Droid Bionic Review
The Motorola Droid Bionic is Verizon’s initial Android Phone to have both 4G LTE Connectivity and a twin core processor, immediately rising it into a chosen smartphone realm. But with it’s behind recover – carrying initial been announced in Jan and customarily rising in Sep – does it still lift adequate brag to aver your tough warranted dollar? Read (and watch) on to find out.
Bionic Hardware Review
The Droid Bionic has an appealing and informed demeanour unchanging with several other Motorola Droids (most particularly a Droid X2) with a tiny mouth next a 4.3-inch screen. While a Bionic is rather thicker than a X2 it’s still customarily .43-inches thick, a thinnest 4G phone on Verizon to date, and it feels flattering sized and weighted. It’s flattering considerable what Motorola is means to container into a Bionic’s comparatively tiny frame.
The 4.3-inch qHD arrangement has 960 x 540 pixel fortitude and is flattering damn good. Close investigation will exhibit images and videos that seem to have a slight cross-hatched settlement underlayed that competence annoy some, yet altogether we was tender with a shade quality. The shade is done of Corning’s “Gorilla Glass”, an additional tough element that protects opposite scratches and damaged screens. It’s not indestructible, yet it creates an overwhelming difference.
Below a arrangement you’ll find a standard Android buttons (Menu, Home, Back, Search) that are capacitive (touch sensitive) and unequivocally responsive. The left side facilities a MicroUSB pier and a Micro-HDMI port, a right side has a volume rocker, and there is 3.5mm headset jack on a tip of a phone along with a power/sleep button.
The Bionic has dual cameras: an 8MP camera on a behind and a VGA camera on a front for video discuss and self-pics. Also on a front, on a other side of a earpiece, you’ll find an LED station presentation light; this is a tiny underline yet one we conclude – it’s good to have a visible denote that we have calls, messages, or e-mails available we when your phone is differently “off”.
On a top/back, behind a energy button, is a tiny container to assistance examine open a battery cover. Call it nitpicking, yet a battery cover along with a MicroSD Card and 4G SIM Card underneath were a many frustrating partial of regulating a Bionic.
Don’t be shy: we unequivocally have to wrench a battery cover to get it off (but if we mangle it don’t censure me!). Once it’s off you’ll find a 1735 mAh battery that you’ll need to mislay to entrance a 4G SIM card. You can mislay a MicroSD label yet stealing a battery, yet conjunction are easy to finagle. Luckily we don’t customarily need entrance to remove/replace these so a exasperation will be rare.
The Motorola Droid Bionic has a plain set of facilities and an considerable spec list, yet what creates this phone special is a certain Bionic trio:
- 4G LTE Connectivity
- 1GHz Dual-Core processor
- 1GB RAM
The Bionic Trio (4G + Dual Core + 1GB RAM)
The Bionic is Verizon’s initial phone to stone both 4G LTE connectivity and a dual-core processor- chuck in 1GB of RAM and you’ve got an considerable multiple of specs portion as your phone’s “engine” of sorts.
Let’s start off by looking during a Bionic’s 4G connectivity advantage that is an easier attainment to illustrate. Check out a next video where we run 3 tests comparing a Droid Bionic’s 4G LTE speeds on Verizon with both 3G Verizon speeds regulating a Droid X and Home Wi-Fi (Comcast) regulating a Nexus One
As we can see, a peculiarity of Verizon’s network marred my fun in dual of a 3 tests. I’m in Baltimore where Verizon has an glorious 3G and 4G signal, so loading Phandroid.com and loading YouTube videos was lightning discerning for both scenarios (even when compared to Wi-Fi). But Speedtest.net is where we truly see a energy of Verizon’s 4G LTE network.
The Droid Bionic positively CRUSHES not customarily 3G yet also Comcast Home Wi-Fi regulating a Speedtest.net app. With Verizon 4G we consistently got download speeds of 20+ Mbps and upload speeds of 3.5+ Mbps. It competence be tough to know how that additional energy comes into play when 3G installed websites and YouTube HD customarily fine, yet consider about this: if a 4G network customarily had 1 or 2 bars would it still be faster than Verizon’s 3G during 4 bars? My gamble is approbation and that’s where we consider we would unequivocally see a value of a 4G network- even in areas with customarily normal connectivity your 4G should wizz while your 3G competence struggle.
While a 4G LTE Radio provides discerning downloading and uploading of data/multimedia, a dual-core processor splits a on-device work opposite dual processors thereby lightening a load. Add a absolute 1GB of RAM and a Bionic strenuously pumps where other inclination competence dabble along.
