Review

Droid Bionic Review, Hands-On

Machine rulers rejoice.  After a very long wait the Motorola Droid Bionic is finally on the shelf at Verizon stores across the country.  One of the year’s hottest phones can finally be yours for just $299.99 on a 2-year contract.  The question is, is it worth it?  In my estimation it’s iffy.  This device could easily last you through the 2 years of that contract.  Depending on how you want to use it, it’s also got some very nice features that make it a companion for just about anything.  Whether you want to stream movies, access your files at home, use it as a music and movie machine at home via DLNA, snap pictures, surf the web, well…Droid does.

There’s several accessories available, though some of these are not up for purchase just yet.  Most notably, the high-priced laptop dock.  At this time we’re not sure if the Atrix dock will work for the Bionic.

• Lapdock – turn your phone into a laptop – $299.97
• HD Station – turn your Droid into an office with this adapter – 99.99
• Adapter for Webtop Application –  will be available for $29.99
• Vehicle Navigation Dock  -  $39.99.
• Battery Dock with Standard Battery – $49.99.

In case these are not already seared into your memory, let’s review the spec sheet from Verizon itself:

On par, or better than, any other high-end device on the market, and it shows.  It measures 2.6″ wide x 5.0″ tall and just .4″ thin, making it not so thin as some others out there, but it’s certainly no brick in the hand.  Quite the contrary.  The Bionic feels great to hold, and one-handed operation is slick and smooth.  It’s lightweight, too, and feels like it.  Despite all the plastic, it doesn’t feel fragile either.  It’s certainly a big improvement over previous Moto devices.

Hardware:

On one side you’ll find the volume rocker, and on the other a micro USB connection and mini HDMI for putting the video out to your big screen.

 

The 4.3″ screen is bright, vivid, and looks great.  Touch response is fantastic, and screen transitions flow without a hiccup.  The pentile display is intended to deliver good outdoor use, as well as indoor.  I didn’t have the opportunity to try it in the sun, but other reviewers have reported that it does the job well.

The 4G LTE connection, at least here in Indianapolis, is blazing fast.  I compared load times of the same site on my G2X vs the Bionic and while it was close, the Bionic was the clear winner.  As Verizon’s first dual core LTE phone, the combination of the dual core processor, 1GB or RAM and an LTE connection is definitely a winning one.

Software & Performance:

The Bionic runs on Android 2.3.4.

We know most people have a deep-rooted hatred of Motoblur.  Thankfully, Motorola went back to the drawing board with it, and it’s pretty lowkey on the Bionic.  The Bionic performs very well, also, where some previous devices (like the Droid 3) had problems handling it.

The Bionic comes with its fair share of bloatware, so you’re not getting out of that.  We’ve provided shots of the entire app drawer for you, so you can see exactly what you’re getting out of the box.

Plenty of Verizon software comes packed in, including VZ Navigator, Vcast streaming software for movies, music, and other media.  The Bionic is also DLNA certified, so if you have DLNA compatible devices at home, you can use it to stream to them.  It can also be set up to access files on your home computer, so you’re never without documents or images that you might need.

It will also handle all the latest games, so you’ll never want for entertainment.  It runs them beautifully, too.  You can find a couple shots in our Gallery of Let’s Golf 2, which comes installed.

Camera:

The Bionic’s camera functions adequately.  You won’t find a whole heap of settings to adjust or filters to use, but it takes a pretty good shot.

That’s the basic camera app, and below you’ll find a shot of the settings ribbon, which slides out from the left-hand side.

We’ve also posted a few shots from the camera below.  Take a look.

It’s not the MyTouch 4G Slide camera, but it will do for basic shooting.  The shutter speed is very quick, as well, allowing you to fire off a fairly rapid succession of shots.  It doesn’t continually autofocus, like the 4G Slide, so you do have to wait sometimes while it adjusts between shots. Not unexpected.

Summary:

Overall, the Bionic may not live up to the hype, but it certainly can’t be discounted.  It’s unfortunate that it was delayed so long or it may have made a bigger splash.  For Verizon customers that want both power and speed, the Bionic does have it all, though.  The LTE connection is fantastic, as is the combination of a dual core processor and 1GB of RAM.  If you want to match it up against some of the other top-notch devices on the market (or soon to be) it’s not quite up to spec compared with the Samsung Galaxy S II.  Compared to the iPhone 5 is anyone’s guess at this point.  Were I looking at this device as my next phone, I would sooner wait to see what Samsung and Apple have in store for us in the next month or 2.  The DROID/Nexus Prime will likely blow the Bionic out of the water with it’s combination of hardware and Android ICS.  It’s too early to really make that determination as ICS hasn’t been seen in the wild yet, but we’d be willing to bet on it.

I will say that the Bionic is a great device, however, the high price will put it out of some people’s range, and when you look at what’s coming down the road I would be hesitant to snap it up.  9 months ago I’d have given it a big thumbs up, but things are changing very rapidly in the smartphone world on a daily basis.  If you’re just plain tired of waiting, you do far worse than the Bionic.  In a month or two, though, you could probably do a lot better.  Check out the gallery below for some more shots of the Bionic, including wallpapers, widgets, games and apps.  You can also take a look at several videos of the Bionic HERE. A special Thanks to the team at the Verizon Store at 1244 Us Highway 31 N, Greenwood, IN for letting us get our paws on their new phone.

 

 

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