does ANYBODY have a Bionic that works?

[potermac]

It's certainly good to hear that some people are satisfied with the Bionic. I have been using a D2 and it has been rock solid until the GB update. Had seriously considered the Bionic for an upgrade but after using on for myself I quickly changed my mind. I tried 3 samples one at Costco, BJ's, and a releatives. Everyone of them was terrible. I have never seen a phone lag, drag, and stutter like these phones. I don't see how any manufacturer/carrier can get away with putting out such a poorly implimented product. FYI, yes I've spent hours running them though their paces. I also spend hours at my local Costco trying out new phones, the people there have come to know me well. What I have found is there doesn't seem to be a decent 4G phone out there that I would buy, they all seem to have issues regardless of manufacturer/carrier. If you don't care about 4G I highly reccomend the Droid3. Its smoothness, stability and overall user experience blows the Bionic out of the water. I still have my D2 and have sorted out the issues with GB and its once again a reliable solid phone. With that said why should a consumer have break(root) a phone to get it to run correctly?

Um, not sure what phone you were using but it wasn't the bionic. It if definitely the fastest, smoothest phone out from verizon no question.

I had some data issues until my area got 4g and now it has been perfect.

 

[moonshiner420]

I ended up upgrading from a Blackberry Tour 9630 to the Bionic and I am completely satisfied with this phone. I have not experienced any of the issues that most users seem to be plagued with by their bionics. Its seems like its hit or miss for most issues that bionic owners seem to experience. Luckily I have been able to keep from joining the 99% with their BSOD.

I have to say that my bionic is much faster than my friends TB, especially after rooting my bionic and freezing the bloatware! Now my phone is even faster and snappier than when I first opened it out of the box. Also coming from an unlimited data plan user, I like the fact that stock bionic gives you the ability to tether your phone, via usb, to your computer and you can use the internet from your phone 3g/4g on your computer/laptop. I have been using this feature for two billing cycles and have experienced no increase in fees and/or costs. Mind you I do a lot of traveling, so using this feature on my laptop while using Verizons 4G lte is...well...for a lack of a better phrase its f*%&#ng awesome!

So for all intents and purposes I would recommend th Bionic over the Thunderbolt hands down. But if you can, take a look over both and see which fits you the best and go with the one you like. Especially after having gathered all this useful or not so useful info, lol.

 

[johnriii]

I ended up upgrading from a Blackberry Tour 9630 to the Bionic and I am completely satisfied with this phone. I have not experienced any of the issues that most users seem to be plagued with by their bionics. Its seems like its hit or miss for most issues that bionic owners seem to experience. Luckily I have been able to keep from joining the 99% with their BSOD.

I have to say that my bionic is much faster than my friends TB, especially after rooting my bionic and freezing the bloatware! Now my phone is even faster and snappier than when I first opened it out of the box. Also coming from an unlimited data plan user, I like the fact that stock bionic gives you the ability to tether your phone, via usb, to your computer and you can use the internet from your phone 3g/4g on your computer/laptop. I have been using this feature for two billing cycles and have experienced no increase in fees and/or costs. Mind you I do a lot of traveling, so using this feature on my laptop while using Verizons 4G lte is...well...for a lack of a better phrase its f*%&#ng awesome!

So for all intents and purposes I would recommend th Bionic over the Thunderbolt hands down. But if you can, take a look over both and see which fits you the best and go with the one you like. Especially after having gathered all this useful or not so useful info, lol.

since my "panic" attack last night, I'm finding out that the connectivity problems aren't as widespread as it seems. however, money talks, mine's is tight, so I have to go with the $99 Tbolt from best buy. If I win my FF league, then yes, I will buy the Bionic. thanks for the feedback, guys.

 

[srkDesign]

Not a problem on mine either and I get 16+ hours of battery life with the standard battery on 4g with location on and everything set push

-- Sent from my HP TouchPad using Communities

 

[demiles]

Um, not sure what phone you were using but it wasn't the bionic. It if definitely the fastest, smoothest phone out from verizon no question.

I had some data issues until my area got 4g and now it has been perfect.

No doubt they were Bionics. FYI I was able to get some time with a few GSII devices yesterday. They faired slightly better than the Bionic but not much. I personally think Android in general is in a sad state right now. I hope ICS changes things for the better.

 

[dressagerider]

I had the thunderbolt and returned it within 5 days of my trial period for a charge. As bad as the charge is, the tb is worse.

After going through 5 bad charges, Verizon finally sent me a bionic. The bionic is an amazing phone. Super fast and no lag. I have had the bionic for 2 weeks now and have had no problems.

All phones have issues, but I think the bionic is the best phone I have ever owned....and I have had HTC phones, Samsung phones, and iPhones.

