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Bionic is great! But Droid Razr better?

I got the Bionic a couple weeks ago and it's been pretty awesome so far. But I saw the Razr pop up (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_...l-core-processor-lte-support/?tag=epicStories) and kind of got bad a feeling that I shouldn't have been so hasty getting the Bionic.

I lost sleep over this too. Ultimately I resolved that I'd keep my Bionic. I can only imagine what the phones on the horizon with a 720p res display are going to do to the battery. Also, until we see more phones with the Ice Cream Sandwich O/S, I'm staying put.

Yeah, that RAZR is straight doinggggggggggggg

art0605 said:
I got the Bionic a couple weeks ago and it's been pretty awesome so far. But I saw the Razr pop up (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_...l-core-processor-lte-support/?tag=epicStories) and kind of got bad a feeling that I shouldn't have been so hasty getting the Bionic.
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Honestly, this is how it's going to be for any piece of electronics you buy. "This is good but the next thing is better." If you keep waiting for the best thing ever you probably will never get anything. I say stick it out w the Bionic and when your upgrade comes up I'm sure the RAZR will look like Zach Morris' phone from Saved by the Bell (OK maybe not that bad).

I hear you
I get it no one wants to get a phone a 2 months later its replaced by a better one.however I love the bionic I have had one or two glitches unlike others I just got lucky. Its super fast I think the screen looks great and I watch Netflix. The pentile screen also uses a small amount o of battery compared to the other screens

id return my bionic if you guys updated from the charge or thunderbolt and wait for this droid razr, its going to be sick
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

They won't post a release date until last minute. I think the Bionic was a placeholder at this point, they just wanted the name to make them money. This device will probably be leaps(maybe not bounds) better.

I don't think it will be a huge improvement.. Honestly as of right now I see no need to upgrade my phone I have yet to find anything that would slow down my phone. Never really experienced lag and flash runs smooth... After I installed DroidTh3ory's ROM my phone has had 100x better battery life as well...

It's announced today - coming early Nov to VZW
From PC World's review
There's a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD display (that's 960-pixel by 540-pixel resolution), an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture, an HD front-facing camera, and 32 GB of memory, split between internal storage and a microSD card. It's also a 4G LTE phone.
On the outside, the Droid Razr sports laser-cut woven Kevlar fiber and a Gorilla Glass display, highlighted by aluminum accents and wrapped around a stainless steel core. A splash guard is designed to protect the phone from flying liquids.
Motorola's stuffed a 1,780 mAh battery into the Droid Razr, and claims that will give a user 12.5 hours of 3G talk time or 8.9 hours of video playback
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our3rotts said:
It's announced today - coming early Nov to VZW
From PC World's review
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Yup, I've been tracking it all morning. So as of now, I'm on the fence about selling my Bionic for that bad boy. What to do, what to do?

Sure the material looks better in theory, same RAM 200 mhz more? Wonder how much extra performance you will see. Super Amoled with pentile subpixel display right? Not sure about this one team, I also feel kinda torn.

I currently have a partially working Thunderbolt and was going to switch out for a Bionic on Friday, until I saw the RAZR announcement this morning. I went over the specs and hardware/software wise there are no major differences whatsoever... The appeal of the RAZR seems to be it's design. It's "pretty" and built to take a beating. Looks like you could beat someone to death with it and it will still function 100%.
I am now debating if I should still get the Bionic or hold on to this Thunderbolt a bit longer and get the RAZR. What bothers me is they say they are taking pre-orders on the 27th but no one(not even Verizon) will say when the phone will actually be released.

In b4 we see an article "Nerd beat to death by RAZR smartphone... PZNERD"

2-3 months after the RAZR comes out, HTC or Samsung will release something you wish you would have waited for. I waited 10 months for the BIONIC, I'm going to enjoy this badboy for as long as I can. I've learned not to look forward to any more phones in the future. Unless you are willing to buy a new phone every 2-3 months, you will never have the best for long.
Maybe Verizon should consider leasing these phones as the technology is growing faster than most people's wallets can afford.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

How much you all want to bet the GSIII will be out by February? That'll be the phone of all phones.

While the Razr does look good it doesn't look like it will be leaps and abounds above the bionic, plus it has a locked bootloader also, so you would be in the same no custom kernal boat. With DroidTh3ory's Blurr3d and D3Blurr3ed ROMs i don't see the need to jump ship yet. Now maybe when the Nexus or another powerful phone with an unlocked bootloader comes out then i would consider it, but after investing the money in the Bionic i couldn't imagine paying full retail price, probably between $500-$600, for another phone so quickly.

There will ALWAYS be something better in the future! Get what you want and enjoy it. Don't beat yourself up for buying what you have because a new one is coming out soon. And those of you without a bionic, don't b*tch at people who have it by saying they should have waited.
The Bionic is a great piece of work.
Of course there will be better phones soon, but Android can always put out an update that makes the current devices even better.
~INB4 i smack somebody~

I think the Bionic will be a better phone because they will probably try and make the razor too sleek and have to sacrifice things such as battery life and hardware just my 2 cents

Non-removable battery yuck. Wonder if the prime will be the same?

zetsumeikuro said:
Non-removable battery yuck. Wonder if the prime will be the same?
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I like having an external battery so I can pop it out when needed...
And...internal battery means no Extended Battery...you're stuck with what ya got.

What do you fellow bionic owners think of this?

About the RAZR being offical annouced so shortly after the "king of machines" was released. I know there are other better phones being thrown out in the open, but I'm talking about the moto realm strictly. Makes you wonder since the Bionic was so delayed already, why not beef up the specs even more? Not trying to start a flame/troll war, just want to see other people's opinions. Thanks .

