Trouble deciding between Bionic and Thunderbolt

[DarkBeer]

I'm currently using a Blackberry Storm 9530, and have been eligible for an upgrade since December. Phone is provided by work, and waiting for Android devices to be on the approved list, which I'm told will be soon. I'm trying to decide between the Bionic and Thunderbolt and have a few questions I'd like to ask. I realize either of these devices is going to be a significant improvement over my Storm, but want to make sure I'm making the best choice. I've had my mind set on the Thunderbolt, but would like the Bionic fans to have a chance to convince me otherwise.

Biggest concern on the TB is battery life. My primary use of my Storm is phone calls, and checking emails/texts. I don't do much in the way of web browsing, but see that changing with a device with a larger screen and more capable browser. One of my favorite apps is Endomondo, and I use it to live track bike rides. I can easily run it on my Storm for 5 hours on a live ride. I'm concerned if the TB will be able to run an app that is constantly monitoring the GPS and updating a website for that period of time. I'm assuming the Bionic would be more likely to be able to do that with its larger battery.

I do like to tinker with customizing my phone, and my Storm has been much better since running hybrid OS builds. It appears that the TB is easier to modify in that regard. The Sense UI also seems to be consistently favored over Blur. How much customizing can I do on the Bionic from a UI perspective?

Is there definitive word out yet on the Bionic's ability to do simultaneous voice and data on 3G? I know the TB can do that, and I'd like to have that option. Fortunately my area should be LTE by next year, but having that option on 3G now would be nice as well, and for when I travel to non LTE areas.

Has pricing been confirmed for the Bionic yet? Corporate is trying to keep a limit of $200 on phones, so the Thunderbolt is priced a little above that threshold currently. Since AT&T is running the Atrix at $199, I'm wondering if VZW will price the Bionic at that same $200 point.

I'm not a phone gamer, so not sure what the dual core processor is going to offer me in the way of an advantage. My movie watching would also be rare, and if I do it, it would probably be on a plane ride, so having HDMI out isn't a necessity either.

So, give me your best shots. Why should I wait for the Bionic instead of pressing corporate to allow a $249 phone that I can get now. Thanks for your help!

 

[French]

Out of all your criteria I think the biggest wild card is the battery life. And since we know (for the most part) the Thunderbolt's isn't great, and it has a significantly smaller battery than the Bionic...but the Bionic has a dual core and we don't know for SURE it will be bettery optimized, I think that might be worth waiting out to see.

I think since you have never used an Android device you should try to wait a bit longer til the Bionic is released and compare real reviews to make your final decision.

 

[Jasoninator]

This is my first post on here, so you can take me with a grain of salt if you like, but I am a long time computer-enthusiast/programmer/modder. I also seem to have some things in common with you (tracking bike rides, constantly customizing, etc.).

I played with my buddy's Thunderbolt for a day after I flashed BAMF on it, and was still unimpressed with battery life. It seems so far that Nvidia's dual-cores are power efficient (just look at Atrix reviews), while the Thunderbolt takes an inordinate amount of tweaking to "optimize" (I prefer to update my email and weather more often than once every 8 hours).

As far as Sense vs. Blur, it's really whatever you prefer. If you're going to customize and flash new roms on the phone anyways, then the stock UI is pretty irrelevant. That being said, the new Blur that leaked out for the Droid X/2 a week or so ago looked NICE and was basically a slightly tweaked stock system.

As far as rooting, flashing, etc., don't let anyone tell you that the Bionic may not be rooted or be completely unmodifiable. Motos do have a locked bootloader, meaning you cannot flash custom kernels on the phone (so you will never have a truly stock version of Gingerbread for example); however, you can still flash customized/debloated roms, and the phone will undoubtedly be rooted (the Droid X took a whole week to be rooted, for example). Is the Thunderbolt better in this category? Yes, it isn't locked down the same way Motos are, but you will still have customization options.

No definite word on 3G voice/data, but I would imagine that will be a feature as part of the new radios in all future phones.

No pricing confirmed yet, but I would guess $249 since that seems to be their sweet spot for 4.3" flagship devices.

The dual core may not provide much as far as useful horsepower in your case, but it does throttle very well and conserves power. In my opinion the Thunderbolt feels like it was prematurely pushed out the door (not to say it isn't still a pretty good phone). It has issues from battery zapping when switching between 4G/3G, camcorder microphone issues, and other small problems that would have been caught with proper testing. Other issues, like the fact that you cannot plug the phone in while it is resting on the kickstand (engineering fail) tell me that proper resources were never devoted to making the Thunderbolt the best phone possible.

I will wait for the Bionic and see what it brings. Just another 4 weeks and you will either be able to hold both phones side by side for comparison, or we will all know that the Bionic has been delayed and you can go for the Thunderbolt. That's the approach I'm taking.

 

[corymcnutt]

I have a friend with a TB and she loves it - she hasn't been able to put it done and she claims her battery lasts about 6-7 hours. She is thinking of getting the extended battery for it. I too have a Storm (9550) and have no issues with it, other than a slow browser, but my NE2 is up in June and I'm hoping that the Bionic and S2 (if available on Verizon) will be out for a good comparison. You waited this long, another month or two won't hurt to make sure you're getting what you really want.

