The Official I Got My Bionic Thread

**beenzy** · 09-09-2011, 02:11 PM

Got mine yesterday (launch day). Not as busy as Droid X launch. Love most things about the phone. It's a hair thinner than my X and a bit (about 12g) heavier . It's snappy. I installed ADW Launcher EX immediately. Haven't really had a chance to use all the new stuff on it. I have one issue - my 32g memory card seems to be completely visible to the OS, but a couple of "move-to-sd-card" apps only show 8gb of total memory on the card. Don't know what the deal is there. I've gotten a couple of failed app installations due to lack of memory, which seems rediculous. I'll probably call Verizon to see if this memory issue is a known problem. I'm going to run it through it's paces for two weeks to see if any other issues develop and if this memory issue continues to be a headache. Really like the phone, hope it works out. If not, it'll cost me a $35 restocking fee.

**kismet#ac** · 09-09-2011, 06:43 PM

Got mine today at the VZW store. Sales girl was trying to put in the sim card and kept trying to push it underneath the SD card without picking it up so she was just pushing it into the recessed part where the battery goes. I said, " you have to pick it up and put it underneath the sd card, that's where the slot is." She did so and then looked at me and said, "how did you know that?" I told her I have read every spec and every thread on this forum. She said this was her first activation for the Bionic.

Anyway, coming from a D2 global, this thing is amazingly fast and so far the battery life is much much better. It's awesome!!

**Bravozero** · 09-09-2011, 08:40 PM

After going to three Costco's, I finally got a Bionic. I knew the guy at the last place but it was the furthest away coincidentally. Returned the X2 as a device exchanged, paid the difference, got the goodie bag and everything's been great so far. I'm amazed at how powerful this phone is, the stock Motoblur is very smooth.

**kath00** · 09-09-2011, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by detfan

anyone tested battery life yet?

Got my Bionic from Costco today ($279 with the big kit -- what a deal!). Out the door with tax was $301 here in San Diego. FYI I ordered it on costco.com last night but they charged me tax on $600 AND told me it would take 2 weeks to get the phone (5 business days to process and ship and 3-5 days via UPS to receive). Thanks but no thanks. Cancelled it and today sent DH to one of my local Costco's at 11. They didn't get a shipment in so the manager said to wait 15 minutes. He waited about 5 and manager came out and said, "Fed Ex just arrived, we got 9 new phones, want one?" YUP!

Charged phone fully over about 1 1/2 hours (took longer than I thought). I have been installing and uninstalling apps and playing with settings since around 1pm pretty much continuously. Made a few phone calls, browsed web, etc. Lots of downloads. I have 50% battery left at 9:30pm. Have WiFi on but not bluetooth. Left it on 4G although in house went off wireless all day.

Disabled all GPS except the Verizon location one. That helped with my Droid X in the past.

VERY happy with battery life. I had to take the Thunderbolt back after it only gave me about 6h of battery life. At that time, I went back to my trusty Droid X. Now that I have the Bionic, I am extremely happy with the way it is holding off. Will probably go back to 3G tomorrow to see how long battery lasts on 3G instead of LTE. I just want it to get me through my day (9am to 11pm).

Katherine

**h2opoloplyr_11** · 09-10-2011, 01:10 AM

Got my DB today early this morning. Paid $290 (annual upgrade with the fee). I knew FedEx brought in the phone. As soon as I opened the box and saw the DB, i rushed to the local VZW store (Cypress, CA) and bought an extended battery. And thank goodness i did. They had a sale thats going on right now, 50% off the extended battery. So i paid $25 for it.

Im draining my phone now, doing a complete charge overnight, bump once in the morning, and Ill report back with battery life with the extended battery.

**Keekeegottadroid** · 09-10-2011, 02:26 AM

Got mine 9/9. Came over from BB. Really love the speed of the phone. It is AMAZING. I'm not a hard core user (yet) so right now, I'm really basically using it much like my Ipod touch. It will be nice though not to have to carry a phone & my touch. I'm sure as I learn more & tinker more, I will really be wowed by droid. Really glad I got it. (esp since it only cost me $ 112 including tax/overnight shipping). Please ASK FOR PROMOS IF ORDERING FROM *611.

