Goodbye to my Bionic

[bcexperts1]

I think it's a real sign of the end of the Bionic if there's this much discussion about OTHER phones. I had the Bionic from the first month it was out. Can't call it an epic fail but it did let down tons of people. Thanks a lot, Motorolla! Ive been looking into getting the Samsung Note 2 phone this weekend then swap it for the Note 3 because of its monster specs in the Fall. I'm done with this phone and its laggy JB update. Yes I did make a few changes to see some little improvement but enough already.

Finally had it with the laggy JB update too so I just bought a Nexus 4 and am using the T-Mobile $30 plan with GrooveIp. So far so good. I'm getting up to 12mbps download in the Phoenix area. This should hold me over until the Moto X comes out and if I'm not impressed I'll just stick with the Nexus 4.

 

[804hokie]

I've looked but can't find any source that lists the release date of the S4 DEd. Anyone have any idea? I'm definitely not leaving VzW for another carrier.

 

[SamuriHL]

Hope you're not on a family plan. Anyway, the GEDs are out next month. I'd imagine the same time frame for the Dev phone. But no official date has ever been mentioned for it.

 

[804hokie]

Hope you're not on a family plan. Anyway, the GEDs are out next month. I'd imagine the same time frame for the Dev phone. But no official date has ever been mentioned for it.

I'm not, but I did jump on that promotion for double the data for half the price in late 2011. If other networks had the coverage and performance of Verizon, then I'd happily shop around. But this isn't the case, especially in Central Virginia.

 

[SamuriHL]

All I can say is prepare to pay more. I'll leave it at that.

 

[cindylike24]

I'm happily saying bye-bye to my Bionic today. I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy 3 on Verizon Wireless. Love the screen on this phone. A lot clearer to me than the Bionic but then again I had that phone since April of last year. The new phone is definitely easier on my "old" eyes.

 

[804hokie]

The Developer Edition is here! Samsung Galaxy S 4 | Verizon Android Smartphone | Samsung Mobile


Samsung told us to expect the developer edition of its flagship device to come to Verizon and AT&T ?soon,? and at least one of those carriers have gotten the release out of the way. Verizon?s Samsung Galaxy S4 Developer Edition is now available for an off-contract price of $650. This version of the phone is nearly identical to the subsidized version, save for the ability for you to unlock the bootloader and make the device as free as you want it to be out of the box.

 

[SamuriHL]

The Developer Edition is here! Samsung Galaxy S 4 | Verizon Android Smartphone | Samsung Mobile


Samsung told us to expect the developer edition of its flagship device to come to Verizon and AT&T ?soon,? and at least one of those carriers have gotten the release out of the way. Verizon?s Samsung Galaxy S4 Developer Edition is now available for an off-contract price of $650. This version of the phone is nearly identical to the subsidized version, save for the ability for you to unlock the bootloader and make the device as free as you want it to be out of the box.

I just saw the news article on it. Very nice. It's going to be a beast of a phone. Enjoy it!

 

[804hokie]

I just saw the news article on it. Very nice. It's going to be a beast of a phone. Enjoy it!

Besides, it's the same price as an unsubsidized vanilla S4.

 

[SamuriHL]

Besides, it's the same price as an unsubsidized vanilla S4.

Exactly. If you plan on buying one outright, the Dev version makes the most sense.

 

[debonu]

I'm trying to decide whether to hold off and wait for the Moto X or just get an S4... =/ Seriously torn. There are just a few things that are annoying me about my Bionic... Bluetooth in my car wanting to constantly reconnect as if its a new connection, the battery life, and lag coming out of airplane mode in the morning when I wake up. I have absolutely loved this phone even with it's occasional quirks... But it may be time to move on.

 

[804hokie]

My GS4 arrived Monday, and I've been very impressed by it thus far. Samsung has a reputation for having less capable radios than Motorola and I do seem to have 1-less signal bar than my Bionic at home. Upon doing some research, the real measure of signal integrity is found with the dBm and asu. These compare very favorably to my Bionic, and I've had NO data nor phone drops. However, my download speeds on LTE have doubled with the GS4.

I'm retaining my Bionic for the time being as a backup/extra nav system.

 

[SamuriHL]

Dredging up an old thread for a quick minute. I have no only said goodbye to Motorola devices, but, I have also said goodbye to Verizon. I've had enough of their nonsense and locked down devices. I'm very happy now on an S4 GPE on AT&T with a 6 gig share data plan. My Moto days may be behind me, but, it's time to open up a can of YEEHAW on Samsung tinkering!

 

[Ry]

It's either MOTO X or DROID MINI for me. Probably.

 

[SamuriHL]

I'm sorry.

 

[Ry]

I'm sorry.

How so? I'm not a tinkerer anymore - gave that up when I went from DROID to DROID Bionic.

At work, my coworkers require AT&T microcells to get any coverage. I tested T-Mobile myself and found zero reception indoors here.

I care about the stock experiences - be it Google's (I don't plan on giving up on my Nexus 7 anytime soon) or Motorola's.

Locked bootloaders, rooting, ROMs are all irrelevant to me.

 

[SamuriHL]

Because contrary to their "8x" marketing nonsense, it's a dual core SoC with additional cores. As such they did a *TON* of customization to make it all work. When you customize the kernel that much, how easy and quick do you think it's going to be for Motorola to port all that to a new version of Android? Motorola has a history of providing timely updates.....right? The reason it's such a "stock" experience (i.e. less Blur) is because it'd become even MORE complicated to maintain all the customizations required. I wish anyone luck who buys one of these things. I sincerely hope it works out the way you hope it to. But I'm VERY skeptical. And with last year's technology with additional customizations, yea, it may be cheap, but, man....I don't know.

 

[Ry]

Because contrary to their "8x" marketing nonsense, it's a dual core SoC with additional cores. As such they did a *TON* of customization to make it all work. When you customize the kernel that much, how easy and quick do you think it's going to be for Motorola to port all that to a new version of Android? Motorola has a history of providing timely updates.....right? The reason it's such a "stock" experience (i.e. less Blur) is because it'd become even MORE complicated to maintain all the customizations required. I wish anyone luck who buys one of these things. I sincerely hope it works out the way you hope it to. But I'm VERY skeptical. And with last year's technology with additional customizations, yea, it may be cheap, but, man....I don't know.

Let me add, OS updates don't matter that much to me either. Even less now that Google Play Services is a thing.

 

[SamuriHL]

Let me add, OS updates don't matter that much to me either. Even less now that Google Play Services is a thing.

Then you will likely be quite satisfied with said phone choice.

 

[Bionic Bobsled]

Another person who has jumped ship from Bionic over to Galaxy S4. Owned it for about 48 hrs now. Sam's CLub has them for dirt cheap, couldn't pass that up.