Bionic First Impressions/Reviews

[monkeypunch35]

Alot of complaining on this board....



PS: The phone is really good at being a phone, sending texts, and browsing the internet. The battery lasts for a solid 12 hrs if you actually have a life and a job.

 

[KillerG]

Alot of complaining on this board....



PS: The phone is really good at being a phone, sending texts, and browsing the internet. The battery lasts for a solid 12 hrs if you actually have a life and a job.

So you're saying that since I don't use my phone at school (since we're not allowed to) even though I sometimes do anyways, that I should be getting it through the day just fine.

And for those X and Bionic comparisons...the X was just as cool as this when it came out, but became sluggish over time. Then updates made it fast again, my friend still loves his X. The Bionic "should" be the same way since so many people have bought this thing. Whatever you're complaining about, other than the screen (and well pretty much the hardware in general)...there's an app for it. Seriously. Bad camera built in? Get a good camera app...that simple.
And to throw my two cents out...I have yet to see the phone in person. I've seen some people say it's worse, better, or whatever than the X2. I saw the X2, looked great, played some Angry Birds on it, no problem. So I should be fine with the Bionic. I'll go down sometime next week to look at it in person, but there's no way I'm not going to be upgrading to it. I'll return it if I don't like it, I won't base anything off of holding the phone for a few minutes at the store, it's not real day use.

 

[diegoboi02]

I love the fact that I can talk and surf the web at the same time on 4g LTE on the Bionic. I just discovered that by accident.

 

[Friend-O]

Well, I have to say that the battery life is blowing my mind. I took it off the charger at 100% around 7:15 this morning. I messed around with it quite a bit all day, doing plenty of texting, talking on the phone for a few, downloaded a couple of apps, screwed around with various settings, etc. Right now, 14 hours later, it's sitting at 50%. Despite the fact I wasn't doing any music streaming, watching Netflix, or surfing the web, I'd say that's really, really impressive for a 4G/Dual Core/4.3" Display phone. Loving it.

 

[ChuckG73]

Well, I have to say that the battery life is blowing my mind. I took it off the charger at 100% around 7:15 this morning. I messed around with it quite a bit all day, doing plenty of texting, talking on the phone for a few, downloaded a couple of apps, screwed around with various settings, etc. Right now, 14 hours later, it's sitting at 50%. Despite the fact I wasn't doing any music streaming, watching Netflix, or surfing the web, I'd say that's really, really impressive for a 4G/Dual Core/4.3" Display phone. Loving it.

Battery life is amazing....pentile screen is killing my eyes. I am coming from the X2 and so I am shicked ghar the screen in bothering me. I am on the verge of returning it and sticking with the X2. I bate thay as well because i love everthing else about this phone and havr been waiting for thia pho e for over a year.

 

[ChuckG73]

Battery life is amazing....pentile screen is killing my eyes. I am coming from the X2 and so I am shicked ghar the screen in bothering me. I am on the verge of returning it and sticking with the X2. I bate thay as well because i love everthing else about this phone and havr been waiting for thia pho e for over a year.

Sorry for the typos

 

[1812dave]

my impressions:
- speaker sucks
- volume isnt very loud
- Notification LED isnt very bright
- screen is decent, sucks outdoors.
- Battery is meh, but its still a virgin
- UI is kind of cumbersome for no reason
- I hate the app drawer and how I cant move items around the way i want
- Speed is great
- Internet is great
- keyboard is meh

I'm not arguing with you, but I am surprised you don't like the screen outdoors. Mine is very bright and super easy to read outside with the sun blazing down on it. Volume is fine for me--coming from a Storm 2, I wanted a phone with a bright screen and loud speaker. The bionic has actually exceeded my expectations on those two counts. I'm not crazy about the UI either.

 

[neowarcloud]

Aesthetics - I love the style. Rounded edges, with a metallic feel. It is appealing to my eyes.

Screen - I don't love the screen, but I don't find it to be a massive turn off either. Pentile isn't really an issue for me. I like it more than the OG droid, BUT less than pretty much every other manufacturers screen...

Hardware - No complaints, not super compelling, but not sluggish either...

Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage - The two calls I have taken have been loud and crisp, but I haven't used bluetooth or speakerphone...

Overall User Interface (including Motoblur) - While better than the previous iterations of Motoblur, it still leaves something to be desired. I'd really like to find a way to get a rom on there...

