Motorola Droid Bionic Review – Verizon

DROID! The new 4G LTE Motorola Droid Bionic for Verizon has customarily been expelled and we have been personification with it for over a week now.  This 4.3” touch-Screen phone is make-up some tender power: a dual-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. It’s regulating Android’s Gingerbread OS with a tradition Motoblur UI. Does it live adult to a hype? Is it as absolute as it should be? Dive in.

Hardware

Droid Bionic packs a Dual-Core 1GHz processor and a full gigabyte of RAM, that is a flattering considerable combo. There is 16GB of on-board storage, 8 of that is indifferent for a OS and applications. It comes with a 16GB micro-SD card, and it supports adult to a 32GB card. Droid uses an accelerometer to change between landscape and mural modes. It integrates proximity, ambient light, eCompass, and battery heat sensors. The behind camera is 8 megapixels and is accompanied by an LED flash. The front camera is VGA.

Connectivity and Networks

The Droid Bionic is now on a Verizon network and uses CDMA 800, CDMA 1900, and 4G LTE networks. It supports all a latest bluetooth 2.1 profiles, 802.11N WiFi, and functions as a 4G mobile hotspot for adult to 5 other devices. Bionic charges and syncs with a Micro-USB cable. The shade can be mirrored on an HDTV with a Micro-HDMI connector. DLNA can be used on a Bionic to wireless share media with DLNA versed devices. There is a GPS built in as good as a compass for easy navigation. The maps focus zeros in on a plcae quick and accurately with a compass arrow in a instruction a phone is facing.

Design

Let’s be honest, many of these Android phones are starting to demeanour a same. Like many of a new phones, a Droid Bionic rocks a vast 4.3 in. shade hold screen, spare black borders, and 4 backlit hold buttons. The support is a silken gun steel grey and a whole behind is a matte black cosmetic battery cover. The shade is flattering good with fingerprints though a behind of a phone is discerning to uncover greasy palm prints. There are volume buttons along a right side, a power/lock symbol and headphone jack on a top, and a micro-USB pier and micro-HDMI pier on a left side. The 4 hold buttons are menu, home, back, and search. There’s a mound on a tip of a phone that measures about 1.5cm thick and it tapers off to a density of about 1cm. At 158 grams, many users will be astounded with how light it feels. There’s an LED standing light on a tip of a phone that blinks immature with updates and red on low battery. In-hand, a Bionic has a gentle feel – though we have a vast hand. While it’s thin, it’s still a flattering vast phone.

Screen

The 4.3″ arrangement is TFT (16M colors) with a qHD fortitude of 960×540. It has a corning chimpanzee potion overlay. The fortitude is great, though it’s no retina display. The customarily time we ever questioned a fortitude is looking during a page full of tiny text. Overall, we’re happy with how a shade looks, a colors are splendid and vivid, and a blacks are even flattering good for an LCD. The customarily genuine beating is that a shade looks cleared out when observation during an angle. The responsiveness of hold is perfect, that is partially do to a latest Android OS and a good dual-core processor.

Keyboard

Droid Bionic does not have a earthy keyboard, it uses Android’s multi-touch keyboard. It also comes Swype pre-installed. Android’s multi-touch default keyboard is unequivocally easy to form on when regulating your phone in mural mode. It’s a small trickier typing in landscape mode as a shade is so vast and a keys are widespread apart. Autocorrect and word prophecy are unequivocally helpful. There is haptic feedback when typing, so when a pivotal is pulpy a phone somewhat vibrates.

Battery

The battery on Droid Bionic was a slightest favorite feature. With unchanging use it needs to be charged by a finish of a work day, 5PM. Granted, we left 4G on a whole time, though there’s no easy toggle to close it off so many people will do a same. The environment to close off 4G (LTE) is buried a few menus deep. Over USB, that is of march slower than charging with a energy adapter, your propitious if it charges 20% an hour. It’s wholly probable to empty a battery with use even while it’s charging over USB. Luckily, a battery is removable, so it competence be a good thought to buy another 1735 mAh Lithium Ion battery to lift around. Continuous speak time is ostensible to be adult to 650 mins and adult to 200 hours of standby time.

