Database Develop

Locked down?

Will the Bionic have a locked down bootloader like the droid x?

I have no knowledge on the subject, but I can only assume that it will.
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Yeah, Moto confirmed it. It can still be rooted though (I'm assuming) , which is the most important thing to me personally.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

I love this community, and the ability to try others' work. I think Moto will keep their products locked to a degree. Done with them yet holding on to my Droid.

Who knows though now that Xoom is unlocked, maybe Moto finally got the hint. We can all wish, but until the release comes, we won't know for sure

The Atrix 4G got locked down, but hopefully we will have better luck..... My Droid Eris is feeling slower by the day, but I won't use my upgrade on a locked-down phone.

I remember reading from a few different places that the bionic has a good chance of being unlocked. That's because the chip they are using in the bionic vs. D2 and dx. The d2 and x have a certain chip that needs to locked down or something but since the bionic has the Tegra processor it won't have that special chip. I hope this is the case.

is this phone even worth getting? i'm due for an upgrade and they been trying to throw the iphone4 at me but i've been waiting for this...now i wonder if this is a waste of time... my eris is driving me crazy so i want something fairly soon...this phone seems to be the only worthy choice though for verizon customers...are there any other competitive options besides this phone without switching carriers?

bill.mahoney said:
is this phone even worth getting? i'm due for an upgrade and they been trying to throw the iphone4 at me but i've been waiting for this...now i wonder if this is a waste of time... my eris is driving me crazy so i want something fairly soon...this phone seems to be the only worthy choice though for verizon customers...are there any other competitive options besides this phone without switching carriers?
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Thunderbolt? They believe they have a root for it already. And for sure is unlocked. It's for sure gonna have a great dev community.

oh. ok. i'll look into it more...i was under the impression it was for sprint like an evo2 replacement... didn't know it was verizon. ty

erismaster said:
I remember reading from a few different places that the bionic has a good chance of being unlocked. That's because the chip they are using in the bionic vs. D2 and dx. The d2 and x have a certain chip that needs to locked down or something but since the bionic has the Tegra processor it won't have that special chip. I hope this is the case.
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Chip's called e-fuse
The atrix boot loader is signed not encrypted
I expect the same will happen to the bionic as its basically an atrix with less RAM and a larger screen
Swyped from my captivate

Mr.Pie[OCN] said:
The atrix boot loader is signed not encrypted
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Good News!!! And I definitely want the Bionic because the Thunderbolt is essentially the Evo 4g with less battery but more ram(768mb vs 512mb). It also is essentially the same thing as the Droid Incredible, but with 512mb vs 768mb of ram.

lesismore1 said:
Good News!!! And I definitely want the Bionic because the Thunderbolt is essentially the Evo 4g with less battery but more ram(768mb vs 512mb). It also is essentially the same thing as the Droid Incredible, but with 512mb vs 768mb of ram.
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not really as the signed partitions and the bootloader is essentially checked each boot
devs are working to see if we can bypass it or something....but at least it isn't encrypted which gives the devs a slightly higher chance of finding a fix vs having the bootloader encrypted

Not to get get off topic but I wish the root population was larger. Then when motorola does encrypt their phones then it's not like the lesser 5% of the phone purchasers being upset about it. Me getting this phone depends on if it's unlocked or not. I have friends all the time ask me to root their phone. I have a few friends that run custom roms that I put on. Not one of them has had a problem(knock on wood) I don't see a big risk in rooting and flashing custom roms, especially with how easy it is nowadays. That's my 2 cents

Mr.Pie[OCN] said:
not really as the signed partitions and the bootloader is essentially checked each boot
devs are working to see if we can bypass it or something....but at least it isn't encrypted which gives the devs a slightly higher chance of finding a fix vs having the bootloader encrypted
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I know that, but it's better news than if it was encrypted and/or had something similar to an e-Fuse, and that's what I meant in good news. I knew it wouldn't be the same as a Nexus S or Nexus One (which are Dev friendly), but my Eris had a bootloader (S-On) which so far as I can see is the same as a signed bootloader (correct me if I'm wrong). Hopefully, it'll just be a couple of weeks/months to crack it but (knock on wood) at least we won't be stuck with the situation Droid X owners have.

Also, unrelated note, but I played with a friends Atrix 4G for about 30 minutes, and a couple things......
Good
1. Fast as hell! (In apps, games, typing, etc) Very lag free! (see below)
2. In game, incredibly smooth and great looking screen. Better than other friend's Droid Incredible, and colors look nearly as good as my old Zune HD.
Bad
1. Home screen lags quite badly. My friend had lots of apps on desktop and though the Live wallpaper and app drawer were smooth, switching left to right was laggy.... Very nitpicky but annoying.
Overall, I still want the phone (more than before), and want Cyanogenmod on this thing badly!

lesismore1 said:
Good News!!! And I definitely want the Bionic because the Thunderbolt is essentially the Evo 4g with less battery but more ram(768mb vs 512mb). It also is essentially the same thing as the Droid Incredible, but with 512mb vs 768mb of ram.
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Not really, the thunderbolt has a new generation snapdragon, between that and the extra ram, and better video processor, it's actually WAY faster than an Evo 4G. Out of the box quadrant scores are around 1975, and general performance is really much better than an Evo in every way. (not saying it's faster than a bionic obviously, but it definitely isn't the same thing as an Evo).

