Bionic First Impressions/Reviews

[916ninja]

This is my first experience with this screen type and as it turns out, I'm not too hot on PenTile. I'm seeing what everyone has been complaining about. I'm coming from the AMOLED on the Incredible.
Now, to be fair, I'm pretty sure the AMOLED screen enhances colors a great deal, making a gorgeous display. For example, if I take a picture on the Incredible, it looks HOT on the phone, but when I xfer the file to my PC, the colors are definitely more washed out.
The screen is definitely grainy. You don't have to hold the phone inches from your face to tell. Turn up the brightness and it gets worse. On top of that, I don't believe it can render certain colors correctly. The yellow tiles in the Words with Friends app look faded, and brownish; like an old banana.

The phone performs like a beast though. I'm not sure if the display is worth it though. I have to hang on a week and see how much battery PenTile save before I can make a sound decision. I am, however, prepared to take it back and wait for the Prime.

I actually made a post on the issue of the yellows. It appears that is a bad color for the screen. Not sure if that could be fixed ota. The yellow has either a darkened bannana brown feeling to it or a greenish hue to it. My example was naruto on netflix. His hair has that i have been in a swimming pool too long and my blonde hair is turning green look to it. Also you can easily see the browning on moonchaser compared to other phones. The menu color text is more like a dark brown instead of yellow compared to other phones.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[jgmankos]

Having had the charge, the real test will be loading it down with texts and info and using it for a few days. Frankly, the charge blew chunks when it came to real use. Using a dual core after the charge is night and day.

(And the bionic isn't just a little faster. It has double the RAM, and its ddr2, which makes it even faster.)

There's nothing wrong with the charge, but any dual core phone smokes it.
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk

My findings are pretty much the same. I had Droid X, went to a Droid Charge and hated it. It just seemed that once I threw a few apps on it there was a noticable lag...and playing Angry Birds...forget it. It wanted to vomit.

I notice a HUGE difference in speed between the Bionic and the Charge...and I already have the Bionic loaded with apps running and it's just devouring whatever I throw at it.

 

[Plucknbach]

I will be trying all these apps I've been hearing when I get Bionicfied, hopefully next week. I'm like $203 short because my mom borrowed $185 from me a few months ago and can't pay me back for like a month or two. I knew I should've kept my mouth shut and kept my money.
So I've seen Vignette and HDR Camera+ now.

Your mom did you a favor. In a month or two, you'll be able to find deals on the Bionic. This way you won't pay the full $300. Be smart and spend smart. You'll get the phone you want for less. It a win, win. WINNING!!!

 

[ManBearPig618]

Still figuring stuff out...even though I'm connected to my home Wifi the service bars to the right of it are still blue, not white? Cell standby has also used 31% of my battery...is something not configured right?

 

[jgmankos]

My two-and-a-half cent review (adjusted for inflation)...

Aesthetics - Feels solid in the hand. Not as thin as the Droid X I upgraded from....but it's still a very svelte phone all things considered.
Screen - I love the screen. Display wise, it's very bright. It's not as vibrant/crisp as the Samsung AMOLED displays so if that's the standard you judge by...you'll be disappointed. There is a very slight graininess that people are complaining about...but I don't buy a phone to watch movies on a 4.3" screen...that's what the HDMI out is for
Hardware - Dual core and a gig of DDR2 RAM make this phone FAST!!!
Phone - Phone reception is great. Have not used the speakerphone yet. Speaker seems loud as my ringtone mp3 seems louder than it did on the X.
Overall User Interface - I like the interface...to a point. I don't like that you can't customize it at all so I put Launcher Pro on it.
Signal quality - On Par with the Droid X
GPS - Have not used
Battery Life - Too soon to tell yet!
Performance - Did I mention this phone is FAST? This is by far the most responsive phone I've had. Everything I've tried to do with it thus far, happens in an instant.
Camera (both still & video) - Have not tested...I've heard it's basically the same as the X so I'm in no real hurry to scrutinize that.
How the Bionic compares to your previous smartphone - Well...My Android experience is this: I had the OG Droid on Launch day, Got the Droid X one year later. Had a Droid Charge for 10 days immediately preceding getting the Bionic. Have a Nook Color rooted w/Cyanogenmod 7. Wife has a Droid Incredible, daughter has a Samsung Fascinate. I told you all that to tell you this. This is, by leaps and bounds, the FASTEST, most responsive phone of the bunch. Of course I would expect it to be considering the hardware...however alot of people seem to be downplaying this. I never thought my Droid X was slow until using this. It is that much snappier. I love a responsive phone and thus far...this is screamin'. I can't wait to test out some of the more advanced functionality.
Disappointments - My only gripe is the same I have with ANY of the Android flavors that come out...and that is the lack of a customizable User Interface. It's not that I don't like Launcher Pro...it's just that I wish I didn't HAVE to install it. Upon first seeing the UI on the Bionic...I had hopes that I could just keep the stock interface....Alas...without the ability to customize it even just a little bit...I had to go to LP

Overall....it's fantastic. Look...there's always something better coming down the pike. This is the phone I've been waiting for for awhile so I jumped on it on launch day and do not regret it. Whether or not you feel it's worth the price is a personal decision...to me I want a device like this to do what I need it to do and I don't care about the pricetag. YMMV

 

[wpwoodjr]

My two-and-a-half cent review (adjusted for inflation)...
Camera (both still & video) - Have not tested...I've heard it's basically the same as the X so I'm in no real hurry to scrutinize that.

