Database Develop

Weird things, bugs, and gripes.

I've had several annoying things happen since getting the phone, but overall it's been a great experience. Here's some of the things that are bugging me:
If I leave wifi on, bluetooth audio streaming skips for a second or two whenever a new wifi network is detected. Really annoying when I set up in my car.
The camera has a blueish, cooling tint, and nothing in the settings seems to fix it. I'm having to 'shop all my pictures to bring out the colors correctly.
If I take several pictures (more than 3) and then sleep the phone while the camera is still on, then unsleep, it goes bat****. I've had everything from total unresponsiveness, to green checkers, to complete green screen, and consistent repetitive, unending shutter noises.
The "Gorilla Glass" is scratching - I'm getting nicks and dings and tiny scratches from pocket change, whereas my friend's had a droid incredible for over a year and its screen is flawless. I'm thinking this either isn't Gorilla Glass or it's a bad batch. I'm debating returning it because of this, might just get a screen protector.
Bloatware, lack of root. I've been lazy and avoided installing a launcher (bleh, ok, installing adw now .) Still, I paid good money for this, I expect a little love in return. Foisting off this crap on me isn't a great way to build brand loyalty.
Battery Life varies dramatically. Some days I'll be out taking hundreds of pictures over 4-5 hours and only use 40% or so - other days, I'll take a few dozen and end up using 90% of the battery in less than 2 hours. Definitely some wonkiness behind the scenes.
I'm not unhappy with the phone, overall - it's responsive and the HD video and camera have both served me well. It's just not all that it should be. Root will solve everything except the Gorilla Glass issue.
Feel free to chip in on other problems - it'd be nice to have a focused discussion to reference things wrong with this phone, once we have root.

Gorilla Glass sucks... i have the same... after 2 weeks of keeping it safely in my pocket completly alone... I have scratches... one deep... and few small... the worst is that I can't give it back or exchange it... I live in Poland and bought it from Amazon... ;/
Motorola Sucks... even if I love it! It's my 12 Motorola... maybe the last one??

well i may be wrong but i dont think the droid 3 has gorilla glass... if you go to gorilla glass's website they list the phones that come with it and the only Motorola devices that come with it are the Droid x2 and the xoom.

mikenius said:
Motorola Sucks... even if I love it! It's my 12 Motorola... maybe the last one??
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Well i will agree Motorola does suck right now but.... they were just bought out by google so, google will start making Motorola phones. i have a feeling they will only get better now, and actually might be worth buying.

joshwest said:
well i may be wrong but i dont think the droid 3 has gorilla glass... if you go to gorilla glass's website they list the phones that come with it and the only Motorola devices that come with it are the Droid x2 and the xoom.
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Wrong.
10chars

I have to wonder about gorilla glass QC myself, my DINC looked like I had taken sand paper to it after about a month.

Maybe there's some sort of significant variance that has somehow escaped their notice. I've seen a droid incredible dropped on jagged rocks, gouged at with a pocket knife, poked with keys, and nothing happens, but I've treated my d3 like a baby and it's got a bunch of dings. Nothing that affects the usability, or that you can even see without tilting it to the light in the right angle, but it's definitely not living up to the GGlass hype.
The d3 specs show GGlass.

The screen on my D3 is flawless (no screen protector). I had an Inc before the D3 and didn't have a screen protector on that, either. Nothing could scratch my Inc, and I kept that in the same pocket as my keys. Same with my D3. I've had it for over a month a half now and it is still in perfect condition. Hell, it took getting punched (hard) with an emerald to scratch the glass on my Inc. lol

Yeah I haven't had any real problems either. I've only had 2 random reboots but that was because I was putting a lot of stress on the phone, like running androirc,pandora, and texting all at the same time xD
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA Premium App

I tend to get random reboots while running GPS. Also while in the car dock, the phone just goes wack sometimes. I first thought I didn't have car mode because it doesn't always activate when in the dock. Do you guys know how they trigger it in the D3? in the D1 it was with a magnet so no power was required but for the D3, no power generally means no car mode
I haven't had a problem with screen scratching but I'm paranoid and bought a screen protector off amazon
its called halo screen protectors and it applied really really ez. didn't get bubbles like my old D1. plus it doesn't scratch ez either

I hate screen protectors, none of them make the screen feel like the original. Which is why I go naked . I use a case though.
I've had no random reboots so far, 2 hard reboots as mentioned because I was putting too much stress on the phone
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA Premium App

Had 1 or 2 random reboots. One when unplugging.
Docking seems to be a combination of power and what seems to be an rfid chip in the docks (for the multimedia unit anyhow, it knows one dock from another and can perform different actions for each)
Docking is VERY slow to repond. My old Eris pulls up desk clock faster when docked by nearly 5 seconds. What's up with that Moto??
HATE how the unit unplugs and locks me out of a screen action while it tells me that it has been unplugged in this big green banner at the top. If you unplug to silence or answer an incomming call, you have to wait for the phone to finish telling you it was unplugged before it will answer/silence. Big gripe!
I agree, backup assistant is Pure BLOATED battery waste on this phone. Hate that I have to wait until root to get rid of it! Hint Hint Moto, THESE are the real reasons so many users want root...remember PCs in the 90s with all the useless crap that came with them?
DLNA service constantly runs and polls in the background, even if no accounts are setup. Giant battery drain!
Home screen redraws are off the charts often and slow! This really does have TWO 1Ghz processors, right?? Because it sure doesn't act like it performance wise.
LAG...after selecting camera, gallery, or app drawer. It lags enough that i actaully have time to think it didn't register the touch. Then as i reach to re-touch the launch, it finally starts to launch the selected app/function.
The white theme...give us back real GB dark theme. White is blinding at night, and is excessive on battery draw over a black background. At least let us chose the theme....?
Battery and Data Manager options stink, as does the manager service associated with it. Select no battery management, and the service still runs in the background. If you go into and out of a weak coverage area, the extended network data setting (enable data roaming) unchecks itself, causing loss of data until in home network or you recheck the box. Setting lost again after going to a weak coverage area again. Logcats verify it is the Moto Battery and Data manager service that controls this setting, not the network.
All the other NON-stoppable service bloat on this phone. Factory task killer you can't shut down? WTF happened Moto?
Lots of other little gripes and nit-picks regarding stock GB options masked or disabled by Motorola.
It isn't a terrible phone, but it also isn't terribly impressive either.
After all this time to get this Droid version right, I am totally UNDERwhelmed by this phone. Yes, it works...but not anywhere near as smoothly or fast or refined as the D1 did at its initial launch.
IMHO, this phone wasn't ready for launch when it was sold to customers.
I will see what root and the Devs can do for this phone, but this will officially be my last Moto device unless Google is somehow able to pull this kind of product quality out of the proverbial toilet.
All that, and we are still patiently waiting for bootloader unlock.
Only time will tell
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium

I blame the Motorola skin(blur)
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

JRowe47 said:
I've had several annoying things happen since getting the phone, but overall it's been a great experience. Here's some of the things that are bugging me:
Bloatware, lack of root. I've been lazy and avoided installing a launcher (bleh, ok, installing adw now .) Still, I paid good money for this, I expect a little love in return. Foisting off this crap on me isn't a great way to build brand loyalty.
Battery Life varies dramatically. Some days I'll be out taking hundreds of pictures over 4-5 hours and only use 40% or so - other days, I'll take a few dozen and end up using 90% of the battery in less than 2 hours. Definitely some wonkiness behind the scenes.
I'm not unhappy with the phone, overall - it's responsive and the HD video and camera have both served me well. It's just not all that it should be. Root will solve everything except the Gorilla Glass issue.
Feel free to chip in on other problems - it'd be nice to have a focused discussion to reference things wrong with this phone, once we have root.
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Click to collapse
I agree about these items. The bloat is unreal! I thought sprint was bad until I just switched to verizon. I also have had similar battery issues, leaving me alarm-less this morning due to my phone shutting off (I totally thought 30% would get me through the night like it had the previous night). Anyway, with root incoming soon, should be smooth sailing and constant flashing muwaahahahhhhhhaaa. Thanks devs!

