anyone getting bionic this week?

[Bateluer]

The Nexus Prime will be lacking a Droid moniker from what I've seen.

The Droid HD appears to be the next one though, which would be in another month or two at the earliest most likely.

The Nexus Prime will also likely be unsubsidized. Big distinction compared to the Droid branded devices.

So far as I know, the bionic has a locked bootloader though, yes? I know its been rooted, but that only takes you so far.

From what I've seen at Rootz Wiki, dev work on the DX2 and D3 has been slow, seems like most of the devs were waiting for the Bionic, or some other device.

 

[dlock13]

Going by phonescoop specs, they're pretty comparable (Bionic is slightly larger and heavier). They have the same still camera but the Bionic is actually capable of 1080p where the DX2 only does 720p. The Bionic has good battery life but that's because they put a better battery in it (1500 vs 1750mAh). I just put an 1800mAh battery in my phone so it's probably on par now.

I would've loved the Bionic but I'm not in an LTE coverage area anyway so it's pretty moot. I'll be sticking with my DX2.

This exactly. The only reason the DX2 doesn't have 1080P is because of the fact that it doesn't have 1 GB of RAM if I'm not mistaken. It has 512 and some of it is allocated to the Tegra 2 since it doesn't have that much memory on it.

If it were that easy, all Android phones would have Webtop...

LTE alone is a very big difference. It's like having fast wifi with you at all times.

Is Verizon really getting any other high end phones out this year? There was talk of a "Droid Prime" or basically a Droid branded Nexus Prime, but would Verizon release a phone that much better so soon after the already branded Droid Bionic?

LTE is a pretty large difference, but it's not justifiable to a lot of buyers yet because they still don't have that service. In my area, it's completely pointless. I probably won't get it for another 6 months to a year. However, regardless of that, I would still get that phone to use 3G.

Also, I haven't read about any developers actually trying to attempt to use the Webtop on another device, but if they can hack Android onto an iPhone and onto a TouchPad and move ROMs from unreleased phones (HTC with Sense 3.5) to phones that have been out for over a year or two. I think they can put Webtop onto another phone.

 

[SViper]

FYI, the Bionic is up for order on verizonwireless.com. $299.99 w/ 2 year contract. $589.99 to outright buy the phone.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

ok you guys go buy this today and review it for us. in particular how is the 4g connection. i noticed that there were a lot of complaints about thunderbolt and charge switching from 4g to 3g/1x for no real reason, how is bionic doing?

 

[Spoooon]

FYI, the Bionic is up for order on verizonwireless.com. $299.99 w/ 2 year contract. $589.99 to outright buy the phone.

It's funny that 589 doesn't sound wholly unreasonable next to the $300 subsidized price.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i went to the verizon store yesterday and they said that the laptop dock was $299 and that it DOESNT require a tethering plan. does that sound right?

 

[Anubis]

friend of mine should be picking up his in a few hours. he was planning on waiting for the nexus prime (if its true) but his OG droid is really starting to die. doesnt hold charge, randomally crashes no matter what he does and all that

im sure ill get to play with it a bit today

 

[Spoooon]

friend of mine should be picking up his in a few hours. he was planning on waiting for the nexus prime (if its true) but his OG droid is really starting to die. doesnt hold charge, randomally crashes no matter what he does and all that

im sure ill get to play with it a bit today

I got an email from Verizon offering a $100 gift card if you exchange phones when upgrading to the Bionic. I don't know if it's a special offer or one that was extended to everyone.

edit: Some of the verbiage makes it sound like it's for completely new lines, others make it sound like it extends to contract renewal. I'm sure it's just for brand new customers.

 

[misle]

I got an email from Verizon offering a $100 gift card if you exchange phones when upgrading to the Bionic. I don't know if it's a special offer or one that was extended to everyone.

edit: Some of the verbiage makes it sound like it's for completely new lines, others make it sound like it extends to contract renewal. I'm sure it's just for brand new customers.

I received the same email. I don't think it requires new customers.

From this site:

Already a Verizon Wireless customer?

Need to Upgrade? Upgrade to a Smartphone today and you'll be eligible to receive a Verizon Wireless gift card worth $100 when you trade in your old Verizon Wireless basic phone.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

how long do you think before this phone is $150? arent atrix and photon already $99?

 

[Anubis]

itll be 299 for a while simply because its DC and 4g

 

[Spoooon]

I received the same email. I don't think it requires new customers.

From this site:

Hmmm, if that's the case, I might need to talk my wife into upgrading. She's been rocking her Palm Pixi+ for way too long.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

I received the same email. I don't think it requires new customers.

From this site:

They are running a promo for any customer that if you trade in a non-smartphone (i.e. old flip phone like the RAZR for example, or the LG Voyager) that are currently active lines, then you get a $100 VZW gift card in the mail as a rebate.

So for example I'll use my account. I have 4 lines, 2 are OG Droids and 2 are LG Voyager's. On the OG Droids, I cannot get this rebate. However, on the 2 Voyagers I could get this rebate if I upgraded those lines.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Hmmm, if that's the case, I might need to talk my wife into upgrading. She's been rocking her Palm Pixi+ for way too long.

