#Droid Bionic or HTC Thunderbolt?

[Jasonjohns]

Iphone discussion has nothing to do with this thread.

 

[Quicksilver7714]

Get the bionic it has the tegera 2 dual core processor and is ready for the next releases of android. It should get more updates that the current and upcomming single core phones.

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1.)http://www.droidforums.net/forum/re...-dummies-guide-android-terminoligy-lingo.html
2.)http://www.droidforums.net/forum/rescue-squad-guides/70875-what-you-need-know-about-rooting.html
3.)http://www.droidforums.net/forum/re...08-multiple-phones-root-them-unroot-them.html

 

[guitarchris123]

Here is some info to help people make comparisons and decide: I think it mostly comes down to Blur vs. Sense, and dual core vs. single core, and love for Moto vs. HTC.

Thunderbolt advantages over Bionic – 32 MB microSD card included (very good value), 768MB RAM, Sense 2.0 (preference for some, but majority seem to prefer it to other skins), kickstand (although you can’t charge while using it because of port location), external speaker, releasing sooner, better front facing camera, FM radio, unlocked bootloader (merely speculation right now, but it would be easier to root, rom), HTC gets new update support the fastest, more attractive design (personal preference, some may disagree, but they both look great anyway)
Disadvantages – lower quality screen (but still pretty decent improvement over Inc and EVO), only a single core processor (but new 2nd generation snapdragon is still very good, can overclock well, looks very snappy in videos, and will be plenty fast for most people), less internal memory, no HDMI port (but HTC will allegedly release a device to use with non-DLNA compatible TVs to make up for this) will likely get poor battery life unless you buy the extended one because the stock one is small, fewer accessories available at launch

Bionic advantages over Thunderbolt – dual core processor (while it will certainly be faster than single, it sounds like the software and Android won’t be able to quite fully optimize it until Honeycomb is released and games and apps are developed to fully utilize the power, which is two versions down the road, so this will not be a dealbreaker for many people), better quality screen, HDMI, bigger battery (huge plus for everyone!), more internal memory, gets better accessory selection at launch (eg. docks)
Disadvantages – microSD card not included, less RAM (big disappointment for many people), MotoBlur (lighter version may be ok, we’ll have to wait and see), no kickstand or external speaker, releasing later, front facing camera not as good (but comparable to iPhone’s), no FM radio, locked bootloader (hard to root and rom, can be a very big deal to some, but not to others who won’t)

Hope this helps! All other specs are pretty comparable on both models. I decided to go with the Thunderbolt in early March instead of waiting until late April, May, or even early June for the Bionic. I really like Sense over Blur, and it just looks more polished to me in the pics and videos. I don't really NEED dual core for my purposes (yet), and that is the main thing that would swing me toward it, plus the HTC has more RAM which will help make up for lack of a dual core and the 2nd gen Snapdragon is much improved over the first, so it will be pretty fast as it is. I'll just get the extended battery on the HTC, and I'm sure their new SLCD screen is good enough, and then I'll be happy with it for a year until the second generation of dual core phones are released next year (whether they be by HTC, Moto, Sammy, or LG) that are much improved spec-wise and can more fully take advantage of dual core technology.

I'd definitely like to see how the other manufacturers' dual cores stack up against NVIDIA's Tegra 2 first before making a decision (namely Qualcomm's newest one and Samsung's Orion processors). Like with computers when the first dual cores came out, it will take a couple rounds of devices to get the kinks worked out and figure out how best to use both cores in conjunction with each other. The Tegra 2 is great from what I've been reading on it, but just because its the first in line to the game doesn't mean its going to win in the long run.

 

[guitarchris123]

Motorola employee confirms locked bootloaders -- and bad attitude | Android Central

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/01/1...er-to-buy-elsewhere-if-they-want-custom-roms/

"And...boom goes the dynamite!"

 

[COSam]

I was almost set on the Bionic until reading that. Now I will be considering the HTC. Only worried about a couple things, the battery life of the TB and the inferior processor. Otherwise, unlocked bootloader and earlier release date, very tempting.

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[guitarchris123]

I was almost set on the Bionic until reading that. Now I will be considering the HTC. Only worried about a couple things, the battery life of the TB and the inferior processor. Otherwise, unlocked bootloader and earlier release date, very tempting.