ROOTED! And let me say, this thing is much snapper without Borkup Assistant (pun intended) and DLNA. Just dumping those 2 items alone have made a huge difference!!
Can't wait for bootstrap and custom recovery so I can ditch Blur. Gingerbread works, the mess with this phone is Moto itself.
Now that we have root, it won't be long to fix what Moto broke. ;-D
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium

When I have my phone charging for some reason the the touch screen isn't worth **** mainly scrolling when in an application or browser haven't seen to much about this anyone else experience this?
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium

Gripe:
The vibration for the notifications sounds sick. It starts strong and then quickly fades. This is in contrast to my D1 that had a strong buzz for the entire duration (I think it is a second per buzz).

ajbattaglia83 said:
When I have my phone charging for some reason the the touch screen isn't worth **** mainly scrolling when in an application or browser haven't seen to much about this anyone else experience this?
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
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This was a big problem with the D1 if you were not using a correct charger.
Are you using a proper Motorola Droid charger?

Bobbar said:
This was a big problem with the D1 if you were not using a correct charger.
Are you using a proper Motorola Droid charger?
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Ohhh **** I never thought of that, that would explain it...
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium

JRowe47 said:
[*]If I leave wifi on, bluetooth audio streaming skips for a second or two whenever a new wifi network is detected. Really annoying when I set up in my car.
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My Droid 3 and Droid 2 do this when I leave Wifi on and use Bluetooth to play music over my car's speakers (Ford Sync). I had a Droid X2 however for a couple of weeks and it did not suffer from this problem.

Coming from HTC Phone? My Initial Impressions

Here are my initial impressions on Motorola's Droid Bionic in comparison to every other HTC phone I've had (EVO, G2, myTouch 4G, ThunderBolt).
The Good
Best speced phone on Verizon
Fastest phone I've ever had (thank you Dual Core + 1GB RAM)
Absolutely lag free browsing
Motorola's 4G chip is quite a bit faster than even the ThunderBolt
Very thin
Very light
Gingerbread 2.3.4 (with Google Talk video) straight out-of-box
Call quality is stellar (actually sounds like talking to person in real life)
Camera and video quality is quiet amazing
Stereo speakers are loud and very good sound quality
Vibration (Haptic Feedback) feel is really effective and different
Notifications light is very useful (I was originally a BlackBerry user)
Talk and Web simultaneously on Verizon (just like the ThunderBolt)
Motorola's Application Platform UI looks really sweet
Easiest root method I have used
Lots of great ringtones and notifications (especially the DROID ones)
I can actually tell it's a Verizon device now (for some reason I couldnt feel it with the ThunderBolt)
Extended battery is very thin
Tons of accessories on sale right on launch date
Free overnight shipping if buying online
The Bad
The display quality is terrible (even though it's higher resolution than every other phone I had)
I can see the jagged edges clearly and black between the pixels
Also unsure if it's the UI or the display but colors look very dull/distorted
True yellow looks like mustard yellow
True orange looks almost brown
Motorola's Application Platform UI (previously known as Motoblur) is no HTC Sense
It is a very unique look and feel but I already miss the smoothness of HTC Sense
There are so many things locked down from modding to the point where apps that are supposed to work have compatibility issues
Now Facebook can only sync ALL my contacts and not just the ones existing already on my phone (like it did with HTC)
Corporate E-mail doesn't have option to sync more than 30 days
E-mail accounts cannot have separate notification sound/vibration settings
No unread e-mail number displayed on the E-mail account shortcut icons
Market Apps on my account did not sync down to the phone upon first login like most HTC devices normally do
Storage defaulted to internal storage and no option to change to SD card as default
The reception is a bit worse than on my ThunderBolt
When traveling I get switched over to 3G a lot more frequently
Camera auto-focuses too often
Tethering takes too long to give an IP address to devices (sometimes 2-3mins)
Volume randomly overdrives speakers and crackles when sound is playing (very rarely though)
Phone gets very hot, very fast, especially when in use
Battery life for out-of-box condition is not much better than on the ThunderBolt
Official OEM Matte screen protectors are not full surface of the glass (just the display) (Fix)
Additional OEM holster/shell combo feels very cheap and uncomfortable texture (also pricey)
No kickstand (Fix)
No FM radio (Fix)
No flashlight app (Fix)
Activation process can be a bit tedious
Additional Comments
I'm willing to let the display quality slide
Motorola has invested into this Pentile technology quite hard
Battery saving reasons - Link 1 + Link 2 + Link 3
They arent changing it anytime soon
Its not really a specific to the phone issue since it has been used before in other Droid devices
It definitely looks better than other Droids I compared at the store
I am willing to accept the flaws of Motorola's Application Platform since they are still somewhat acceptable
Although reception is generally worse, the stability of the signal is much better and faster in lower signal areas
Will not judge battery entirely yet because it has not been cycled to full condition yet
A few apps are not fully supporting the phone entirely yet (although I will wait for app updates)
The Facebook sync existing contacts only issue
No option to sync IM contacts (like for AIM)
Can't get Skype video to show my camera (just black) - (Fix)
SpeedTest app doesn't support qHD resolution and shrinks the app (Fix - Latest Update)
Other very minor apps don't support qHD or missing features
Overall Opinion
Still testing prior to completing this section

Talk and Web simultaneously on Verizon (just like the ThunderBolt)
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Click to collapse
You're just talking about LTE + Talk, correct? From what I remember from the FCC filing, the Bionic does not do SVDO on CDMA like the HTC Thunderbolt, since that was something special with the Thunderbolt's radio not present in the Bionic.

I am usually only a lurker but I logged in just to say, fantastic review! I like the bullet point approach as opposed to an essay.

Great review. I came from a Thunderbolt and the only thing I really miss is the kickstand. It's a pretty cool convenience.

Nice review, I'm thinking of getting the Bionic myself.

I totally forgot there's no FM radio on the Bionic.. Not that I ever used it on my Tbolt. I might have used it more if it didn't require headphones to be plugged in on my Tbolt.

