Bionic's still coming, is defintely new hardware - XT875

[Johnly]

Yeah, Samsung bought the license for Pentile so they could use it on the first s-amoled screens to improve the effective pixel density without actually increasing the number of pixels, because it made them much easier to manufacture. It didn't produce the best results in terms of text readability though, so the plus version (that I'm using right now) switched back to a normal layout with more pixels, but they kept the license so they could sell it to others.

Keep in mind though that the "competing" technology, S-LCD, is actually a joint venture between Sony and Samsung, with Samsung owning one more share. So pretty much any nice screen these days is putting money in Samsung's pocket.

I don't think some of you realize just how big of a player Samsung is in the tech world. Nearly any gadget you buy has a few components in it with their name on it, whether the device itself does or not...

I am one of the few that realize samsung runs deep. Motorola case and radio with Sammy guts? Game over.

 

[Castor Troy]

I love Samsung phones. Yes sir emmhmm.

Sent from my Droid

 

[anon(49997)]

I think he's telling us about an unexpected homoerotic encounter he had at the Verizon store...

Heh! Well it was in Atlanta. :-?

I guess I should have started off the post with, "Just for fun I screwed with a Store Rep just to see what he would say ".

Poor guy, he hit me at the door wide open with the "over the top" salesman ship and I kept telling him I was just looking today and he would not stop so I started in on the Bionic.

I had time to kill and was parked right in front of the store.

 

[Johnly]

Gapi, they just dazed and confused, the rest of us got it. Besides they are on the psychic hot line.

 

[robwilldominate]

I love Samsung phones. Yes sir emmhmm.

Sent from my Droid

CK I respect your opinion. I don't agree with you at all but you have valid arguments from your perspective.

 

[Johnly]

CK I respect your opinion. I don't agree with you at all but you have valid arguments from your perspective.

thats right, woof woof

 

[Castor Troy]

CK I respect your opinion. I don't agree with you at all but you have valid arguments from your perspective.

Thanks brother we all may not agree but I think we all have valid arguements. I haven't come across anyone on this thread that didn't have a good opposing arguement.

Motorola fans are often level headed. Fans of another manufacturer, who shall remain nameless, go on the attack like you've insulted their mothers or something

Props to all the fine gentlemen on this thread is all I have to say.

Sent from my Droid

 

[Johnly]

Thanks brother we all may not agree but I think we all have valid arguements. I haven't come across anyone on this thread that didn't have a good opposing arguement.

Motorola fans are often level headed. Fans of another manufacturer, who shall remain nameless, go on the attack like you've insulted their mothers or something

Props to all the fine gentlemen on this thread is all I have to say.

Sent from my Droid

As long as they stay off the hotlines.......

 

[Castor Troy]

As long as they stay off the hotlines.......

hahahahahaha

 

[bworley50]

Yeah, Samsung bought the license for Pentile so they could use it on the first s-amoled screens to improve the effective pixel density without actually increasing the number of pixels, because it made them much easier to manufacture. It didn't produce the best results in terms of text readability though, so the plus version (that I'm using right now) switched back to a normal layout with more pixels, but they kept the license so they could sell it to others.

Keep in mind though that the "competing" technology, S-LCD, is actually a joint venture between Sony and Samsung, with Samsung owning one more share. So pretty much any nice screen these days is putting money in Samsung's pocket.

I don't think some of you realize just how big of a player Samsung is in the tech world. Nearly any gadget you buy has a few components in it with their name on it, whether the device itself does or not...

Oh I definately realize it. That is why, as a financial planner, I am so disappointed I cannot purchase their individual stock. Have to get it through a S. Korean index fund or ETF.

 

[delphis96]

I think he's telling us about an unexpected homoerotic encounter he had at the Verizon store...



Seriously though, as we near 200 pages on this thread, still without any of the supposed inventory leaks Phil said were coming (again, not blaming him, just saying), I think its interesting to take a step back and see the thread has actually gone.

The fact is, the Bionic itself is now one of the side-topics of this thread. Despite all this interest, Motorola has so utterly failed to stoke the flames with even the smallest hint of anything official that many people have lost interest. Many people in this thread, myself included, have already given up and either purchased a Charge or something similar, or have decided to wait for something bigger and better than the Bionic. With the sheer lack of info from Moto, this thread has turned into honest speculation about Moto's ability to deliver a competitive product, or if they even know how to be a player in this game, and arguments over whether various assumed specs of the Bionic are better or worse than the competition.