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The battery life on the Thunderbolt should be improved over the Incredible and EVO because of the 2nd generation Snapdragon processor in the TB (allegedly they have "fixed" the issue that plagues those two phones, but we will just have to wait and see for ourselves). If its still not good enough, buy an extended battery and use some power saving techniques. But it should at least be ok (though the Bionic clearly will have much better battery life stock). And yes the processor on the TB is single core, but I would not call it "inferior" quite yet, and it should overclock very well. It has been streamlined and improved since it is now on its second version, compared to the dual core on the Bionic which is the first of its kind and is unproven yet, and likely still buggy and under-utilized. The TB's will be the best processor available anywhere at the time when it is released, and the Bionic is the only other dual core phone we have heard of so far that will be on Verizon in the coming months, so its not like you will get left behind technology-wise for at least a year (or even 18 months) with the TB. But if you MUST have dual core, go ahead and go for the Bionic, its sure to be an awesome and fast phone, regardless of "lock-down," as long as you can tolerate Blur.

 

[COSam]

Thank you for the reply. A lot of good info there. I'm totally on the fence now. Ahhhhh tough decision. I will have to play with the TB when it comes out. I probably won't be able to resist having a new phone.

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[UNC]

HTC phones are locked-down too. They had the auto-sbf type feature on the G2.... it was circumvented, but you know they are going to try to make it more robust...

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[guitarchris123]

Motorola Clarifies Stance on Bootloaders, Looks to Partner With Developers? - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

*Cough* "Damage control!" *Cough*

 

[guitarchris123]

Motorola apologizes for YouTube comment, says it's working on bootloader compromise | Android Central

And yet even more...

 

[evilsock]

Here is some info to help people make comparisons and decide: I think it mostly comes down to Blur vs. Sense, and dual core vs. single core, and love for Moto vs. HTC.

Thunderbolt advantages over Bionic – 32 MB microSD card included (very good value), 768MB RAM, Sense 2.0 (preference for some, but majority seem to prefer it to other skins), kickstand (although you can’t charge while using it because of port location), external speaker, releasing sooner, better front facing camera, FM radio, unlocked bootloader (merely speculation right now, but it would be easier to root, rom), HTC gets new update support the fastest, more attractive design (personal preference, some may disagree, but they both look great anyway)
Disadvantages – lower quality screen (but still pretty decent improvement over Inc and EVO), only a single core processor (but new 2nd generation snapdragon is still very good, can overclock well, looks very snappy in videos, and will be plenty fast for most people), less internal memory, no HDMI port (but HTC will allegedly release a device to use with non-DLNA compatible TVs to make up for this) will likely get poor battery life unless you buy the extended one because the stock one is small, fewer accessories available at launch

Bionic advantages over Thunderbolt – dual core processor (while it will certainly be faster than single, it sounds like the software and Android won’t be able to quite fully optimize it until Honeycomb is released and games and apps are developed to fully utilize the power, which is two versions down the road, so this will not be a dealbreaker for many people), better quality screen, HDMI, bigger battery (huge plus for everyone!), more internal memory, gets better accessory selection at launch (eg. docks)
Disadvantages – microSD card not included, less RAM (big disappointment for many people), MotoBlur (lighter version may be ok, we’ll have to wait and see), no kickstand or external speaker, releasing later, front facing camera not as good (but comparable to iPhone’s), no FM radio, locked bootloader (hard to root and rom, can be a very big deal to some, but not to others who won’t)

Hope this helps! All other specs are pretty comparable on both models. I decided to go with the Thunderbolt in early March instead of waiting until late April, May, or even early June for the Bionic. I really like Sense over Blur, and it just looks more polished to me in the pics and videos. I don't really NEED dual core for my purposes (yet), and that is the main thing that would swing me toward it, plus the HTC has more RAM which will help make up for lack of a dual core and the 2nd gen Snapdragon is much improved over the first, so it will be pretty fast as it is. I'll just get the extended battery on the HTC, and I'm sure their new SLCD screen is good enough, and then I'll be happy with it for a year until the second generation of dual core phones are released next year (whether they be by HTC, Moto, Sammy, or LG) that are much improved spec-wise and can more fully take advantage of dual core technology.

I'd definitely like to see how the other manufacturers' dual cores stack up against NVIDIA's Tegra 2 first before making a decision (namely Qualcomm's newest one and Samsung's Orion processors). Like with computers when the first dual cores came out, it will take a couple rounds of devices to get the kinks worked out and figure out how best to use both cores in conjunction with each other. The Tegra 2 is great from what I've been reading on it, but just because its the first in line to the game doesn't mean its going to win in the long run.

+1
very good. i want the moto but if the bootloader is unlocked then im def getting thunderbolt. cm7 baby!:icon_ banana:
but if they unlock bionic then thats the one fo sho

 

[Preach2k]

Here is some info to help people make comparisons and decide: I think it mostly comes down to Blur vs. Sense, and dual core vs. single core, and love for Moto vs. HTC.