My son has my old Thunderbolt, and one thing we checked out is what kind of signal we were getting in the same place. The Bionic consistently got two bars more than the Tbolt. I understand bars are relative, and therefore don't put a lot of stock in them. I'll try to find some app that actually measures the signal strength.
I haven't gotten around to looking at Exchange client apps yet, but just like with text messaging, I dislike depending on manufacturer apps for critical functions. I wonder if there is a client out there that does everything you want, and if that isn't the better approach? Even if it is a paid app, the price would have to be irrelevant compared to the benefit.
When I tether using Easy Tether Pro, the "connected" bubble comes up instantly on my laptop. What are you using? I'm hearing that wireless tethering doesn't work because Verizon has found a way to block it. There was an exploit that someone on the D3 forums found from elsewhere on XDA that provided a work-around. Are you using that?
Flashlight app can be downloaded. There are many. I am currently at 23hrs/70% battery with light usage, which is somewhat better than I remember doing with my Thunderbolt with dasBAMF. Also, I believe that the auto-sync of market apps was a function of the ROM rather than a stock feature of the Tbolt. For the case, you might want to consider the Otterbox Commuter. It was available day 1 but not offered by Verizon. The Defenders are huge and I can't see anyone who isn't in a rough-and-tumble occupation putting up with the size.
I don't remember Tbolt having Skype working. I went to a D3 when they came out, so it must have happened after that. I believe that a lot of what's bugging you now are things that will shakes out over the next few months, as they did with the Tbolt. I don't have faith that we'll get the kind of robust ROM'ing environment that the Tbolt enjoys unless someone defeats the encrypted bootloader. That, to me, is the real disadvantage to the Bionic and all other current Moto phones on Verizon.

I've had the Thunderbolt, Droid Charge and now the Droid Bionic.
So far the Bionic wins in every respect except for the screen. 4G connectivity on the Bionic is much more stable than on both the Thunderbolt and Charge. I frequently am in areas where there is no 4G, and the Bionic is the only phone I've used that seamlessly returns to 4G when it's available again. The Bionic may show fewer bars than the others, but when I go into Settings > Phone Info > Status, the signal readings are quite a bit better than I've seen on others.
For example, my Thunderbolt would range from -87 to -92 db in this one location, while the Bionic ranges from -83 to -89.

I came from the evo (rooted) and the sensation (had for 29 days then returned it). The sensation was by far the best device I have ever used or had. Battery life on that was amazing. The sensations qhd screen was almost perfect imo. The weight and feel of the sensation was perfect. Super slim and light. Only issue was T-Mobiles crappy service and wannabe 4g. Oh and I can't forget... sense 3.0 was great.
Now for the bionic. I picked it up on Thursday and also got the extended battery for it cause it was half price. I always hated the stupid lump on the back of the DROID x's. But with the bionic its not as bad. And the extended battery doesn't add much thickness either. Makes it feel right in the hand. My biggest complaint is the vibrate on this thing. Sounds like a 5 year old phone with a loud annoying vibrate. Especially the keypress vibrate. Crackles everytime i text. Now I don't know if I got a lemon but im gonna go to the Verizon store and see if there's do the same. Other than that... service is amazing. Call quality it great, speaker is loud and clear. The screen is where i need to stop being picky but im getting uses to it. It could be worse. Although some colors aren't just there. MOTOBLUR or whatever its called is different. But it works for me. Nothing like sense 3.0 but can't have everything. The bionic is fast. Very little lag with some apps. Not bad. Battery life with the extended battery is lasting me about 20hrs of heavy use. We will see how long I can keep the bionic knowing their is a new Htc device coming to Verizon. I don't think I will ever have another carrier again. Verizon has me now Haha.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium

Well I just went to the Verizon store and after playing around with the Bionic I decided to make the purchase. The Bionic is a really nice device.
First impressions
Experience: 3 hours
Previous devices to compare with: iPhone 4, Nexus S, Nexus One
The pros:
- Speed: the Bionic is quite fast and snappy despite the Moto-Blur or whatever they call it now, and the bloatware.
- The screen: what most people seem to knock it for I actually find it to be a plus. The screen is plenty bright, the colors look good, and this is coming from someone used to Retina, and Super AMOLED. Compared to the Droid Charge (Super AMOLED Plus) sitting next to it in the store I thought the colors though less vibrant looked more realistic. As for the pixelation people complain about with these Droids, I personally don't really notice it at all unless I look really close at the battery indicator. But I normally do not hold the phone that close to notice it anyway.
- Call quality: is excellent, voices come through loud and clear. The first call I took on it the volume was only up about half-way yet it was still plenty loud to carry on a conversation in a mall full of people.
- Light weight: despite its size the Bionic is surprisingly light weight. It's noticeably lighter then the iPhone and maybe even a hair lighter than the Nexus S.
- Size and form factor: I find the screen to be a nice size, its not too large and not too small. Compared to the iPhone 4 and Nexus S, I find using the keyboard on the Droid Bionic much easier thanks to the bigger screen. Also the form factor of the Bionic is nice, it feels nice in my hand, and FYI it is not as thick as it looks on Youtube or pictures you might have seen. Its thinner than the Nexus S but thicker than the iPhone 4.
- Coverage: while spotty with 4G, the coverage is excellent with 3G and the device does not seem to suffer much from the "grip of death" like my iPhone 4 did.
The cons:
- Build quality: The reason the Bionic is so light is probably due to the fact that it is made mostly of plastic. The Nexus S got knocked for being plastic but the plastic on Nexus S seems more solid and less flimsy.
- Slow 4G: This is likely due to where I live and not the device itself seeing as I get about 2 bars of 4G in my house. I'm only getting about 8 mbps down which is not bad but nothing like the 12-18 mbps I've seen in some reviews.
- Bloatware: Though it doesn't seem to slow the device down much, there are quite a few Apps I'll probably never use that I'll be looking to get rid of in due time.
- Camera: The camera is decent, the pictures look good but not as good as they did from the iPhone camera.
Undetermined
- Battery life: the battery only had about 40% left with the initial power up, and is down to about 30% after activation which took like 10 minutes, set up, and some playing around which no doubt drained the battery quicker than normal.
Conclusion:
If you are currently using an iPhone 4 or you are an Android owner looking to jump to Verizon from another carrier and you can't wait for iPhone 5 or the next Nexus, the Droid Bionic is not a bad choice. It's plenty fast, its got excellent call quality, good coverage, and a nice screen.

nedu09 said:
I am usually only a lurker but I logged in just to say, fantastic review! I like the bullet point approach as opposed to an essay.
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I wanted the TB for a while but could not find anyone wanting short of a mortgage payment for one. My wife and I ordered two Bionics and can always take them back within 14 days (should be here either Monday or Tuesday). Droid Eris was a decent little phone once it was FIRST released, wife had Motodroid, I have Droid X right. THE pattern tends to be better workmanship/part quality on Moto devices but better software on HTC. I will need to try the screen out before I judge it.

This was an excellent review. Amazing details....

Thanks everyone for the compliments. I'm still in the process of testing more things out and I will be using this phone very actively this week for work so I will update this review very soon. I'm hoping I can get the battery properly conditioned now. Plenty more details coming soon.