Well my opinion on this is simple.... there will always be something better coming out... regardless of what specs a certain phone has.. the next one will have something more... personally I love my Bionic... and I would like to see an ota or two out before I get another phone... but the Razr is something I think is being released to compete with the nexus prime or galaxy nexus or whatever its going to be called... its all marketing IMO. I just hope that the Bionic isn't forgotten or written off just because all these other devices are coming out.
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Yeah I understand their need to "compete" with the nexus prime it is a beast of a phone. I mean they could of just bumped the Bionic up a bit more since it wa s already so delayed. I'm sure the Bionic could of handled the extra 200 mhz base and the superamoled vs pentile. Regarldess I still think the Bionic is nice, but it feels like another "place holder" phone for moto. Feels like they just did it to do it, and get over with.

There probabily is a reason such as an example is the targa version went into production a long time ago there were problems with somthing maybe hardware maybe softare but than you start to develope the razer but have a bunch invested in the bionic and a lot made. I just mean the bionic was meant to probably just be the first lte duel core. I teally think they did not mean to do that but couldnt delay the razer because tech gets old fast. And compitition is fearce. I think right now as soon as they can come up with the nitch phone with the best specs and put it together it goes to market. Htc is worse at it. Motorola is jyst evolving the droid x seris. What is missing is the droid with keyboard series. There my faverite phone for battery life nut like back to the bionic and razer i am thinking the razer is going to have battery drain issues worse than the bionic. I think the nexus prime is gona be worse on battery. With the htc being the worst battery hog as usuall
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium

phullofphil said:
There probabily is a reason such as an example is the targa version went into production a long time ago there were problems with somthing maybe hardware maybe softare but than you start to develope the razer but have a bunch invested in the bionic and a lot made. I just mean the bionic was meant to probably just be the first lte duel core. I teally think they did not mean to do that but couldnt delay the razer because tech gets old fast. And compitition is fearce. I think right now as soon as they can come up with the nitch phone with the best specs and put it together it goes to market. Htc is worse at it. Motorola is jyst evolving the droid x seris. What is missing is the droid with keyboard series. There my faverite phone for battery life nut like back to the bionic and razer i am thinking the razer is going to have battery drain issues worse than the bionic. I think the nexus prime is gona be worse on battery. With the htc being the worst battery hog as usuall
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium
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Yeah Bionic was meant to just be the first dual core/LTE phone. The market is evolving too fast to the point where "offical" shelf life is like 6 months now. Wonder what it will be in a few years. They probably could of bumped the core speed of the processor to 1.2 for the Bionic before release. Oh well it is what it is I suppose.

For anyone that has purchased one for full contract/upgrade pricing ($200), I feel kind of bad. Sure there's always something new coming, but if it's being announced in a week and likely to come out in the next few weeks, the wait is probably worth it. At the very least, there's a chance to get the same phone (bionic) for cheaper, once the newest phone is released. That said, I'm getting my bionic tomorrow and I picked it up with the amazon deal for $0.01. If I had waited, I basically would have needed to pay $200 more (at least) for the razr or any of the other upcoming devices, so I don't really feel bad about my purchase. It was absolutely the best deal I think I'll see for a while.
If the production device looks like the pictures, I do envy the look and casing. It's definitely a beautiful device... very sleek and the fact that it's slightly thinner does have a bit of an appeal. In terms of actual specs and features? It's slightly better, but I wouldn't have paid an additional $200 for it. ICS would be the biggest appeal for me, and there's a decent chance that might make it to the bionic anyways. For those with a bionic already, it's probably not worth it. Once it comes out, depending on the pricing, the bionic will probably still be the better value and have more appeal for those that are value-oriented while the razr will be close enough in price to appeal to those that need the latest and greatest.
The one thing I'm curious about will be the pricing... it seems quick for them to be dropping the price on the bionic, but not impossible. Will the razr be slightly more expensive? Or will the razr cause a nice price drop on the bionic?
I think these few devices coming up are only being pushed out so soon to compete with the new iphone, especially with the holiday sales coming up. Phones like the bionic and galaxy S2 are kind of considered "on par" with the iphone, so the slight improvements to these phones will create more of an appeal. The release does seem to be very close to the bionic, so I'd guess they intended the bionic to be released quite a bit earlier.

CC Lemon said:
For anyone that has purchased one for full contract/upgrade pricing ($200), I feel kind of bad. Sure there's always something new coming, but if it's being announced in a week and likely to come out in the next few weeks, the wait is probably worth it. At the very least, there's a chance to get the same phone (bionic) for cheaper, once the newest phone is released. That said, I'm getting my bionic tomorrow and I picked it up with the amazon deal for $0.01. If I had waited, I basically would have needed to pay $200 more (at least) for the razr or any of the other upcoming devices, so I don't really feel bad about my purchase. It was absolutely the best deal I think I'll see for a while.
If the production device looks like the pictures, I do envy the look and casing. It's definitely a beautiful device... very sleek and the fact that it's slightly thinner does have a bit of an appeal. In terms of actual specs and features? It's slightly better, but I wouldn't have paid an additional $200 for it. ICS would be the biggest appeal for me, and there's a decent chance that might make it to the bionic anyways. For those with a bionic already, it's probably not worth it. Once it comes out, depending on the pricing, the bionic will probably still be the better value and have more appeal for those that are value-oriented while the razr will be close enough in price to appeal to those that need the latest and greatest.
The one thing I'm curious about will be the pricing... it seems quick for them to be dropping the price on the bionic, but not impossible. Will the razr be slightly more expensive? Or will the razr cause a nice price drop on the bionic?
I think these few devices coming up are only being pushed out so soon to compete with the new iphone, especially with the holiday sales coming up. Phones like the bionic and galaxy S2 are kind of considered "on par" with the iphone, so the slight improvements to these phones will create more of an appeal. The release does seem to be very close to the bionic, so I'd guess they intended the bionic to be released quite a bit earlier.
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I got the Bionic through a fluke got some e-mail saying that I was eligible to upgrade. Called in vzw they had no records, rep asked me to forward (since they didn't see the offer in their system) so I did and they're like okay we'll honor it, but you should do it now just in case. So I did and sold my D3 for like 350 so pretty much no cost Bionic for me. Hell I paid like 100 for my x2,which got turned into a D3 (brand new not clnr)via warranty, cause of all the stupid music skipping which pissed me off. Then today I got an email which made me lol, vzw was like whoops we f'ed up you're not eligible for any type of upgrade. I was like too late already got my upgrade pznerd. So for "free" it's definately not bad, I do have the 14 days if I do find out one of those devices are coming out fairly soon idk if I want to go through all that hassle though. Or if I return the Bionic if my upgrade date will be reversed cause of this special circumstance.
Edit: I'm sure both devices will be $299.99. The prime is pretty damn sexy curved glass, and the Razr being thin w/ a super amoled on moto. My main concern for both of those devices would be battery life. I also do feel that the Bionic is better than the iPhone for the most part. iPhone 4s for sure, iPhone 5 no clue, but it'll be atleast another 6 months I'd think before we see the iPhone 5 launched.

