Moto's Bionic is Dead?

[sbudaj]

Seems like the rumor has disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

It would be nice to have some official response. But that might be asking for too much.

 

[Hand_O_Death]

Well with all of the TB battery issues, I can totally understand whether or not the battery was working well, they take it back into the test stages and try to maximize the battery usage and squeeze the most out of it so that they can say that their phone is the 4G phone that lasts the longest.

 

[mclarryjr]

The Thunderbolt doesn't have any battery issues and highly doubt the Bionic will either. Most of the complaint you see are from new Android users having application syncing all the time. My battery experience is as good if not better then the Dinc and OG Droid not saying I would take more juice.

 

[Hand_O_Death]

The Thunderbolt doesn't have any battery issues and highly doubt the Bionic will either. Most of the complaint you see are from new Android users having application syncing all the time. My battery experience is as good if not better then the Dinc and OG Droid.

Well no, you are absolutely right, it does not have any issues. The wife's lasts her a 12 hour work day. I should have said that the TB gets a lot of bad press about the battery because it utilizes more energy and a simpler phone and the battery does not last a whole day for some. Of course that does turn into an issue when people complain about it online and then average phone buyers may shy away from that phone which then can become the issue. I had a couple people at my job ask me about the TB and the battery issues which says to me that people that know little to nothing about phones are worried about the battery in it.

I think Moto would be smart to set their phone up to maximize the power usage as much as possible so they can have a nice bullet point in their commercials saying how long their phone can last compared to the other phones they will see walking into the store.

 

[Castor Troy]

that does turn into an issue when people complain about it online and then average phone buyers may shy away from that phone which then can become the issue. I had a couple people at my job ask me about the TB and the battery issues which says to me that people that know little to nothing about phones are worried about the battery in it.

.

I agree...if I were in the market for a certain phone and saw the internets and/or forums littered with "battery issue" threads I would steer clear of said device.

Moto has their work cut out for them. Battery life, if poor, can break a handsets longevity in the market. So I think it's important that Moto gets it right in this regard and pushes out a handset that works right out of the box without having to cripple it severely to get decent battery life.

 

[JayPhill89]

atrix=bionic

I'm starting to think Verizon saw how bad the Atrix sold and decided not to release it just yet.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

Not sure I believe it, reliable source or not. I just think there's too much invested by both Motorola and Verizon to just scrap it. Verizon announced it at CES as a flagship device (1st dual-core and part of their introductory LTE lineup), and Motorola has had it on the main page of their website ever since.

Another thing ... what device would replace it? And why? Are there hardware and/or software issues that would cause the Bionic to be scrapped? If so, why would a "similar device" not also have these issues? It seems that if it can be corrected for a similar device, why not just do it in the Bionic.

So many things, for me, point to this just being too hard to believe.

Verizon "scrapped" the BB Storm 2.5 refresh, why not this too?

Or maybe they didn't want ANOTHER "flagship" phone released with missing features and not working correctly.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

The Thunderbolt doesn't have any battery issues and highly doubt the Bionic will either. Most of the complaint you see are from new Android users having application syncing all the time. My battery experience is as good if not better then the Dinc and OG Droid not saying I would take more juice.

It most certainly is an issue for people new to Droid coming from other smart phones like Blackberry and iPhone, that never gave the battery a second thought their phones just worked all day...or more.

I would say most people new to Droid had no idea they had to tweak their phones to get them to work better or to last for more than 2 hours of use.

These things are not in the brochure - or advertised on TV.

Although the TV ad DID let people know, subliminally, that it took an industrial power source just to run the phone.

 

[1812dave]

Verizon "scrapped" the BB Storm 2.5 refresh, why not this too?

Or maybe they didn't want ANOTHER "flagship" phone released with missing features and not working correctly.

there's no comparison between the warmed-over storm replacement that was shelved, and the much-anticipated Bionic. (4G goodness, and all)

 

[dieselxdan]

bull Crap

This is some nerd stirring up doodle cRAP! Motorola website still have it. There is no press release, nor any words from the REAL company comments. I don't see Verizon or Motorola leaving any comments! They are not going to show something at CES and now dumping the device.

This fck bloggers are running of **** to write. They need traffic to their sites:-$

 

[Friend-O]

UPDATE: It seems that the sources are split on the matter as some have pointed out that the DROID BIONIC will only be delayed due to battery and performance issues, which qualify as routine work rather than a show-stopper. We'll update you as soon as we have more information on this, but for the time being, it seems that there's still some chance for the BIONIC to make it to the shelves.