Just wanted you guys to know that it does have an FM receiver, just doesn't have the App. Infact, if you have TitaniumBackup installed you will notice an FM radio driver installed on the system.
P3Droid posted on twitter that you can install the D3's radio apk on the Bionic.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

Btw I'm coming from a DROID Charge, and prior to that a DX. I've only had the phone for a couple hours, so I'm not privy to say much, but so far, so good.
Screen is not as bad as people say it is. For one thing its much much more visible outdoors than it is on the Charge. Battery life seems more robust than my Charge running stock roms and kernels.
On the negative side, I find it to drop from 4g to 3g and back again as much as the Charge did which is very disappointing considering that was my only beef with the Charge and one of only two reasons I got the Bionic.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

For those not liking the missing FM radio, check out Tunein Radio.
It gives you'll the radio stations and it's streaming.

First Day of Work
Battery life on 4G is still on par with the ThunderBolt
Not having separate E-mail account notifications is really an issue (constantly checking my device if it's work related or not)
For some reason my phone seems quieter now than when I first got it and seems to have a softer version of this bug (Link)
Device switches between no reception and signal much faster than my ThunderBolt (ie. when coming out of the subway stations onto the street)
Also according to the battery manager this display is not consuming as much power as it did on the ThunderBolt (no longer #1 in power consumption percentage list)
I added a few fixes to the OP and an explanation to how the battery saving works on Pentile displays, see links.

open1your1eyes0 said:
First Day of Work - Battery life on 4G is still on par with the ThunderBolt; not having separate E-mail account notifications is really an issue (constantly checking my device if it's work related or not); for some reason my phone seems quieter now than when I first got it and seems to have a softer version of this bug (Link); device switches between no reception and signal much faster than my ThunderBolt (ie. when coming out of the subway stations onto the street); also according to the battery manager this display is not consuming as much power as it did on the ThunderBolt (no longer #1 in power consumption percentage list).
I added a few fixes to the OP and an explanation to how the battery saving works on Pentile displays, see links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have separate ring tones for my email accounts uusing the Gmail app.
The newly updated Gmail app has the ringtones buried deep into the settings. It's like that on Honeycomb too.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk

cdf3 said:
I have separate ring tones for my email accounts uusing the Gmail app.
The newly updated Gmail app has the ringtones buried deep into the settings. It's like that on Honeycomb too.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
My main accounts are my work e-mail (Corporate E-mail) and I have two personal and professional Yahoo mail accounts. It's really quite bizarre that Motorola would overlook something as obvious as separating Corporate E-mail and Yahoo E-mail notifications. I still can't get over that.

Second Day of Work
Battery life is still terrible and I'm forced to stick to 3G for the majority of my day just like I did on the ThunderBolt (can pretty much confirm now it's not getting any better)
The notification issue is still a problem but getting used to checking my device more often now
The volume bug is beginning to be an issue now, I often miss E-mail notifications when I'm outside because it's too quiet
My biggest problem however is this Shell/Holster I purchased. This thing is terrible for protection and the holster is atrocious. The nice and shiny top and bottom of the phone is exposed to scratches and nicks in the shell and the holster barely holds the phone in place (While travelling in the subway and it fell out several times onto the floor when shuffling between people), already have a few nicks
Decided I am purchasing the extended battery now, however, it is more important for me to get this thing protected at all costs so I am buying the OtterBox Defender case. Unfortunately, this is not going to work with the extended battery as OtterBox refuses to account for them therefore I'm going to have to set aside the extended battery until Seidio releases their case.

So I went to VZW to check it out (D2G owner)

Hi all,
I finally got a chance to go to the store to check one of these out. I wanted to see what all the hype was about and if I could justify spending the money to upgrade my D2G (not elligible for upgrade yet).
First Impressions:
- Screen: I read all the hysteria about how bad a pixelated screen looks etc. Some people said that you could barely see the difference unless youre holding the right up to your eye holes.. They are wrong. You can easily see the difference holding it at normal viewing distance. If you like the screen on the D2G it will take some serious adjusting to. It simply 'seems' like outdated tech and looks cheap.
-4G: This is the first 4G device I have ever used. It is shockingly quick (had 2 bars in Central NJ). I download a few apps (dolphin browser) and went to a couple of web pages. I also ran the speed test 19.6mb down // 3.99 upload. I went to youtube and loaded an HD video and the video never stuttered once (video time never caught up to buffering). I was very impressed with 4G and that is mainly the reason I wanted to take a look at the Droid Bionic.
- Stress testing:? Not sure what to call this but I wanted to see if I could make the phone hang up. Im not even sure if these are applicable to the hardware, but I ran 2 apps. The first of which was Google Maps, it didnt seem to be any faster than on my D2G. Scrolling isnt any more impressive neither is zooming in, I felt like the rendering speed was the same.
- Moto BLUR/UI whatever its called these days: Its still sucky you will want to root and change it.
I also downloaded a PDF and scrolled around that. Same issue, rendering doesnt seem any faster.
Im not even sure if something like this can be critiqued because these things arent even smooth on a regular PC.
Its clearly a good phone if you can deal with the screen thing. Once roms and stuff are developed for it, it will be even better. I would probably pull the trigger if i was elligible for an upgrade.
Just my 2 cents.

I personally wouldn't recommend the Bionic. I'm currently using one, as it "fell into my hands". There are many more options coming VERY soon which will have greater specs than the Bionic and won't have the terrible display.
I can't believe how much denial the people are in when they say that the screen is fine. If you say the screen is fine you're lying to yourself and everyone else, but whatever makes you feel better about your $300+ purchase I guess.
I will say that the Bionic has a leg up on my Incredible as far as outdoor viewing goes.

BerkleyJ said:
I personally wouldn't recommend the Bionic. I'm currently using one, as it "fell into my hands". There are many more options coming VERY soon which will have greater specs than the Bionic and won't have the terrible display.
I can't believe how much denial the people are in when they say that the screen is fine. If you say the screen is fine you're lying to yourself and everyone else, but whatever makes you feel better about your $300+ purchase I guess.
I will say that the Bionic has a leg up on my Incredible as far as outdoor viewing goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I'm in denial and deny it! lol.. its not the best screen, but its not horrible! I think its quite ok.. the pixels don't bother me much, my battery life kicks butt compared to tbolt! Then again, im not one for watching movies on my phone I got a Sammy LED at home for that...

For those of us who:
-would rather watch a movie on something larger than a 4 inch screen.
-would rather fap to pr0n from a pc
-would rather play games on a pc, xbox 360 or ps3
-care about performance of the best 4g radio and so far the best processor/ram combo
OR have a connection for incredibly good deals on phones and don't really care...
Yeah, denial is the right term.

Like i've been saying - Rendering performance will not be hardly any different until Icecream comes out. Gingerbread is singlethreaded.. you're not going to see the OS take any advantage over dual core for a while.
The good news is that it's still just as fast as any other single core phone. If any app is coded to take advantage of dual core, it will shine in those but in average usage - you're not seeing any performance advantage here.

The pentile screen doesn't bother me. I can tell at times but still doesn't impact me. I would rather have better battery life than a non-pentile screen. I don't want the Thunderbolt battery issues.
After removing a bunch of bloatware, I kinda dig the new Blur. I was using CM7 with ADW Ex on top. It is running so butter smooth! I will probably go back to ADW Ex when a ROM comes out without Blur.
I got 30 days to try it out but I might exchange it for the HTC Vigor. Depends on what happens the next 30 days.