zetsumeikuro said:
About the RAZR being offical annouced so shortly after the "king of machines" was released. I know there are other better phones being thrown out in the open, but I'm talking about the moto realm strictly. Makes you wonder since the Bionic was so delayed already, why not beef up the specs even more? Not trying to start a flame/troll war, just want to see other people's opinions. Thanks .
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I think that the phone manufacturers have very long product design, development and manufacturing cycles. The Bionic's delays probably screwed up what was expected to be the release difference between the Bionic and Razr, but it would be dumb on Moto's part to delay the Razr just for that reason.
But, how much could the Bionic's specs have been beefed up? Faster clock speed on the dual-core processor? I think that Bionic has pretty high-end hardware already.
We'll see later today, but there will probably be specific reasons why some people would want a Razr over a Bionic, and vice versa for other people.

Motorola really dropped the ball with the bionic. Don't get me wrong, its an awesome phone, but with how long it took them to bring it to the market, it shouldn't have the bugs that it does have.
Also, with how long it took them to bring it out let the competition outdo them. They did announce this phone 10 months before it came out. If they could have gotten it out by May, this phone may have been a huge success for them, but since they didnt, competition had the time to outdo them. But that's the life of an android owner, something better always around the corner. Unfortunately, Motorola allowed that corner to be too close when if they released it during late spring/early summer, they would have gave themselves time before that corner came.
I will say that if your waiting for the next batch of high quality Androids to be released, that there will be something better following them so you will still feel like you should have waited. The technology is moving faster than the wallet can afford.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

People tend to forget that the original Bionic was a Tegra-powered device with 512MB of RAM and running Froyo. It wasn't even a ground up redesign, they just slapped the Bionic name on the Targa, a phone which I suspect was originally intended to be the Droid X2.
The only thing that really impresses me about the Razr is the chassis- but I suspect the Bionic will hold up just fine. I'm more interested in the possibility of Ice Cream Sandwich, as many of the issues I have with the Bionic have been shared with every Froyo or GB device I've owned, and it would be nice to see a few of them fixed.

The Motorola RAZR event just concluded and frankly I'm not seeing any differentiating factors between the Bionic and the RAZR apart from form factor. The rumored NFC wasn't announced, and nothing about ICS was mentioned. The screen is supposedly different, with Super AMOLED, but if memory serves me, that's STILL a PenTile display, just a different pixel arrangement. This may in fact end up being a non-event.
Specs:
4.3″ Super AMOLED Advanced qHD display.
Dual-core 1.2GHz processor
1GB RAM
Gorilla Glass
weighs very little
1800mAh battery

TempestDash said:
The Motorola RAZR event just concluded and frankly I'm not seeing any differentiating factors between the Bionic and the RAZR apart from form factor. The rumored NFC wasn't announced, and nothing about ICS was mentioned. The screen is supposedly different, with Super AMOLED, but if memory serves me, that's STILL a PenTile display, just a different pixel arrangement. This may in fact end up being a non-event.
Specs:
4.3″ Super AMOLED Advanced qHD display.
Dual-core 1.2GHz processor
1GB RAM
Gorilla Glass
weighs very little
1800mAh battery
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It's GB 2.3.5 vs. 2.3.4, for what that's worth. The battery is 1780, not 1800, to be specific - so, close to the Bionic. They apparently have some battery usage tweaks that could easily be done on the Bionic as well. It's quite a bit thinner and lighter, but it is also longer and wider. Why are these guys doing this?
It'll be interesting to see how the super AMOLED display does outdoors. That is one thing that the Bionic's display does very well.

I just hope that Google taking over Motorola that they help clear up the mistakes Motorola has made. While the bionic is a beast, i have to say that the thunderbolt would have to be the winner up to this point with the Verizon LTE phones due to the fact it didn't have to worry about rumors of it being outdated within 2 months of being released like the bionic has. When people bought the thunderbolt, they knew it would be a while before something better would be released. I never imagined Motorola was going to release a somewhat better phone right after they released one of the most anticipated phones of the year. If Motorola would have got the bionic right, they would have buried htc, lg, and samsung already and wouldn't need to release another super phone until the spring. Unfortunately Motorola fumbled the bionic and feel they have to release another super phone to make up for their mistake. Maybe they need to stop focusing on releasing so many different phones and concentrate on a select few phones and get it right and release them across multiple networks.
I know for as long as I waited for the bionic, i shouldn't have issues with my data going out and having to reboot the phone. They had plenty of time to work the bugs out and didnt. It's not like this phone wasn't pushed back, but if its going to get pushed back, fix the bugs while your at it.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

I dont WANT a super thin phone, I'm a tall guy in the Navy, we break things left and right! Now the water repellent, meh. Spills. Again though, NAVY. My spill is the ocean haha.
Now the Nexus prime on the other hand. We shall see... Either way however, I LOVE my liberated Bionic, and now that the kernal source code has been released (See: Android Development) Ill be happy at least for the next few months *depending on development*