Interest is waning, focus has shifted off the product, and many people have already moved on. I think that fact speaks greater volumes about Moto's ability to compete than anything else. You have no business hyping a product that's supposed to shake up the industry and be THE device to get if you can't actually deliver it, or any other competitive product, in a reasonable time frame, not to mention the extremely generous time frame they've already had.

At this point I'm still in this thread because its interesting, the Bionic's release date is already irrelevant to me. It was an exciting superphone when first announced, capable of blowing everything else out of the water. Even in late April, when they announced the "redesign" (aka, failure), it was still really exciting, and the promise of something to beat out even the latest competition was very tempting. But now this phone won't be coming out until all the other manufacturers have had powerful dual-cores of their own out for some time, all with various special features of their own. So I don't see how it can be anything more than an equal competitor by this fall.

Remember also that its not about the specs of the phone, its how well you can sell it. All of these other phones have been well-detailed and hyped up in preparation for their release. We heard about them a few months ago, saw pictures, saw specs, read press releases, saw hands-on videos, and release dates. Now they're coming out or soon to release, and interested consumers are excited for their release. Compare this to Moto, who announced a device in February, hyped it a bit, cancelled it in April and swept it under the rug, only to announce it would be "redesigned". They haven't said anything since then, and we've had one set of leaked pictures, and trustworthy rumors of a mid-August release. Its pretty hard to stay excited about something you saw in February all the way through August, and the average consumer doesn't go digging through pages of posts on enthusiast message boards to find rumors and leaks about a device they are considering.

So they're very slow in bringing a device to market that should match the competitors specs, but recent devices give cause for us to worry about the hardware, and it also has zero marketing. Sounds like a real plan for success...

It'd be great if Moto gets the next Nexus, seems like they'll need it at this point just to get their head back above-water. It really doesn't look like the Bionic will be enough at this late date.

/

Agreed... though I haven't purchased a new phone, yet. The continued irony of the slogan, 'The end of waiting!" Like many, I have had the option for upgrade for well over 6 months, waiting for a warlock that seems to never be coming. But, is it all Motorola, or is Big Red driving the bus. They don't like to ever provide information more than a very short period before release. Didn't they officially announce the TBolt like 3 days before release... but there were a few ads out before (more for 4G LTE than a specific device).

But, interest is waning... in the Bionic, and in Motorola. The tough thing, as noted so many times, is matching build quality, feel, etc.

LTE just came out in my area on Thursday, so these choices/promises are more relevant to me... and I still just can't seem to pull the trigger. Hopefully we will see some info on the Bionic or some other next 'great' device. Its getting harder to wait for a warlock that feels like it may never see the light of day.

Another side note, I too work in an industry that manufactures internationally, with a great deal here in the States. I am an engineer that spent time designing, manufacturing, assembling and testing during different phases of my career... much of which has revolved around the very Japanese principles mentioned. It is worth noting that much of the Kaizen and Japanese work practices were actually brought to Japan by Americans following the destruction in the War. But, like so many other things, the Japanese have embrace, mastered, and made the concepts and practices their own. Also worth saying that they have made an awful lot of money off those concepts, like they have also done with physical products. In a global market, with production and assembly often happening in different countries, on different continents, for me its more about delivering the product - not necessarily where the steps required to make it happen occur.

This thread helps me pass the time - and I really enjoy reading all the opinions and thoughts on the range of topics... and its nice to see so many people that share a passion for the techie side of life.

 

[bworley50]

Is it possible that the Sprint Photon was the Bionic, but Verizon didn't want Motorola to release it before the tiered data, so Moto says fine, we'll just release this thing on Sprint to get them out the door. That way the Targa, or new Bionic is pushed back until the tiers come into place? If that is the case, I bet that's the same time we'll see the 4G fix for the Xoom. Nvidia has publicly denied the rumor that the Tegra can't handle it. I also haven't seen anywhere that confirms Tegra is not on the Bionic. Maybe someone could help me with that. I know Sanjay said they had problems with their protocol stacks. Sounds like he's trying not to throw anyone under the bus but Motorola itself. Why would he do that? Well he said he didn't want to burn bridges. Maybe the bridge he doesn't want to burn is with VZW. Is it possible that Verizon is calling the shots during this whole process? Am I being paronoid, or is this possible?

