To buy or wait for the Prime, 'tis the question!

[Poopai]

Should I get the Bionic now or wait for the prime?

Now I know people are going to say "There's always a better phone around the corner" but that's just not true. If you get the first phone with next gen hardware, you generally have around a year before the next level comes out. And it seems the prime is that next level, and that might be coming soon, so I'm conflicted. I don't want to get this gen's hardware right at the end of its cycle, but the Bionic calls out to me...

 

[anon(392870)]

A lot of people will disagree that this is "this gen's hardware right at the end of its cycle" - I personally do.

Nobody is going to tell you what to do man, you have to make a decision for yourself, we can offer what we like/don't like, etc.

I'm loving this phone after only having it for 2.5 hours. So happy with my decision so far.

 

[Lynx]

Well no matter what something newer and "better" always comes out. Expect it every 3 months with electronics. Thunderbolt in Feb... Charge in mid May... Bionic in September.... Prime and Vigor around the holidays im assuming. Than the Droid X3, HTC Incredible 3 etc etc its a never ending circle. However with that said, I wouldnt say that this is the last in the hardware cycle. If anything its the first on Verizon as its the first 4G Dual-Core phone. I am in the same boat as you though. I just dont know if I want to get it or not. I have the iPhone 4 now and while I like some things about it, I really miss certain things (widgets, LED, notifications, keyboard options, etc). I have had iOS 5 on my device and I was still not that impressed with it. Just my 2 cents!

 

[ninjataint]

Yesterday I said I was waiting for the Prime, today I drove to the store and bought a Bionic. Not good with waiting longer as I had an OG Droid since the day it launched and had already tried a Droid 3.

This helped my decision

 

[flashpiti]

I'd wait, as it costs you nothing, and if the prime and vigor have 720p screens, and both have dual cores it may be a quantum leap above what we experience with current android devices (including the bionic). I'm waiting myself.

 

[ppeklak]

prime is rumored to have the omap 4460 instead of the 4430. not sure if that is worth the wait...but i guess super amoled 720p and vanilla android are worth the wait.

 

[jroc]

How about this scenario...

Moto waited all this time to release the Bionic. What if...their phone next year be considered having next gen hardware with some specs that passes the Prime and Vigor? What if Moto's phone next year be the first to have quad core? Or the first to have something else? What if they bump up the screen res past the Prime , Vigor...then what? Whats gonna happen then? Buyers remorse?

And this gen hardware at the end of its cycle? qHD screen's just came out. Dual core on phones just came out. 1GB ram in phones just came out. If anything single core chips are near the end of their cycle. Screen res at 800x480 and lower is at the end. Those things will start being consider mid range specs soon.

Dont get caught up in the specs game....thats one race you can never win. I will be getting my very first quad core PC this or next year. Got my first dual core PC in 2008. I dont try to chase specs...I get what I want. If I really chased specs...I wouldnt have the Droid X1, I woulda got the Fascinate when it came out or the other LTE phones when they came out. I woulda got the DX2 or Droid 3. Had my Droid X1 since July last year.

Now...I did get the Droid 1 in March last year...so I got the DX1 about 4 months later. I promised myself I wont do that again, even tho the DX1 was a keeper....cuz it had better reception than my D1....which has nice reception. And that was probably the ONLY reason why I kept it.

At the same time, what you feel is what you feel. Get what you feel is best, better for you, to you. if you feel the Bionic isnt enough to you, wait. Like the post above says...it costs you nothing. I may have to wait just based on funds...lol

 

[anon(392870)]

prime is rumored to have the omap 4460 instead of the 4430. not sure if that is worth the wait...but i guess super amoled 720p and vanilla android are worth the wait.

This has been discussed elsewhere, but the OMAP 4460 is simpled a binned processor. You're not getting much different there.

How about this scenario...

Moto waited all this time to release the Bionic. What if...their phone next year be considered having next gen hardware with some specs that passes the Prime and Vigor? What if Moto's phone next year be the first to have quad core? Or the first to have something else? What if they bump up the screen res past the Prime , Vigor...then what? Whats gonna happen then? Buyers remorse?