ncobs said:
Not really, the thunderbolt has a new generation snapdragon, between that and the extra ram, and better video processor, it's actually WAY faster than an Evo 4G. Out of the box quadrant scores are around 1975, and general performance is really much better than an Evo in every way. (not saying it's faster than a bionic obviously, but it definitely isn't the same thing as an Evo).
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Thanks for clarifying. When I looked to check facts for the comparison, it only said 1 ghz Snapdragon, so I assumed the same CPU/GPU as the first gen.

still the tegra 2 is a faster processor ... otherwise its more of a wait and see...
I have decided to wait for the bionic instead of getting the thunderbolt... unless the tb comes out tomorrow... but that is very unlikly.

im so sick of seeing people compare the evo to the thunderbolt, first things first, LTE is better than WiMAX. Second of all the processor arent even close, and you know on the evo if you use a task killer, it might have 250mb or RAM free, when you do it on the bolt, you will have overmb free, it will never lag. ever. and the only time it will fall behind the bionic or atrix is gaming, thats it

keep my Bionic or return it for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus?

keep my Bionic or return it for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus?
it looks like an awesome phone but without the SD card I'm not sure if you can root it and install a custom ROM.
does anyone know if you can, or how good of a development community past phones like this have had.
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yes you should

cryptiq said:
yes you should
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cryptiq is very cryptic

My established bias against Samsung mobile products, in combination with the lack of an SD card slot or HDMI output, lead me to say "meh".
I do like me some vanilla Android, but the probability is high that the Bionic will have AOSP-flavored ICS by the middle of next year, while the Nexus... will still have a Samsung radio baseband.

MillionManMosh said:
My established bias against Samsung mobile products, in combination with the lack of an SD card slot or HDMI output, lead me to say "meh".
I do like me some vanilla Android, but the probability is high that the Bionic will have AOSP-flavored ICS by the middle of next year, while the Nexus... will still have a Samsung radio baseband.
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You know what. I like you. I completely agree.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

I'm happier with my Bionic than I expected to be after yesterday. Given that right now, the Bionic is still the only phone out there with 48 (possible) GB of space and an extended battery, the bionic is still holding its own

what bias do you have against Samsung? talk me out of wanting this phone lol. can you instal a rom on a phone without an SD card?
also if you look at the pic of the galaxy nexus with the battery cover off the top right looks like an SD slot. but the specs don't say it.
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Keep the bionic it'll have ICS soon enough and you can flash custom roms without the sd card.
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richmelchr said:
also if you look at the pic of the galaxy nexus with the battery cover off the top right looks like an SD slot. but the specs don't say it.
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That's the SIM card slot. You don't need an SD card to install a custom ROM. But you do need one to keep your application backups in a safe place. An SD card gives you a lot of flexibility for moving multimedia on/off your phone. Could I live without it...yeah, there are plenty of work arounds. Would I want to live without it, no.
I think it comes down to how you want to use the phone. Personally I like the docks available for the Bionic. I have the car dock and the HD dock and they were some of the reasons I waited to get the Bionic over the Tbolt....and I really really like HTC.
What matters most to you when when you're looking at a phone? Screen size, color saturation, thinness, battery life? Make a list of those factors, then objectively rank each phone on those factors, tally up the score and voila, you've figured out which phone is best for you.

The bootloader in the nexus is unlocked already

richmelchr said:
what bias do you have against Samsung? talk me out of wanting this phone lol. can you instal a rom on a phone without an SD card?
also if you look at the pic of the galaxy nexus with the battery cover off the top right looks like an SD slot. but the specs don't say it.
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Click to collapse
In total, over the past year, I have used seven Galaxy S based phones, including a Captivate, two Fascinates, and four Droid Charges. I experienced:
Numerous and persistent issues with their radio software on every single phone, to the point where I would be missing texts and calls on a regular basis. Plus, the signal quality never matched phones I had with Qualcomm basebands, and the Charge in particular would lose 4g data (or data altogether) on an alarmingly regular basis. GPS issues that persisted on every phone- the Charge, as a whole, was the best, but it still took 30 seconds to lock with quarter-mile inaccuracies at times- compared to the Bionic or my old Incredible with 3-second pinpoint locks.
The other issue is with their customizations of Android, which are almost always unpolished and rushed. This won't be an issue on a Google Experience phone, but the radio issues alone are enough to put me off of buying Samsungs until they figure out they should be buying their basebands from Qualcomm like everyone else.
I'll wait for the Anandtech review and some in depth specs about who actually makes the hardware to make a final decision- there's a possibility that they are really doing things right with this phone- but I will take a lot of convincing.