Just saw the the info for the RAZR. Gotta admit it's one sexy ass beast as in terms of how it looks. But in the end it's still the same processor bumped up 200mhz? It probably will be pentile for the subpixel display I believe? Friend trolling saying zomg its kevlar and corning and faster makes it only a "bit better". He's pretty much stating that it blows the bionic out of the water. Oh well I have my 14 days and pre-orders for the RAZR start on the 27th. But I'm not sure if I want to try to push returning it cause of the fluke w/ the email and vzw support that gave me a free upgrade on the spot. Since the center was the one that honored that E-mail even with no records on their part derp. The world of Android outdated the minute you're out the door.

smokedkill said:
I just hope that Google taking over Motorola that they help clear up the mistakes Motorola has made. While the bionic is a beast, i have to say that the thunderbolt would have to be the winner up to this point with the Verizon LTE phones due to the fact it didn't have to worry about rumors of it being outdated within 2 months of being released like the bionic has. When people bought the thunderbolt, they knew it would be a while before something better would be released. I never imagined Motorola was going to release a somewhat better phone right after they released one of the most anticipated phones of the year. If Motorola would have got the bionic right, they would have buried htc, lg, and samsung already and wouldn't need to release another super phone until the spring. Unfortunately Motorola fumbled the bionic and feel they have to release another super phone to make up for their mistake. Maybe they need to stop focusing on releasing so many different phones and concentrate on a select few phones and get it right and release them across multiple networks.
I know for as long as I waited for the bionic, i shouldn't have issues with my data going out and having to reboot the phone. They had plenty of time to work the bugs out and didnt. It's not like this phone wasn't pushed back, but if its going to get pushed back, fix the bugs while your at it.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
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The t bolt was delayed a good but also and released with many bugs (which still haven't been fixed) the hardware of the bolt was also crap, its the reason I have a bionic now. I agree that if its going to get pushed back this much it shouldn't have many bugs, I guess I got luck cause I don't have many (far less than I did with the t bolt). As far ar I'm concerned the bolt was outdated by my old X, it ran just as good with liberty froyo as my t bolt ever did, and it had far superior call quality and build quality.

One more thing: I hope that Moto solved the BSOD, because good luck pulling the battery out of the Razr. (I assume it will have some sort of iPhone-ish like key combos to power it down if it hangs, though.)

zetsumeikuro said:
The market is evolving too fast to the point where "offical" shelf life is like 6 months now. Wonder what it will be in a few years. They probably could of bumped the core speed of the processor to 1.2 for the Bionic before release. Oh well it is what it is I suppose.
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Exactly the reason why I don't understand the decision carriers made to eliminate the "new after one" options for existing customers. I guess it makes sense to keep existing customers locked in while they entice new customers.

eraursls1984 said:
The t bolt was delayed a good but also and released with many bugs (which still haven't been fixed) the hardware of the bolt was also crap, its the reason I have a bionic now. I agree that if its going to get pushed back this much it shouldn't have many bugs, I guess I got luck cause I don't have many (far less than I did with the t bolt). As far ar I'm concerned the bolt was outdated by my old X, it ran just as good with liberty froyo as my t bolt ever did, and it had far superior call quality and build quality.
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Most of the bugs i had with the thunderbolt were eliminated when i installed a custom rom, other than the random reboots. I ended up trading it in within 2 weeks for the lg revolution because it had an unlocked bootloader. Big mistake. The revolution is one of the most unusual androids that i've seen (ive had 5 of them now myself, plus my girl had 2 different ones than me). It's almost as lg through a bunch of garbage files in it to throw off the development community.
Ive never owned a samsung, but the type of plastic they use is a turnoff for me.
I am intrigued by a Nexus coming to Verizon though. Didn't think i would see that happen.
Back to what I was saying earlier though. I feel that up to this point, that the thunderbolt is the biggest winner of the LTE phones on Verizon. I believe it is the only 1 that didn't get followed up by a superior product. It was followed by the revolution, which isnt as good. The revolution was followed by the charge, which was an improvement. In my opinion, the bionic is better than the charge. While the thumderbolt isn't the best 1, it is the only 1 that didn't get surpassed the very next time Verizon released a LTE phone.
While the razr looks nice, i don't regret buying the bionic at all. Unless the razr has a built in fm modulator, i don't think i ever will. Maybe add a solar panel to help with battery life would be nice also.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

How much faster can the Razor really be? Until either phone gets ICS we won't know how much a difference it'll make. The screen and weight are the only differences. The Bionic is already a light phone so I'm not really bothered. I did buy from Costco though so I could throw a fit over the bugs this phone has and get a different phone.

Where's the Bionic love?