Diversion said:
Like i've been saying - Rendering performance will not be hardly any different until Icecream comes out. Gingerbread is singlethreaded.. you're not going to see the OS take any advantage over dual core for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While it's true it's barely worth mentioning. "YET" or "UNTIL" are key vocabulary for this CPU.

Coming from a droidx here... the screen looks a-ok to me on the bionic.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium

I've been using htc phones since the ppc6600. Battery life has been terrible since then, and I don't see it getting any better, unless they do something magical. 6600:terrible battery life. 6700 terrible battery life. 6800: terrible battery life. Incredible : incredibly terrible battery life.
There seems to be a trend here. I do believe I am done with htc.
The battery life alone, to me, is worth the money.

No doubt that the screen is disappointing, but LTE is absolutely insane, and the phone is noticeably faster than the Sensation running a Sense ROM. Overall, I'm very pleased with my first Motorola device, and it was a steal at $179 from Amazon.
--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.

I think that people are being to anal about the screen. I use the phone in direct sunlight now and it looks incredible. The text looks super sharp and you dont have to put your hand on top of the screen to block sun light. this phone is amazing. and yes better phones will be out and when you get that awesome phone that will come out in a few months another better phone will be out after that. is a never ending cycle. I love the bionic and i dont regret buying it. When i want to watch porn I use my computer or my galaxy 10.1 tablet. If you really really need a porn fix the bionic could take care of it too.

86shelby said:
I've been using htc phones since the ppc6600. Battery life has been terrible since then, and I don't see it getting any better, unless they do something magical. 6600:terrible battery life. 6700 terrible battery life. 6800: terrible battery life. Incredible : incredibly terrible battery life.
There seems to be a trend here. I do believe I am done with htc.
The battery life alone, to me, is worth the money.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's Sense. Put CyanogenMod on any HTC device, and you get amazing battery life. Can't wait for it on the Bionic.
--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.

TheBiles said:
It's Sense. Put CyanogenMod on any HTC device, and you get amazing battery life. Can't wait for it on the Bionic.
--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense didn't exist until after the 6800. I had cm7 on my DInc, it still sucked, battery wise anyway.

The hate for the screen is warranted, and not warranted. I don't know how to put that. I was adamantly against a PenTile screen and it was almost enough to put me off on this phone. I had seen it in store and focused on the screen, and it just annoyed me. Then I got some real time with it and it's seriously a bunch of nonsense. The screen is sharp, great colors, great in daylight. It's not AMOLED level there but it's a do-it-all screen.
The 4G is super fast, and the battery life is amazing. I came from a Droid X and it's an impressive phone. Suck it up on the screen and you'll forget about it in a day.

Vexorg said:
Hi all,
I finally got a chance to go to the store to check one of these out. I wanted to see what all the hype was about and if I could justify spending the money to upgrade my D2G (not elligible for upgrade yet).
First Impressions:
- Screen: I read all the hysteria about how bad a pixelated screen looks etc. Some people said that you could barely see the difference unless youre holding the right up to your eye holes.. They are wrong. You can easily see the difference holding it at normal viewing distance. If you like the screen on the D2G it will take some serious adjusting to. It simply 'seems' like outdated tech and looks cheap.
-4G: This is the first 4G device I have ever used. It is shockingly quick (had 2 bars in Central NJ). I download a few apps (dolphin browser) and went to a couple of web pages. I also ran the speed test 19.6mb down // 3.99 upload. I went to youtube and loaded an HD video and the video never stuttered once (video time never caught up to buffering). I was very impressed with 4G and that is mainly the reason I wanted to take a look at the Droid Bionic.
- Stress testing:? Not sure what to call this but I wanted to see if I could make the phone hang up. Im not even sure if these are applicable to the hardware, but I ran 2 apps. The first of which was Google Maps, it didnt seem to be any faster than on my D2G. Scrolling isnt any more impressive neither is zooming in, I felt like the rendering speed was the same.
- Moto BLUR/UI whatever its called these days: Its still sucky you will want to root and change it.
I also downloaded a PDF and scrolled around that. Same issue, rendering doesnt seem any faster.
Im not even sure if something like this can be critiqued because these things arent even smooth on a regular PC.
Its clearly a good phone if you can deal with the screen thing. Once roms and stuff are developed for it, it will be even better. I would probably pull the trigger if i was elligible for an upgrade.
Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your comparing a Droid 2 Global to a Bionic .... Bionic>"D2G"
---------- Post added at 04:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:54 AM ----------
The "VERY" part of your statement, stands out as if you know something the rest of "non" Verizon Wireless employee's would know... if you dont work for verizon wireless please share what these options are..if you do work for vzw i can understand if you dont because you dont want to get a lawsuit.

Thx for the detailed review while playing with a demo model in-store for how long?
*crack me up!

manolith2011 said:
I think that people are being to anal about the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm spending $200 to $300 on an smartphone it better have a damn good screen. No offense but the Bionic does not have a good screen. Yeah at times it can look good but anything with green for instance suddenly brings out the crap factor. If it doesn't bother you then enjoy it. As for me I'll wait until either the HTC or Samsung offerings are out both of which will have a better screen over the Bionic.

About to upgrade

I am about to upgrade my phone. Currently on a Touch Pro 2 and Xrom. This will be my first Android phone and obviously I am considering the Bionic. I know nothing about Android and since Microsoft seems to have abandoned the smartphone world and very few phones are on 7, it seems like a good time to make the move.
I have read the reviews, scoured this forum and it looks like the Bionic is everything it is supposed to be. I am a noob, just an old one, this phone is my b-day present to myself, will be 48 in a few days. I do have a few questions...
Is the Bionic really the shiznit phone or should I wait for a while for a better phone on the horizon?
I can get this phone for $220 bucks through Amazon or $250 through Verizon. Is there any reason to not get it from Amazon?
I am not quite ready to get into flashing new rom's on Android as I have a lot of learning to do first, but I hate bloatware. With the TP2 getting off the stock rom was a good thing, I can go two days on a battery charge, but is it as important with Android? I know the Bionic can be rooted and bloatware removed, but does it slow the phone down if it is left there?
Thanks in advance, this forum rocks!

I upgraded from the TP2. Couldn't be happier. Didn't have many problems with the TP2, but it's old and outdated. This thing is just a beast. You could wait for something better, but I decided that it was time. If something else comes out and I want it, I'll just use a different upgrade.

Thanks, actually I have had zero issues with my TP2 that I got right after it's release. I wasn't sure I wanted to give it up, but I will have it as a backup phone so that works out. My only apprehension is the Motorola phone, I swore I would never have another after the MotoQ that got replaced 4 times in 4 weeks before I demanded a Touch Pro 1 and Verizon coughed it up to keep me happy.
I like new and learning Android will be fun. I just don't want to go through what I did with the MotoQ, what a pc of crap that was. Motorola used to be awesome, but I haven't had a good Moto phone since the StarTac.

