Motorola Droid Bionic
Phone Scoop Review
Sep 9, 2011 by Eric M. Zeman
Motorola and Verizon Wireless have finally brought the LTE-packing Droid Bionic to market after a prolonged nine-month delay. Was the wait for Motorola's first LTE 4G smartphone worth it? Phone Scoop tells you in this full review. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Amazing Phone
Pros
~ Resolution
~ Functionality of Menus
~ BETTER (not great) Battery Life
~ Minimal to no Lag between APPS
~ Gig Ram
~ 4G
~ Camera Quality
~ Comfortable in hand
~ Processor
This phone is by far best VZW phone I have had, I worked for VZW for 3 years and went through phones like crazy (incredible,droid,eris,iphone,storm 1 storm 2) just to name a few. This is my first 4g device and when I consistantly get speeds of 25+mbps download and 15-20mbps upload which is amazing and over 11mps on mobile hotspot. I have friends who have the new Samsung Galaxy S II and is not nearly as smooth or as fast as this device. I would recommend this phone to anyone who is looking for a strong, well built, durable, 4G smartphone.
CONS:
~Battery Life (even though it is better than all the others the 4G does kill the battery, i use it ALL THE TIME and it lasts about 6-8 hours on a full charge)
~Camera Functionality, i miss having the physical button for the camera rather than touchscreen only, sometimes takes too long to focus and actually take the photo(this is only on 8MP camera not front facing)
These are the only 2 big things that I have noticed with the device so far, and trust me I've had it a week and half and put over 5.5gigs of data so i use it a lot.
BEST PHONE ON ANY CARRIER
Having extensive experience with Droid, Droid2, Droid 3, Droid X, X2, Thunderbolt, iphone4, Samsung Charge and now the Bionic, I can say that this phone is by far the best phone released to date. As for it's cousins the Atrix and Photon which are crippled due to lack to pure LTE, I can't speak for them. Phone is light, qhd is brilliant, LTE is fast, battery is surprisingly long lasting-being LTE, qhd, 4.3 screen and dual core. 1gb of ram, 32 mb of storage, front and rear camera. Tango works great...you can cancel the free wifi spots..if you have LTE enabled and unlimited data, the LTE is a much better choice and faster...From other reviews from other users I have not experienced any rebooting as I did with 6 Thunderbolts...My battery really last...you have to tweek your data settings to get the most juice out of your phone...But just turning the phone on and leaving the settings the way they are--you are not going to get what you what would expect out of battery life...To be honest--what is the standard battery life--no one knows...These are pocket pc's, running LTE and are faster than most peoples home pc's so I really don't know what people are complaining about in battery life...That's my take and it gets 5 Stars.
Best phone on the market
I agree with snook423's review; this is an excellent phone.
The build is very high quality, I get more than a full days use on the standard battery, the screen is really beautiful and responsive.
Download speeds are blazingly fast. Call clarity is excellent. The control buttons are well placed and accurately responsive.
The phone has a docking station accessory so you can hook it up to a laptop and use the phone with a larger screen and keyboard. Very convenient where wifi is not available for long and complicated email, etc.
This phone is large, but not uncomfortably so, unless you put the 2700mAh extended battery in (the extended battery is big and heavy), but if you want days and days of talk time on one battery- that's the price you pay with 4G and Android. That said, VZW offers the extended battery and cover for $25- heckuva deal.
I did not deduct any points because it has a half duplex speakerphone-my Dinc2 and other phones also have a 1/2 duplex-even my land line phone is a half duplex speakerphone.
For now, this is the most advanced and best phone on the market.
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Worst phone ever
I ended up hating this phone. It would never connect to data. Verizon's response to my complaints was terrible. I ended up swapping it 2 times but each replacement was just as bad. On the final swap they gave me the Charge,
am coming off of the original Droid. I have had the Bionic now since the day they came out, so only 3 or 4 days. So far, I have not had any problems with it and I am hoping that continues. I think the screen display is fine. I like the additional memorywhich was marginally better. that I have compared to the Droid so I don't have to worry if I have room for apps. And, of course, I like the speed. I like that its a large phone, it makes reading email a lot easier than it was on the Droid. My battery seems to last a full day with moderate usage, I turn off features I am not using.
Sometimes, I think I would be better off with a 4G tablet, and go back to a simple phone, but that is not the path I took with my latest Verizon contract. I have to get use to the multiple home screens, but so far, I have plenty of space on them, and I like to keep the center one free of clutter anyway so that I can see my background picture. I think its a little difficult getting the icons on the screen of my choice, they tend to jump around for me a bit.
I do not use this phone for work, so I don't require any of those features.
As always, I think data prices are too high.
Pros-
Large Screen
Fast
Lots of memory
Easy to Customize with lots of options
Cons-
I don't like the keyboard, I think its harder to type as accurately as i could on the Droid
Verizon said I could void my warranty if I scratch the screen, so I had to use a cover...I hate those things.
A huge leap for me...
I almost gave this one 5 stars, but I can't. Two reasons; i haven't had it long enough to have put it through all of it's paces and, well, I don't know if there is a phone that truly deserves 5 stars.
I'm coming from a BB Storm 2, so I'm pretty sure that two cans attached with string would be an improvement, but what a difference. Everything is smooth and crisp. There is no lag, no buginess and WOW is the browser fast. 4GLTE is a smash for me! It is MAYBE a step behind my Time Warner broadband. I barely noticed a difference when I used the WiFi. The screen is bright and clear. I know people have been bashing it, but I honestly don't see the issue. It's bright, clear and crisp.