I know there's been a lot of discussion of recent handsets, given that the Bionic was the first of a flurry of next-generation phones, made all the worse by Motorola's steadfast refusal to hand us the keys to our phone and the various software issues they've so far completely failed to address. Given all that, it's very easy to down on the Bionic or feel suckered.
But where's the love for the Bionic?
I've been offered a different handset (as the software issues on the Bionic have been killing me) by VzW, offered the Razr, Rezound, and if I'm willing to wait, even the GNex. But as I've been considering that, I've realized that the Bionic really is the sweet spot for me.
We're quite nearly as fast as the Razr, same other specs, none of Moto's rubbish Smart Actions, and we can replace our batteries or get an extended battery. Not to mention that we'll be getting the bugfix release sooner than they will, so likely, our network drops will be fixed first.
The HTC Rezound is a great phone, but it's thicker than the Bionic, and that's without the (still unannounced) extended battery. It's also slowed down by HTC Sense, and they (as of last I checked) still don't even have root. It's got a beautiful screen, and a slight speed bump, but not much else on us.
The Galaxy Nexus LTE hasn't even been released yet, but we know that it won't have an SD Card slot (and thus, won't ever support 64GB cards as the Bionic already does), and that the sound quality from the speakers is very quiet, especially compared to Motorola's speakers. We also know that we can get good battery life, and that our extended battery actually fits the phone nicely versus their (still not announced) batteries. They've got a nicer screen, NFC, and likely a nicer camera, but at the end of the day, if you need extended batteries and extended storage, the Bionic is all you've got.
But, the Nexus Bootloader is unlocked. That's the main temptation for me to go over there, and for many of us, it's a sine qua non. That said, that's something that's well within Motorola's power to fix, either intentionally, by accident, or "by accident". They likely won't, but hey, there's hope. And even now, there's a growing ROM-building community, which will likely only grow larger as the software issues are fixed and ICS nears.
Of course, the software issues are huge, and I don't mean to excuse Motorola's massive screwup there. Motorola has really screwed us over with the software on this phone, and their refusal to unlock the damned bootloaders is huge. But hopefully they'll learn and improve the software from there.
In short, in the Bionic, we've got plenty of (expandable) storage, good speakers, a reasonable extended battery, good cases, promises of ICS, and a chipset that can keep up with anything on the market.
It's not perfect, but nothing ever is. For some of you, the other phones may offer something better, and more power to you, but for people like me who like large battery and storage capacity, even after this latest glut of releases, the Bionic will still be the best choice. It's not a dead headset, surpassed and unworthy of development. It's not been replaced by, well, anything, it's just one good option among other options.
So, if you're one of the people like me for whom the Bionic really still is the best phone on the market, hang in there, and don't let the haters get you down.

I love it!
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

Bionic ftw!
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

I completely agree with everything in the OP. The Bionic is a great phone even with its flaws and poor treatment from the manufacturer, and I believe it will only get better if Motorola holds to their promises of bugfixes and ICS, and the possiblity of an unlocked bootloader.

I can't believe I just read all of that on my phone.... but I'm glad that I did! The Bionic goes to 11!!

jus curious, when u were offered other phones...did u already cross the 14days return period ?
wanderfowl said:
I know there's been a lot of discussion of recent handsets, given that the Bionic was the first of a flurry of next-generation phones, made all the worse by Motorola's steadfast refusal to hand us the keys to our phone and the various software issues they've so far completely failed to address. Given all that, it's very easy to down on the Bionic or feel suckered.
But where's the love for the Bionic?
I've been offered a different handset (as the software issues on the Bionic have been killing me) by VzW, offered the Razr, Rezound, and if I'm willing to wait, even the GNex. But as I've been considering that, I've realized that the Bionic really is the sweet spot for me.
We're quite nearly as fast as the Razr, same other specs, none of Moto's rubbish Smart Actions, and we can replace our batteries or get an extended battery. Not to mention that we'll be getting the bugfix release sooner than they will, so likely, our network drops will be fixed first.
The HTC Rezound is a great phone, but it's thicker than the Bionic, and that's without the (still unannounced) extended battery. It's also slowed down by HTC Sense, and they (as of last I checked) still don't even have root. It's got a beautiful screen, and a slight speed bump, but not much else on us.
The Galaxy Nexus LTE hasn't even been released yet, but we know that it won't have an SD Card slot (and thus, won't ever support 64GB cards as the Bionic already does), and that the sound quality from the speakers is very quiet, especially compared to Motorola's speakers. We also know that we can get good battery life, and that our extended battery actually fits the phone nicely versus their (still not announced) batteries. They've got a nicer screen, NFC, and likely a nicer camera, but at the end of the day, if you need extended batteries and extended storage, the Bionic is all you've got.
But, the Nexus Bootloader is unlocked. That's the main temptation for me to go over there, and for many of us, it's a sine qua non. That said, that's something that's well within Motorola's power to fix, either intentionally, by accident, or "by accident". They likely won't, but hey, there's hope. And even now, there's a growing ROM-building community, which will likely only grow larger as the software issues are fixed and ICS nears.
Of course, the software issues are huge, and I don't mean to excuse Motorola's massive screwup there. Motorola has really screwed us over with the software on this phone, and their refusal to unlock the damned bootloaders is huge. But hopefully they'll learn and improve the software from there.
In short, in the Bionic, we've got plenty of (expandable) storage, good speakers, a reasonable extended battery, good cases, promises of ICS, and a chipset that can keep up with anything on the market.
It's not perfect, but nothing ever is. For some of you, the other phones may offer something better, and more power to you, but for people like me who like large battery and storage capacity, even after this latest glut of releases, the Bionic will still be the best choice. It's not a dead headset, surpassed and unworthy of development. It's not been replaced by, well, anything, it's just one good option among other options.
So, if you're one of the people like me for whom the Bionic really still is the best phone on the market, hang in there, and don't let the haters get you down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

afma_afma said:
jus curious, when u were offered other phones...did u already cross the 14days return period ?
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Click to collapse
Yes, this was only last week (purchased shortly after release), but I've been in touch with them about these issues since very quickly after the 14 days. I've called Verizon nearly 15 times, and only recently have they made this offer, and that's only because I've had especially bad troubles with the travel and amount of wired-headset-calling I do. I doubt that they'll be open for that if you don't have a history of calls and complaints.

wanderfowl said:
Yes, this was only last week (purchased shortly after release), but I've been in touch with them about these issues since very quickly after the 14 days. I've called Verizon nearly 15 times, and only recently have they made this offer, and that's only because I've had especially bad troubles with the travel and amount of wired-headset-calling I do. I doubt that they'll be open for that if you don't have a history of calls and complaints.
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Click to collapse
cool..thank u for the info..my bionic has been sailing smooth with no issues this far..i am hoping it stays that way..