Regarding buying it thru Vz vs. Amazon....a couple things come to mind
1) Who has a better return/exchange policy? Vz has 14 days to return and $30 restocking fee. If the phone is defective in the 1st year I believe Vz would give you a Factory Refurbished Phone. How does Amazon stack up to that? Brick and mortar store gives you same day service, pretty important if you can't live w/out your phone.
2) Are you planning to get any accessories? I don't know if it's still going on but when I bought my Bionic with the HD Dock, the dock ended up being $54. Normally I get a corporate discount of 25% on accessories, but this must have been some other promotion. So you may want to shop your complete purchase and get a total out the door price.
I had some buyer's remorse initially with the Bionic but overall I love the phone. I came from the HTC Incredible. The colors were more vibrant on the Incredible, but the Bionic looks OK. Reds, blues, and greens all reproduce nicely, yellow and orange leave something to be desired tho. But if you spend any time at all outdoors, the screen on the Bionic is amazing...it's very visible outside, something I'm not used to with my Incredible.
So far my only serious complaints with the phone is the issues it has switching networks, this is a known issue as you're probably aware and should be fixed with an OTA. Also, I haven't heard this from anyone else so it may be an issue specific to my location, but I exchanged my 1st Bionic b/c the voice quality over 4g was horrible. I could hear fine, but others couldn't hear me very well. The new phone had the same issues so I leave 4G off unless I know I need it. It very well could be an issue with my being on the outer fringe of 4G reception but I'm not sure. When doing speed tests over 4G I was getting 20Mbps down and around 6-8Mpbs up...so it would seem like I have OK signal.
Testing the demo at the store the pentile screen was very noticeable for some of the things I wanted to demo on the phone. I still see it from time to time, but it doesn't bother me, the text is clean and crisp and easy to read so that's good enough for me.
I have a little heartburn over the HD playback capabilities. Being that the phone comes with an HDMI output and offers an HD Dock to connect to your HDTV, I expected a little more with HD playback. I was hoping to throw a bunch of 720P movies on an SD card for when we travel and be able to play back the movies at the hotel. However the only HD playback I've seen from the phone that's smooth is video shot thru the onboard camera. Now I'm trying to figure out how to convert my existing movies to playback better on the Bionic.
None of these issues were dealbreakers for me. I keep in touch with what's on the horizon as far as other devices and aside from 720p resolution screens coming out, there's nothing that's really going to make the Bionic seem outdated. The only other phone I considered holding out for was the Nexus Prime. I like the idea of a brick phone that's just a large touch screen and the function buttons are built in to the app instead of being phsyical buttons...but I'd rather wait until we have a plethora of Ice Cream Sandwich O/S phones to choose from...I didn't want to put all my eggs in Samsung's basket only to be left disappointed.
Also something else to consider regarding 1280x720 screen resolutions...all of Verizon's 4G phones have struggled with battery life, I'd have to imagine a 1280x720 screen is only going to eat that up faster.

I would recommend against the Bionic, but only because of the locked bootloader situation. Not being able to load what I wanted was the reason I left the iPhone -- I don't want to settle for a half-baked solution with a rooted-but-unlocked Bionic.
Overall, the phone performs well (with the exception of random data connection loss and battery drain). But, for $200 or more, I ought to be able to do with the phone what I want.

There is no difference in buying from Amazon or Verizon directly, except with Verizon you have 14 days to return it for a 30% restock fee, Amazon will let you have 30 days. After 30 days you get a refurb from Verizon for the remainder of a year.
I understand battery life, the TP2 I had to charge after about 8 hours until I went with a custom ROM. I don't see much that it can do that I want to do that I can't already do with my TP2, except a better camera and movie playback. I do take pics with my TP2, but I am not sure I would take or play many movies with the Bionic, so that isn't much of an issue. I have a real camera and blue ray players all over the house. I know I would miss my physical keyboard, and every new phone I have touched with a physical keyboard feels like lightweight junk and nothing has the solid feel I am used to. The current Droid phones from Verizon leave little to be desired, with the exception of the Bionic. At least I can say the Bionic has a good feel, I will just have to learn to type on the touchscreen. The screen is large enough that my fat fingers can, I demo'd the phone at a VZ brick and mortar. I will miss my Bing Navigation but can adapt to Google, my old 7 series BMW is not BT capable, but does have Navigation that works, though I am so used to my Bing voice app that I rarely use it. I may get the Nav cradle for the Bionic, it has some appeal.
As far as unlocked phones go, the current trend from Moto seems to be locked bootloaders. I do believe that the awesome people here will crack that code or Motorola will give it up. Though I don't really see much reason to upgrade, my phone is getting old and I am a tech junkie at times. I think the time is now.
I am still interested in other peoples opinions, your experience has value, at least to me.

Personal Verdicts?

What are the verdicts so far from y'all lucky ones that have the phone already? I have seen lots of reviewers out there talk well about it but I'd like to know from the real life users who have been using the phone for days or more now!
I really want this phone and plan to get it when it drops in the US but what is everyones' personal review?

Of all the phones I've had I might just be the best. Battery life is good. I unplugged it 10 hours ago (8:15 am to 18:15) and I'm down to 70% in that time I've sent a few texts, emails, listen to podcast in my car over Bluetooth for half an hour. Taken a few pictures and listened to 20 mins of music. Not bad really. It's been on wifi for most of the day which is less taxing than 3G.
The screen is very sharp and colours are good. The screen looked a bit washed out for the first day or so, but that's because I've been using amoled for the last two years. Anyone thought the same? I'm already used to the new screen now though.
Still not sure about the camera? Stills really are hit and miss and when it misses its really not good. 1080p video is good, but only in standard mode. Use the 60fps or slow motion and there are some horrible artefacts which make it unusable for me.
The speakers are amazing! Listening to music on this just blows everything else away. Call quality is again a bit hit and miss. I've heard the odd hissing, popping and sometimes the caller sounding muffled, but in fairness the muffle could have been the caller's end.
So far I've not seen the slightest hint of any lag. This phone is very snappy and looking at the used and available RAM, the management looks good. Whenever I've checked there has always been over a gig of RAM free. Why do I keep looking? Because I've come from a Galaxy S3 which was crippled by its measly RAM. This is nothing like that I'm please to say. It looks premium and feels premium too. I can't think of anything else to trump it at the moment. Go get it!

A step forward
MrSteez said:
What are the verdicts so far from y'all lucky ones that have the phone already? I have seen lots of reviewers out there talk well about it but I'd like to know from the real life users who have been using the phone for days or more now!
I really want this phone and plan to get it when it drops in the US but what is everyones' personal review?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One is a Smartphone and not a phablet like the Note 2. If you want a top end Smartphone this is the One to get. Love the screen clarity and music playback. Will be using the my One a lot for music playback. Battery life so far better than I expected. Got through a work day with 60% left. I replaced the standard launcher with Nova and I am much happier now.

Read the stickied thread about reviews to see what users have to say. Mine is on the last page aswell.
Sent via my HTC One using XDA Premium

mwatson said:
Still not sure about the camera? Stills really are hit and miss and when it misses its really not good. 1080p video is good, but only in standard mode. Use the 60fps or slow motion and there are some horrible artefacts which make it unusable for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hit and miss? you never showed us your hits

hamdir said:
hit and miss? you never showed us your hits
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true! optimism, denial on my part maybe maybe?...