MillionManMosh said:
Numerous and persistent issues with their radio software on every single phone, to the point where I would be missing texts and calls on a regular basis. Plus, the signal quality never matched phones I had with Qualcomm basebands, and the Charge in particular would lose 4g data (or data altogether) on an alarmingly regular basis
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My Charge had these issues as well, as does my brother's, and my best friend's, and almost anyone I sell a Samsung phone to (I work in retail). I am a bit concerned with Samsung's baseband capabilities, but iirc with the Nexus series, the hardware is all Samsung and the software is all Google. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's always been my impression.

richmelchr said:
what bias do you have against Samsung? talk me out of wanting this phone lol. can you instal a rom on a phone without an SD card?
also if you look at the pic of the galaxy nexus with the battery cover off the top right looks like an SD slot. but the specs don't say it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bias is the same as the previous comments, Samsung and LG have horrible radios, Motorola has the best. The galaxy nexus isn't enough to get me to consider another pos Samsung phone, but if that note comes to Verizon I'd be tempted by that 5.3" screen.

Your asking if you should get a galaxy nexus or bionic. In a bionic forum? I have a bionic. But the nexus is a superior phone. HD AMOLED, bigger screen
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I'm considering getting the nexus and selling my bionic. With this huge launch of a phone I'm sure they worked out a lot of kinks and fixed their radio issues
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BFirebird101 said:
I'm considering getting the nexus and selling my bionic. With this huge launch of a phone I'm sure they worked out a lot of kinks and fixed their radio issues
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I loled. Samsung makes sexy looking products for sure! If they work like they're supposed to , that's a different story. Also no external SD card = fail. Srsly ppl main thing this phone has over the bionic is just ICS. 200 mhz oh noes! HD super amoled 1280 x 720 yes it's a beautiful screen. But if I want to ohh ahh at graphics i'll watch **** on my 2 x 30 inch monitor setup at home . Lagfree camera cause I totally need to snap picture after picture on my phone 8). I'm sure the bionic can do it with the proper software derp. Ah Android always making people rage at their current device cause of minor hardware bumps. Hopefully ICS will set things right and fix what's really problematic, the software!

Display is garbage gen 1 just like I said.
http://tinyurl.com/3e59ffz
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bigsapz said:
Display is garbage gen 1 just like I said.
http://tinyurl.com/3e59ffz
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Wrong article G, but I know what you're talking about. The "minus" one?
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BFirebird101 said:
I'm considering getting the nexus and selling my bionic. With this huge launch of a phone I'm sure they worked out a lot of kinks and fixed their radio issues
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Seriously??!! Why would you think that?
Based on every other smart phone I have dealt with at launch, the end users are typically beta testers.
Just wait; I predict that there will be plenty of Nexus issues for all.
RMD

BFirebird101 said:
I'm considering getting the nexus and selling my bionic. With this huge launch of a phone I'm sure they worked out a lot of kinks and fixed their radio issues
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
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They never work out all the kinks. Thats why we have a development community. They usually work more kinks out than the manufacturers.
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Thoughts on getting Bionic

Hey guys, I am currently the owner of a Samsung Charge with a cracked screen. While still functional, its a little annoying. I am thinking about getting a new phone off eBay as contract renewal isn't an option. While I would love a Nexus, Rezound or Razr, the prices are way too high. I noticed the bionic is reasonable at $200-250 on ebay used. Seems like the only reasonable LTE dual core actually. How is the bionic? Sounds like people like them, community pretty strong with the development of ROMs? Any reasons to avoid it?

The Bionic is a good phone itself, crippled by a locked bootloader. Because of that Dev has slowed down quite a bit. If I were you, I'd save for the Galaxy Nexus.
Dont take my word on this, but I read somewhere that you could still use LTE phones with bad ESNs just by putting your sim card in them so maybe you can get one on the cheap.

Initially, I HATED the bionic because of the lack of development going on and that it had a locked bootloader and the wifi tethering couldnt be used even though rooted.
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One month later....
I absolutely LOVE the bionic! There aren't as many devs out there for it BUT P3droid and dhacker29 absolutely rock the living crap out of the phone and they work almost fulltime with it. With the 5.5.893 update manually installed(its a ***** to install if you used safestrap even once) the phone doesn't have a buzzing anymore and is fast and smooth! I came from being a hardcore HTC product fan(see name) and I don't honestly mind the bootloader being locked right now as Blur is actually nice.
My suggestion... Buy the Bionic, learn about it and enjoy having a phone that is able to keep up with new phones(nexus and razr) without overclocking or kernal swapping. The sheer knowledge of the devs and the ingenuity that they exhibit is MORE THAN ENOUGH to keep me with this phone for several more months. Once the bootloader is unlocked, it will be a contender for the next year or so.
P.S. The 5.5.893 update actually gets rid of headphone buzzing and the data drop issue!