**little_blaine** · 09-10-2011, 08:31 AM

Got mine yesterday afternoon, overnight shipped from letstalk.com ($219 keeping unlimited data). It's replacing my OG D1 which I was very attached to but had developed many problems - most notable a flakey digitizer that gave me fits and made it very difficult to do even the most basic tasks, like making phone calls.

I'm very happy to have a phone that works again! The phone is very smooth and fast. I like the interface.

Some random thoughts (not a complete review):

* There really needs to be a better way of restoring apps, data and preferences. I was surprised at some of the stuff that DID get restored however (my wallpaper, wifi settings). App restoration was a pain, amazon app store worked better than the market but still required clicking on the Install button for every app on the list.
* I don't like the battery cover. Not easy to remove at all, so it's not practical to keep an extra battery and pop it in whenever you're running low. I can imagine the plastic cover snapping after removing it a few times. I'm thinking an external power pack is probably the way to go for emergency situations. On the plus side, the bionic seems to eat up battery much slower than my D1 did.
* I love the screen. I think it's vibrant and very detailed. And I have seen the samsung amoled screens. I think the bionic is better.
* I thought I would miss the D1 physical keyboard. So far I don't. I find it easy to type on the bionic screen, especially in landscape mode.
* Not crazy about the camera. Picture quality is so-so, and the lag from tapping to taking the shot is too long. Disappointing, there was a real opportunity to improve this from previous phones.

Overall the phone is a keeper.

**jagnth** · 09-10-2011, 11:18 AM

Got mine yesterday after work. Shipped overnight from Verizon. I love how fast this is compared to my original Droid. Restoring the apps wasn't as smooth as I would have hoped but since I used MyBackup to backup the .apk files I was able to manually install my apps. Including some of the ones I had paid for, like Vignette, which is way faster on this phone.
Haven't had this unplugged long enough to see how good/bad the battery life might be, but since the LTE can be disabled, I expect if there are issues, I will just disable that when I need to make sure the battery lasts longer. Hopefully a widget for that will be created shortly.

**Syounger64** · 09-10-2011, 02:38 PM

I just picked up the phone from my vzw store. Got this cool case that has a stand in back which I need for my video chats. I am coming from a BB 9300 which is a huge step up for me in terms of screen and other features. For those of you who are hesitant about the lack of a physical keyboard..I don't even miss it! Ive been a blackberry user for nearly 7 years and decided after reading the Bionic forums all summer that I would try this phone. I'm glad I did and it is ONE sweet phone. The screen is GREAT in my opinion so I don't know whats all the fuss about the screen. All the negative comments almost turned me away from the Bionic which I'm glad I didn't. I came into the store on Thursday to look at it twice, did some research about prices and watched what ppl had to say then jumped in. Now i'm happily playing around with it.

**ninjataint** · 09-10-2011, 03:21 PM

Welcome to Android

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

**Lefty Drummer** · 09-11-2011, 01:40 PM

Mine is supposed to arrive by Tuesday. Have to give props to VZW on this, since I technically wasn't eligible for an upgrade (secondary user on joint account w/wife) until April next year. Thought there was no way I could get around paying the full retail price, but called Customer Care on Friday and spoke with a very nice gentleman, didn't come off pleading or anything for the upgrade, just was there anything they could do to see me clear to one. After verifying that indeed I was not eligible, he went to speak with a supervisor..... BINGO! They cleared me for the upgrade anyway (no early upgrade fee either!) since I go back 14 years with them (to the Bell Atlantic Mobile days), our account is always in good standing, and I'd never called and asked for a single thing in all those years. It pays to be a good customer, I didn't beg or plead or anything for this. So, for any of you that would really like one but don't want to pay the full retail, you've got some history with VZW, AND you're not always bugging them for a new phone all the time, I'd say the chances of getting an early upgrade even if you're not truly eligible are pretty decent. Can't wait to get it!

