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Bionic is great! But Droid Razr better?

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

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

Yeah, that RAZR is straight doinggggggggggggg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What do you fellow bionic owners think of this?

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

Well my opinion on this is simple.... there will always be something better coming out... regardless of what specs a certain phone has.. the next one will have something more... personally I love my Bionic... and I would like to see an ota or two out before I get another phone... but the Razr is something I think is being released to compete with the nexus prime or galaxy nexus or whatever its going to be called... its all marketing IMO. I just hope that the Bionic isn't forgotten or written off just because all these other devices are coming out.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Yeah I understand their need to "compete" with the nexus prime it is a beast of a phone. I mean they could of just bumped the Bionic up a bit more since it wa s already so delayed. I'm sure the Bionic could of handled the extra 200 mhz base and the superamoled vs pentile. Regarldess I still think the Bionic is nice, but it feels like another "place holder" phone for moto. Feels like they just did it to do it, and get over with.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Q] Tell me a made a good move

So yesterday was my birthday and my wife told me I could get a new phone. I am the previous owner of a Revolution. I actually kind of liked it especially once I rooted it and flashed gingervolt. I keep hearing that this phone is a massive upgrade from the revolution and I hope it is true. Did I make a good move by getting the bionic or should I have gotten the Razr or something. What should I do to my phone now that I have it and how. I hate to be a noob all over again but the dev on this is completely dif. Thanks alot guys!!!

Well you didn't make a necessarily "bad" move. I have a Bionic, Tbolt, and a Razr and I use the Bionic. Its a great phone.
Look at the Thunderbolt or Bionic thread in this forum.

Noob_In_Recovery said:
So yesterday was my birthday and my wife told me I could get a new phone. I am the previous owner of a Revolution. I actually kind of liked it especially once I rooted it and flashed gingervolt. I keep hearing that this phone is a massive upgrade from the revolution and I hope it is true. Did I make a good move by getting the bionic or should I have gotten the Razr or something. What should I do to my phone now that I have it and how. I hate to be a noob all over again but the dev on this is completely dif. Thanks alot guys!!!
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I had a Revolution and a Charge before getting the BIONIC and it is the best phone I have had, the Motorola radios are fantastic and get great reception. It is also easy to root using motofail http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1497690 and I would recommend http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1327695 the Eclipse 2.2 Rom if you decide to mod. This is a GREAT phone
If I helped you please don't forget to click on the "Thanks" button below.
Rod

The Razr is slightly better in specs but I don't think at this point, that makes too much of a difference. They're pretty much getting the same roms from what I've seen.
I think it comes down to preference. Do you prefer a skinney phone or something with some bulk? For me personally, I like having the bulk of the bionic.
As far as talk about the bionic being outdated, that's a little over exaggerated. While it's not the newest and most up to date, it's still far from being outdated. Considering Motorola hasn't released ICS yet, the its best days of rom development are still to come.
On a side note, get used to using rootzwiki and droidhive to find a lot of things that you will need.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA

I have no upgrade available to me, I'd have to buy this phone outright (that $499). Would you get this phone?
I current have a Droid Charge and the biggest limitation of this phone that I have right now is the limited RAM (only 512 MB) and the single-core CPU.

trparky said:
I have no upgrade available to me, I'd have to buy this phone outright (that $499). Would you get this phone?
I current have a Droid Charge and the biggest limitation of this phone that I have right now is the limited RAM (only 512 MB) and the single-core CPU.
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I would still get the Bionic.

trparky said:
I have no upgrade available to me, I'd have to buy this phone outright (that $499). Would you get this phone?
I current have a Droid Charge and the biggest limitation of this phone that I have right now is the limited RAM (only 512 MB) and the single-core CPU.
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I'm sure you can get on Craigslist and buy one for around $200-250 if you want to go that route. Some people jumped on the nexus bandwagon.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA

Coming from a Sprint Photon, with dual core and moto radios, I was still impressed with the speed of the phone, and with Verizon's service in my area.
Good decision!

ONLY BUY NEW. Craigslist is bogus. Don't waste your time
Sent from my Iced Bionic

coldhardtruth said:
ONLY BUY NEW. Craigslist is bogus. Don't waste your time
Sent from my Iced Bionic
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I also own the Bionic and the Tbolt.
I got my Bionic on Craigslist from a local guy and it was mint and still using it today.
Nothing wrong with Craigslist.
Just do your homework and check the phone out. If you feel better meeting at at Verizon store and get it checked out there do that. I sold a droid phone and they wanted to do that and I had no issue with it because I knew I was selling a working phone. If they are not willing to do that I would stay away...