Might not qualify.

It appears that to get the discount, the phone cannot have a data plan requirement as part of the phone. IIRC, the Palm Pixi's all required a data plan with them.

 

[UNCjigga]

bionic supposedly gets ridiculous battery life (better than iphone), can anyone verify this?

On 3G, yes. On 4G, you need the extended battery (which I have, but it adds an unsightly hump to the back.)

 

[Demo24]

Engadget review (surprisingly fast):

http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/08/droid-bionic-review/

 

[Red Storm]

Bionic missed its chance. With ICS and the Nexus Prime coming out before the end of the year, there's just no point buying now.

 

[abaez]

Yeah. Months ago when it was announced at CES this was amazing. Now? Not so much.

 

[Anubis]

it comes preloaded with a ton of bloat. like 8 vcast aps and not 1 but 2 task managers. a non issue if you root but its still silly. after playing with it quickly its just as snappy as all the other current phones. the display isnt that bad. much better then the dx2

my only real disslike is the back. its too smooth. i would like it much more if it was rubberlike like the OG droid

 

[I Saw OJ]

Was planning on getting the Bionic when my contract expired (which was last week). However with it at 299 and other phones being right around the corner im going to have to pass on the Bionic for a while.

 

[saratoga172]

I went ahead and switched from ATT to Verizon and got the Bionic. I was on an IP4 up until a few hours ago. It seems that Android has come a long way since I got my 3GS a couple years ago.

I've been playing around with the phone since I got home. It's very fast and snappy. It feels refined similar to the tune of iOS on iPhones. Best thing is that I've got 4G now. Regardless of phone ATT won't have LTE service for at least another 6 months or so. Naturally I ran the Speedtest app. 3-4MB down, 1 up on the iPhone with 3G, 18-23 down and 6 up on the Bionic!!!

I'm still pretty new to Android, so I'm getting used to the interface, setting up the phone, etc. What apps do I need to get? And I plan on rooting at some point. And I'll probably pick up the extended battery at some point.

I'll get a more detailed review up in a few days after some hands on time and general use.

 

[SViper]

I just got back from the Verizon store playing around with this phone. My thoughts (based on approx. 20 minutes with the phone in a Verizon store):

1. The qHD screen is not as bad as people would lead you to believe. Of course, it doesn't have the sharpness of a Samsung AMOLED screen, but it is pretty sharp, especially comparied to the OG Droid I have now. It would definitely be an improvement over the OG Droid. Also tested it with black background and white letters. It still looked sharp to me.

2. This phone is fast! Again, I'm comparing it to my OG Droid. It takes whatever you throw at it and begs for more. Website loading, app loading, flash rendering, it really does fly. I'm in the Austin area, which doesn't have 4G yet, but I think the Verizon stores around here have a 4G connection because it said it was connected to a 4G network. The speed test app said it was getting 18Mb down and about 5Mb up.

3. The lapdock has piss poor performance just like the one for the Motorola Atrix. Firefox is the browser of choice (FF 4, 2 versions behind the newest released if anyone is keeping score). I thought it was just because I had multiple tabs open (more than 2) that I saw a performance hit, but navigating sites like msnbc was atrocious. The phone performed better loading the full site on the phone's screen itself than in the lapdock. Don't even think about having more than 2-3 tabs open at a time.

It also feels like there is some slowness navigating other apps in the webdock. I think it's a cool dock, but it definitely needs some work before it's ready for prime time. I don't think it's worth the asking price, but then again I don't need the functionality it provides on-the-go. If I owned a tablet, the lapdock would be even more useless to me.

All in all, I think it is a very good phone. It is sitting at the cream of the crop right now as far as Verizon's Android phones go. I am very tempted to get it, but I am waiting to see what's on the horizon for Verizon (i.e. Samsung's offering). I've waited this long with my OG Droid. Another month or 2 isn't going to kill me.

If my OG Droid died tomorrow and I had to get a Bionic, I would not be disappointed with it.

 

[CrackRabbit]

For those looking to get the phone Costco has an awesome deal through their wireless reseller.
You get the phone, the low end dock, the GPS mount / car charger, an external battery and a case for $279.
It shows as out of stock online, but should be good in store.

http://membershipwireless.com/index.cfm/go/shop/do/PhoneDetails/productId/4751

 

[Anubis]

my issue with the screen is that when it displays anything white it looks like a flickering CRT or bad LCD wherever its white, its like i'm seeing it refresh at like 50 HZs, and this was only after playing with it for like an hour, it would annoy the f out of me if i had to deal with that all the time

 

[ew915]

What a piece of crap, I'd be surprised this phone sells like hotcakes, i mean i have never seen such a cocky vendor, selling crippled phones that are 6 month late and expect people to buy them.

The TV commercial s a big joke, they made the phone like it was some advanced tool for the iluminati of the 21st century in a crusade against machines.

I don't dig into the droid theme, my charge is a joke, thank god i can load new roms, and delete all that, things will be harder in this locked down bionic.