The Droid Bionic - It's fast and worth considering as your next smartphone
I just realized that even though I’ve had my Droid Bionic for a few months now, I haven’t actually sat down to write a proper review of it.
Heck, I’ve already had enough time to break the darn thing (more on that later), I should have enough time to write a review.
Keep in mind this review will be from the standpoint of someone who uses the thing every single day – I’ve learned some of its little quirks as well as some little know features worth using.
So let’s jump right in. I’ll start with the 4G LTE antenna.
LTE – yeah, it’s fast.
I originally bought this phone because it was the first dual core LTE phone that Verizon released. That was enough for me. My original Droid was on its last legs so I knew I wasn’t going to have time to wait around to see what else was coming out.
If I’d have waited I might have bought the Droid Razr of Galaxy Nexus, but newer, shinier, better phones are released all the time so I bought a new phone when I needed it and the Droid Bionic was the best available at the time.
I don’t live in a current coverage area for LTE (I live out in the sticks) but I’ve found that many cities now have coverage and it’s blazing fast.
Speed & Performance
With a 1 GHz dual core processor and a full 1 GB of RAM, this phone has plenty of horsepower. I haven’t found anything that really bogs the phone down which makes the “guts” of the phone irrelevant and I can just use the phone.
That’s probably the best endorsement I can give to the performance of the phone – it’s fast enough that you don’t ever think to yourself, “gosh, I just wish it had a 1.5 GHz processor because it’s not fast enough yet.”
Battery
Like all LTE phones not named the Droid Razr Maxx, the battery life of the phone really isn’t great. You can get a full day with light to moderate use but that’s about it. If you’re going to use your phone a lot during the day, make sure you have a charger with you or a spare battery.
Locked Bootloader
On my original Droid I had Cyanogen Mod installed. It’s a fantastic operating system, but unfortunately it’s not officially available for the Droid Bionic since Motorola saw fit to lock the bootloader. This won’t be an issue for you unless you’re bit into the homebrew OS scene. Since you can still root the phone easily, it wasn’t a dealbreaker for me though I do still do occassionally miss my old Cyanogen Mod OS.
It’s Popular
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that if you want your Android powered phone to get the latest and greatest versions of the Android OS, then you should buy a popular phone.
The Droid Bionic happened to fit right into the upgrade window for a lot of people who purchased the first Moto Droid so this phone sold a lot of units and has a lot of unofficial support available and also means that the phone should continue to get OS upgrades in a timely manner.
FM Radio
You won’t see this in any official listing, but the Droid Bionic does have a built in FM tuner. That means you can listen to your local radio stations without needing to worry about streaming them so if you have a morning show you really enjoy or just want to listen to the radio, you can… you just need to download an app to access it.
It also means you don’t need to take along a separate radio when you’re at the gym and you want to watch TV while you’re on the elliptical or treadmill – just use your phone to tune into your desired radio station.
There’s a good app called “FM Radio” in the Android market that’ll run you $2. If you prefer free, you can down the Moto FM Radio APK from Droid Life, but only do this if you’re comfortable installing unofficial, non Android market apps.
Please note, these apps don’t work with all Android powered phones though they do work with all the new Motorola phones.
Camera
I don’t use the camera on the phone a lot, but it gets the job done when I need it. Is it the best smartphone camera on the market? No. Is it good enough for most situations? Yes. It does also record video in 1080p which is a nice feature as well. Once the Droid Bionic gets its Ice Cream Sandwich update, that should help improve the camera performance as well.
Display
I admit I had some reservations about getting a 4.3” screen – I was concerned that it’d be too big for my average sized hands. What I’ve found is that a 4.3” screen can make swiping your thumb from the bottom left corner to the top right corner a bit of a challenge if you’re only using one hand. However, I’ve only ever seen that become an issue when playing games and since I don’t play many games, it’s not a big deal.
Where I really like the size is when I’m using the phone for Navigation. The screen is bigger than a lot of standalone GPS devices and that just makes it easier to quickly read the display and the less time you have to spend looking at the display, the safer you’ll drive as you can keep them affixed to the road, as they should be.