Battery life seems to be holding in there for a 4G phone. I've been using it nonstop for about 5 hours and I'm still above 50% battery.
It's light and feels nice in the hand. The battery door could be a little bulkier, but it has a nice soft touch finish.
Video capture is pretty good, but photos don't amaze. They're decent, but not yet good enough to top a cheap digital camera.
All said and done, I'm getting adjusted to the Android system, but a lot to still learn. Things are going well so far with this phone, I'd definitely recommend it!
Worth the Wait
Background:
- Every iPhone device released
- Droid X
- Droid Bionic (current)
This phone satisfies all my needs and more. I'm not being a Motorola apologist, but I don't understand why people are so upset with how they handled the launch as all they did was upgrade the hardware to support a phone that provided dual core, LTE, and decent battery life. These were my 3 main requirements and this is exactly what I received. Good for you, Moto, for not putting out a phone so quickly to be the "first to the market" with a LTE device sacrificing battery life like the Thunderbolt and Charge (neither of which are dual core). I don't mind the bloatware as it doesn't slow the phone down, hamper battery life, and doesn't run these apps in the background unless you want to use them. If you don't want to see them then just create an "app list" so they don't show up. I ran custom ROM's (Liberty most recently) on my Droid X and there was always a annoying bug, random reboot, or battery life issue. I gave up and went back to stock and battery increased dramatically. All I need is root and root apps and I'm golden.
PROs:
- Dual core is snappy
- LTE is blazing (Verizon network is the best obviously)
- Battery lasts me a day and this is all I need. I normally get about 15+ hours which is all I need
- Motorola hardware, call quality, etc.
- Gorilla glass
- Sleek, light device
- Docking alarm clock
CONs:
- Stock camera could be better, but this is easily resolved by downloading a better camera app
Again, you could wait forever for the "perfect phone", but my requirements were LTE, dual core, and battery that last me a day on an android device and I couldn't ask for much more.
Bionic/Thunderbolt
My daughter says I am a phone slut - she's right. I had the HTC for less than 5 months when I got the Bionic.
Pros: resolution, speed, large battery, 4g. multitasking, cameras, ram...
Cons: I was surprised that it only came with a 16gig MSD chip - so I took the one out of my Thunderbolt and did not have to sync my music. It is not likely that I would ever have used all of the stock one but I am also a mod freak (my Sti for example).
I would conclude that it is my favorite phone to date. I am switching back (for a week) to the HTC for a trip and for the 2.3 upgrade - so I may be back with a change of mind but I do not think so. The phones are similar with the Bionic having better specs (smaller MSD not withstanding).
Amazing
This phone is fast fast fast. The battery lasts throughout the day I have no complaints it is amazing and fast did I say fast if you are thinking about or considering go get it its fast
Excellent phone I cant complain !!!
Exceptional phone all around for the most part, there are a few minor issues that i see as far as cameras auto focus but that can be fixed in an update and come on guys we all know that Motorola was never great in that department, other than that battery life is 7-8 hours not to bad considering how much I use my phone, qHD Pentile display could be a bit sharper but wasn't a deal breaker and build quality i would have to say its a bit shocking because it feels like you have a $300 phone in your hand i have played with other phones and they all feel cheap, calls where clear and 4G stayed connected (Maryland area) ... What more could you ask for ... I mean really?
Pros: Blazing fast thanks to Verizon LTE 4G,
very snappy 1Ghz dual core processor,
brightest screen on a smart phone Ive
seen thanks to the qHD Pentile screen,
great call quality hasn't dropped a
single call !!!!
Cons: Cameras auto focus kinda crappy -_-
Overall i give it a 4.8 but we don't have that option so ill just round it off :-)
Worth the wait!!!
Ok so I've always been a reader of these reviews but never found the time to write my own. I think I can give a good solid review based on the phones I've had since Verizon 1st launched the Droid 1. The phones that have been in my inventory includes; the Droid 1, and 3, HTC Incredible 1 & 2, Droid X, HTC Thunderbolt (twice), Samsung Droid Charge, and yes I have the iPhone 4 (running iOS Beta 5). Yeah I love phones and no I don't work for Verizon. All in all every last one off these phones I used no more then 4 months due to certain issues. The iPhone is the only one that I kept coming back to. WELL NO MORE! Verizon has finally done it. The have a phone that should satisfy any phone user. Yes I've only had it about a day but all in all very satisfied. I actually don't know how you can make a phone in better.
PROS:
*Bright Screen, able to read in all settings.
*Super fast.
*Call clarity (which people have left out of reviews lately) is great.
*The default launcher is ok, no need for Launcher Pro, ADW, or Go Launcher to speed you phone up.
*Weight and feel. Phone feels good in hand. It is as big phone but it doesn't feel heavy like the T-Bolt and the materials it's made of are better then the Charge.
*Gingerbread out the box (I'm assuming this will be the 2nd phone to get Ice Cream Sandwich after the Prime. Moto is normally fast about that not to mention Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobile
*Battery, OK, but not great. For a dual core processing phone on 4G it is quite impressive. FYI Verizon is offering the extended battery for $25 if you buy the phone for now. I haven't put it in yet because the default battery is doing it's job.
CONS:
*Camera, while better then the all other Motorola's it still a shade behind Samsung and HTC in clarity and speed
All in all this is the BEST phone I've ever owned and I haven't done much with it.
THE ONLY REASON IT LOST HALF A STAR IS BECAUSE IT WAS 1ST ADVERTISED ON SUPERBOWL SUNDAY AND IT IS NOW LAUNCHING.
