Droid Bionic on Verizon

**BaMaDuDe87** · 05-05-2012, 11:14 AM

About to make the switch from a BB Tour to an andriod phone. I got to looking around and I think I might want the Bionic. I have played with one, but with all the different android devices out there I'm still not 100%. Anyone have one and can give me some insight on the pros and cons of it? I need to text, make calls(so call quality is important), get email(push capable? Is it capable of receiving email as fast as my Tour for gmail and aol mail?), browse the internet(the biggest reason I'm leaving BB), and play game every once in a while on it. All while getting good battery life, can it last a day with what you do on it? And if so what's your typical day for you phone look like?

**boldkeyboardholic** · 05-05-2012, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by BaMaDuDe87

About to make the switch from a BB Tour to an andriod phone. I got to looking around and I think I might want the Bionic. I have played with one, but with all the different android devices out there I'm still not 100%. Anyone have one and can give me some insight on the pros and cons of it? I need to text, make calls(so call quality is important), get email(push capable? Is it capable of receiving email as fast as my Tour for gmail and aol mail?), browse the internet(the biggest reason I'm leaving BB), and play game every once in a while on it. All while getting good battery life, can it last a day with what you do on it? And if so what's your typical day for you phone look like?

I have to say the browser on my 9900 is pretty ok. The tour is OS 5, isn't it?
(So if the browser is your biggest reason for going to android, you should have a look into a 7.x device)

Compared to "normal" android 2.3xxx* it is competetive. It does not support flash (like iOS), which would sometimes convenient. (on android smartphones it is working but on the devices I have seen not so good and only an option which should be used if really neccessary)

But yes, the 9900 doesn't have a good price-performance ratio and it does lacking things you may want to have. I do.

* couldn't get a hand on a 4.0 device yet but next week end I will have a nexus to test.

I just can't leave this nice keyboard alone!

**spotmark** · 05-05-2012, 11:58 AM

I had the Bionic for a little while, and absolutely hated it. If you just want a regular smart phone, for calls, texting, and browsing, it's fine. Just don't expect a lot of support from the dev community, or from Verizon. I like to call it Verizon's ba$tard child, as they pretty much abandoned it shortly after launch. Finally, if you're into modding your phone, and I assume you are since you're on these boards, don't expect to do a whole lot to it since Motorola is notorious for not unlocking bootloaders. I won't give another dime to Motorola until they allow us to start unlocking the bootloaders. So there you have my two cents.

**greeneink** · 05-05-2012, 12:00 PM

The Bionic will push Gmail. Your other email accounts can be set to "check every 15 minutes" and you can manually check them by opening the email folder. Call quality is as good as any Berry I every owned.
As for the browser with 4G, it rocks. BB can't come close to that speed, anyone who says different is ignorant of the speed of 4G. If you embrace the "google" experience, you're going to love the Bionic.
That being said, I'll be jumping back on the BB train as soon as BB10 comes out because I don't believe I have the fortitude to holdout for the BB10 Bold.

**BaMaDuDe87** · 05-05-2012, 12:35 PM

Spotmark that is absolutely what I was looking for. Yes I would love to stay with BB but I fell like everyone else is leaps and bounds ahead at this point, just my opinion. I do love my keyboard and said I would never have a touch screen phone but I need more. And yes I do like to tinker with everything I own, which is why I'm staying away from the iPhone.

What phone(s) would you reccomend I look towards?

**spotmark** · 05-05-2012, 02:31 PM

Obviously, for the most dev support, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. HTC allows you to unlock bootloaders, so you might want to check out the Rezound, or the forthcoming Incredible 4G.

**jd914** · 05-05-2012, 03:37 PM

It's too late into the year to consider the Bionic, I absolutely would not recommend it for obvious reasons that I'm not gonna get into. I will say, you'll be sorry if you get a Bionic.

At this point in time the Razr Max and the Galaxy Nexus are the only two devices on Verizon I would consider but would choose the Galaxy Nexus.

**aNYthing24** · 05-05-2012, 04:32 PM

Do not get a Bionic. Who knows when it gets ICS? Motorola has a very back update track record.

**BaMaDuDe87** · 05-05-2012, 04:58 PM

Well back to the drawing board. Thanks guys. I'll be looking to the HTC and Samsung options. Possibly LG Lucid?

**avt123** · 05-05-2012, 05:06 PM

I recommend the Galaxy Nexus. Stock Android and the fastest updates.

**aNYthing24** · 05-06-2012, 05:42 AM

Originally Posted by avt123

I recommend the Galaxy Nexus. Stock Android and the fastest updates.

Isn't the Verizon model stuck on 4.0.2?

**spotmark** · 05-06-2012, 06:59 AM

Originally Posted by Karmaloop

Isn't the Verizon model stuck on 4.0.2?

Nope, Verizon officially released 4.0.4 last week, so it's just as current as any other Nexus in the world. And it's not as if most of us weren't already on it anyway. That's the other nice thing about owning a developer's phone. Google released the source code awhile go, so we didn't really need to wait for Verizon.

**avt123** · 05-06-2012, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Karmaloop

Isn't the Verizon model stuck on 4.0.2?

No, like Spotmark said, VZW released it. I haven't been on 4.0.2 for a while. I also use custom ROMs.

**aNYthing24** · 05-06-2012, 08:16 PM

Good to see Verizon do the right thing.

**boldkeyboardholic** · 05-08-2012, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by greeneink

The Bionic will push Gmail. Your other email accounts can be set to "check every 15 minutes" and you can manually check them by opening the email folder. Call quality is as good as any Berry I every owned.
As for the browser with 4G, it rocks. BB can't come close to that speed, anyone who says different is ignorant of the speed of 4G. If you embrace the "google" experience, you're going to love the Bionic.
That being said, I'll be jumping back on the BB train as soon as BB10 comes out because I don't believe I have the fortitude to holdout for the BB10 Bold.

Perhaps we should clarify what 4G means - I'm using here real 7mbits with my 3G connection, speed does not really matter for browsing the net. I didn't mean "speed" like network connection/technology but of the browser, and how good it renders etc. and of course the speed the browser loading a website compared to e.G. a different browser but with the same network etc.

**Mr. Marco** · 05-30-2012, 07:13 PM

The Bionic is one of those weird stories. It got a ton of attention when it was previewed at CES (I think). It's release ended up being delayed (apparently they ended up redesigning the device from the original one previewed) and then was released only a couple of months before the Droid Razr.

The Bionic was supposed to be Motorola's new power phone yet at the same time they were developing the Droid Razr. I don't see why Motorola even released the Bionic and why Verizon put it in its lineup of phones.

Then Motorola goes and puts out the Razr Maxx alittle after the original Razr was released, only sacrifing a few mm of thickness for a huge battery. If you ask me, Motorola should of released the Droid Razr Maxx and that's it.