**gathome** · 09-12-2011, 07:30 AM

I called Verizon to order my Bionic and told the rep I was considering buying from Costco or Best Buy and he said, no, I was going to buy from HIM. He threw in the HD dock, battery dock and extended battery/cover all for the $249 upgrade price! He said they're having a sales contest so if you plan to order, deal with Verizon directly by using *611

**Lefty Drummer** · 09-12-2011, 07:43 AM

You're kidding! You got those extras AND the reduced price?! Damn, shoulda mentioned Costco and BB myself, good job! Just checked tracking and it's at the local sort facility this am. If not updated to 'out for delivery' I'm gonna call to see if I can pick up myself.

**greendusk** · 09-12-2011, 01:48 PM

Got it Like it learning to love it.

**herbz** · 09-12-2011, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by gathome

I called Verizon to order my Bionic and told the rep I was considering buying from Costco or Best Buy and he said, no, I was going to buy from HIM. He threw in the HD dock, battery dock and extended battery/cover all for the $249 upgrade price! He said they're having a sales contest so if you plan to order, deal with Verizon directly by using *611

very nice job

**Neofite** · 09-12-2011, 06:17 PM

I got mine today. been playing with for about 3hrs now and i like it alot. Was trying to wait to see what the Prime was going to be about, but my OG droid was just starting to flake on me.

**clovechico** · 09-12-2011, 10:22 PM

Got mine today at Costco

301 dollars with tax and out the door
Came with:
Car charger
2 home chargers (1 with usb)
phone dock
extra battery and a charger for that
car dock
case
and
a screen protector
Thank you Costco

As for the phone upgraded from a DX and I'm in loveeeeee

**lovelexis** · 09-13-2011, 08:27 PM

Just wanted to let people know a couple things. First, I have the wireless inductive battery cover. It is very nice. It elimates that slight hump in the back. It will work with the double cover cases! Second,
is....there are NO cases that will fit the phone with that cover. That is a big disappointment! I hope someone will make a cover that fits SOON.

**devnickle** · 09-13-2011, 08:37 PM

On order!

**KoukiFC3S** · 09-14-2011, 09:53 AM

Loving my Bionic!

**LDubs** · 09-14-2011, 09:35 PM

Got mine tonight, finally! Good riddance, my no longer incredible Incredible. Took a while to activate b/c there were two orders in the system and the SIM / IMEID #s didn't match. Fixed quickly with VZW tech support, awesome...

Haven't played around too much but so far, BLAZING fast, blows my DInc out of the water. me likey.

**Johnly** · 09-14-2011, 09:41 PM

Got mine. This phone is amazing. I am so happy I jumped in. VZW pushed me over the edge with unlimited 4g hotspot @ 30 bucks! No lightleaks, no hardware buttons like my X. This device is so functional. The TV dock is sick!

**Bionic_Man** · 09-15-2011, 06:47 PM

Ordered mine over the phone. All I can say is "about time".lol I've been out of contract for almost two yrs., waiting for something spectacular... So I pulled the trigger on the bionic

**KillerG** · 09-15-2011, 09:58 PM

Everyone's been asking me "when are you getting your Bionic?" So I just said screw it, I'm buying it today. I called Costco, what a surprise they didn't have it. But I had seen the Radioshack ad last night, so I called them, they had it. Went down there, got the phone for $200 (tax was $60...ouch) and an otterbox case (not a defender, but an otterbox case) I think I might look into a dock when they become cheaper, but I'm thinking about getting an extra or extended battery (depends on how much battery I go through, I have yet to really find that out), and a screen protector.
Very very happy with the phone.

**YourMobileGuru** · 09-18-2011, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by KillerG

, but I'm thinking about getting an extra or extended battery (depends on how much battery I go through, I have yet to really find that out), and a screen protector.
Very very happy with the phone.

Verizon stores (at least around here) have been doing a special 50% OFF batteries for 4G devices. Assuming they are doing the same thing where you are you get an extended life battery for $25 instead of $50 or an extra stock for $20 instead of $40.