Actually the galaxy nexus got slammed for having an absolutely terrible camera. I was going to see my bionic and get it, until I saw that. Dealbreaker.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

nosympathy said:
Actually the galaxy nexus got slammed for having an absolutely terrible camera. I was going to see my bionic and get it, until I saw that. Dealbreaker.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's certainly not worse than the bionic camera.
I'd trade your bionic in a heartbeat. Mine is in a drawer collecting dust because it's awful. Most regretted phone purchase of my life.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium

my bionic is garbage the constant data dropping makes me want to throw it against a wall and the only thing stopping me from doing so is the hope that I can sell it to some chump for at least 200 bucks when the nexus comes out.
smartphone minus data connection = ****ty phone with poor battery life.

From what I hear they say the data dropping out is common with all 4g devices. I cave from the thunderbolt and had the same experience. I'm seriously considering switching to a 3g device

i had a blackberry to a facinate now the bionic. BIONIC IS THE BEST

Th3demolitionman said:
From what I hear they say the data dropping out is common with all 4g devices. I cave from the thunderbolt and had the same experience. I'm seriously considering switching to a 3g device
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Click to collapse
You can force you phone into CDMA only instead of LTE/CDMA. I was told at a VZW store thats a possible work around. I did switch back to my OG droid incredible until the bionic gets software fixes.
I also wish the screen was better, but getting everything i want in a phone would make it 800$+

Just got the Bionic a couple days ago. I haven't had any data issues yet but I have it in CDMA only mode at the moment. Will test it in a 4g area in a couple days as I am right on the edge of a 4g area. I also have a Inc2 and have had a Fascinate and D1. This phone rocks for me. Battery is decent, its fast, solid build, blur (nonblur) is kind of nice now. Camera software isn't great but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Phone is also a little thick. I am optimistic that the data bug will be fixed with the next update.

Troll much?
eallan said:
It's certainly not worse than the bionic camera.
I'd trade your bionic in a heartbeat. Mine is in a drawer collecting dust because it's awful. Most regretted phone purchase of my life.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
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Click to collapse
The Bionic camera is not one of the problems with this phone. It promptly takes good pictures and shoots very usable videos.

pharaoh45 said:
The Bionic camera is not one of the problems with this phone. It promptly takes good pictures and shoots very usable videos.
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Click to collapse
It's the absolute worst cell phone camera I've ever used. It's completely laughable and almost unusable. I feel sorry for you thinking it's "good."

The camera in Theoryrom makes it not one of the problems in this phone.

eallan said:
It's the absolute worst cell phone camera I've ever used. It's completely laughable and almost unusable. I feel sorry for you thinking it's "good."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It all depends what system you are on.
886 - agreed, worst camera ever!
893 - much improved

Sprint gets the Droid 4 variant, the Photon Q, with upgrades

http://www.motorola.com/us/consumer...,pd.html?selectedTab=tab-2&cgid=mobile-phones
At first glance, I thought this was a Droid 4. But then I saw that Moto took off the capacitive buttons on the bottom of the front of the phone. The Photon Q gets an upgraded 1.5gz dual core processor, and the display apparently has ColorBoost technology (resolution is the same, however).
I always wondered what Moto would do as a one-up on the droid 4. Looks like we have an answer

Motorola has stated that it'll have an unlockable bootloader. Also i think someone said that it has an s4, srsly the only real drawback so far to this phone is Sprint and that qhd display. Still very nice though

* raises fist * Damn you, Motorola! I just got the Droid 4!
* settles down * I still prefer a menu button though
* enables puppy-eyes * Please release an unlocked version in Europe?

I think the SIM card of the photon Q is not removable, so don't worry about getting it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

If it'll be non-removable SIM card, it's dead phone

danifunker said:
I think the SIM card of the photon Q is not removable, so don't worry about getting it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sure is not removable. I hope this is not going to be a new trend. Does not bode well for the Droid 5 on Verizon whenever it will be out.
From the Spec sheets:
Frequency: LTE, CDMA 800/1900 EVDO Rev A, World Phone - GSM 850/1900/1800/900, UMTS 850/1900/2100 (SIM is embedded in the phone, GSM SIM is locked and not removable)

hey all i care about is the fact that they will let you unlock the bootloader, they better do it for the Droid 4 and RAZR too!

Fat chance of that. Verizon thinks that rooted phones can impair the quality of the service they provide. /:

maddeath said:
Fat chance of that. Verizon thinks that rooted phones can impair the quality of the service they provide. /:
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Click to collapse
**** Verizon, all they do is pack their phones with bull**** bloatware, delay OTAs by months, overprice, and all that. the only good thing they've ever done for me is not get rid of my unlimited data plan yet. ....yet.... *knocks on wood*

@sjaakbaanan i had the same reaction when reading OP

rubixcube said:
@sjaakbaanan i had the same reaction when reading OP
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Click to collapse
Haha, good to see I'm not the only one!
I'm still keeping my hopes up that one day they'll release this or a newer QWERTY over here too, with unlocked SIM. If not this phone, then the next.. and I'll buy it right away!
Maybe we should start some kind of internet petition to bring Motorola QWERTY phones than Europe and see if more than 5 people sign it

Didn't Samsung succumb to internet users when it offered a "developer version" (unlocked bootloader) of the GS3 on verizon (for way more money, of course)? If I'm correct, then it can be done

alex94kumar said:
Didn't Samsung succumb to internet users when it offered a "developer version" (unlocked bootloader) of the GS3 on verizon (for way more money, of course)? If I'm correct, then it can be done
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Click to collapse
Yes, and they offered it for 600 USD I believe, which is actually still cheaper than the S3's unsubsidized price over here. So I'm already taking into account that I need to spend that amount of money, as long as they give me the chance
But I think more people want an unlocked S3 (which already existed for Europe anyway) than an unlocked Photon Q, so the power of the internet may be smaller here. Ah well, if I get data to work, I'm fully happy with my Droid 4!

No microSD cards, non-removable batteries and now embedded SIM cards. Are we noticing a trend yet?
Tappin' and talkin' with Tapatalk.