While it’s harder to daydream a significance of processors and RAM, one renouned measuring apparatus is Quadrant that looks during a series of indicators and metrics, hot them down to a “Quadrant Score”:
As we can see above, a Droid Bionic good outperforms a series of tip Android smartphones. we consistently scored between 2,200 and 2,500. Quadrant is a good approach to ballpark a value of hardware specs yet it’s customarily a relations comparison apparatus and not an accurate science. There are other benchmarks out there yet we offer this instance simply to infer a Bionic is indeed a beast.
Bionic Software Review
The Droid Bionic ships with Android 2.3.4, a many new chronicle of Android (at announcement of this review). With a new chronicle of Android approaching by year’s end, some competence be tempted to wait: nonetheless Verizon has betrothed to support program upgrades for 1+ years, they customarily come with a satisfactory delay.
That being said, a Bionic runs a Android OS rather flawlessly. It’s quick, yet lag, and an altogether beguiling experience. Credit a dual-core processor and 1GB RAM here. From apps and games to web-browsing and videos, a Bionic offers well-spoken sailing smartphone use.
MOTOBLUR, a manufacturer’s former tradition OS overlay, has been transposed with a reduction forward choice that offers some of a same facilities – like resizable widgets – yet a bulk that formerly dragged down performance. However, a Bionic does come preloaded with a immeasurable series of annoyingly undeleteable apps and games, some welcomed and others passed weight.
Bionic Multimedia Review
The Droid Bionic comes preloaded with a garland of apps that occupy a cube of a 16GB of inner memory. Among them: Amazon Kindle, Blockbuster, City ID, GoToMeeting, Let’s Golf 2, MOTOPRINT, NFL Mobile, Quickoffice, Slacker, Videosurf, and ZumoCast. It’s also packaged with Google goodies like Maps, Navigation, and Places while Verizon pre-installs their whole VCast lineup.
It’s a churned bag, yet some of a apps we already frequently use (NFL Mobile, Slacker) and others we attempted for a initial time and enjoyed (ZumoCast, VideoSurf).
ZumoCast is flattering awesome: discerning signup, discerning implement on your computer, and all of a remarkable your phone can entrance any record on your mechanism from anywhere in a world. Of march your mechanism has to be online and regulating ZumoCast, yet after sourroundings this adult once it’s like your possess tiny giveaway chronicle of Dropbox. You can select what folders and files to share with your phone and let me tell you- it’s value downloading and perplexing out. While many people assume preinstalled apps are bloatware, ZumoCast is zero yet files-on-the-go integrity from Motorola. Great stuff.
VideoSurf is like Shazam for TV and Movies – flattering neat – yet after meditative about it seems a lot reduction logical. Whereas you’re mostly listening to song with no approach of identifying a artist/song, we customarily have entrance to see a programming beam when examination TV or movies. Unless you’re examination YouTube or another online video source, yet we found regulating VideoSurf on my desktop monitors with YouTube a lot reduction effective. Even so, cold idea.
Additional multimedia facilities embody HDMI mirroring by a Micro-HDMI port, DLNA connectivity, and a ability to spin your device into a mobile hotspot if we compensate for a compared plan. All of these facilities are good documented and work beautifully with a Droid Bionic, nonetheless I’ve always had headaches and troubles with DLNA opposite a board.
The enjoyability of a Bionic’s multimedia is due in immeasurable partial to a hardware specs: a 4G LTE connectivity concede we to tide videos and bucket webpages with good speed and a processor and RAM give a device some-more than adequate energy to work effortlessly. The nitpickers will indicate to a less-than-perfect arrangement as a smirch when compared to other tip phones, yet a immeasurable infancy of folks will find it ideally silken for all forms of multimedia viewing.
Bionic Camera Review
Of all a high-end facilities of a Bionic we was many unhappy with a camera. After saying spectacular cinema prisoner with a phones like a Droid Charge, my bar for mobile design holding has risen. The Bionic print knowledge comes in underneath that bar. While it’s able of holding good photos, there are a integrate of problems and irritations that forestall it from being a tip smartphone shooter. To summarize:
- Auto-focus is strike or skip and takes a few seconds to stick
- Pictures might mis-focus and seem blurry
- Colors can seem lifeless and/or cleared out
The back 8MP camera comes with an LED peep and auto-focus. we took several cinema in opposite environments with several settings and customarily didn’t see unchanging results. See a samples next and click to increase any picture:
This design of a flower is taken with all involuntary settings and nonetheless a real-life tone was colourful and robust, we see a flower cleared out and leaves too contrasted in a picture. Definitely doesn’t constraint what we intended.
I got most closer on that same flower and used a Macro settings. Although a clarity and concentration was good, something simply wasn’t right with a tone balance. Interestingly enough, , what we saw in a viewfinder and what we saw once a design snapped were unequivocally different, creation me consternation if an imposed program filter causes unintended alterations. Maybe a program refurbish can repair a tone issues.
Landscape photos were generally improved in terms of tone and focus.