Coming from a Droid x I can say that the bionic is the truth
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

kendive said:
I also own the Bionic and the Tbolt.
I got my Bionic on Craigslist from a local guy and it was mint and still using it today.
Nothing wrong with Craigslist.
Just do your homework and check the phone out. If you feel better meeting at at Verizon store and get it checked out there do that. I sold a droid phone and they wanted to do that and I had no issue with it because I knew I was selling a working phone. If they are not willing to do that I would stay away...
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I have purchased a "LG Revolution+ then upgraded to a Verizon DROID Charge" and then finally moved up to a "BIONIC". All purchased off craigslist and never any issues. I also insist on meeting at a Verizon store and no funds change hands until I am happy with the purchase and the Verizon rep has activated and given it a clean bill of health. I will continue to buy of craigslist in the future.

I was switched from the Rev to the Razr to the Bionic. VZ put a lot of support into getting me a phone that would do PC data correctly.
In contrasting the three phones: the Rev's receiver appears to be most sensitive and the power meter works correctly, the battery usage is the highest (unacceptable); the Razr would not stay in my hand, it has the best display contrast, the Maxx would be the right product (right size and longest battery life), it suffered with wi-fi bugs, there were lots of user keyboard command stalls; the Boinic has very good battery life (can be left on overnight), connector placement is better than Razr, excellent audio quality, and by the time I received the Bionic new firmware came out and fixed the wi-fi bug.
The Rev was a good phone but in my view LG doesn't put the effort into fixing firmware bugs, compared to Motorola. The usability of the Bionic is more westernized.
It appears that the current new product strategy is to release known bugs and support any customer who takes issue with a bug. In reading this forum you can see how the digital data wi-fi bugs were released and how it affected "our" view of the devices. All three devices I listed had these problems.
Lets be honest "it is all about the money". With world wide shipments over 100 million a month all the manufactures want those early shipment dollars. Historically those are the highest profit dollars available.
Another thing to consider (my guess) is that the Bionic production line is steaming along pumping out products to be sold, the Razr line is doing the same. So it would be a big income hit for Motorola to obsolete the Boinic, and Moto would only want to do so if the two products were competing for limit manufacturing resources which is highly unlikely.
It appears is that Motorola has at least two products in the Bionic and Razr that utilize mostly the same firmware so they can double dip into the world smartphone sales with highly leveraged after sales firmware support. That is the kind of move to put them back into number one in sales again.

I've bought many things off of Craigslist and only ever bought one bad thing which was a redring Xbox. Bought all my kids iPod touches from Craigslist, bought 3 cars, my android tablet, a blackberry , a different Xbox, and some other things without any problems.
I'm sorry to hear that not everyone has had a positive experience from Craigslist. You just have to check out what you buy first. Another good thing about Craigslist is that many times you can talk the person down on their original price. I'm always talking them down $10-20 on the iPod touches.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA

sgschwend said:
I was switched from the Rev to the Razr to the Bionic. VZ put a lot of support into getting me a phone that would do PC data correctly.
In contrasting the three phones: the Rev's receiver appears to be most sensitive and the power meter works correctly, the battery usage is the highest (unacceptable); the Razr would not stay in my hand, it has the best display contrast, the Maxx would be the right product (right size and longest battery life), it suffered with wi-fi bugs, there were lots of user keyboard command stalls; the Boinic has very good battery life (can be left on overnight), connector placement is better than Razr, excellent audio quality, and by the time I received the Bionic new firmware came out and fixed the wi-fi bug.
The Rev was a good phone but in my view LG doesn't put the effort into fixing firmware bugs, compared to Motorola. The usability of the Bionic is more westernized.
It appears that the current new product strategy is to release known bugs and support any customer who takes issue with a bug. In reading this forum you can see how the digital data wi-fi bugs were released and how it affected "our" view of the devices. All three devices I listed had these problems.
Lets be honest "it is all about the money". With world wide shipments over 100 million a month all the manufactures want those early shipment dollars. Historically those are the highest profit dollars available.
Another thing to consider (my guess) is that the Bionic production line is steaming along pumping out products to be sold, the Razr line is doing the same. So it would be a big income hit for Motorola to obsolete the Boinic, and Moto would only want to do so if the two products were competing for limit manufacturing resources which is highly unlikely.
It appears is that Motorola has at least two products in the Bionic and Razr that utilize mostly the same firmware so they can double dip into the world smartphone sales with highly leveraged after sales firmware support. That is the kind of move to put them back into number one in sales again.
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I agree. My outlook on the razr and the bionic is that it gives the user a choice between a bulky phone or a skinny phone. Some people prefer the bulk, and others prefer it to be thin. This allows Motorola to cover both markets. The difference in their specs is minor compared to the difference between the bionic and the revolution (or any of the previous Verizon androids released) so whichever you choose will be better than what you had.
From what I've seen over the past 3 years of owning an Android, Motorola is one of the, if not the, best in supporting their Android devices. They also tend to have better battery life. Now if we could only get them to unlock the bootloader so we could attract some of the HTC rom developers over. Nothing wrong with having more variety in rom selection.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA

Galaxy S3 is not significantly nicer that Bionic

I got a GS3 because it's the last subsidized upgrade I'll ever get through Verizon (and keep unlimited data).
Pros of gs3:
Nicer screen (but too big for easy one handed use)
Lighter weight
Other than that, in the real world there are no other advantages. With the .232 leak, the Bionic seems just as fast, and this includes gaming so far. The Bionic build quality is better, the radios are at least as good, and it actually feels better in the hand (the sg3 is BIG). And I already miss my Lapdoc.
Bottom line is that the Bionic is still a great phone with a new lease on life with ics. You ain't missing much other than the latest new device buzz.

I'm actually coming to the Bionic from a different Samsung device (Charge). I wouldn't have high hopes for the radios if I were you. Samsung still hasn't proven that they can get them right as seen by complaints with the Nexus. Maybe the S3 is different...I sure hope so.
That said, they do lots of things really well. I'm anxious to put the Bionic through its paces because, for me, this is an upgrade in every sense of the word.

My girlfriend had a Droid 2 global and I have a DX2 work phone. Both the DX2 and D2g are horrible phones. Girlfriend accidently dropped the D2G in the toilet (where it belongs) and I begged and pleaded for asurion to give us a non-moto phone. She ended up getting the bionic and she's happy, and fiddling with it the other day I'm actually quite impressed as well with it.
I'll stick with my nexus till verizons contract expired and I'm done with them though.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

That is a good question: what new phone is worth upgrading to from the Bionic?

ronaldheld said:
That is a good question: what new phone is worth upgrading to from the Bionic?
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hardware wise there is nothing mind blowing right now that I would upgrade to but I would definitely suggest the Galaxy Nexus if you prefer tinkering more as the Nexus lineup is the most "open" of any Android phone and would provide you with the best user community

I'm happy with my Bionic, but the GS3 blows it out of the water.

Nothing out now is worth upgrading from a Bionic. I'll be waiting for a device with an OLED screen (not massive hopefully) and an OMAP5 beast of a processor. I'm perfectly happy with my Bionic until then.

My wife had a HTC Thunderbolt and it is quickly showing its age so we were able to get her a Galaxy S3 which I got to setup and play with.
Compared to the Bionic from a hardware standpoint, both devices are similar performance wise. The SGS3 has a little better of a gpu on it, a faster cpu and has double the ram of the Bionic, but the difference is still minimal spec wise. The biggest difference is the screen, the SGS3 has a MUCH nicer screen and the size is great. Finally I like that Samsung put a big enough battery in the SGS3 (2100mAh) compared to the Bionic's 1730 mAh battery which isnt big enough IMO.
From a software standpoint my Bionic on the ICS leak is just as smooth and seems about as fast as the SGS3. I also like the new Blur a lot more than Touchwiz though both are pretty nice. Other than that? I like the overall build quality of my Bionic better and it seems like Motorola has finally got the radios down with the basebands in the ICS leaks.
Would I trade my Bionic for a SGS if it was free? Not sure but I definitely wouldn't pay for one. Since I am grandfathered in on unlimited data with Verizon, my next phone will not have a subsidy unless I am willing to give up my unlimited data (which I am not) so I will have to pay full price. That means my next phone will have to blow my Bionic out of the water and I don't see any of the current devices out there doing that....not even the upcoming rumored Razr HD.