 

[dbermanmd]

I am currently in month 28 of my Storm 1 ownership experience,,,, located in Gotham City so have access to 4G and played with the TBolt and decided to NOT pull the trigger due to the battery issue alone.

Currently waiting for the Bionic while i charge my phone 3-4x a day (about the same as i would if I got the TBolt - i give my current batter the benefit of the doubt after 28 months of good service), do the blackberry battery pull 1-2 x a day..... its like having an old but trusty pet ....

will wait 2-3 weeks after the bionic comes out to make sure its battery is better than the TBolts and it is gremlin free.

david

 

[DarkBeer]

David,
Understand those issues, though a $3 battery through eBay fixed my battery issue, and I purchased meterberry a long time ago and have it reboot my phone daily at 4AM in lieu of having to pull the battery.


I'll probably wait for the Bionic release (hurry up!) and check it out as well. May go look at an Atrix just to get a feel for the difference between Blur and Sense.

 

[Bearly]

If you want to mod your phone, stay away from the Bionic, unless Moto unencrypts the bootloader.

Sign the moto petition:

Motorola Locked/Encrypted Bootloader Policy | groubal complaints

But other than the TB, I don't see a nice, dual core LTE phone coming out for a while (on Verizon). I am discounting the Galaxy S 2 because of Samsung's horrible track record with updates. Yes, I'm aware that Verizon has a hand in it. No, I don't think it excuses them.

 

[DarkBeer]

Went to an AT&T store today. Told them I wanted to look at the Atrix. They had it docked to their keyboard thing, but pulled it off and handed it to me. Seemed okay for the 10 minutes I played with it. Rep then wanted me to look at the Inspire 4G because it had a bigger screen. Found it interesting she wanted me to look at a $99 device instead of a $199 device. She said that more of the people at the store had the Inspire instead of the Atrix because they liked the Sense UI more. Didn't play with the Inspire as someone had put a lock pattern on it and the rep couldn't get it unlocked.

Next, I went to the Verizon store to check out the Thunderbolt. Both the Atrix and Thunderbolt are worlds better than my Storm, but my initial reaction was I liked the Thunderbolt a bit better. Asked the VZW rep about the Bionic and he said they didn't have a firm date yet, but were hoping for later this month.

I may wait a bit longer as it would be nice to be able to have the Thunderbolt and Bionic side by side to do some similar things and see if there is a significant difference in anything. Kind of tough to do with the Thunderbolt and Atrix since they aren't in the same store.

Thank you all for the comments to this point, and would still like to hear any additional thoughts or suggestions.

 

[dbermanmd]

I have not played with the Atrix but you have a good point as to why - i just could never leave Big Red for AT&T.

I did go back to the Big Red store across from my office in Manhattan yesterday to play with the TBolt again - it is a really nice device and comparing it to my 28 month old Storm 1 is unfair.

I believe that the Bionic will be different from the Atrix and will wait to compare it vs. the TBolt.

My ONLY concern is the battery life. I need it to last from the start to the end of my day - period. I am hoping that the larger battery in the Bionic and what people here have said in terms of Motorola's better battery management will provide the Bionic with better staying power.

And the reps at the store also said they had no firm date for the Bionics release.

BTW - they said they had one customer return the TBolt because of battery issues and that almost all TBolt customers are buying extra battery's - or extended battery's and or extra chargers....

Good luck

 

[Halcyon]

1 year contracts with the thunderbolt is way better than a two year bionic.

 

[ChuckG73]

1 year contracts with the thunderbolt is way better than a two year bionic.

The contract length does not make one phone better than another. If I have to buy the Bionic on a 2 year contract so be it. If something else comes out in a year that I would rather have then I will sell my Bionic and use the money to put towards the new phone. If the I can sell the Bionic for 300 dollars and the next phone is 600 dollars it is just like buying it with the rebate of a one year contract.

If money is a concern put 6 dollars a side a week and when the next phone comes out you have saved up 300 dollars and can sell your Bionic for say 300 dollars and your next phone is free.

I have the TB and paid full price for it, because I wanted to save my 1 year for the Bionic. Oh well! But now when I get the Bionic I can do a true comparison and keep the one I like the most and sell what is left.

For a comparison if someone said they would sell you a BMW M5 but you would have to keep it for two years or a Honda Accord and you could trade it in after a year. Would that make the Honda a better car?

 

[albertdc]

To give you perspective, I went from a Storm1 to the Droid X last summer. My brother had the original droid and picked up the Thunderbolt on launch day....he ended up returning it on the 14th day and is waiting to see the Bionic. Why? #1 issue was the battery - I was getting through the day with my Droid X with more battery left and A LOT more usage than he could do with his TB - he pretty much needed to charge at least once during the day. #2 issue was the TB screen - it looks nice inside, but has tons of glare and was much harder to see outside (especially if sunny) compared to my DroidX. Hopefully the Bionic will be more akin to the DroidX than to the TB as far as that visibility is concerned.

I agree with posters above - based on the DroidX experience, I am bettering that themes will be possible on the Bionic. Having said that, even though I had put every leak possible on the Storm1 and several different themes, I never have felt the need with the DroidX - the experience is so much better than the Storm! I recently rooted and installed the Gingerbread Leak, which is AWESOME, but plan on stopping there.

I would say wait it out a few more weeks...