This one takes a microsd, but yeah there's definitely a trend...

my guess is the trend is actually carriers trying to hold on to the old way of doing things. they don't like device hopping and by forcing you to buy a new phone, they are able to bring in additional revenue.
I hate how we're basically the only market that's this way. meanwhile the rest of the world is "free to roam" and prices remain competitive.

Me too
640k said:
my guess is the trend is actually carriers trying to hold on to the old way of doing things. they don't like device hopping and by forcing you to buy a new phone, they are able to bring in additional revenue.
I hate how we're basically the only market that's this way. meanwhile the rest of the world is "free to roam" and prices remain competitive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate how the phones seem to be built to break after 2 years. My mom got a phone 13 years ago that is still kicking..its even been dropped in a drink cup....6 years after the cup incident the pixels in the display are finally going out. She loves that thing and is very upset that she has to get a new phone, I am very surprised it's still working. She's even using the original battery! As for me, I love the keyboard on my D4, and now that I have my much-beloved FM radio on it, I probably won't upgrade again, it's just too expensive to. I will just surf ebay and get other D4s. :silly: Anyone else notice that as Verizon gets bigger, the more expensive, dumber and ruder they become? I wish we had more competition.
I have noticed that trend too, and I don't like it. If they wanted to keep things like they were, they would still be making indestructible bricks like what my mom is using. I like the thinner phones, yet I want to be able to rip out the battery if I get frustrated, and I hate needing a SIM card
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rooted Moto Droid 4 with Spirit FM
Stock Samsung Galaxy S (Samsung Facinate)....Why does it have 2 names?

KrellaKrentoshi said:
I hate how the phones seem to be built to break after 2 years. My mom got a phone 13 years ago that is still kicking..its even been dropped in a drink cup....6 years after the cup incident the pixels in the display are finally going out. She loves that thing and is very upset that she has to get a new phone, I am very surprised it's still working. She's even using the original battery! As for me, I love the keyboard on my D4, and now that I have my much-beloved FM radio on it, I probably won't upgrade again, it's just too expensive to. I will just surf ebay and get other D4s. :silly: Anyone else notice that as Verizon gets bigger, the more expensive, dumber and ruder they become? I wish we had more competition.
I have noticed that trend too, and I don't like it. If they wanted to keep things like they were, they would still be making indestructible bricks like what my mom is using. I like the thinner phones, yet I want to be able to rip out the battery if I get frustrated, and I hate needing a SIM card
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rooted Moto Droid 4 with Spirit FM
Stock Samsung Galaxy S (Samsung Facinate)....Why does it have 2 names?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+10
I have been trying to point this out to eveyone I work with especially with all of the HTC devices every time a new ver of the evo is coming out all of sudden the old ver starts to fall apart physically and software !! coincident? i dont think so!!!

I do like my D4. Its been the first DROID phone I've been happy with since the 1. Some other slider is going to have to have some prett decent features to get me to switch. Like a better screen and battery life that lasts days.

What should I do now?
Am one of those who'll want a physical keyboard on Android for sure.
Last year waited so much for Droid 3, but bad reviews didn't let me go for it. Early this year got Xperia Pro, which was working very much fine, and then few weeks ago, STOLEN.
Now on a prowl for another Android + keyboard handset. Found Droid 4, but thanks to GSM radio still off (am from India and on GSM) have been more than eagerly waiting for ICS on Droid 4. Now that it is just rolling out, come across Photon Q.
Very much confused which one to go for, Droid 4 or Photon Q?
# Droid 4 has higher battery life among the two (of the data in hand at present), with ICS so late, Jelly Bean would be light years away.
# Photon Q will launch with ICS, so have a chance for Jelly Bean. But battery life doesn't look promising (reviews after the launch will give exact idea). Apart from that, Photon Q looks better with better processor and bigger screen.
Please advice which one should I really go with.
Thanks!

