Bionic a standout for non-gamers?

[Suntan]

Right, so just like everybody else that hasn?t gotten a TB already, there is a lot of consternation about which of these big phones to pick coming from Verizon in the next couple weeks.

So those of you waiting for the Bionic, are you mostly waiting for gooy-terga-flavored-goodness? Or do you see a compelling reason for the Bionic from a non-gaming standpoint?

-qHD vs. 480x800, really that much better?

-1900+ vs 1400mAh, expect it to be *significantly* better when two cores are taken into account?

-Blur-light vs. Sense? Personal opinions?

-HDMI out? Is this compelling for anyone?

-Bragging rights of saying that your phone is more powerful than your 3 year old laptop?

-See a legitimate use for the dual core tegra (vs the various 1 core options) other than gaming?

Would be interested to hear any opinions about the Bionic?s virtues when its processing muscle isn?t really a factor.

-Suntan

 

[DolfanCole]

I'm not going to be gaming much on my phone. So, that's not really the main driver for me. Probably the main drivers for me is the battery size, display resolution, and display size. I would absolutely despise a phone that can't make it all day on from a full charge. Battery life is the number 1 priority for me. It definitely doesn't hurt though to have the additional pluses on battery life provided by dual-core and DDR2 RAM. And I like the bump in resolution to go along with the display size. A very nice upgrade for me.

 

[greydarrah]

I want the duel core because it does everything faster, not for gaming. Also for battery life. I couldn't live with the htc requirement of remaining within 3 feet of a wall charger at all times.

The way your post reads, it sounds like you're not that impressed with the Bionic. So go get a TB. That's why they make so many different models. You get to pick the one that you like best.

 

[Suntan]

I want the duel core because it does everything faster,

Such as? So far, the consensus from TB users is that it runs smoothly. Playing with it at the store a few days ago seemed to show the same thing.

In what way do you think the bionic will be ?faster? at regular, non-demanding (non-games) stuff?

Also for battery life.

Do you have any links to info that would suggest the Bionic will have notably longer life? I realize it has a larger battery, but are the underlying components better/worse than the TB?

The way your post reads, it sounds like you're not that impressed with the Bionic. So go get a TB.

I?m undecided. They both have pluses and minuses. I?m trying to determine which unit?s pluses and minuses are more livable.

-Suntan

 

[dbermanmd]

i was going to pull the trigger on the TBolt after waiting to replace my 27 month old Storm 1. Loved everything about the TBolt in the Big Red store but decided to NOT pull the trigger because of one thing - the battery problems it has.

Witness on the TBolt thread here in AndroidCentral.com and you will find the largest thread centers around its battery issues.

There is NO way i am going to saddle myself knowingly with a device that cannot make it through the day on its own without having to change screen brightness, turn off widgets, turn of updating software, and on and on.

So i am waiting for the Bionic to come out, will see how its battery fairs, and if it can give me a whole days usage i will buy it. If it cant, i will continue to wait.

Simple.

 

[cjsmoove]

Ditto....New to the Android Forum..a regular at Crackberry. I have the BB Bold 9650 and I too am waiting patiently for the Bionic....but really coming from BB BOTH of these phones kick ass !!

 

[TuxDotKing]

Right, so just like everybody else that hasn?t gotten a TB already, there is a lot of consternation about which of these big phones to pick coming from Verizon in the next couple weeks.

So those of you waiting for the Bionic, are you mostly waiting for gooy-terga-flavored-goodness? Or do you see a compelling reason for the Bionic from a non-gaming standpoint?

Lemme start by just saying I'm not a big phone gamer. Maybe in the the future, but not now.

-qHD vs. 480x800, really that much better?

It's a 4.3" screen on both the Bionic and the Thunderbolt, so on a screen that size I think resolution is important, otherwise you'll be noticing the pixels a bit more. qHD delivers the best pixel density, so Bionic wins there.

-1900+ vs 1400mAh, expect it to be *significantly* better when two cores are taken into account?

Yes, the dual cores use less power, not more. But that being said, I feel that even if the Thunderbolt and Bionic had the exact same specs and battery size, the Bionic would have better battery life. HTC is terrible when it comes to that.

More info that leads me to believe the Bionic will have significantly better battery life:

[...]To get a picture of what you can expect the Bionic's battery life to be like, I'd drop by the Atrix forums, since they're basically the same device (LTE usage might cut that life down a bit though).

Some reviews of the Atrix's battery life:

On the battery side, the Atrix 4G packs an impressive 1930mAh battery inside, and even though Android is data intensive, we found ourselves squeezing more than 24 hours out of the device on a single charge with fairly heavy use. You can probably get more time out of the device if you avoid calls when possible and keep your brightness settings in check, but we were pleasantly surprised by the performance we saw.