One thing we beheld was a delay/lag in a auto-focus anticipating a aim and mostly improperly focusing, heading to blur. It didn’t occur a infancy of a time, yet adequate to find myself resnapping a same design several times on occasion.
The above design is taken in a representation black room and a formula are as you’d expect: seeable yet becloud when large. Not bad for a totally dim room though.
The above design was taken with a front-facing VGA camera. Let’s face it: we aren’t perplexing to work masterpieces when regulating this camera, you’re possibly perplexing to video discuss or take a self-pic. For these purposes, a Bionic was ideally servicebale. Since we don’t have a British accent, station in front of a bookcase full of Encyclopedias is my categorical gimmick to seem intellectual. Unfortunately, I’m undermined by a beard.
I found a 1080p video recording on a Droid Bionic to be unequivocally good deliberation a muted still print results. Here is a video of my hermit and we trudging into a backyard where a customarily dry embankment done approach for a solid tide during a crazy weekend of rain:
One thing we did suffer about a Droid Bionic Camera was a software. Whereas I’m customarily left sifting by menu after menu to find several settings and options over here and there and drag-click-open-zoom what? Yeah… a Bionic creates it easy with a elementary side drawer that absolutely explains/expands further.
Let’s transparent something up: unless you’re some form of mobile print guru, chances are a Droid Bionic camera will be ideally glorious for you. There are copiousness of settings to assistance optimize we cinema and we did indeed snap some good photos. It isn’t one of a best mobile cameras on a marketplace by a longshot, yet it’ll do a pretence for your infrequent bland photos- customarily don’t design to blow adult your Bionic print of a Egyptian Pyramids into a print for your wall.
Battery Life Call Quality
The battery life and call peculiarity are essential elements of phone use yet typically get a footnote in reviews since of their unexcitability. The same goes here. we found call peculiarity to be improved than normal and battery life to be average.
One thing Droid Bionic users NEED to keep in mind is to spin off apparatus complete facilities when they’re not being used: this means 4G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and other non-essentials. That alone will extend your battery life a good understanding if you’re not already profitable courtesy to these factors. we also suppose a Bionic will get some-more mileage out of a battery assign once some-more developers and Android in ubiquitous improved supports a dual-core architecture.
The bottom line is that a call peculiarity is good, a orator phone is flattering loud, and a battery life falls in line with what any high-end Android Phone would yield. While I’d adore to get some-more extract out of a Bionic, this is customarily an industry-wide emanate that needs to be addressed. I’d advise snagging a automobile horse and additional wall-charger so either you’re during home, during work, or in-transit we can always stay plugged up. This and intelligent feature-use should solve a lot of your problems in a initial place (with any phone).
Bionic Accessories
The Motorola Droid Bionic has a few accessories that are MUCH some-more engaging than automobile chargers and wall chargers. Try a Laptop Dock for example, that turns your Bionic into a entirely serviceable laptop, promo picture from Motorola below:
“Fully usable” is relations as you’re still singular to a rather netbookish sourroundings yet a good thing is your phone does all a complicated lifting and already has your contacts, data, files, and information so no syncing is required. The Bionic indeed powers a Lapdock that is some-more or reduction customarily a shell. Think Krang on TMNT. Or forget we customarily pronounced that.
The Lapdock is kind of pricey during $300 yet positively a good option. There’s also an HD Station for $100, Standard Dock for $40, Car Mount/Dock for $40, and Webtop adapter for $30. The latter of those is a good bargain, permitting we to afterwards bond your phone to an outmost arrangement for regulating a Webtop knowledge that’s found on a Lapdock. It also lets we use a phone to corkscrew and form nonetheless bluetooth peripherals are welcome.
The Verdict
Friends and family constantly ask me, “What Verizon Android phone should we get?” and I’ve consistently told them, “Wait for a dual-core Android Phone with 4G LTE so that you’re phone is destiny proof.” Here it is.
The Motorola Droid Bionic is an glorious option, highlighted by a Bionic contingent of 4G LTE, 1GHz dual-core processor, and 1GB RAM. A lot can occur in a 2-years until your agreement is up, and these specs radically “future proof” a Bionic, ensuring it’ll have a horsepower to run some-more apparatus complete apps, games, and calm as time goes on. It’s not a ideal device – a camera isn’t good and it’s blank a integrate facilities like GSM/World radios and an NFC chip – yet if these aren’t understanding breakers afterwards a Bionic is a top-shelf choice and Verizon’s best.
Patient techies that crave a top of high finish phones might wish to wait for a holidays when Verizon is expected to launch a rumored Droid Prime, yet everybody else can quietly buy a Droid Bionic meaningful it’s a good phone that should final them a generation of their contract… and deliberation a gait of today’s technology, that’s a strong confidant statement.