Battery/LTE: Every phone has its tradeoffs

I am reading a lot of bemoaning with regards to what is considered poor battery life on the Nexus 4 based on comparisons made by Anandtech's review, and I feel that people are forgetting the golden rule of smartphones. That rule being that every phone has at least one 'fatal flaw' that you have to accept when you finally purchase that device. I feel like this thread will put things into perspective for those who just want to have it all. Reality is what it is, I'm not saying you should settle and give in to sub-ideal phones, but hey if you need a phone you need a phone, ideals and wishes won't make phone calls or grab your emails for you.
Let's start with the iPhone 5. Firstly, it's iOS and all its annoying ecosystem that surely every Android enthusiast has distaste for in some way or another. I'm pretty sure that rules it out alone and causes us think "Well who cares how long the battery lasts if I hate using the thing. Pass." It does have great battery life on LTE, quality construction, more accessories than you can shake a stick at, etc etc, but it's still iOS. No LTE in my area either but hey not the phone's fault.
Onto the HTC One X, which is a good phone in many regards but still has those 'fatal flaws.' It costs $465.50 (6 months after launch) unlocked which isn't too heinous but it isn't pentaband GSM keeping you from 3G/HSPA+ on T-mobile or whatever random 1700 band International carriers there are in the world. Also has frequent wifi antenna problems for many. It only sports 1 GB of ram. It is not pure Android, HTC Sense is hated by many, can be replaced with a custom rom, which is very good. Curious how the HTC one X (1800 mah) did better than the S3 (2100 mah).
Motorola Razr M. I rather like the physical feel of this phone, but with 4.0 ICS, nowhere to buy it unlocked, 1 GB of ram, and less dev support than these other phones I wouldn't consider it strongly.
Next the Motorola Razr i. Only has 4.0.4 ICS, 1 GB of ram, $498.50 unlocked also with no 1700 band support. Screen is probably not in the HTC One X leagues either.
Skipping a few brings me to the Motorola Photon Q. Obviously this thing is only for QWERTY lovers, of which I am not. Hey it probably kicks ass though if that's your thing. Oh but wait, you can only get it from carriers which means you'll be signing a contract. Wuh-oh no dice, that ain't nice.
LG Optimus G... Locked bootloader. (I held one and went "eww" but that's a personal thing), A year after ICS was released, Jellybean has been out for months, and yet LG releases this 'flagship' phone with ICS, tsk tsk. No 1700 band, 545.50 Unlocked. Only one of the versions has a micro-sd slot too, bizarro.
Galaxy S3! Personally the T-999 T-mobile Galaxy S3 is my personal choice over the Nexus 4. BUT Problems?!!? For me it was price at $550, the build quality of the phone, and the physical big home button. I've read too many reports of them cracking on their own (while in Otterbox Defender cases or whatever other big boxy tank armor people buy) because of the crappy plastic used and also overheating during usage or charging. A phone's screen shouldn't break on it's own sitting on your desk. Those issues are rather personal so really the problem is price for a 6 month old phone.
Anyway enough of this, there are many things which aren't negatives to some and other things that definitely are negatives that I haven't included, such as motorola camera quality or something along those lines.
Honestly, where can you buy a 299 or 349 dollar unlocked smartphone with the latest hardware (except that 5" panel on the HTC DNA), latest Android OS which is also vanilla, predictably tons of dev support, and isn't a plastic pile of junk? Although the Nexus is lacking LTE, enough storage for many, less than best battery life, and whatever other gripes there are out there. Also the benchmarks are meh, personally I could care less how fast it runs a benchmark. There gets to be a point where speed no longer matters, sort of like the difference between 100 FPS and 400 FPS when playing a video game or watching a movie. I mean if the phone can load apps faster than the Optimus G by .001 seconds who really cares? It's about real world usage to me, not benchmark scores. That's me though and I realize that isn't everyone's opinion.
So anyway if someone wants more storage and awesome battery but doesn't care about being forced into a contract, they won't mind getting a Razr Maxx HD. But if another person wants to avoid contracts, have the freedom to use their phone internationally even, with the latest operating system the Nexus 4 is the best bet because of the price with the S3 tailing behind it due to custom roms.
Someone could assign a point value to every category and rate phones across the board, but the amount of points per category, or rather the importance of certain traits over others, is totally independent for each person out there shopping for a device.
Long story short here, every phone has its drawbacks and issues, it's a question of which has the least amount of flaws when weighing the needs/desires of the consumer.
The Nexus 4 does the best job of fitting my needs, but it isn't perfect. I doubt any phone ever will be, but that's beside the point. The point is what is here and now available to chose from. The point is that battery benchmark graph that I can't link due to lack of posts. I would have never bought a Nexus 4 like I did if the price wasn't so good. If it were 600 dollars I would have passed and held out for custom roms to keep me afloat on the latest version of Android.
(If you're pissed I made a thread about this don't reply telling me that. Just let it sink to the bottom of the forum to rot and die.)
Thanks and happy phone hunting.

The optimus g has basically the same hardware specs and gets great battery life. Is it wrong to expect the n4 to get somewhere in the same ballpark? N4 appears to have just average battery life which is odd. I still plan on getting it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

I wish I could want an iPhone because honestly I'm tired of rooting and tweaking and iPhone gets great battery no matter what you do.
But I love stock android and honestly I feel like I am chasing a dream. First android phone was epic touch 4g then I rooted awesome battery and ICS skins. Then ICS came out battery life was crap and issues. Ran that way for months. Then jellybean waiting for Samsung kernel horrible performance. Sprint data slow as crap. Then got a gal nex no 4g now slower 3g. LTE is a mile away and it is slow.
Then nexus 4 announced no sprint version leaving sprint for T-Mobile now trying to buy four nexus 4's for the family must wait again.
So at this point if battery life sucks so be it I'm stuck chasing a dream.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Fataldesain said:
I wish I could want an iPhone because honestly I'm tired of rooting and tweaking and iPhone gets great battery no matter what you do.
But I love stock android and honestly I feel like I am chasing a dream. First android phone was epic touch 4g then I rooted awesome battery and ICS skins. Then ICS came out battery life was crap and issues. Ran that way for months. Then jellybean waiting for Samsung kernel horrible performance. Sprint data slow as crap. Then got a gal nex no 4g now slower 3g. LTE is a mile away and it is slow.
Then nexus 4 announced no sprint version leaving sprint for T-Mobile now trying to buy four nexus 4's for the family must wait again.
So at this point if battery life sucks so be it I'm stuck chasing a dream.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, the iPhone sucks without jailbreak. Especially when you are used to Android (even Stock Android) you will miss so many options. You will miss the tweaking (just because iOS sucks already). And btw, the iPhone is small as sh**.. so no wonder it's battery will last longer. How ever, browsing/writing textes is a pain in the ass on the iPhone.
Had the iPhone 3G (omfg) and the 4S.... glad I could sell them on ebay to some brainfart.
And btw: Once you get to jailbreaking your iPhone it's all problems and annoying work.

Battery is a pretty big one for me, as well as storage.. lte not so much, waiting a while to decide but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a note 2 little more expensive but I can prolly get the woman to let me spend my own money on it :good:
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

Don't really need 4G.
See, the problem with the iPhone is, that it's an Apple product.
Apple-Hate aside, what people must realize, if they are in an area that offers 4G connectivity, it will also offer FULL 3G connection. The hypothetical max of HSPA+ is 42mb/s which if you're lucky, you can get close to. Also, TheVerge got 5Mb/s in a Metropolitan area, which is more than sufficient. I leech off StarBucks wifi, getting 450 KB/S and can watch HD video and anything I realistically need.
Please tell me someone, who uses 100% of their 4G.

Yeah once your used to android its hard to leave but my thing is since the iPhone 4 apple has had a smooth working phone with great battery. I have used about 10 android phones and honestly the iPhone 4 runs better than most and it is three years old.
Now things are getting better because the specs are crazy in all these phones. But sometimes I envy the apple sheep because they think they have the best and are satisfied with it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2