Motorola Atrix 4G review -- Engadget

We?ve only been using the Motorola ATRIX for around a day now, but we can definitely report that the battery life on here seems to be pretty great. It?s easily on par or even a level better than other Android phones we?ve used and tested. We don?t do too, too much calling, but downloading, installing and using apps, email, browsing, Twitter, Facebook, and more hasn?t knocked us off the proverbial battery pedestal one bit.

Motorola ATRIX 4G review | BGR

and a detailed one from:

Motorola touts a nine-hour talk-time battery life for the Atrix, but we're not quite ready to sign on to that claim. What we do know is that the phone lasted all day on one charge, and does not have that annoying 'three hours and done' spec of some high-powered Android phones, such as the HTC Evo and the Samsung Epic.

One of the issues with rating battery life, though, is that it really depends on how you use the phone. Over several days, we tested a power user scenario, watching frequent video snippets on YouTube and running music on the phone, placing a few calls (some over a Bluetooth connection to a car), and playing games. On that day, the phone lasted more like six hours of total usage time.
On the second day, we used the phone only occasionally for music and placing calls, but not videos. The Atrix lasted about eight hours in that scenario. Presumably, if all you do is check contacts, visit a website, and place a few calls, the phone might last 9-10 hours on a charge.
We did like the fact that, upon getting home for the day, we just had to pop the phone into its dock to start charging again.

Motorola told us the battery life is better in part because of the dual-core processor, which tends to manage memory and apps better by sharing duties.
Smartphone makers are mum about how this actually works ? they are not about to reveal any secrets about how their hardware works with the Android OS. In our tests, the Atrix was a long-lasting phone that's easier to charge with the docking station.

Motorola Atrix review from TechRadar UK

For the Droid Bionic, I'd expect it to last about the same on 3G, and maybe an hour or two less on LTE. And like some pointed out, there is an extended battery offered for the Thunderbolt, so that's something to look into; personally, I don't like the way it makes the phone look though..

-Blur-light vs. Sense? Personal opinions?

KDE or Gnome? (Wait, you probably don't use Linux...) Sapphires or Rubies? Pokemon Black or Pokemon White? I don't like this discussion because Blur gets a lot of crap but there are people who prefer it, it's something you've just gotta decide for yourself in my opinion.

Though, ADW Launcher, LauncherPro, or Stock Android > Both, IMO. All three will be options on all three devices.

-HDMI out? Is this compelling for anyone?

Do you see yourself using it, is the question I think you should be asking. Personally, it isn't very compelling to me.

-Bragging rights of saying that your phone is more powerful than your 3 year old laptop?

Nope, my three year old laptop (No seriously, my newest one just happens to be 3 years old) is still more powerful than the Bionic (Now the Optimus 3d, that's an entirely different story... >_>)

-See a legitimate use for the dual core tegra (vs the various 1 core options) other than gaming?

This is, IMO, a bit misguided of a question. I could name lots of uses, that probably matter a lot less even to you than games (for example, mixing down your latest studio album, or compilin' some code) but the fact is, these are phones. Yes, games are going to be the most obvious tasks to benefit; they're processor hungry. The overall system also benefits, of course (which is why the Atrix was widely reviewed as the snappiest Android phone available) but if you're just flicking around home screens, yes, the Thunderbolt may seem plenty fast enough. The Bionic will still have the overall performance edge, even for simple tasks; but the strength of multi-core processors by design is to perform better (in comparison to single core CPUs) when your processor is being pushed a bit.

Would be interested to hear any opinions about the Bionic?s virtues when its processing muscle isn?t really a factor.

-Suntan

Better battery life, better screen, and IMO, better manufacturer. Of course, if the Thunderbolt's what you want, go for it, we won't think less of you for it.

 

[Issemann]

? better display resolution
? bigger display
? LTE
? dual core
? bigger battery

Bottom line, I've had a Dinc for almost a year. If I'm going to upgrade, it better be something that's future proof. (At least for the next year!)

 

[isdaako]

Witness on the TBolt thread here in AndroidCentral.com and you will find the largest thread centers around its battery issues.

There is NO way i am going to saddle myself knowingly with a device that cannot make it through the day on its own without having to change screen brightness, turn off widgets, turn of updating software, and on and on.

So i am waiting for the Bionic to come out, will see how its battery fairs, and if it can give me a whole days usage i will buy it. If it cant, i will continue to wait.

That's right where I'm standing, too.