Widgets - Some interesting stock widgets if I wanted to see what friends and acquaintances were doing 24/7

Signal quality (Compared to other devices) - Similar to my OG droid. When in 4g areas, no problems at all. In 3g areas, sometimes my data connections drop, but its not a huge deal.

GPS - Spot on, working as expected

Social Networking - The integration is cool, but again I don't want to auto upload to facebook or anything other social utility. I'm not particular either way about it...

Email/Calendar - It works as expected..

Battery Life - I got the extended battery, so I can go well past a day without charging.

Performance - Solid performance. Minimal hiccups.

Media (music, movies, DLNA) I haven't really gotten around to this part.

Keyboard's - Swapped stock for Swiftkey X and much happier

Camera (both still & video) - Stock still camera is terrible, but easily rectified by using a 3rd party which makes it into a much better still camera. Video software was much better executed...

How the Bionic compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
It was a massive upgrade from the Motorola Droid. Everything works better from the getgo...

Disappointments (if any)
The screen wasn't as compelling as I would have liked, but I knew that going in. Not a fan of the placement of the power button, but its not a deal breaker. Stock camera software is crap, much the same as the OGD. Too much verizon bloatware, I like some of the stuff like NFL mobile, but I'm not interested in VZW anything...

Overall: I like the phone. It nails the major functionality of a smartphone, but fails to execute on details. I wish Motorola would consider unlocking the Droid Bionic, so that users could more effectively control their experience, but that is much less a criticism of the Bionic than Motorola Mobility...

 

[whiteshadow001]

another junk android phone, with very little difference from the droid x2. There will never be an android phone without errors and lag no matter dual core, single core, quad core....the OS is just trash no matter the hardware.

STONE HIM!!!!!

Sent from my Thunderbolt using tapatalk

 

[KillerG]

another junk android phone, with very little difference from the droid x2. There will never be an android phone without errors and lag no matter dual core, single core, quad core....the OS is just trash no matter the hardware.

Obvious trollbait is obvious. The point of Android is that it ISN'T perfect. It's all about making it how YOU want it to be and not being controlled by the OS developer.

 

[neowarcloud]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, however its obvious he doesn't have a bionic and is clearly trolling...

 

[whiteshadow001]

another junk android phone, with very little difference from the droid x2. There will never be an android phone without errors and lag no matter dual core, single core, quad core....the OS is just trash no matter the hardware.

And ios isn't any better. Nothing's perfect, I've had many ios products and when something goes wrong on ios its bad. At least on Android I have an awesome community that can help me fix it.

Sent from my Thunderbolt using tapatalk

 

[whiteshadow001]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, however its obvious he doesn't have a bionic and is clearly trolling...

Yes everyone is entitled to one but he didn't have to say it like he did. That was obnoxious. Trolls man trolls

Sent from my Thunderbolt using tapatalk

 

[whiteshadow001]

Back on topic though, I like the phone a lot some people I know have one, and its fast. Imo the screen isnt as bad as everyone says, the color reproduction is distorted at times but overall I don't mind it. Mainly because the speed of the phone is insane

Sent from my Thunderbolt using tapatalk

 

[ferniesp]

I have both the Thunderbolt and Bionic.

I started with the TB which I bought for real cheap and it does the job. I bought the Bionic for 340 after taxes and I am having a hell of a time justifying the purchase. I guess what I am trying to say is that for me, if I had neither phone, I would go with the Bionic but because I have the Thunderbolt already, it makes no sense to spend the money or waste an upgrade for basically a very similar phone. For most people with 4G, the difference in performance is not all that much.

My conclusion is that TB owners are wasting there money because there really is nothing that the Bionic does that much better.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

Aesthetics: I'm happy with the aesthetics of this phone.

Screen: I have no significant problems with the screen. It isn't as nice as the Super AMOLED that the Charge has, but it isn't a deal breaker for me either.

Hardware: So far I have been happy with the hardware of this phone.

Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage: Bluetooth so far has worked great for me. Especially when compared to my Droid Charge. The Charge has a problem with dropping its connection to bluetooth devices that it is paired with. Additionally, at times, when placing a call on the Charge, people couldn't hear me on my bluetooth device. I would have to hang up and then redial to fix the problem. For me, something as basic a function as bluetooth and a technology as old as bluetooth, users shouldn't have to deal with the problems and challenges that you have to deal with on the Charge. I have had no problems with the bluetooth so far on my Bionic and I am grateful for that. The speaker so far has been adequate. I'm also not happy with the fact that when I choose to call someone from my contact list their picture doesn't show up on the display after the call is connected. This occurred on my Droid X as well, so in my opinion it has something to with blur.