TY for the little review of the SGS3 vs our Bionic. I hated the fact that everyone shunned the Bionic. Coming from an OG Droid it was a definite upgrade. With the announcement of the RAZR, RAZR Maxx, and Galaxy Nexus everyone seemed to jump off ship too quick. Everyone complanied about the screen, the dropped network, etc...everyone was quick to point out what i believe are small flaws. For me the Bionic was the phone I wanted and am not dissapointed in it. The locked bootloader made the development community small. Without roms like those from Dhacker, DroidTheory, Eclipse team, and Liberty team, our phones would be very bland. I never gave hope on it. I was bummed when we lost a few of the devs due to the ungrateful people who didn't appreciate their hard work. I was really stoked with the announcement of ICS for our phones. And now with the leaks out I am much happier with my phone until the eventual upgrade. The SGS3 is nice but it not a worthy upgrade imo now that we have leaks and eventually an official ICS. Sorry if I took this off track.

amageus said:
TY for the little review of the SGS3 vs our Bionic. I hated the fact that everyone shunned the Bionic. Coming from an OG Droid it was a definite upgrade. With the announcement of the RAZR, RAZR Maxx, and Galaxy Nexus everyone seemed to jump off ship too quick. Everyone complanied about the screen, the dropped network, etc...everyone was quick to point out what i believe are small flaws. For me the Bionic was the phone I wanted and am not dissapointed in it. The locked bootloader made the development community small. Without roms like those from Dhacker, DroidTheory, Eclipse team, and Liberty team, our phones would be very bland. I never gave hope on it. I was bummed when we lost a few of the devs due to the ungrateful people who didn't appreciate their hard work. I was really stoked with the announcement of ICS for our phones. And now with the leaks out I am much happier with my phone until the eventual upgrade. The SGS3 is nice but it not a worthy upgrade imo now that we have leaks and eventually an official ICS. Sorry if I took this off track.
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I like Moto's phones i also came from the OG droid. i think Moto does a good job on quality. i want something built good not some flimsy little piece of plastic. i figured the SGSIII would blow the bionic away but from everything i have read it is not so. I will keep my Bionic and my unlimited data until Moto comes out with a quad core than i might think about moving on but not until then.
i would also like to state that it also will depend on what the dev community moves onto as well since it seems that phones from VZW will now always be locked down.

Personally I think the Bionic is the most underrated phone in Android history. I bought mine on release day, upgrading from the OG Droid, and have been happy with it ever since. Now with the ICS leak, combined with my extended battery, 32Gb Class 10 SD card, and Lapdock 500, I have to say it's the closest thing to a perfect device I've ever owned (the one flaw being the locked bootloader).

amageus said:
..... Without roms like those from Dhacker, DroidTheory, Eclipse team, and Liberty team, our phones would be very bland....
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and sparkyman216 - get on that train Bionic faithful!

I too went from a Bionic to the SGSIII. I wanted one final subsidized device so I could keep my grandfathered unlimited plan as well.
I will admit, my biggest gripe with the Bionic (aside from the lack of an official ICS release) is its pitiful camera. I'd also really like to have a 720p screen and/or a little bigger screen area and some more internal storage since you don't get the "full" 16Gb internally on the Bionic.
At any rate, I got the GSIII and I have to say I am quite underwhelmed in several key areas. The camea is awesome in comparison to all of my various Moto devices over the years but it still seems slower to focus compared to my coworkers' iPhone 4S or even the HTC One X/Evo 4G LTE.
Probably my biggest gripe with the GSIII is its diminished battery life compared to the Bionic with an extended battery. Yes, it's a lot thinner but I'd gladly add a hump to the GSIII to get another 2 hours of runtime out of it. Gaming sucks when you are in CPU power saving mode!
The GSIII is also quite slippery and if I keep it I will investiage some kind of textured battery door or thin skin case.
As far as the pros, its reception is STRONGER than my Moto in strong areas (but weaker in fringe areas) and the call quality is really superb--a first for a Samsung! That screen is fabulous and I feel that 4.7" to 4.8" is the perfect maximum usable screen sizefor a modern smartphone. The S4 CPU flies and gaming is a total job on this device.
While I didn't think it would be a problem, I have grown to DETEST the capacitive buttons on the GSIII, especially when trying to type in landscape mode. I have big hands and my right hand is always hitting the menu button by accident. I also miss a side-mounted microUSB port and I miss having a standard microHDMI port. I have the 232 leak of ICS on my Bionic and I have a new appreciation of the HDMI port due to the revamped ICS Webtop mode and losing it is gonna really suck!
Not sure which way I will end up going as I really feel 50/50 about hanging onto the ol' Moto or jumping ship to the Sammy.

