At this point, after doing tests and scanning multiple forums, including Motorola's, I'm pretty sure by now that this boils down to being a ground loop problem which no patch or firmware will fix because it's hardware based. For those deciding to keep the Bionic in hopes that Motorola corrects this within a year and will allow a warranty exchange, here's an option (though I hate that I have to even suggest having to use it seeing as it shouldn't be necessary) to tide you over. The Motorola SYN2113 is a MicroUSB-to-3.5mm jack converter. For those who
1) find the noise is infuriating
2) don't want to (or can't) wait for an Incredible HD or Prime
3) don't have headphones/earbuds with inline volume control
4) and don't want to burn through battery using bluetooth headphones
this may be the best workaround. They can be found online for as little as $2 on Amazon. Ignore what some descriptions say about it being for any particular Motorola phone; it should work for the Bionic and any Motorola phone with the MicroUSB port. Such a defect shouldn't exist in a flagship phone, but I hope this helps someone, just as I hope Motorola finds a way to make this right. Considering how late the Bionic is to market, the last things it needs are more reasons for people to turn away from it.
1) find the noise is infuriating
2) don't want to (or can't) wait for an Incredible HD or Prime
3) don't have headphones/earbuds with inline volume control
4) and don't want to burn through battery using bluetooth headphones
this may be the best workaround. They can be found online for as little as $2 on Amazon. Ignore what some descriptions say about it being for any particular Motorola phone; it should work for the Bionic and any Motorola phone with the MicroUSB port. Such a defect shouldn't exist in a flagship phone, but I hope this helps someone, just as I hope Motorola finds a way to make this right. Considering how late the Bionic is to market, the last things it needs are more reasons for people to turn away from it.
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