Touch in weak reception areas...the GS2 cant be the best "phone". Motorola and holding a signal in weak reception areas has always been one of their pros for phones.

There is no such thing as the best anything. Just the best for you. The Bionic could be seen as the best overall phone on Verizon for right now tho. We have to take everything into consideration when we declare anything the best too. Even something like 4G speeds and the GS2. The chip in the GS2 phones cant do any faster than 21Mbps down. Its one reason why T Mo wanted their GS2 to have a Snapdragon:

How Samsung’s chip change-up affects the T-Mobile Galaxy S II | ExtremeTech

Makes you wonder if Verizon had a say so in the Prime having the OMAP for the same reason.

Gotta take everything into consideration...although me personally, I wouldnt care about the 21Mbps down limit. How many ppl have home internet as fast as 21Mbps...lol On a phone 10Mbps down should be fast enough IMO.

Then some user reviews of the Bionic vs. the Charge and TBolt mention how the Bionic does better with 4G speeds in weak reception areas vs. those 2 phones. How would it compare to the GS2 type phone that never came to Verizon? We may never know. But something like that is a pro for the Bionic most ppl might not even think or know about. The GS2 might not have many cons, but it does have some. Since every phone has cons....there can never be a best phone. Just the best for you.
 
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dietz4ibanez

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Yeah this is the best phone that you can get right now and probably for a little while.
 

Liderc

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Apparently you don't know the difference between the SGSII and the SE4GT.
 

chadwick108

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Would have to say that I almost waited for the bionic but I wanted the physical keyboard cause I came from d1 and a buddy's d2 global. Would have to say I love my Droid 3 is great and don't regret getting it over bionic because I am in a smaller town and probably won't see 4g for a while. Not saying that bionic is not the greatest phone cause I haven't had the chance to play with one yet just saying Droid 3 is the way to go being that most people are still rocking the d1...as I was. Just thought I would give my input.

Sent from my Xoom using DroidForums
 

jroc

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Current Cons:

  • THE SCREEN::confused: OK heres the thing: If you can't see what is wrong with the screen, bless your soul and congratulations go buy a Bionic. LOL It's such a quirky thing. It's like looking at an attractive woman/man, acknowledging their beauty, then two seconds later you see them from another angle and you want to run away screaming. I've tried my best these past 11 days to come to terms with it, but with the knowledge that there may be something better around the corner, I just can't make that kind of commitment right now. Call me shallow. Whatever.
That was funny...lol
 

Shadez

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Would have to say that I almost waited for the bionic but I wanted the physical keyboard cause I came from d1 and a buddy's d2 global. Would have to say I love my Droid 3 is great and don't regret getting it over bionic because I am in a smaller town and probably won't see 4g for a while. Not saying that bionic is not the greatest phone cause I haven't had the chance to play with one yet just saying Droid 3 is the way to go being that most people are still rocking the d1...as I was. Just thought I would give my input.

Sent from my Xoom using DroidForums

I can relate. I said I would never buy a phone without a physical keyboard. I looked at it like this, physical keyboards are 'old technology' and I found myself never really using it .. so the transition to the bionic was really not that hard.
 
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gthotie5

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4g LTE speeds vs a screen that still isn't better then the iphone's?
Yeah, ill take LTE please.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using DroidForums
 

Lakilaulea

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I've had Android phones and I've had Motorolas before, but this is my first Moto Droid. And I am loving it. I've always loved Moto's build quality and I've been chomping at the bit to get a "for real" smartphone for a while (I've spent the past few years overseas in countries where it wasn't worth getting a smartphone.) I heard about the Bionic from CES at the same time as the Atrix, and I was so impatient, I almost just said 'screw it' and got the Atrix, but then I remembered how much I loathe AT&T. So I sat on my unlocked Xperia (I know, I know) and waited and waited and finally got mine on the first day. I honestly don't see the screen issues (mine plays video and games BEAUTIFULLY) and I haven't noticed any of that hissing noise, either. The only problem I thought I'd have was the absence of a physical keyboard. I had an iPhone for a few years and could never get over not having a physical keyboard. But that's not an issue anymore and I'm anticipating on holding onto this baby for a few good years. I honestly don't see anything coming out much better for me for a while. Others may disagree; that's just my two humble cents. :)
 

DroidXDoes4G

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Maybe the Epic Touch heats up but not the GS2.

I have only gotten to use the GS2 for about 20 minutes, but it is by far the best phone I have ever used.
 
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