unbesorgt said:
Personally I think the Bionic is the most underrated phone in Android history. I bought mine on release day, upgrading from the OG Droid, and have been happy with it ever since. Now with the ICS leak, combined with my extended battery, 32Gb Class 10 SD card, and Lapdock 500, I have to say it's the closest thing to a perfect device I've ever owned (the one flaw being the locked bootloader).
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Completely agree.

And
unbesorgt said:
Personally I think the Bionic is the most underrated phone in Android history. I bought mine on release day, upgrading from the OG Droid, and have been happy with it ever since. Now with the ICS leak, combined with my extended battery, 32Gb Class 10 SD card, and Lapdock 500, I have to say it's the closest thing to a perfect device I've ever owned (the one flaw being the locked bootloader).
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The Bionic and the Rezound are both the most underrated android devices ever, and I own both.

I'd get the G3 if it had quad core in the US. But I'm real happy with the bionic/lapdoc combo with ICS. I don't think there is a more usable/versatile use of a phone with that.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 (SGS3 from here on..) on my desk for work.
Let me start by first saying the .232 ICS leak on the Bionic finally resolved my data drop issues, where data went away for no reason and it took a battery pull or airplane mode toggle to bring it back, although 3G <-> 4G hand offs are extremely slow. The Bionic with the 6.7.232 ICS leak is what I expected the Bionic to be (except the screen is worse than I expected) when it was sent to me in Sept 2011. Camera is typical Moto "phone" camera quality. Reception (with this leak) is great, battery life is very good (for an Android phone), etc.
I still use my Thunderbolt as my "daily driver" due to its screen and camera and general phone/email performance. With the Rezound 1620mah battery, and the stock 1400 as a spare, I can last as long as I need to between charges.
I hate touchwiz (both on my T-Mobile SGS2 with GB and ICS, and the VZW SGS3). Blur on the Bionic is "just enough" to help but not get in the way, and actually looks good. While touchwiz on the SGS3 "looks" better, it still looks "cartoony."
In day to day use (so not looking at every single feature/function, but rather only those I actually use), I like the calendar of the SGS3, its camera and its display quality over the Bionic. I also like that the SGS3 supports simultaneous voice/data over 3G. Those are 3 areas the Bionic doesn't keep up. Beyond that, the Bionic (with 6.7.232 ICS Leak) now has better reception, and the rest is a tie.
Would I buy an SGS3 if my Bionic was my daily driver (ICS or GB on the Bionic, assuming I didn't have the data drop problem)... I don't think so. While the camera and screen (colors, sharpness, readability, etc) are better on the SGS3, I don't think its worth spending the money.
Will I use the TB or the Bionic as my daily driver? Because of the screen and camera, I'm back on the TB for now.

I plan on buying a GS3 once I have the money, but it will be hard for a bit. The Bionic, my first smartphone, has been damn near perfect. Awesome ROMs once I worked up the bravery, made it even better. And now with official ICS, it has a new life and I love it. But I'm ready and begging for something new to play with and the GS3 is looking perfect.
I definitely agree with others who say the Bionic is overrated. I would argue that until that besides the Galaxy Nexus, the Bionic was pretty much the best phone on the US market until 2012's powerhouse phones dropped. On Verizon alone, I would take the Bionic over any phone until the GS3.

i think the camera is software limited, the post processing "magic", jpeg compression, noise handling, or maybe the auto-focus algorithm
samsung has digital camera worked together with SGS development