 

[AllenRulz]

I'm not going to be gaming much on my phone. So, that's not really the main driver for me. Probably the main drivers for me is the battery size, display resolution, and display size. I would absolutely despise a phone that can't make it all day on from a full charge. Battery life is the number 1 priority for me. It definitely doesn't hurt though to have the additional pluses on battery life provided by dual-core and DDR2 RAM. And I like the bump in resolution to go along with the display size. A very nice upgrade for me.

You are so right my friend. Coming from the Storm 1, I NEED a phone with BETTER battery lol.

 

[Suntan]

More info that leads me to believe the Bionic will have significantly better battery life:

Interesting. Thanks for the cut & paste.

Somewhat contrary to what they reported about the Bionic?s battery life/efficiency in the Androidcentral pre-review though.

Any thoughts on the discrepancy?

-Suntan

 

[DolfanCole]

You are so right my friend. Coming from the Storm 1, I NEED a phone with BETTER battery lol.

I hear ya. I had a Storm 1 (got it at release). Sold it after 6 months though and got the Tour at release and have had it ever since. I get very good battery life on my Tour. I have no problem making it all day. I charge it every night and when I plug it in, I usually have around 70% battery remaining. But, if I had to charge it during the day at all, I'd end up getting rid of it very quickly.

 

[thebizz]

Honestly I like the specs of the bionic but can't bring myself to buy one. The thunderbolt is a very good phone but the undersized battery kills it for me as does last year specs I want a phone that will make it through a year without feeling out of date the tb just won't cut it. Especially with the just announced evo3d it has better specs than both of these phones. People may gripe and say the battery is smaller but the processor is more efficient than the t2. So if VZW doesn't announce a killer phone I will most likely choose neither as they both have big fualt imho

 

[trailblazen]

A small part of me just feels like you are trying to dig up dirt when it isn't really there to feel better about getting a bolt. Everyone has been giving you as up to date as possible specs and reviews along with a comparison to a very similar phone (minus 1 or 2 things being different the same phone) with battery life and you quiz folks like some tabloid reporter trying to get the dirt. Could just be my imagination but I'm just getting a odd feeling about this line of discussion; very odd indeed.

 

[DolfanCole]

Honestly I like the specs of the bionic but can't bring myself to buy one. The thunderbolt is a very good phone but the undersized battery kills it for me as does last year specs I want a phone that will make it through a year without feeling out of date the tb just won't cut it. Especially with the just announced evo3d it has better specs than both of these phones. People may gripe and say the battery is smaller but the processor is more efficient than the t2. So if VZW doesn't announce a killer phone I will most likely choose neither as they both have big fualt imho

Do you not think that the Bionic will make it through the year without feeling out of date?

 

[Suntan]

A small part of me just feels like you are trying to dig up dirt when it isn't really there to feel better about getting a bolt. Everyone has been giving you as up to date as possible specs and reviews along with a comparison to a very similar phone (minus 1 or 2 things being different the same phone) with battery life and you quiz folks like some tabloid reporter trying to get the dirt. Could just be my imagination but I'm just getting a odd feeling about this line of discussion; very odd indeed.

Don?t know for sure who you are responding to, but I can say for myself that I am not being disingenuous with any comments.

I?ve said it initially and I will say it again. I am undecided as to which phone I want to get. They both have pluses and minuses, I?m in the process of evaluating the impact on my needs, as best I can without both of them being released. I am simply trying to educate myself as best as possible, comparing a known entity (TB is already released) with an unknown.

Anyway, I?m sorry if you have mistaken rigorous evaluation for negativity. It isn?t that I am unconcerned about the positives of the phone, indeed the thing looks like a cracker, but I?m merely concentrating on understanding the true differences between it an other options.

Now, back to the phone, the information is conflicting here, the Androidcentral review of the Atrix says:

Battery life, on the other hand, was pretty abysmal. Even with the beefy 1930 mAh battery I could not make it through the day without running to a charger

and

The processor also runs hot. While downloading the SD card content for Dungeon Defenders First Wave, or the initial sync of my Google and Blur accounts, the bottom half of the phone got uncomfortably warm. I think there is a correlation here, and am hoping that once updated to a version of Android that properly supports the Tegra 2 hardware both these will become a non-issue.

Which is quite different than the Engadget review. Anyone care to speculate on the discrepancy?

-Suntan

 

[trailblazen]

yeah like I said it just seemed a little over critical on off glance. Been too many bolt fanboys running amuck so hard to tell between genuine inquiry and someone just trying to feel better about their purchase. No harm ment.

 

[greydarrah]

Don’t know for sure who you are responding to, but I can say for myself that I am not being disingenuous with any comments.