Overall User Interface (including Motoblur): The interface is okay. I used the stock for about a day and then had to switch back to Launcher Pro.

Widgets, so far I have used the data tracker only.

Signal quality (Compared to other devices), so far, the signal has been good. It doesn't seem to drop the 4G LTE as often as my Charge and Thunderbolt did.

GPS: from my use of it so far, it seems to be a little bit more stable and reliable than my Charge.

Social Networking: Can't say, I don't really use this feature.

Email/Calendar: As expected, and very similar to all of my other Android devices.

Battery Life: Battery life is definitely better than the battery on the Thunderbolt (but, I've never really been impressed with HTC batteries. In my opinion they tend to go with smaller cheaper batteries for their phones.) It is also better than the Charges battery life, so I am happy overall with the battery life. I'm using the stock battery. I like the otterbox case and the phone would never fit into it with the extended battery.

Performance: Overall I have been happy with the performance.

Media (music, movies, DLNA): Not sure, I've never really used my phone for these types of features.

Keyboard's: The stock keyboard was okay, but I prefer Swift Key. So I used the stock keyboard for about a day and then switched back to Swiftkey X.

Camera (both still & video): The camera is okay. I like the panoramic feature on my Charge better than the Bionics.

How the Bionic compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable): I have sort of covered this in my above statements.

Disappointments (if any): I can't transfer my apps to my SD card and still use them. When I do, after the phone is shutdown and restarted they disappear and then need to be reinstalled.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

I have both the Thunderbolt and Bionic.

I started with the TB which I bought for real cheap and it does the job. I bought the Bionic for 340 after taxes and I am having a hell of a time justifying the purchase. I guess what I am trying to say is that for me, if I had neither phone, I would go with the Bionic but because I have the Thunderbolt already, it makes no sense to spend the money or waste an upgrade for basically a very similar phone. For most people with 4G, the difference in performance is not all that much.

My conclusion is that TB owners are wasting there money because there really is nothing that the Bionic does that much better.

Just my 2 cents.

I like the fact that the Bionic is much lighter than the TB.

 

[bplewis24]

Coming from an OGD1 to this is a night and day difference in terms of performance.

And 4G LTE? Wow.

Brandon

 

[crespen]

I went to the Verizon store to check on the Bionic. I have a TB and I am frustrated by this, as yet unexplained, bug that prevents me from updating or downloading apps. Verizon says they don't know what the problem is but this is my 4th, yes, 4th TB and the problem persists. I am the factory reset King! Anyway, the Bionic is a really nice phone. I get what folks are saying about pentile but it really wasn't an issue for me. I compared it to my TB and my TB colors appeared a bit washed out vs Bionic. I absolutely hate DB's widgets but I have always hated Motorola widgets.

What was really interesting to me was my unscientific speed test. My TB loaded web pages FASTER than the DB! I thought that was strange considering dual core vs single. Overall, I feel as though there isn't much difference between the two phones. When I finally root my TB, I'm sure mine will perform even faster (don't ask me what I'm waiting for...)

TB owners, save your money for a phone that offers a significant difference, not a marginal one.

 

[ferniesp]

I went to the Verizon store to check on the Bionic. I have a TB and I am frustrated by this, as yet unexplained, bug that prevents me from updating or downloading apps. Verizon says they don't know what the problem is but this is my 4th, yes, 4th TB and the problem persists. I am the factory reset King! Anyway, the Bionic is a really nice phone. I get what folks are saying about pentile but it really wasn't an issue for me. I compared it to my TB and my TB colors appeared a bit washed out vs Bionic. I absolutely hate DB's widgets but I have always hated Motorola widgets.

What was really interesting to me was my unscientific speed test. My TB loaded web pages FASTER than the DB! I thought that was strange considering dual core vs single. Overall, I feel as though there isn't much difference between the two phones. When I finally root my TB, I'm sure mine will perform even faster (don't ask me what I'm waiting for...)

TB owners, save your money for a phone that offers a significant difference, not a marginal one.

I completely agree with you. My TB smokes my Bionic consistantly loading web pages. At this point, I am returning the Bionic. The is way overhyped.