Let me preface by saying that I am one of the official testers of phones for my public safety department that are issued to our administrators of which I am one. Because of Sprint's slow and horrible data connection speeds, they have been bounced in favor of Verizon's network. I also have a personal phone which until recently was also on Sprint's network. I was so impressed with Verizon's 4G data that I paid the ETF and switched to Verizon. As such my phone history has been (after we jettisoned Blackberry in obscurity which I am not counting):
Work
Motorola Xprt
Motorola Admiral
Droid 4
Bionic
Personal
Hero
Evo
Galaxy S1
Evo 3D
Galaxy S3
As such I've had the opportunity to watch "generational" leaps in phone technology. The Hero to the Evo was such a leap. The Evo to the Bionic was such a leap. And now the Bionic to the Galaxy S3 is another evolutionary leap in technology. Keep in mind that I carry (as do most of our administrators) the Bionic. I recommended the Bionic because it met our tight security standards yet was fast, well built, and did everything well. That it would eventually see the next generation of Android was a plus and of course I have already previewed the unofficial pre-release unofficially . I determined that the Razr was not the leap in technology that warranted much excitement. It wasn't an option to be fair.
Now saying all that I steadfastly disagree with the notion that the Bionic is in the same league with the Galaxy S3. Sure, they do basic functions and the Bionic which has been woefully underrated and Verizon's EOL little gem, stands toe to toe with the best of them. However, the Galaxy S3 just does everything better and gives you more. Screen to screen there is no comparison. Speed, responsiveness, smoothness, software, hidden features, ergonomics, call quality, picture quality, video the list goes on...the Galaxy just does it all better. It is in my opinion a "generational" leap in technology. This is my unbiased opinion and mind you that on my recommendation, we carry the Bionic as the official work phone for my department. But for personal use, the Galaxy is a technological wonder and is arguably the best phone on the market; yes besting the One X as an overall better kit. Unfortunately we will not see the Galaxy S3 issued due to cost and security concerns, but really don't kid yourselves, the Galaxy S3 right now is in a league of it's own.

To upgrade or not?

So i have had my Bionic for about 2 months now and im looking to get a new phone already. Love the Bionic to death, just bored of it, and was wondering what phones compare to the Bionic for specs and root capabilities and BL unlock. I know Verizon is pretty tight when it comes to phones that have bL that are unlockable. So what would you all recommend as an upgrade?
sent from my DROID BIONIC via XDA App

XperianceIT said:
So i have had my Bionic for about 2 months now and im looking to get a new phone already. Love the Bionic to death, just bored of it, and was wondering what phones compare to the Bionic for specs and root capabilities and BL unlock. I know Verizon is pretty tight when it comes to phones that have bL that are unlockable. So what would you all recommend as an upgrade?
sent from my DROID BIONIC via XDA App
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If I didn't lose my unlimited plan I'd get the Galaxy S3, that being said, how can you be bored with the Bionic? It's not a clown:laugh:, just a phone.

fozzir said:
It's not a clown:laugh:, just a phone.
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LMFAO! Mine didn't come with the red nose and after 6 months stopped making animal shaped balloons!
48656C70206D6521

I've had mine since December, and am planning to have it for 2 years (longer if I don't break it). What's to get bored of? Does a 6 month newer phone get you a different internet?
Sent from my XT875 using Tapatalk 2

Well if you're going from 3G to 4G i'd say it's not any different but faster XD. With the new ICS coming out your Bionic will be different. Not sure how you get bored with a phone after 2 months. I've had mine sometime after launch and with the new ICS Leak it's like a whole new phone. I am not sure what you're looking for especially if you're looking at a phone with near specs. If after 2 month you're bored of it obviously the phone wasn't meant for you. ICS brought more life out of the phone for me. As stated above I intend on keeping this phone for years especially with VZW's so called shared plans. Almost all VZWs phones have a locked bootloader. Hopefully Hashcode gets us the ability to load custom kernels then that's when the fun begins.

I find the bionic to be as good as a nexus with the leaked ics. Then again I prefer stability and sticking to a rom for several months at a time unless there's major bugs
So personally id keep the bionic as there really aren't any huge upgrades out there.
Unless you love a amoled screen but I really like the display on the bionic as I can make out things in sunlight
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

Keep it!
There aren't really any phones out with more horsepower than the Bionic - with dual core and a gig of ram it can run any Android flavor just fine.
I'm curious - what is it that "bores" you with the Bionic? What feature would you be looking for?
Not meaning this to be snarky - but seems to me if you're "bored" with your phone you have waay too much time on your hands. Start developing with it if you have free time - us regular users will love you for the work!