Disadvantages – microSD card not included, less RAM (big disappointment for many people), MotoBlur (lighter version may be ok, we’ll have to wait and see), no kickstand or external speaker, releasing later, front facing camera not as good (but comparable to iPhone’s), no FM radio, locked bootloader (hard to root and rom, can be a very big deal to some, but not to others who won’t)

Although it is less Ram Which is 512MB DDR2. It is twice as fast and faster then The 768MB RAM of the ThunderBolt.. MicroSD cards have always with Motorola Smartphones. For me I do not care if it has a Kickstand or Not when I have the Docking Station. We do not know if it has an FM Radio or not. The Phone at CES was unfinished. As for the front facing camera we have not seen any video of it.. We have to wait for the finished product.. Other then these things Pretty good Info...:clap:

 

[DansDroid83]

After having 3 replacements for the OG Droid then upgrading to the Droid 2, only to have to have 2 replacements on that model all because of device issues, I'm about to say ef it and go with the TB. Hopefully the HTC device will perform better than my D2 and not go through the random reboots and having to do battery pulls just to get the device to come back on after the screen times out...also, my D2 isn't rooted or ROM'd so I know that's not the problem. Not to mention, the bionic, while a sweet phone, will be the first dual core for moto on big red, and they may not have all the kinks worked out as previously stated in this thread, where as the htc is on the 2nd gen snapdragon. Just hope the transition from sliding keyboard to full touch will be an easy one.Just a few thoughts from a frustrated droid2 owner.

 

[guitarchris123]

Although it is less Ram Which is 512MB DDR2. It is twice as fast and faster then The 768MB RAM of the ThunderBolt.. MicroSD cards have always with Motorola Smartphones. For me I do not care if it has a Kickstand or Not when I have the Docking Station. We do not know if it has an FM Radio or not. The Phone at CES was unfinished. As for the front facing camera we have not seen any video of it.. We have to wait for the finished product.. Other then these things Pretty good Info...:clap:

Thanks. I've spent a lot of time researching and comparing these two phones. Yeah, I should have mentioned that the Thunderbolt's RAM is not DDR2, while the Bionic's is DDR2, so that could possibly make up for the 256MB difference between them. So to be clear, what you are saying is that 512MB of DDR2 is like having 1GB of regular? I'm not quite sure how that works. Are you sure all Motorola smartphones come with a MicroSD card? Everything I've read so far indicates that while Bionic will of course have a slot for it, the actual card is not included with the device (costs extra). Kickstand is not a deal-breaker of course, but who wants to carry a dock around with them everywhere? I guarantee there will be times where you wish you had it when you were out somewhere (not at home or the office) and want to watch something or show people something where it would come in handy. Also, everything I have read indicates that the Bionic will not have an FM radio. Of course they could put one in before the production model comes out, but right now it does not. Again, I don't know how big of a deal this is to people, just use Pandora, unless you really like commercials and DJ chatter, or a particular station. The FFC on the Bionic (VGA, like iPhone, which I think is 0.3MP) is lower quality than the Thunderbolt's (1.3MP). Again, not a huge deal, how often will people really use video-calling (with a few exceptions, like people who travel a lot)? This is not speculation, I have pooled these stats from multiple fact-sheets and hands-on reports of the phones.

 

[guitarchris123]

+1
very good. i want the moto but if the bootloader is unlocked then im def getting thunderbolt. cm7 baby!:icon_ banana:
but if they unlock bionic then thats the one fo sho

Let me clarify what I meant about the bootloaders. Neither will be "unlocked" as the OG Droid or Nexus One were. Manufacturers just aren't going to do that anymore for business and security reasons. I think what most people are referring to when they compare them is the ability to permanently "root" the phones (ie. flash customs roms, mods, themes, etc.). I don't really know much about this stuff (yet) since I have not done it to any of my phones in the past. Motorola phones are notorious for having near-impossible security measures to get around, while the developers seem to find a way to do it fairly quickly with HTC phones (ie. they are much more "hack-friendly" than Moto phones). Hence, Moto is not customizable very much, while you can do a lot more with an HTC phone.

Now, with Moto's recent announcement that they are seeking a solution to allow developers to do things for the Bionic, I think that was just to save face after the ill-advised comment posted by a low-level employee. They do not currently have a solution for developers, and there is no guarantee that they will find one soon. They basically just stated that they are "looking into it." Count on the Bionic being just as locked down as the X.