As someone who has owned both Samsung and Motorola handsets,there is no comparison when it comes to build quality. The last Samsung I had, I retired it early because I had to. It was literally cracking and falling apart and I am not rough with my phones. My last Motorola (OG Droid) I retired it because I wanted to go to 4G and it still is being used on a daily basis today. I just hope that all of the people who went for the GNex are still as happy with it 6 months from now. I'm pretty sure that I will still be happy with my Bionic. JMHO.

htcdesirezgeorge said:
Initially, I HATED the bionic because of the lack of development going on and that it had a locked bootloader and the wifi tethering couldnt be used even though rooted.
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One month later....
I absolutely LOVE the bionic! There aren't as many devs out there for it BUT P3droid and dhacker29 absolutely rock the living crap out of the phone and they work almost fulltime with it. With the 5.5.893 update manually installed(its a ***** to install if you used safestrap even once) the phone doesn't have a buzzing anymore and is fast and smooth! I came from being a hardcore HTC product fan(see name) and I don't honestly mind the bootloader being locked right now as Blur is actually nice.
My suggestion... Buy the Bionic, learn about it and enjoy having a phone that is able to keep up with new phones(nexus and razr) without overclocking or kernal swapping. The sheer knowledge of the devs and the ingenuity that they exhibit is MORE THAN ENOUGH to keep me with this phone for several more months. Once the bootloader is unlocked, it will be a contender for the next year or so.
P.S. The 5.5.893 update actually gets rid of headphone buzzing and the data drop issue!
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Click to collapse
Go to droidbionicroot.com. It is a great resource for the Bionic including wireless tether. The guy shows you how to do different stuff via you tube video. I played a coulple of games of Battlefield 3 on Xbox 360 with it. I had no lagging issues.
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lol exactly! I changed the entitlement check(super easy) and havent been busted by verizon for the month and a half Ive used it.

I don't know why anyone would ever get the Bionic now with the Nexus and Razr available. This phone is insanely disappointing with the locked bootloader.
--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.

I see brand new Razrs on Craigslist for $300 all the time. Comes down to preference and whether you want to shell out the extra $50. I think the Razr is a little bit better build quality but the internals are all but identical. Running current firmware they're both reliable, quick phones. I prefer daylight visibility and a swappable battery to the AMOLED and slightly more rigid frame. YMMV.

MillionManMosh said:
I see brand new Razrs on Craigslist for $300 all the time. Comes down to preference and whether you want to shell out the extra $50. I think the Razr is a little bit better build quality but the internals are all but identical. Running current firmware they're both reliable, quick phones. I prefer daylight visibility and a swappable battery to the AMOLED and slightly more rigid frame. YMMV.
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On ebay the Razr is going for $400-500, $300 would be a steal. Anyway, I got the bionic, was able to pick one up for $230 including the car dock and extended battery. I am sure its better than a Samsung Charge with a cracked screen.

I had VZW trade me a razr for my bionic because of 4 diff devices having the same problem with connectivity. Other than that I loved it, good solid phone. Invert I got past the Pentile screen which isn't that bad as others say it was like my dx on steroids. I'd still have it if nor for my problems with it, but like others say price wise might as well look at a razr. Whatever feels best
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If you enjoy tinkering with your phone, I would advise against the Bionic. The locked bootloader sucks, and I don't see it being unlocked anytime soon, if ever. Although there is some dev support, it's not much. Motorola has great build quality, but as long as they keep locking their phones down, I don't think I'll be buying anymore of their products. The Nexus has massive support, already, and the Rezound got unlocked, today, so expect to see dev support take off for that. If I were you, I'd stick it out with the Charge until you can afford one of those.
Edit-Sorry, I missed your post about getting it.

I just came over from using a charge. The charge has a better screen but the bionic is so much faster and more reliable. The charge did best for me with stock roms. Every custom rom i tried there was something wrong with it. So now that i have the bionic i took the latest ota update and i rooted it. Couldnt be happier. It was a good purchase as i sold my charge for 200 and got a mint bionic for 215 on swappa.
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I've had the bionic since release. When the droid razr and galaxy nexus came out and all the devs moved, I was disappointed and pissed off. But after enabling webtop2sd and webubuntu along with dhacker's fabulous rom, I think it's safe to say that I'll be staying here for the next 2 years. Droid razr and galaxy nexus may be newer phones but they are both missing either the sdcard storage or the external battery. The Bionic has it all!

Ooh whats webtoptosd or whatever
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If you are a Sam's Club member (or know someone who is) you can get the Bionic for $120.00 with the Renew/Upgrade option or $50.00 with the Add More Lines to My Account option. But if you buy it as a Replacement Device, it'll cost you $570.00. I bought mine from them about end of October for $150.00 and added a line to my wifes' account. They have come down since then.
Hope this helps.
Tony

I recently came from the Fascinate which had a solid dev community, but the device was crippled with its lack of RAM. I am very happy with my Bionic on stock rooted. The screen isn't as vibrant add the SAMOLED but the device itself is fast and it has a ton of features. The build quality is far better than the Fascinate and hopefully the Droid branding will mean quicker updates (even though we are still on 2.3.4).
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I had the Bionic for nearly a year and was pretty happy with it except for the bootloader issue. Flashed the ICS leak and it was like a brand new phone. But for some reason it started having data drop issues. I couldn't live with that. So after my third Razr replacement they gave me a HTC Resound. Having a phone with an unlocked boot loader for the first time has been a real eye opener. I happily bode Motorola goodbye. (they are liars anyway with the empty promise of unlocked bootloaders on their devices. To date they still have not honored their promise.) The Razr was a dog. No battery life and majordata drop issues.
So I am a HTC fan now. So far so good. Hopefully this phone will last a while. I don't plan on renewing my contractwith big red so I can keep my unlimited plan. Don't need the newest phone just data with options.
Sent from my HTC Rezound
Unlocked Bootloader
Rooted with S-Off
using Tapatalk 2

