The Motorola Droid Bionic is Verizon Wirelesses current powerhouse LTE Android powered smartphone. Packed with a dual core 1 GhZ processor, a 4.3 qHD screen and an LTE high speed data connection, the Droid Bionic is a serious option for high end business and home users who want all the bells and whistles stuffed into one sexy package.
If you’re one of those geeky phone enthusiasts, a multimedia junkie or just ‘that-guy’ who wants to have the latest and greatest, the Droid Bionic should be a serious consideration for your next phone…find out why below.
Design: The Droid Bionic is a multimedia powerhouse phone, therefore naturally it is coupled with a large a 4.3″ qHD screen. ?Measuring 5″ long by 2.63″ wide and 0.43″thick, it’s quite possibly the slimmest phone with it’s screen size which is an impressive quality.? I walked around with this device in my pocket and the slim size made me question whether the phone was still in my pocket! It’s not a bulky nor will it show that gawky “yes, I have a phone in my pocket” bulge that we all notice on people who haven’t upgraded their smartphone in years.? At only 5.6 ounces, it’s not a brick that will require a reinforced belt and is light enough for a clutch or purse for women.
The 960X540 pixel resolution is a beauty, similar to the screen of modern phones like the Droid 3.? While I found it to be impressive, it’s still not a Super AMOLED screen.? The glass goes side to side on the frame and has some internal design traits that allow it to be functional in bright sunlight outdoors, perfect for those daytime walkers who need to read an email or text on-the-go.
The metal feel of the casing allows your hands to appreciate the strong sturdy build of the shell.? As much as I wanted to drop the device or test its durability, I’ll speculate that it can withstand a few light clumsy moments, but I cannot confirm with any experimentation (bonus points for a user who can comment on this!). The phone has an indicator light for emails and other notifications which I miss on my iPhone 4, and has a microUSB and microHDMI out connector to stream Netflix, Youtube or any other media onto your HDMI ready screen.? The phone rounds out nicely with a volume rocker on the left and headphones / power switch at the top.? Similar to a Droid X2, simplicity is beautiful, especially when there’s a beast under the hood.
Battery:? The Droid Bionic comes with a large 1,700 mAh for good reason.? Not only is this device LTE, it has a big screen and is made for heavy usage.? I’d like to say it has a good battery life, but it will only provide ample charge for light usage.? When using this phone to its full potential, I’d recommend holding onto the charger if you leave the house.? This phone has features which allow it to be tethered to your laptop with webtop adapter ($29.99) and streaming movies or gaming will surely have this phone begging for a midday fill up.? Most users who are interested in this device are use to a high end phone, and can surely understand and appreciate that it can still make it up to half a day or more with heavy usage.
Software: The Droid Bionic comes with Motorola’s Motoblur.? The Motoblur interface is great for users who utilize social networking to the fullest, as it aggregates data from all different sources and updates them quite frequently on any of your home screens.
While Motorola has made significant improvements with their UI, I’m still a fan of plain vanilla and I am waiting for the day that a phone manufacture will let the user decide what bloatware they want on their phone.? Personally, I don’t tweet, nor care much to find out what every single one of my friends is doing on Facebook, therefore the Motoblur interface was a bit obtrusive.
That being said, I though the animations, or lack there of, in other places like the lock screen or in application switching were incredibly tasteful and rival the beauty of the iPhone interface.
Camera: The Droid Bionic has an 8MP camera similar to the X2 and other Droids before it.? A front facing camera is built into this phone, but quite frankly there isn’t much to be too excited here.? While the Droid Bionic can shoot 1080p HD video, I was mildly unimpressed with the picture quality from a phone that has a display and processor to suggest a much more emphasis on picture and video capturing.? The photos you will take with this phone will look pretty good, assuming they are shot with ample light, but don’t expect to win any awards with the camera thrown on the back here.
Misc: I love the fact that the Droid Bionic has a microHDMI out or the webtop service to use this phone with ANY display as a computer.? I find that these phones have the hardware in them to be considered minicomputers so it’s about time they come with cheap accessories to let people throw them onto monitors and use their powerful internal components for more than just Angry Birds.? The adapter does support multiple window display which is worth noticing.
Switching between applications on this phone allows the user to appreciate the hardware that was integrated to make up the Droid Bionic.? LTE support is a must now, and Verizon/Motorola certainly got it right on this phone.? It has the intangibles and minor details to make it a front runner for the best phone available on the market.
Overall: If you’re a phone enthusiast or someone who wants the best in the market, I highly suggest you check out the Droid Bionic.? The phone speed, whether surfing the web, streaming a movie, or switching between applications is quite impressive.? While the phone has a steep $300 price, the metal frame and beautiful display will certainly make you feel like your money was spent on impressive hardware.
The Motorola Droid Bionic by Verizon Wireless is the best Android phone available.? While I do not think this phone will be a top performer after a couple months of further releases, it’s certainly a phone that will stay competitive for at least the next year.