My personal verdict: From a scale from 0 to 10 I give a 10000
Superfast, beautiful design, good materials used, best-looking user interface (I even like it more than vanilla android), awesome stereo speakers, perfect screensize for me. Also important is 2GB Ram (1GB is out of date, apps get closed in the background too fast) and LTE...yes, there are some phones also with 2GB Ram and LTE but for me the HTC One is the best one of them, so I chose it as my next phone ^^ Never have been so satisfied by a phone

Screen: In a word, stunning. Once or twice in the past 2 weeks I have almost gone into a daydream like state looking at this thing.
Audio: I have never heard audio of such a quality from any mobile device. It literally makes people ask "what is that". If I had one small complaint, it would be that the lowest volume level is not low enough. The granularity of the incremental volume levels is too coarse. Maybe 24 levels and not just 10-12.
Battery: I have been pleasantly surprised by the battery life. I get through a day fine with it. If you play Real Racer a lot or wish to make a blockbuster movie with the thing then battery will not last as long.
Camera: Superb for a phone. If you wish to print out your shots then you will not be able to get higher resolution images out of it. This is not the job of a camera though. The video and snaps are fantastic I have found. HDR is pretty good also.
Speed: It's fast. Yep.
If you are getting this thing soon... if you have it on order... you will really like it. It just oozes quality. It just feels like a supremely well made piece of hardware. Oh... it looks amazing also.
Ok, they are having some trouble getting this thing out of the factories to the stores... but when they do... people will forget the frustration. It is superb.

Beautiful, lag free, awesome speakers - nuff said.

How is the overall UI experience? is it TRULY smooth/lag free? not smooth like people claim EVERY Android phone is (ok thats a stretch). I have yet to own a 100% lag free Android phone. Some pretty close, some smooth in many places, but not a single one would I call "lag free". That includes the Nexus 4, Note II, S3, etc... AOSP/TW/didnt matter.
Aosp on Note II was probably the closest but it had its bugs .

Had mine for a week now, I am a heavy user (not games, but lots of music /Internet/twitter /texts.
No lag at all yet.
I have had the nexus 4 and it even beats that and that was quick.
As someone said earlier, this is the nearest to the ios lag free feeling from any android phone. (even ios lags sometimes)
For me the only thing is the camera which I have not made my mind up about yet, I have had some amazing results but also some poor (probably more good than bad though) I need more time with the camera but overall I think it will be acceptable.
I have had a lot of phones and I have to say this is in the top 3 and I think it will be my number 1 but need more time with it before it gains that honour

crawlgsx said:
How is the overall UI experience? is it TRULY smooth/lag free? not smooth like people claim EVERY Android phone is (ok thats a stretch). I have yet to own a 100% lag free Android phone. Some pretty close, some smooth in many places, but not a single one would I call "lag free". That includes the Nexus 4, Note II, S3, etc... AOSP/TW/didnt matter.
Aosp on Note II was probably the closest but it had its bugs .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One is smooth. But lack of smoothness is Google issue as the first version of Butter was better but they changed for some reason. It is also faster than the Note 2.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium

This phone marks the end of the race in terms of screen quality. The camera is excellent if you have the time to make a quick couple of adjustments before you shoot. Blinkfeed is a consumer orientated gimmik aimed at users who have never heard of flip board. Lag is a thing of the past. Battery life is about what you expect from a top end smart phone, you'll see the day out with average use.
Speakers are the best of any device yet, just don't expect HiFi. Sense and indeed the initial stock and custom ROMs are very embryonic. I.e. when paranoid android breaks for this device it will open up a whole new world.
From a phone enthusiast who started with a Phillips savvy and one day traded a sony Z for a HTC canary.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

As a One X owner who intended to keep his phone for the full 2 years, I originally didn't have much interest in this phone...but the build quality is striking, and my One X is definitely feeling the limitations of its 1 GB of RAM.
Really looking forward to trying this out when it finally gets released in the US.

Here's my review after five days of ownership. Please remember where I make a statement below like 'x is better than y' it is purely my subjective opinion and i understand and realise others will not echo my thoughts. This is a reworked and updated review from the one I posted on Phandroid a few days ago.
This is my first HTC phone, having currently got an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which has been replaced by the HTC. I did have a Galaxy S3 but thought it was a POS.
Battery
Wow, i'm impressed. I ran it alongside my iPhone 5 and both had emails pushed to it at the same time. I received and replied to about five sms messages on the iPhone and about fifteen on the HTC and had maybe twenty emails to both devices over that time. I took them both off charge on Monday morning at about midday and the iPhone died at 11pm on the Tuesday night. The HTC didn't die until approximately 5pm on the Wednesday although it did have power saver on for the last fifteen percent. I am a light to moderate user of any phone and I am truly impressed that the battery on the HTC is a real stormer. For instance, I took the phone off charge one hour and twenty two minutes ago and it is still sitting on 100%. This battery is way better than my iPhone and that was impressive in itself. I couod not be happier with this result. I don't care what any of the reviews say, for me this battery is brilliant and that's what matters.
Build materials and Build quality
It's spot on. No gaps, no dead pixels, no dents, dings or scratches. Perfect. It feels great in the hand, has a pleasing weight to it; not too light, not too heavy. It looks and feels a million dollars. The aluminium is beautifully designed and the volume buttons sit flush with the side of the phone and have been cut in a concentric circle pattern, which is one of those little touches that shows that someone has really thought about this phone when they designed it. Sometimes I miss the power button with my huge spade-claw hands but that is more to do with me getting used to the power button being on that side (remember, I am an iPhone user so the power button on the top is perfectly natural to me).
Screen
Dear god! The best screen I have ever seen on a smartphone! No ghosting, no bleed, no tears and videos are crisp, clear and extremely high quality. I am very very impressed with the screen. The finger glide action is crystal smooth and the viewing angles are actually very good indeed. At the moment, colours seem vivid. I gather from other reviews that the screen colours look slightly washed out against other phones. If that is the case, you will not notice unless you are looking for it. For me, they are perfectly fine. Darks are dark and lights are light and all the colours in between seem rich and vivid; so I can't complain.
Beats Audio
Loud or what? Incredibly clear and distortion-free no matter whether you are playing Mussorgsky or Megadeth (I tried). Forget about booting up that phone in a quiet room like a bedroom at night or a library though! Try as I might, I couldn't get it to distort at all, no matter what I played through it.
Sense 5
Very good indeed. Easily better than my experiences with stock Touchwiz on my Samsung S3 and S2. Very smooth scrolling and the icons look sharp and have obviously had a rework for the new high-def screen. I thought I would dislike the vertically scrolling App drawer but it feels fine to use. I wish I could put more icons on my homescreen though but that will require a launcher. Maybe i'll do that in the not too distant future. Blinkfeed was interesting for a while but I found it very cluttered so I have removed all feeds from it. I will try it out again in a few days once the initial small-child-at-Christmas feeling has subsided a bit. As I mentioned in another post somewhere, Blinkfeed would be miles better if we could add in our own feeds or mail accounts. I would have no issues in having that as my home screen then. Until that time, it has been relegated to another screen and emptied of feeds.
The stock UI has some great touches and the various inbuilt apps are lovely and uncluttered to use. there isn't the sense that HTC have tried to cram as much in whether it will fit or not. Again, to me it looks like real thought has been given to the apps they have in the UI and they haven't tried to dazzle users with a function that looks cool but will never practically be used by 95% of the populace (i'm looking at you Samsung 'Popup Play' feature).
Camera
I am not David Bailey, so I don't care if my photos are not the best in the world. I have an expensive DSLR if I want to take exceptional quality pictures anyway. The camera on the HTC is perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not the best out there for a smartphone, sure, but it is perfectly serviceable and it is far from the worst. Low light photos are great and they easily capture more light than my naked eye can see. Zoe is fun to use and I have already found it useful for capturing 'that perfect shot' and discarding the rest. The time from tapping the camera app icon to taking an auto-focus shot is approximately one second, which is astonishing and way quicker than I was expecting.
Afterthoughts: - HTC Sync Manager
I'm new to the HTC and found this to be a very crappy piece of software that tries to be smart and immediately started trying to add in over twelve terabytes of movies and music (yes you read right). I imagine I would probably have had to come back sometime late next week once it had finished. I dislike the way it tries to intelligently scan for all your media. I have a lot of media across my RAID and NAS and so I have had to manually delete everything from HTC Sync Manager as there was no easy way that I could find to do it en masse. It does however allow you to port an iPhone backup straight to your HTC which for me was an absolute godsend.