The bionic is a GREAT phone! 1.2Ghz dual core (rated at 1Ghz but the ICS update bumps it up .2) 1GB DDR2 RAM. Don't worry about the locked bootloader, they have a work around figured out on that now (its called Kexec) and dhacker29 is developing CM10 (Jellybean 4.1) for the bionic right now. I have used the alpha version and it is smooth as butter. It is alpha so there is a few bugs but it will be a usable daily driver eventually and that is what the SGS3 and Nexus is running (Jellybean). I have used the Samsung Charge before and the Bionic is leaps and bounds ahead of that phone. If you keep it stock on ICS (the official update is out soon or you can run the leaked version for the time being) or load roms it truly is the best bang for the buck out there in the 4G world. There's a good reason why this is the phone I chose to use. My $0.02

this thread is 9 months old, y'all

[Q] Should I trade for the Bionic?

I have the opportunity to swap my Fascinate for a Droid Bionic +$150. I don't have 4g in my area yet but it is supposed to be coming in the next couple months. The phones are both perfect. I am in contract until march 2013 and have unlimited data. What do you guys think? I would miss AOSP but the Bionic is way more future friendly it seems like and I have to live with this phone for the next 14 months. Looking for your 2¥
I should also mention that I have another fascinate (with a broken screen) that I can revert back to.

Love my bionic after I flashed the 901ota leak data is solid the developement is not near as active here but if you have to pay 150 I would look for a little better phone like with a unlocked bootloader my 2 cents
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It's worth it. While the rom community isn't the largest, there are worse. The bootloader isn't really as big of issue as some make it out to be. I've had an unlocked bootloader before and had less rom development for the particular device.
The bionic is a very solid phone and has pretty decent battery life. Every Android has it's issues so there will always be complaints but its the best Android I've ever owned. Overall I've had 7 devices (5 phones + 2 tablets) and this one smashes them all.
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Coming from the Charge and only having the Bionic a couple of days, I'm definitely impressed. Even on stock it was pretty smooth. But I would try to talk the person down to $125. Seems more like a fair trade imo.
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Buy mine for $225 in fs thread and keep your fascinate. Check it out in my thread started section.

Thanks for the input everybody. I've had a lot of different phones and have modded the crap out of all of them. I had a droid X2 so I'm no stranger to locked bootloaders. Also had HTC incredible 2 which was probably the best phone I've ever had. Had the iPhone as well which sucked in almost every single way, even jail broken. I'm not afraid of the locked bootloader on the Bionic because I know exactly how I would mod it and can do it all with what's available.
As much as I love the fascinate, it is buggy. Major audio issues, poor call quality, questionable reception, flaky data, and all regardless of rom or kernel. I can tolerate it now but not for 14 months.

Lowered price to $200

3UR0TR45H said:
Thanks for the input everybody. I've had a lot of different phones and have modded the crap out of all of them. I had a droid X2 so I'm no stranger to locked bootloaders. Also had HTC incredible 2 which was probably the best phone I've ever had. Had the iPhone as well which sucked in almost every single way, even jail broken. I'm not afraid of the locked bootloader on the Bionic because I know exactly how I would mod it and can do it all with what's available.
As much as I love the fascinate, it is buggy. Major audio issues, poor call quality, questionable reception, flaky data, and all regardless of rom or kernel. I can tolerate it now but not for 14 months.
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You won't have poor reception or call quality, Motorola has the best of any manufacturer. They also normally have great data but the 4g through them off, however they have fixed it in the .901 update. I recommend doing the .901 update and flashing eclipse v2.1 found on the eclipse forums and you will be very content. Also, one problem with the bionic is when you flash a new rom you will wipe a lot of things saved on the internal memory (same with the X except most things auto saved to the actual SD card instead of internal like the bionic)

eraursls1984 said:
You won't have poor reception or call quality, Motorola has the best of any manufacturer. They also normally have great data but the 4g through them off, however they have fixed it in the .901 update. I recommend doing the .901 update and flashing eclipse v2.1 found on the eclipse forums and you will be very content. Also, one problem with the bionic is when you flash a new rom you will wipe a lot of things saved on the internal memory (same with the X except most things auto saved to the actual SD card instead of internal like the bionic)
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That's the biggest thing I hate about the bionic. It keeps saving everything to the internal memory instead of the external SD card. I have more space on my SD card ans its barely being used unless I manually move things there. I also get messages saying there isn't enough available space when attempting to update certain apps such as Google+ and angry birds even though I do have the space.
Motorola does have one of the better reputations in the android world (even with a locked bootloader). They are one of the best at keeping their devices up to date with new versions of Android and typically continue to update their devices after other companies stop updating theirs. They also typically have some of the best battery life on android, least from my experiences (I can only speak on rooted phones, not stock right out of the box.)
Purchasing a Motorola Android is typically a good purchase (not a fan of the Droid x series though due to physical buttons and the positioning of the button that turns your screen on and off or power if a hard press).
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ms0chez said:
Coming from the Charge and only having the Bionic a couple of days, I'm definitely impressed. Even on stock it was pretty smooth. But I would try to talk the person down to $125. Seems more like a fair trade imo.
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Click to collapse
I also recently switched from the Charge. Bionic is much better, except for the camera and occasional data drop (just toggle airplane mode, no biggie). Much more responsive, fewer bugs, and sturdier hardware.