Note: I recommend getting the Vehicle Navigation Dock directly from Motorola or through Amazon.com. It’s currently priced at $59.99, which at first glance seems more expensive than the Verizon version which is priced at $49.99. The one thing Verizon doesn’t tell you is that the charger isn’t included in the $49.99 versions so you have to spend another $20 or so to get one. Save yourself the $10 and just buy the $59.99 version right away.
How I Broke It
I did manage to break the darn thing already though that’s not the fault of the phone. I dropped it in a puddle of water and slush when getting out of my vehicle yesterday. I immediately popped the battery out and took it home and put it in some rice to help draw out any moisture that might have gotten inside the phone.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get the battery out before the handset speaker shorted out. The rest of the phone works fine, I just need to use my Bluetooth headset to talk to people (or speakerphone, that still works) until my replacement arrives. Remember, your regular warranty won’t cover water damage, but the Total Device Replacement plan (provided via Asurion, the $6.99 a month plan) will once you pay your $99 deductible. It’s not cheap, but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing the phone at full retail price – $589.99 and cheaper than getting it off eBay as well – at the time of this writing, about $340 for a new device.
I wouldn’t say the fact that it broke is a knock against the phone. Only rugged phones can handle getting wet and still keep on ticking.
Little Things
With phones being so similar in features and specs these days, sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference.
One of the little things I really like about the Droid Bionic was that the Swype keyboard app came preinstalled. I had been using the Flex T9 app on my old Droid, but only because I had trouble keeping the Swype Beta apk I’d downloaded working. I haven’t had any issues whatsoever with Swype on the Droid Bionic, though. It works great and is my favorite keyboard app out there.
One feature that is also pretty neat is the ZumoCast app (already installed on the phone). The best way I’ve heard it described is cloud storage without the cloud. Basically, ZumoCast allows you to access files on your desktop computer or laptop and stream directly from them. So if you have a gigantic collection of music on your computer and it doesn’t all fit on your phone, it’s not a problem, just stream straight from your computer to your phone.
I do like the Motorola MOTOBLUR interface. I’ll be honest, I was on the fence about it at first but I’ve come to like it. I really do like the contact widget that comes with it called Quick Contacts. It’s kind of like speed dial in a nifty little interface.
I wasn’t a big fan of the extensive bloatware that came with the Bionic. I can’t figure out for the life of me why VZ Navigator and other crappy apps are installed on the phone when far betters apps (like Google Maps Navigation Beta) are already installed on the phone and are free other than it being a blatant, greedy money grab. Same goes with Visual Voicemail – just use Google Voice and you get FREE Visual Voicemail and virtually unlimited voicemail storage… not to mention Google Voice is just a far better way to do voicemail.
And don’t get me started on the City ID app. $2.99 a month? Are you kidding me? I like the feature a lot, but you can buy the app once your 30 day free trial is up in the Android Market for $1.99, and that’s not a monthly fee – it’s a one time payment.
One thing that was nice was that it came with NFL Mobile Premium. I’m not sure if that will continue for next year or not, but it was nice to be able to access all the premium video features of NFL Mobile without having to pay for it. Again, not a big thing, but a nice little perk.
Bottom Line
The bottom line for this phone is that yes, I’d absolutely recommend this phone in a heartbeat. It’s priced at $200 with a 2 year contract from Verizon.
In that price range, the Droid Razr & LG Spectrum (both are dual core, LTE phones) also certainly worth considering and since both feature faster processors, they just might be the phone you want.
Related posts:
- Motorola Droid Bionic Review – Verizon 4G Phone – LTE – Dual Core
- The Motorola Droid Bionic – Canceled?
- Motorola Droid X Review – Smartphone Nuclear Arms Race Continues – Droid Vs Droid X
- Motorola Droid 2 Review
- Droid 2 Vs Original Motorola Droid – What’s The Difference
About Gary Ruplinger