And this gen hardware at the end of its cycle? qHD screen's just came out. Dual core on phones just came out. 1GB ram in phones just came out. If anything single core chips are near the end of their cycle. Screen res at 800x480 and lower is at the end. Those things will start being consider mid range specs soon.

Dont get caught up in the specs game....thats one race you can never win. I will be getting my very first quad core PC this or next year. Got my first dual core PC in 2008. I dont try to chase specs...I get what I want. If I really chased specs...I wouldnt have the Droid X1, I woulda got the Fascinate when it came out or the other LTE phones when they came out. I woulda got the DX2 or Droid 3. Had my Droid X1 since July last year.

Now...I did get the Droid 1 in March last year...so I got the DX1 about 4 months later. I promised myself I wont do that again, even tho the DX1 was a keeper....cuz it had better reception than my D1....which has nice reception. And that was probably the ONLY reason why I kept it.

At the same time, what you feel is what you feel. Get what you feel is best, better for you, to you. if you feel the Bionic isnt enough to you, wait. Like the post above says...it costs you nothing. I may have to wait just based on funds...lol

Well said. I finally built my first quad-core just last month (upgrafing from... single core... yes that badboy was so old it had an AGP graphics card in it).

I suppose for the OP: if you have to consider waiting then maybe waiting is the best thing for you. I had been waiting on a Blackberry with an eligible upgrade since July. I'm loving the Bionic. To each their own.

 

[ninjataint]

I understand all the waiting and what not, it just doesn't work for me. When I get the itch to get something, I have to have it.

 

[Cory Streater]

There have been a lot of threads/discussions about this recently, and none have turned out well. Moving to the more neutral Phone Wars Forum

 

[aziadeh]

I went and looked at the Bionic today and while it seems really fast, I'm gonna wait till the Prime since it's only supposed to be another month.
I only upgrade every 2 years so I like to get the most for my money and don't even bother looking at other phones after I've made my purchase.

 

[the one and only M]

Wait for the prime and Droid HD that recently leaked. That's my plan.

 

[GBH2]

Everyone already covered all the bases, but I thought I would throw my 2 cents in.

I am sure the prime will be a nice phone. But, it boggles my mind how Bionic can be last gen and Prime be next gen when they have the exact same CPU and GPU just a higher bin and clocked slightly higher.

The Vigor - qualcomm made some nice improvements but it is still based on ARM Cortex A8 designs, I consider it an ARM Cortex A8.5. Bionic, Prime, SG2 all have ARM Cortex A9 dual core processors - THIS is Current Generation Technology.

The first Quad Cores will be Nvidia based on 48nm with 4 Cortex A9's - I wouldn't want one. Nothing in the software will even take advantage of having 4 cores for some time to come.

I would be willing to bet that the best of Next Gen will be `22nm Dual Core ARM Cortex A15 SoCs.- phones shipping middle to end of 2012.

If you need a phone the Bionic is a solid choice. If not the Prime looks like it will be nice too. My guess is that the Prime would be sleeker with a very nice screen and maybe slightly perkier due mostly to the GPU clock (but maybe not because the higher resolution screen will require some of that extra horsepower) but I would bet that signal reception, battery life and build quality/durability would go to the Bionic.

 

[bberrynewbie84]

So let's say...

the Prime is announced and has better specs within the next 14 days,would you guys return your bionic and wait for it?

 

[KoukiFC3S]

Re: So let's say...

Nope, loving my Bionic!

 

[A W]

By the time my current contract is up, hopefully the Nexus Prime will be released followed by a physical keyboard version using the same hardware (CPU, RAM, etc.) I'm hoping more manufacturer's realize thin isn't what it's all about.

 

[rickhamilton620]

By the time my current contract is up, hopefully the Nexus Prime will be released followed by a physical keyboard version using the same hardware (CPU, RAM, etc.) I'm hoping more manufacturer's realize thin isn't what it's all about.

I'd totally love for this to happen. If it did, it would render my decision (stratosphere vs. Droid 3 vs. Prime) moot. It would be a no brainer to choose the prime.