I did a comparison of the DX camera and the Bionic. The Bionic is actually much better; with more detail, less noise, and less of that "painterly" look when you blow it up to pixel-level detail. Attached see a crop from each camera.

Bionic:

Droid X:

 

[carzaddict]

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

 

[oresteez]

I did a comparison of the DX camera and the Bionic. The Bionic is actually much better; with more detail, less noise, and less of that "painterly" look when you blow it up to pixel-level detail. Attached see a crop from each camera.

Bionic: View attachment 14569
Droid X: View attachment 14570

I'd like to thank you for this post, but I don't know how! thanks for the comparison pics though!
can you take some more? would you mind? indoor pics? outdoor? low light? people in motion? haha i know i'm asking a lot.

Pentile alone is not a dealbreaker to me... Pentile + potentially crappy camera IS a dealbreaker though..

 

[TomT1949]

I am very happy with the phone so far. I understand why people complain about the screen but for my use it is good. Since I am coming from an OG Droid I am more than happy with the performance. I have had no lag at all even when loading up the home screens with widgets. I probably would not have gotten it if not for the deal at Costco because $300 for a phone is hard to swallow. I have rooted it and am in the process of transferring all of my data from my old phone which is a pain. I'm sure there is an easier way to do it but I'm not as knowledgeable as most on this site. Battery life seems pretty good although I do not have 4gLTE in my area so I'm sure that is part of the reason why it is good. All in all I would reccomend the phone to others especially if they are upgrading from a phone almost 2 years old as I was

You got it at Costco? I thought it wasn't going to be available until the 13th?

 

[flashpiti]

I did a comparison of the DX camera and the Bionic. The Bionic is actually much better; with more detail, less noise, and less of that "painterly" look when you blow it up to pixel-level detail. Attached see a crop from each camera.

Bionic: View attachment 14569
Droid X: View attachment 14570

Thanks for the examples. That shows a lot of noise reduction which causes that smearing effect. It also shows that both cameras a pretty crappy.

 

[powers84]

Well, I have had my Bionic for a little less than two days now and figured I would give my review.

As far as the whole fit and finish of the device and software, I am really pleased. It seems very robust.

The software that comes pre-loaded on the device is well...not what you would want to come with the device at a $300 price point. I mean who really uses CityID? Or, the other 20 apps VW loads on to the device. The one program that I did use on my Droid X2, DLNA, I am not able to on my Bionic. For some reason the DLNA app keeps asking me to force close or wait????

Other than the DLNA problem, I am very impressed by the device.

If anyone knows a fix for the DLNA it would be much appreciated.

 

[dmevis]

First Impressions: Not Impressed

I am coming from a Droid X that was Rooted and has the Motorola extended battery...

Regarding the screen: I didn't think I would, but I really like how the bottom buttons are gone and are now part of the screen. The screen is much better for daylight viewing. I have several applications that do not display properly now, as they only use about the top 2/3 of the display area. For general use (perhaps not videos, etc.), the increased screen resolution doesn't add much.

Regarding overall performance: The phone does seem pretty "smooth". The software really does seem to be pretty mature and bug-free. But frankly, I find it little faster than my Droid X... at least now that my Droid X is running the 3rd or 4th version of software that has been released for it.

Regarding overall build quality: Motorola builds top-quality phones and the Bionic is no exception. On a par with the Droid X.

Regarding battery life: Too early to know for sure, but early indicators are not good. On my Droid X, it was always the "Display" that used the most battery. On the Bionic, it is the "Cell Standby" that uses the most battery... and I have the phone set to CDMA (3G) only!

Regarding LTE (4G): I have not even used it yet so I can not comment.

Regarding applications: I am having consistent problems with the Market. When I try to access "My Apps" on the Market, I get frequent long pauses, and timeouts. All other aspects of the Market work OK though. As noted above, I have several applications that do not display properly on the Bionic. Each of these apps. displays the same problem in that only about the top 2/3 of the display is used. The apps. work OK, they just don't display using the entire screen.

Bottom line: I must say that I consider my Droid X, at least after all of the software updates, a very fine phone. Since I have more money than sense, I upgraded to the Bionic. But frankly, it really does not seem to be much of an upgrade, and frankly the battery life looks worrying. The Bionic is a nice phone, but I would not run out and upgrade to it unless you already have a need for new phone. I will continue to use the phone for another week or so, but at this point, I will probably return it and wait for something else.

 

[xoomer1]

I think you are trying to look way way to hard at things...its a 4.3 inch screen on a phone..looks about the same as on my 30in HD dell moitor

Banding appears in any image with gradual gradation, not just gray. Take a look at this image on the Bionic and you will see banding in the brownish background.