I’ve said it initially and I will say it again. I am undecided as to which phone I want to get. They both have pluses and minuses, I’m in the process of evaluating the impact on my needs, as best I can without both of them being released. I am simply trying to educate myself as best as possible, comparing a known entity (TB is already released) with an unknown.

Anyway, I’m sorry if you have mistaken rigorous evaluation for negativity. It isn’t that I am unconcerned about the positives of the phone, indeed the thing looks like a cracker, but I’m merely concentrating on understanding the true differences between it an other options.

Now, back to the phone, the information is conflicting here, the Androidcentral review of the Atrix says:


and



Which is quite different than the Engadget review. Anyone care to speculate on the discrepancy?

-Suntan

You're asking for a detailed analysis of a phone that doesn't exist in a production state. No one can really have an intelligent argument about this. Most of us believe (as in, have faith) that a duel processor is going to do everything faster while using less power, that the higher quality screen will look better, and that the battery (based on past history of htc vs moto devices) will last much longer. If you don't want to believe that also, that's OK with us.

Why don't you just go buy a TB, use it for 2 weeks, and if it does what you want, enjoy having it. If it doesn't perform to your needs, return it and try the Bionic when it comes out?

 

[TuxDotKing]

Interesting. Thanks for the cut & paste.

Somewhat contrary to what they reported about the Bionic’s battery life/efficiency in the Androidcentral pre-review though.

Any thoughts on the discrepancy?

-Suntan

I imagine, if you're talking about a CES prereview (if not, correct me and point me in the right direction) that it was because the software was in an unfinal state at that point and not fully optimized for battery.

Android Central review, battery: Some on XDA had complained of abysmal battery life just as Jerry did, but most came back later and said either:

-They got it replaced and the battery situation got much better
-They put it through a few charge cycles and the battery life got better after a while.

Nearly every person I saw posting in that thread who initially suffered battery life, after doing one of those two things, was getting at least 13+ hours (with the highest length being 27 hours). Perhaps Jerry was in need of doing one of those things; of course, I can't say he didn't.

Here's the thread: Battery Life? - xda-developers

Warmth and CPU support: I still believe that the CPU is properly supported; no offense to Jerry here, but he was probably just parroting what's become a bit of a meme when discussing dual core phones. This post on XDA, in my opinion explains why: xda-developers - View Single Post - Battery Life?

The kernel (which handles all low-level I/O on the device) is compiled for multiple cores (hence the SMP tag, which stands for symmetrical multiprocessing, under About Phone, under Kernel Version).

On top of that, the Android SDK supports threads, which is in turn supported by the kernel and therefore spread across cores.

I don't think that kernel tag would be there if it weren't implemented; though to be fair, another poster in another thread in these forums, said this, and I'm inclined to consider his point of view as well.

I think this is only a partial answer though. Having the tag in the kernel doesn't necessarily mean that it's implemented fully or optimally in the kernel code. To better understand if that's the case, you'd have to dig down into the kernel code to find out. I don't know if the developer/poster at XDA has done that and that's what he meant or not.

As new features are put into operating systems, it's common for the tags, parameters, etc., to be created prior to actually implementing them, but they're there as placeholders for future implementations. I have no idea if that's the case with this or not. But just because the tag exists doesn't mean that it's actually used or implemented full or optimally.
[...]
Well, that's just it. Does showing it in the About Phone mean that it truly is implemented in the kernel? Or is it merely a placeholder for future implementations? Or does it mean that the tag is supported and there's an implementation, but all the implementation does is copy the single-core implementation (i.e., not fully or optimally implemented)? Not sure a screen capture will answer these questions. It really takes investigation into the kernel or Motorola (or whomever) stating that it is fully supported.

So bottom line, we should all go pester Moto to release the Atrix kernel source as per their GPL obligations. Then we'll know for sure. As for the warmth, I imagine that this is less the phone itself being bad in some way and more of the phone being taxed period. But the exact issue in my opinion, is that the plastic back most likely does not insulate well. I have a Nexus S, and I love it to death, but when I start to do data/processor intensive things on it, I'll feel it getting warm (without overclocking, of course), and I think that's because the plastic back is a poor insulator. I can't say for sure what kind of backing the Bionic will have, but it looks like it might be a bit more insulatory than the Atrix, so you won't feel the heat of it running as much.

Finally, nothing wrong with asking questions, we all want to make good decisions, but I will say that this is all speculation right now. When the Bionic comes out, it could in fact be terrible. It could have worse battery life than the Thunderbolt and a picture of Hitler with his eyes flashing as the new version of MotoBlur. Nothing wrong with speculation IMO, just something to keep in mind.

 

[Suntan]

You're asking for a detailed analysis of a phone

I just asked for people's opinions.

-Suntan