constructorx said:
Speed: It's fast. Yep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it faster than pure android though?. Looking at N4, that also seems instant & fast imho.

I give it 500 out of 10 it's awesome
Only let down my video recording has hissing on it new phone from 3 coming today
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium

Scootmien said:
Here's my review after five days of ownership. Please remember where I make a statement below like 'x is better than y' it is purely my subjective opinion and i understand and realise others will not echo my thoughts. This is a reworked and updated review from the one I posted on Phandroid a few days ago.
This is my first HTC phone, having currently got an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S2 which has been replaced by the HTC. I did have a Galaxy S3 but thought it was a POS.
Battery
Wow, i'm impressed. I ran it alongside my iPhone 5 and both had emails pushed to it at the same time. I received and replied to about five sms messages on the iPhone and about fifteen on the HTC and had maybe twenty emails to both devices over that time. I took them both off charge on Monday morning at about midday and the iPhone died at 11pm on the Tuesday night. The HTC didn't die until approximately 5pm on the Wednesday although it did have power saver on for the last fifteen percent. I am a light to moderate user of any phone and I am truly impressed that the battery on the HTC is a real stormer. For instance, I took the phone off charge one hour and twenty two minutes ago and it is still sitting on 100%. This battery is way better than my iPhone and that was impressive in itself. I couod not be happier with this result. I don't care what any of the reviews say, for me this battery is brilliant and that's what matters.
Build materials and Build quality
It's spot on. No gaps, no dead pixels, no dents, dings or scratches. Perfect. It feels great in the hand, has a pleasing weight to it; not too light, not too heavy. It looks and feels a million dollars. The aluminium is beautifully designed and the volume buttons sit flush with the side of the phone and have been cut in a concentric circle pattern, which is one of those little touches that shows that someone has really thought about this phone when they designed it. Sometimes I miss the power button with my huge spade-claw hands but that is more to do with me getting used to the power button being on that side (remember, I am an iPhone user so the power button on the top is perfectly natural to me).
Screen
Dear god! The best screen I have ever seen on a smartphone! No ghosting, no bleed, no tears and videos are crisp, clear and extremely high quality. I am very very impressed with the screen. The finger glide action is crystal smooth and the viewing angles are actually very good indeed. At the moment, colours seem vivid. I gather from other reviews that the screen colours look slightly washed out against other phones. If that is the case, you will not notice unless you are looking for it. For me, they are perfectly fine. Darks are dark and lights are light and all the colours in between seem rich and vivid; so I can't complain.
Beats Audio
Loud or what? Incredibly clear and distortion-free no matter whether you are playing Mussorgsky or Megadeth (I tried). Forget about booting up that phone in a quiet room like a bedroom at night or a library though! Try as I might, I couldn't get it to distort at all, no matter what I played through it.
Sense 5
Very good indeed. Easily better than my experiences with stock Touchwiz on my Samsung S3 and S2. Very smooth scrolling and the icons look sharp and have obviously had a rework for the new high-def screen. I thought I would dislike the vertically scrolling App drawer but it feels fine to use. I wish I could put more icons on my homescreen though but that will require a launcher. Maybe i'll do that in the not too distant future. Blinkfeed was interesting for a while but I found it very cluttered so I have removed all feeds from it. I will try it out again in a few days once the initial small-child-at-Christmas feeling has subsided a bit. As I mentioned in another post somewhere, Blinkfeed would be miles better if we could add in our own feeds or mail accounts. I would have no issues in having that as my home screen then. Until that time, it has been relegated to another screen and emptied of feeds.
The stock UI has some great touches and the various inbuilt apps are lovely and uncluttered to use. there isn't the sense that HTC have tried to cram as much in whether it will fit or not. Again, to me it looks like real thought has been given to the apps they have in the UI and they haven't tried to dazzle users with a function that looks cool but will never practically be used by 95% of the populace (i'm looking at you Samsung 'Popup Play' feature).
Camera
I am not David Bailey, so I don't care if my photos are not the best in the world. I have an expensive DSLR if I want to take exceptional quality pictures anyway. The camera on the HTC is perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not the best out there for a smartphone, sure, but it is perfectly serviceable and it is far from the worst. Low light photos are great and they easily capture more light than my naked eye can see. Zoe is fun to use and I have already found it useful for capturing 'that perfect shot' and discarding the rest. The time from tapping the camera app icon to taking an auto-focus shot is approximately one second, which is astonishing and way quicker than I was expecting.
Afterthoughts: - HTC Sync Manager
I'm new to the HTC and found this to be a very crappy piece of software that tries to be smart and immediately started trying to add in over twelve terabytes of movies and music (yes you read right). I imagine I would probably have had to come back sometime late next week once it had finished. I dislike the way it tries to intelligently scan for all your media. I have a lot of media across my RAID and NAS and so I have had to manually delete everything from HTC Sync Manager as there was no easy way that I could find to do it en masse. It does however allow you to port an iPhone backup straight to your HTC which for me was an absolute godsend.
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Any lag with live wallpaper?

msterner123 said:
Any lag with live wallpaper?
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I'm happy to report that no, there is no lag on my device with live wallpaper enabled.

Wow! So this phone basically sounds about as amazing as I keep reading online. But the one thing I keep hearing about is the camera.. I'm going from an EVO 4G LTE (so basically a One X)... Is the camera quality going to be better or worse? From what I hear it's hit or miss but on average would you say it's an improvement?
I mean I really only use my camera for Instagram pics so I'm not really expecting 100% professional quality but I just want to make sure it's not a decrease in quality from my phone.
I just want a release date for Sprint now