If I were you I would look for another deal. I had the Bionic for 2 months and ditched it for the Rezound. The camera and the screen on the Bionic are horrible. The only thing that helped with the Bionic were the developers, without them it would be even worse.

nrage23 said:
If I were you I would look for another deal. I had the Bionic for 2 months and ditched it for the Rezound. The camera and the screen on the Bionic are horrible. The only thing that helped with the Bionic were the developers, without them it would be even worse.
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Click to collapse
I highly doubt he will find a better deal. Maybe if he waits until spring and all the flippers grow tired of their nexus and ditch it, then he may get a better deal.
For me personally, the bionic is a great phone and I no longer have the issues it once. If you think your going to own an Android and not have any problems, your on the wrong mobile operating system as Android will have it's issues for a while yet. Crap, Samsung phones can't even run every app, including that new nexus. It has its problems also.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

Get the bionic, coming from the fascinate you will be extremely pleased. In my opinion, .901... camera is good, no more service drops... DO IT!!!!
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

I'd go with the bionic. I had the facinate rooted now i have the bionic rooted. the facinate is no were close to being as good as the bionic
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium

Don't get me wrong, I love my phone, but I have had nothing but problems with it. Having an internal SD, continues data dropping no matter what framework. Ect you have, dying developer community (all that's left is DHacker's and his ics), and a bs stock core clock since all the new phones have the same core at 1.2 instead of the bionics 1.0. It has good specs, don't get me wrong, but just cause something has nice parts doesn't mean they all work flawlessly together.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

bigeddthemonk said:
Don't get me wrong, I love my phone, but I have had nothing but problems with it. Having an internal SD, continues data dropping no matter what framework. Ect you have, dying developer community (all that's left is DHacker's and his ics), and a bs stock core clock since all the new phones have the same core at 1.2 instead of the bionics 1.0. It has good specs, don't get me wrong, but just cause something has nice parts doesn't mean they all work flawlessly together.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every Android has their issues. You're not going to get around that. The nexus has problems running some apps that we can run perfectly.
Not sure what your talking about with the internal SD card as it has both an internal and external. Unfortunately the default is set to save to the internal.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

My reference to internal sd is the sad to fact you just stated, your screwed useing the miniscule internal 1. And that's alot more than a few problems, plus there major issues, not a minor fault in an app, these are(mostly) hardware issues, not software. Oh, and the galaxy nexus runs on ics, of course its gonna be buggy, gingerbread has been out for a while so we can't blame it for bionics faults
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

bigeddthemonk said:
My reference to internal sd is the sad to fact you just stated, your screwed useing the miniscule internal 1. And that's alot more than a few problems, plus there major issues, not a minor fault in an app, these are(mostly) hardware issues, not software. Oh, and the galaxy nexus runs on ics, of course its gonna be buggy, gingerbread has been out for a while so we can't blame it for bionics faults
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
All Samsung phones are buggy. I own an app development business and 80% of the complaints are from Samsung owners having problems running certain apps. Its not just the nexus that has the compatibility issues with some apps, but Samsung in general.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

[Q] Would you recommend an Atrix HD?

Hello, I'm currently using a Motorola Defy, but I need a phone with a bigger screen, so I can edit documents, like word, excel, etc...reading PDF documents, browse on the web a little bit more comfortable, not gaming since I don't play a lot on the phone; that being said, would you recommed a Motorola Atrix HD to me? I was planning to make a BIG effort to get a Samsung Galaxy S3, but, checking on the specs of both, the screen is almost the same, the camera quality is almost the same, I know Motorola Atrix is 2 cores and Galaxy S3 is 4, but for my normal usage 2 cores is more than enough and the difference on the price is also a big plus.
I have being offered with a good deal for the Atrix HD, what do you say? take it or leave it? I would highly appreciate your comments, thank you.
EDIT: this device can be rooted? talking about Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X, these can be rooted?

The latest HTC One X and the Motorola Atrix HD both share the fact they cannot be rooted. You have to get an older HTC One X if you plan on getting root/romming it. While I am not a big Sammy fan, they would be your best bet for rooting.

Well, rooting is important for me :S despite the fact that the phone is not able to be rooted so far...would you recommend it? thanks you!

Despite the non-rooting, I would say that the AHD is a top quality phone. Yes, the SGIII is more powerful machine, but for the $50 I paid for AHD and the $199 I would have paid for the SGIII, it is worth ever dollar.