 

[xoomer1]

for those of you who think this phone is not very fast, or just a little faster, run quadrnt bench mark test on your bionic and on your old phone..the bionic blows the X away

 

[joeturni#CB]

Came here from a T-bolt, and I am very pleased with this device...Smooth and the dual core speed is no comparison to the Tbolt...I've only had for 2 days and time will tell, but right now I am very pleased with the Bionic

 

[xoomer1]

I see alot of people complaining about the blue background and bars, this is not the phone, this is gingerbread, its the same as on the droid X, when the X gor gingerbread, this is what it looked like and still looks like. But if you dont like it, wait till the ice cream, it will probably change

 

[KillerG]

Your mom did you a favor. In a month or two, you'll be able to find deals on the Bionic. This way you won't pay the full $300. Be smart and spend smart. You'll get the phone you want for less. It a win, win. WINNING!!!

I want that Costco deal lol. So that's what I'm aiming at. Plus this finally gives me a reason to try to get rid of all this crap sitting around my room and garage. Maybe if I can get rid of enough stuff I can actually use my closet again LOL. It's just FILLED with tons of cords and such, I just can't find a good way to get rid of them.
And I've been waiting a little too long for this phone, and my phone is starting to not want to work like it should. It wasn't very good originally, so I'm hoping an Android phone will make me feel like less of a sucker around all these iPhone jerks.

 

[KillerG]

I did a comparison of the DX camera and the Bionic. The Bionic is actually much better; with more detail, less noise, and less of that "painterly" look when you blow it up to pixel-level detail. Attached see a crop from each camera.

Bionic: View attachment 14569
Droid X: View attachment 14570

Wow...my friend has a Droid X, I'll have to show him this. I've been interested to see how it plays out with a phone that was as good as the Droid X...and I'll probably be installing a 3rd party camera app anyways, I really do not like not having a customizable white balance. You'd think they'd have it, but they don't. I hate auto-white balance, actually I hate auto anything other than auto focus. I'm really picky about how I like my shots to look on any camera, so hopefully this will be good enough to take a video or a picture while I'm on the road. Most smartphone cameras should be better than my little 7MP point and shoot, it sucks. And while I can use my video production's cameras for the time being, come next summer I won't have access to those and may have to find funny ways to shoot using my phone. I can probably make a pretty good short film with just a few smartphone cameras and a little post production magic of course. Although I plan on finding some money later in the year to buy a shiny new DSLR to shoot videos on.

 

[flenn]

Re: First Impressions: Not Impressed

I am coming from a Droid X that was Rooted and has the Motorola extended battery...

Regarding the screen: I didn't think I would, but I really like how the bottom buttons are gone and are now part of the screen. The screen is much better for daylight viewing. I have several applications that do not display properly now, as they only use about the top 2/3 of the display area. For general use (perhaps not videos, etc.), the increased screen resolution doesn't add much.

Regarding overall performance: The phone does seem pretty "smooth". The software really does seem to be pretty mature and bug-free. But frankly, I find it little faster than my Droid X... at least now that my Droid X is running the 3rd or 4th version of software that has been released for it.

Regarding overall build quality: Motorola builds top-quality phones and the Bionic is no exception. On a par with the Droid X.

Regarding battery life: Too early to know for sure, but early indicators are not good. On my Droid X, it was always the "Display" that used the most battery. On the Bionic, it is the "Cell Standby" that uses the most battery... and I have the phone set to CDMA (3G) only!

Regarding LTE (4G): I have not even used it yet so I can not comment.

Regarding applications: I am having consistent problems with the Market. When I try to access "My Apps" on the Market, I get frequent long pauses, and timeouts. All other aspects of the Market work OK though. As noted above, I have several applications that do not display properly on the Bionic. Each of these apps. displays the same problem in that only about the top 2/3 of the display is used. The apps. work OK, they just don't display using the entire screen.

Bottom line: I must say that I consider my Droid X, at least after all of the software updates, a very fine phone. Since I have more money than sense, I upgraded to the Bionic. But frankly, it really does not seem to be much of an upgrade, and frankly the battery life looks worrying. The Bionic is a nice phone, but I would not run out and upgrade to it unless you already have a need for new phone. I will continue to use the phone for another week or so, but at this point, I will probably return it and wait for something else.

Glad to hear the comparison to Dx. I agree that the Dx has just gotten better with time to the point where the phone is now remarkably fast. The phone was relatively fast and had no show stopping bugs when it released, but the updates over the past year have made it super solid and much faster. So much so that it will take a bigger jump in performance than the Bionic to make me upgrade (a blessing and a curse). One has to wonder how good the Bionic will be a year from now if Moto supports the it the way they have with Dx...

 

[xoomer1]

with all this love for the X on here, being almost as fast and as good as the bionic, I had to see for myself, I put QUadrant benchmark on my wife's X and on my Bionic (I already gave my X away to a friend-- for free)
Droid X (not rooted) score: 1466
Bionic (not rooted) Score: 2486

that a huge difference for those of you that think this things are almost equal....