Camera

Droid Bionic uses an 8-megapixel behind camera with an LED flash. By default it will fire cinema in 6MP to compare a screen, though this is simply changed. The camera is easy to use and has a good interface. The volume buttons duty as wizz buttons. There are artistic settings and styles that can be selected to make a many out of your mobile photography. we found that a design taken deviates from a preview. This worked out for improved and for worse, though customarily worse. The cinema can come out unequivocally nice, though some-more control over a focusing would be nice. we found many of my shots to not be as colourful and frail as we hoped for; some-more mostly afterwards not they demeanour a bit cleared out. Pictures are generally between 1MB and 2MB. Shooting videos, however, come out intensely nicely. They can be shot during 1080P adult to 30 frames per second, and we can outlay it true to a vast shade to unequivocally conclude a quality. The videos come out as good as we could presumably design from a dungeon phone.  The front confronting camera is VGA (640 x 480) and useful for video chatting or checking out your hair do.

Software

The Droid Bionic is regulating Android’s Gingerbread handling complement (version 2.3.4), that we were happy to see. On tip of a Gingerbread interface is Motorola’s tradition UI, Motoblur. In further to all of a customary Google applications like talk, maps, calendar, ebooks, and strike sync, a Bionic comes pre-loaded with Verizon applications like backup assistant, Verizon media manager, and Vcast music. Also enclosed is Citrix Receiver, GoToMeeting, Quickoffice, Motoprint, and Zumocast by Motorola. The browser is Android’s HTML Webkit and it comes with Adobe Flash Player 10. All enclosed widgets are grouped into one folder, and they’re all flattering standard: clocks, toggles, calendar, information usage, news feeds, print gallery, traffic, concept inbox, weather, tasks, and gummy notes. It comes with dual (free) navigation applications with outspoken turn-by-turn directions: Google Navigation and Verizon Navigation. Both work unequivocally good and will make we a dear newcomer in anyone’s car.

Calling, Data Speeds, and Hot Spots

Our phone calls were all frail and clear, we’d contend improved than average. While we were flattering bustling personification with each underline to spend most time on a phone, we’re gratified to contend we didn’t have any forsaken calls. The speakerphone gets customarily shrill adequate to hear outward on a bustling street. Our data speeds were unequivocally impressive, generally on 4G. A lot of a contrast was finished in New York and Washington D.C. and 4G coverage was excellent. There were few instances where 4G wasn’t available. To see a dungeon phone with data speeds over 1MB/s was roughly mind blowing. Upload speeds were also utterly astonishing. Needless to say, websites bucket during lightening quick speeds and youtube videos start personification roughly instantly. When we used my WiFi iPad in a open plcae it was most faster to share Droid’s internet with a Hot Spot app than it was to use open WiFi. Bionic can share wireless internet with adult to 5 other devices, and it alerts we of all users that are connected to a hotspot. You can encrypt your network with a WPA2 confidence password.During a tests we averaged 717.2 kB/s (not to be confused with kbps) down and 180.7 kB/s up. We speed tested a iPhone 4 on ATT in a same accurate spots and got 192.9 kB/s down and 70.22 kB/s up. The fastest speeds we strike on Bionic 4G was 1383.4 kB/s down and 722.4 kB/s up.
Android’s come a prolonged way. As an iPhone snob, my categorical critique has always been how choppy, and not smooth, all is in Android. The Droid Bionic had a unequivocally well-spoken and poignant interface, from scrolling between home pages, browsing a web, or checking out a print gallery. Multi-tasking is a pleasure to use on Android when a device can indeed hoop all of a credentials processes running. As for data speeds, we couldn’t be happier. Browsing a web with 4G was a pleasure on a Bionic, generally with a good vast screen. You can even share a adore in a matter of seconds by branch Bionic into a wireless hotspot. Don’t be astounded if a Bionic exceeds 100º F, this was utterly common with complicated 4G usage. Maps was one of a favorite apps on a phone; it’s most quicker and some-more minute afterwards it is on iPhone. Also we can’t kick a giveaway voice navigation application. It was good that a 16gb memory label is included. You can bucket it adult with media and outlay it true to your HDTV with a Micro-HDMI cable.As with all Android phones, it takes some time to adjust to a interface and unequivocally make your own. Once it’s all set adult and personalized, a Droid Bionic is an overwhelming phone. Our customarily genuine emanate was a battery life, though get yourself a work horse and/or an additional battery and we should be good! The lightweight body, good grip, and skinny form offsets a fact that it’s a outrageous phone — though it unequivocally comes down to personal preference. The Droid Bionic for Verizon is now accessible for $589.99 but a devise or as small as $149.99 with a dual year contract.

The Good: 4G Speeds, Fast Performance, Gingerbread, Hotspots, Great Video Camera, Free Turn-By-Turn Navigation Software

The Bad: Battery Life, Can get Very Hot, Still Photos Are Just Okay, Could Benefit from a Kickstand, Micro-HDMI Cord Would Be Nice