Some complain about the camera but I have taken great pictures with it and also great videos!

I will be very happy to keep this phone 2 years or more.

 

[minniemouse27]

I upgraded to my Bionic from the OG Droid. I had no problems or issues with either (other than my OG Droid starting to die the last few weeks).

I'm a general user. Some minor game & productivity apps, internet, Facebook, etc.

I didn't root either phone and everything works great!

 

[csimme01]

The Bionic has been everything I expected. But so you know I understood I was getting a phone on the leading edge and I EXPECTED PROBLEMS! I installed the leaked updates available and the problems I did have are gone. I cant think of a single thing wrong with the phone in its current state.

 

[waker]

The bionic is a solid phone. Bought one for my wife. It doesn't have NEARLY the dev support YET that the thunderbolt has though. Thats the only big difference as far as I can tell. Once the bionic software comes further along it will be even more solid than it is now.

You can't go wrong with either phone imo. The thunderbolt is just rediculously good with the proper kernals/roms/radios etc.

If you dont plan to root I have no advice for you.

edit: the bionic runs some live wallpapers a bit faster than the tbolt. /shrug

 

[jefmoody]

from what I'm able to ascertain, the first generation of 4G phones for verizon are JUST NOW getting all the quirks worked out (tbolt, for sure), and I have a feeling that the Razr, bionic, Rezound, and others will have to go through the same pains. I have seriously considered going with the Droid3 or Dinc2, but them I'm stuck with a phone that is quickly going to be obsolete within months. I think my plan is to go with the Tbolt or bionic, hope that any weird quirks happens within the 14 day "grace" period, and see what happens. I believe the primary issues with the Bionic will be fixed soon, and the only reason I'm leaning towards the bionic is because it's newer than the Tbolt, but if the Tbolt drops in the next week or two, then I'm going with it....as far as rooting, I'm just not a big fan of that. I don't like to roll the dice when I have a very limited amount of money to play with.

How would Rooting be rolling the dice? It simply means giving yourself superuser rights instead of merely user rights. Did you mean loading a custom ROM?

 

[johnriii]

How would Rooting be rolling the dice? It simply means giving yourself superuser rights instead of merely user rights. Did you mean loading a custom ROM?

so are you saying I can't "brick" my phone by rooting? I have very limited knowledge of the whole concept, but I know for sure that doing it voids your warranty, and if something goes wrong, you're SOL. that is what I mean by rolling the dice. unless you can assure me 100% that I won't brick my phone, then I'll leave that alone. maybe 6 month from now, when I'm tired of the Bloatware, I'll do it.

 

[RodThaBod]

The Bionic is still very new and I am sure their are bugs to be worked out with it. The only issues I have with this phone is the data drops here and there and I use an app that is called restart connection and it after it restarts the phone is fine. Seems to happen after I make a phone call. I have also had the black screen of death about once every 2 to 3 days. What this is , is the phone goes into a sleep mode and seems to freeze up ( phone is still on ) and I have to do a battery pull to get it back to running. The camera on the Bionic compared to the Samsung is not so good. Call quality and speed are A number one with the Bionic. I have the extended battery on the Bionic as well and I am VERY impressed with the battery life. All and all , the bionic is good for me.

 

[moosc]

This simple the tbolt is outdated. And your stuck with that for 2years. The tbolt is a bucket of hurt. Ask phil. Bionic is awesome. If it was me tell the wife to wait and buy the nexus just because its future proof Ala icecream sandwich. Any one on these forums buying a phone next couple months needs to but only phones shipping icecream sandwich

 

[projektorboy]

My Droid Bionic is a dream of a phone. I came upon it in a contest and it's an upgrade from my old Motorola Droid. Even on a custom ROM it's as stable and fast as it gets. The battery life is incredible for a 4G device. You also get a good level of future-proofing with the Bionic in that it's dual-core 1Ghz with a system chipset that had extra development time to accomodate LTE. Opposed to the single-core and battery-hungry chipset in the Thunderbolt.

 

[jefmoody]

so are you saying I can't "brick" my phone by rooting? I have very limited knowledge of the whole concept, but I know for sure that doing it voids your warranty, and if something goes wrong, you're SOL. that is what I mean by rolling the dice. unless you can assure me 100% that I won't brick my phone, then I'll leave that alone. maybe 6 month from now, when I'm tired of the Bloatware, I'll do it.

Rooting is simply changing from user rights to superuser rights - there are several methods to accomplish that goal. I recommend you use DROID 3 easy root script v7.zip if you want an easy way to do it and Titanium Backup Pro to freeze apps and backup data.
If you are overly concerned or apprehensive about trying it...then just don't do it.
I do it because I hate the bloatware and besides I like freedom of choice (Who are they to tell me I cannot change my own phone? It's mine!).