 

[Raptor007]

Personally I am tired of the Carriers ability to jerk the chains of the consumer and manufacturer's alike. Motorola has far, far more to lose than Verizon or the consumer. If what NVidia says is true about the Tegra and LTE then Moto has egg on its face and its stock could if it isn't already taking a hit. No WOW phones, no major product launches that haven't been filed with problems this year.

If anything they should WANT the Bionic out before July 7th, say June 30th offering a nice July 4th weekend deal. Imagine how many of them they could sell in just a few days and lock users in to the 4G pricing.

Sadly we know Verizon has no plans or interest in that, in fact I bet its their plan to NOT sell the Bionic until well after July 7th along with the revamped XOOM 4G and XOOM 4G Upgrade so they can jack all the new 4G LTE users up.

I have (2) 3G modems 10GB each and a Droid Charge (may change to the Bionic) so just how will that family plan crap affect me?

 

[bworley50]

Personally I am tired of the Carriers ability to jerk the chains of the consumer and manufacturer's alike. Motorola has far, far more to lose than Verizon or the consumer. If what NVidia says is true about the Tegra and LTE then Moto has egg on its face and its stock could if it isn't already taking a hit. No WOW phones, no major product launches that haven't been filed with problems this year.

If anything they should WANT the Bionic out before July 7th, say June 30th offering a nice July 4th weekend deal. Imagine how many of them they could sell in just a few days and lock users in to the 4G pricing.

Sadly we know Verizon has no plans or interest in that, in fact I bet its their plan to NOT sell the Bionic until well after July 7th along with the revamped XOOM 4G and XOOM 4G Upgrade so they can jack all the new 4G LTE users up.

I have (2) 3G modems 10GB each and a Droid Charge (may change to the Bionic) so just how will that family plan crap affect me?

Your second to last paragraph is exactly what I am suggesting as plausible, with VZW driving the whole thing.

 

[testt]

Went to Verizon and looked at the Droid X2 screen. I came thinking it wouldn't be that bad and that I probably wouldn't notice it, but let me say it looked absolutely awful. Any image with a sharp edge or text looked like ****, as if it was a cheap knockoff. Even from a distance, you could tell easily. I couldn't stand it. If the Bionic releases with the PenTile screen, the Bionic is 100% off my list and the GSII will be next.

 

[DitkasWallet]

Can anyone tell me what phone would be better the Thunderbolt or the Charge. Because I want to lock into unlimited data before the bionic comes out and I really cant find anywhere that either one of these are a definite winner.

 

[bworley50]

Can anyone tell me what phone would be better the Thunderbolt or the Charge. Because I want to lock into unlimited data before the bionic comes out and I really cant find anywhere that either one of these are a definite winner.

The Charge is by far the best in my opinion. I had it for fourteen days but I brought it back because the battery life sucks compared to Moto

 

[Castor Troy]

The Charge is by far the best in my opinion. I had it for fourteen days but I brought it back because the battery life sucks compared to Moto

Don't count on the Motorola being all that much better. LTE is a thirsty beast and these current Gen LTE radios are not the best at power management.

Next year will be the year for GREAT LTE phones.

Sent from my Droid

 

[f150fan]

I agree with CK. The first gen LTE radios love to suck as much battery as possible. That is one of the many reasons I sold my Thunderbolt. I may stick with 3G for now until devices start using the next generation LTE radios but I am not sure on that yet. I'll have to see just what the Bionic will be sporting.

 

[XDCX]

Is it possible that the Sprint Photon was the Bionic, but Verizon didn't want Motorola to release it before the tiered data, so Moto says fine, we'll just release this thing on Sprint to get them out the door. That way the Targa, or new Bionic is pushed back until the tiers come into place?

I don't buy it, in fact, if anything I bet Verizon's pissed at Motorola for their failure to deliver the original Bionic.

In my opinion, all Verizon cares about is adding more customers who are locked it to a two-year contract. My bet is the original plan was to feature the CES version of the Bionic as Motorola's premium phone on Verizon for four to six months and then drop the price when the Etna version was launched. (Essentially the same strategy AT&T's using with the new iPhone at a premium price or the older iPhone for $99.) It would have been a Home Run for Verizon to have two top-notch Motorola LTE phones available at two price points - now all they've got is the Targa until something better comes along.

Concerning the Sprint Photon, I agree it probably is the Etna version of the Bionic but it's just Motorola's effort to cut their losses. It would be like a car manufacturer finding out they couldn't sell their new model in the U.S. so they make minor changes and export the vehicle to Canada and Mexico.