Just inquiring to how the sg3 is a more powerful phone?
ATRIX HD feels like much more solid phone.
They both have the s4 processor, Same GPU, and the ATRIX HD has better resolution.
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium

davezaff said:
Just inquiring to how the sg3 is a more powerful phone?
ATRIX HD feels like much more solid phone.
They both have the s4 processor, Same GPU, and the ATRIX HD has better resolution.
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has 2GB of memory, much better camera, and some of its NFC capabilities is superior, and its info says that it is compatible with the 64 GB sdcard unlike the AHD and the internal sdcard for GSIII is 16GB / 32GB and the AHD only has 8GB

davezaff said:
Just inquiring to how the sg3 is a more powerful phone?
ATRIX HD feels like much more solid phone.
They both have the s4 processor, Same GPU, and the ATRIX HD has better resolution.
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 GB of ram goes a long way. I know there's a fair amount of wasted ram not being used, but it really does make a difference. The removable battery is a huge bonus and the amount of development on this phone is shockingly underwhelming compared to any variant of the Galaxy S3 (obviously, since global sales of that phone are now over 30 million units). That said, the Atrix HD is a fantastic phone for $49. While Touchwiz has a lot of cool features, Motoblur feels much more polished (in my opinion).
It basically comes down to what you're looking for in a phone. If it's a flagship handset that will be updated by the manufacturer for the duration of your contract and also has the most development of any phone not named Nexus, then the Galaxy S3 is the obvious choice. If you're looking for something a bit cheaper, don't care that it doesn't have all the latest features (pitiful internal storage, gross multi tasking, and no NFC come to mind) but for all intents and purposes does everything a Galaxy S3 can do, then the Atrix HD is a great choice. I like this phone a lot, especially at its price point. However, as soon as the Note 2 drops and doesn't cost ~$800, I'll be moving to that. This phone will never have the developer following that either Samsung phone will have and I won't be stuck for the duration of my contract with a phone that has reached its life expectancy 8 months into my contract.
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium

Gotcha....i suppose the sg3 does have a little edge on the ATRIX HD.
I just hate Samsung products.....but I definitely understand why people love em.
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davezaff said:
Gotcha....i suppose the sg3 does have a little edge on the ATRIX HD.
I just hate Samsung products.....but I definitely understand why people love em.
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to mention the fact my notification LED seems to have bitten the dust already.
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thegregulator said:
Not to mention the fact my notification LED seems to have bitten the dust already.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm stuck trying to decide which way to go also. My contract just went up but i'm not renewing until I see the new phones at the end of the year. But until then i'm gonna get something. So i've been checking out the atrix hd and one x. I found a good deal on both. 200 for a brand new in box ahd or 280 for a rooted mint condition one x. After playing with both at the at&t store, i'm leaning towards the ahd just because I like the interface better. I like the almost stock ics. But after reading through the forums i'm not so sure anymore. Not being able to save apps onto the sd card really sucks. I don't understand why motorola would do that. Other posts about dead pixels, gps/wifi issues, led notification, phone won't turn on, etc. I don't know if it's worth it anymore. Since i'm not buying from retail I won't be able to return/replace if I have any of these issues. I'm not too worried about root as i'm sure someone will figure that out eventually. I'm gonna buy one of these tomorrow, I just hope I get the right one.

jsmizzle said:
I'm stuck trying to decide which way to go also. My contract just went up but i'm not renewing until I see the new phones at the end of the year. But until then i'm gonna get something. So i've been checking out the atrix hd and one x. I found a good deal on both. 200 for a brand new in box ahd or 280 for a rooted mint condition one x. After playing with both at the at&t store, i'm leaning towards the ahd just because I like the interface better. I like the almost stock ics. But after reading through the forums i'm not so sure anymore. Not being able to save apps onto the sd card really sucks. I don't understand why motorola would do that. Other posts about dead pixels, gps/wifi issues, led notification, phone won't turn on, etc. I don't know if it's worth it anymore. Since i'm not buying from retail I won't be able to return/replace if I have any of these issues. I'm not too worried about root as i'm sure someone will figure that out eventually. I'm gonna buy one of these tomorrow, I just hope I get the right one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having had both I would definitely go with the One X. The 16 gb of internal storage with no micro sd card slot is a real pain in the ass, but the better screen, camera, and form factor definitely make up for it.
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium

thegregulator said:
Having had both I would definitely go with the One X. The 16 gb of internal storage with no micro sd card slot is a real pain in the ass, but the better screen, camera, and form factor definitely make up for it.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly it's all really a matter of opinion. I personally would go with the Atrix HD simply because of the microSD card slot alone....internal storage can be EASILY filled up these days, whether it's music, videos, pictures, applications, and/or games. Having a 32 GB card in my Atrix certainly alleviates the storage issue. Also, the Atrix HD's camera isn't nearly as bad as some people would claim, and has only been further improved with the latest firmware update (particularly with noise and low light performance). As for the screen, both have lovely screens so it would be hard to go wrong with either.
---------- Post added at 11:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------
jsmizzle said:
I'm stuck trying to decide which way to go also. My contract just went up but i'm not renewing until I see the new phones at the end of the year. But until then i'm gonna get something. So i've been checking out the atrix hd and one x. I found a good deal on both. 200 for a brand new in box ahd or 280 for a rooted mint condition one x. After playing with both at the at&t store, i'm leaning towards the ahd just because I like the interface better. I like the almost stock ics. But after reading through the forums i'm not so sure anymore. Not being able to save apps onto the sd card really sucks. I don't understand why motorola would do that. Other posts about dead pixels, gps/wifi issues, led notification, phone won't turn on, etc. I don't know if it's worth it anymore. Since i'm not buying from retail I won't be able to return/replace if I have any of these issues. I'm not too worried about root as i'm sure someone will figure that out eventually. I'm gonna buy one of these tomorrow, I just hope I get the right one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a tough decision you have, but I would still go with the Atrix HD. The build quality on my phone has been fantastic and I have had no issues whatsoever with anything. As for not being able to save applications onto the SD card, that is not something that Motorola actually chose to do - rather, it was the choice that Google made when they designed Ice Cream Sandwich. You won't be able to save apps to external memory on the One X.
Also, root shouldn't be an issue for too long.

thegregulator said:
Having had both I would definitely go with the One X. The 16 gb of internal storage with no micro sd card slot is a real pain in the ass, but the better screen, camera, and form factor definitely make up for it.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My main gripe with the ahd is the fact that you can't save apps to the external sd card. WTF. No other phone does that. And they're slick about it too. There is no mention about that only that they have expandable memory as if they're better than one x non-expandable. At least the one x has double the space for apps. I bet there are a ton of returns because of that and unhappy customers hitting their app limit not knowing it can't save to the sd. Besides that, I really like the phone and I still might get it..lol
---------- Post added at 09:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:19 AM ----------
MagicXB said:
Honestly it's all really a matter of opinion. I personally would go with the Atrix HD simply because of the microSD card slot alone....internal storage can be EASILY filled up these days, whether it's music, videos, pictures, applications, and/or games. Having a 32 GB card in my Atrix certainly alleviates the storage issue. Also, the Atrix HD's camera isn't nearly as bad as some people would claim, and has only been further improved with the latest firmware update (particularly with noise and low light performance). As for the screen, both have lovely screens so it would be hard to go wrong with either.
---------- Post added at 11:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------
It's a tough decision you have, but I would still go with the Atrix HD. The build quality on my phone has been fantastic and I have had no issues whatsoever with anything. As for not being able to save applications onto the SD card, that is not something that Motorola actually chose to do - rather, it was the choice that Google made when they designed Ice Cream Sandwich. You won't be able to save apps to external memory on the One X.
Also, root shouldn't be an issue for too long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was under the impression Motorola made that decision. If not, WTF google! Even though the one x doesn't have expandable sd, you can use all of the 16gb internal for apps. I do like the build quality of the atrix better than the one x. I don't really care about the camera as that's not my thing. I'm just disappointed that i'll only have about 5gb available for apps. Let's just hope this thing gets rooted and this whole issue can be fixed with a new rom. Thanks for the inputs guys.. I still have a few hours to decide which to get. I'll post up my purchase later today.

jsmizzle said:
My main gripe with the ahd is the fact that you can't save apps to the external sd card. WTF. No other phone does that. And they're slick about it too. There is no mention about that only that they have expandable memory as if they're better than one x non-expandable. At least the one x has double the space for apps. I bet there are a ton of returns because of that and unhappy customers hitting their app limit not knowing it can't save to the sd. Besides that, I really like the phone and I still might get it..lol
---------- Post added at 09:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:19 AM ----------
I was under the impression Motorola made that decision. If not, WTF google! Even though the one x doesn't have expandable sd, you can use all of the 16gb internal for apps. I do like the build quality of the atrix better than the one x. I don't really care about the camera as that's not my thing. I'm just disappointed that i'll only have about 5gb available for apps. Let's just hope this thing gets rooted and this whole issue can be fixed with a new rom. Thanks for the inputs guys.. I still have a few hours to decide which to get. I'll post up my purchase later today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interested to see what decision you made.

Yes inquiring minds like to know.
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium

Finally got the phone.
Love it!! Runs so smoth and fast and display is just awesome!!:good::good:

Although I own a Atrix HD and love it. But, I probably would have passed the Atrix HD, if I knew the root is not gonna be available for this long. I'd rather get an HTC one where root is possile.

dcard2000 said:
Although I own a Atrix HD and love it. But, I probably would have passed the Atrix HD, if I knew the root is not gonna be available for this long. I'd rather get an HTC one where root is possile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read this.

aaronwatrix2 said:
Read this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Until the root is available for the released firmware...

dcard2000 said:
Although I own a Atrix HD and love it. But, I probably would have passed the Atrix HD, if I knew the root is not gonna be available for this long. I'd rather get an HTC one where root is possile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most One X's sold in the last two months are un-rootable. An OTA (2.20) in early august prevents rooting, which is required to unlock the boot loader (by spoofing a different device because the AT&T version is not supported), which is required to install custom recovery, to flash ROMs. If easy root and ROMs is your goal you want a Samsung device.
Sent from my HOCKS