Motorola kills the Etna DROID BIONIC, with the Targa to replace it? - Phone Arena

For what it's worth, that update was not provided by FAUguy, who wrote the original article. Here's what he said over at HoFo in response to it:

Even though I posted the article, the Update was added by someone else based upon what other sites were reporting. So that didn't come from me or the Motorola sources that I use.

 

[Issemann]

I'm starting to think Verizon saw how bad the Atrix sold and decided not to release it just yet.

I don't think this has anything to do with Atrix sales. The reason that the Atrix isn't selling well is because of the crap AT&T is pulling (i.e. throttling 4G speeds, etc.) and that AT&T sucks.

I left Motorola 5 yrs ago. We worked close with the engineers and were privy to information about release dates. Believe me... phone companies and wireless providers rarely announce plans for a new phone, build prototypes, and invest tons of money into something that gets cancelled three months later!

It's hard to tell what the real source of these rumors are, but the fact still remains that Motorola and Verizon announced a Q2 release. Guess what.... Q2 started 15 days ago! We have a long way to go before we can start slinging mud at Moto and Verizon. :-!

 

[Castor Troy]

In other words Friend-O he's disagreeing with it and is still claiming its scrapped and/or being retooled

Sent from my Droid

 

[Issemann]

OK folks, I've confirmed from a good friend of mine who still works for Moto... He is 100% sure that the Bionic is still alive and well. It will not get scrapped/cancelled. Spread the word!!

 

[bentor1996]

droid x2 is replacement?

i think the droid X2 was going be just like the droid bionic so they decided to not release the droid bionic. But the big problem is that the droid X2 doesn't have 4g which is the only option for a flagship verizon phone this year. They are probably still going to release a 4g phone but i think it will be latter in the year with way better hardware or even ice cream on board. It will be like what the Evo did to the market.

 

[Oxn]

OK folks, I've confirmed from a good friend of mine who still works for Moto... He is 100% sure that the Bionic is still alive and well. It will not get scrapped/cancelled. Spread the word!!

what about delays? cmon man get ur friend to spill some more.

 

[Friend-O]

In other words Friend-O he's disagreeing with it and is still claiming its scrapped and/or being retooled

Yah, that's pretty much how I took it too.

OK folks, I've confirmed from a good friend of mine who still works for Moto... He is 100% sure that the Bionic is still alive and well. It will not get scrapped/cancelled. Spread the word!!

I hope your friend is right!

 

[SharonW]

In other words Friend-O he's disagreeing with it and is still claiming its scrapped and/or being retooled

Sent from my Droid

Gee, CK, FUD much? Why am I suspicious of you? Hmm, maybe because you only joined a couple days of ago and most of your posts have concentrated on questioning the Bionic's release entirely or supposed issues based on what you view to be impeccable sources citing "rumors." You could be legit, but I could swear I smell an Apple pie burning.

Regardless, for everyone else here (and perhaps even you CK), I sent the following in to Android Central over a week ago and was surprised they never reported it. Makes more sense than anything else. It's dated April 4th.

MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen today cut his Q2 EPS estimate for Motorola Mobility (MMI) from 21 cents to 13 cents to account for a slip in the shipping of Moto?s ?Droid Bionic? smartphone for Verizon Communications (VZ) from what he thought would be an ?early April? introduction to what now looks like will be a late May debut for the phone.

Kuittinen reiterated a Buy recommendation on Moto, while cutting his price target to $35 from $40.

Kuittinen now models 400,000 fewer Android phones sold by Moto at Verizon in Q2, and a Q2 ASP for Moto?s phones of $225, down from $235. Part of that is the rise in component prices thanks to supply chain issues stemming from Japan?s crisis, he writes. Kuittinen also cut his fully 2011 EPS number to 82 cents from $1.14.

?Based on our discussions with operator and retail sources following the publication of a purported Verizon spring handset road map and a separate April handset price sheet on Thursday, we now believe it is likely that the Bionic has hit a last-minute testing snag,? writes Kuittinen. He notes that, ?The phone is complex, because unlike the early LTE models of HTC, Samsung and LG, it combines dual-core processor technology with 4G network technology.?

Kuittinen notes that rumors had flown last week about such a delay, rumors that were difficult to believe given how such things can be rampant. ?Misleading delay speculation had floated around about Atrix, iPad 2 and Thunderbolt, and verifying phone scheduling timelines is difficult due to tight security surrounding handset launch plans.?

Moto Mobility: MKM Cuts Target Price On Droid Bionic Delay - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com

 

[Issemann]

what about delays? cmon man get ur friend to spill some more.

He didn't mention anything about delays. But he was very confident in saying that both Moto and Verizon will not release the phone until it's ready. I'll try to pry some more info out of him in the meantime.

 

[RacecarBMW]

They probably killed it so they can release the Droidx2.