Today is Friday - hooray! Yesterday was Thursday - a huge hooray for Verizon and their new Android mobile device called, DROID BIONIC. This new "Bionic" made by Motorola was officially released on Thursday, September 8th, 2011. They, [bloggers, Verizon, and phandroids] have been talking about this model for last nine months, since January, 2011. Well... I can easily say, the proof is in the pudding! Back in May, 2011 I was adventurous and left my iPhone 3Gs to try the new world of Google Android OS. It was so exciting to try out, and experiment with a new OS (operating system). The menus were all different, features were new, clever layouts, cool options, live screen savers, camera, and even the mail behaviors were a vacation for my nerd mind. My first Android was the AT&T Samsung Infuse. This was to be AT&T’s first attempt at a 4G phone. However, how in pry tell does one use a 4G mobile device on a 3G network…? Uh, you don’t! After thirty days I returned the phone for a full refund. With the $360.00 made from an eBay customer, I used $160.00 to purchase a used Samsung Captivate Galaxy S (July and August, 2011 have been splendid).
This second go around I was more patient, waiting, waiting for a ‘true’ 4G to arrive. AT&T you took too long. Verizon delivered the 4G LTE network directly to our doorstep in Utah; both Salt Lake County, and Utah County. So, with a little bit of work [mostly on my part] I was able to acquire a brand new Bionic just before flying out of SLC yesterday morning. I tried to activate the phone prior to take off; however, there was simply not enough time to eat breakfast, go through security, walk to the gate, find a seat, and activate a new phone. It appears a new phone takes a solid, and strong Internet signal. Out on the tarmac of SLC the signal was week so my new phone was unable to communicate with the Verizon servers. As soon as I landed in Atlanta, Georgia I turned on the phone, and those wonderful blue 4G signal bars were there to greet me. The 90 minute layover passed by far too quickly as I browsed through the new interface. The differences between the Samsung and Motorola are vast. Here are my favorite:
1. Screen lock delay
I did not have to install some free or pay for an app that the iPhone 3G did years ago. I was able to go into settings, Location & security settings, Security lock timer, and select “When display is off [a.k.a. immediate], 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, or 15 minutes – very nice!
2. Home screen has two options by default
a. left-hand of the screen swipe unlocks the phone
b. Right side of the screen swipe switches from silent to sound on – nice feature! Again via AT&T I had to root my phone and install a special modification.
3. Gingerbread OS version 2.3.4 out of box! I know there are many reasons; although, come on Google! Why must you and the mobile carriers wait so, so, so long to deploy new OS upgrades? The fancy Samsung Infuse back in May, nope, was still missing Gingerbread. This forces the phandroid community to be creative, and hack the hardware thus rooting the phones. Nevertheless, a rooted phone has many privileges
4. Screen size: as much as I loved the 4.5 inch of the Samsung Infuse, that 4.5 inch screen was too big. The 4.3 inch screen is just about right. The clarity, resolution, anti-glare, well, awesome! I was easily able to read my screen without searching for a shady spot under a tree. The Samsung Infuse was very poor in direct sun light. Thus, great work Motorola and Verizon on the new Gorilla glass improvements
5. Battery Life: the battery is larger than most, and that was for a good reason - it lasts! All of the Android phones I have used suck the juice out of the battery before I am done with work. I charged the Bionic to 100% before retiring for the evening. Turned it this morning at 07:30, and when I returned to the hotel at 14:15 it was only down to 60%. I was actually using it during that seven hour time frame. I was say the use was moderate for the initial three hours, then heavy that last 90 minutes using GPS, Wi-Fi, and GPS apps such as My Tracks, Foursquare, and Google Navigation.
6. Apps: all of the applications I frequently used on my Samsung Captivate Galaxy S installed like a charm on the new Droid Bionic - even Netflix. All of the apps function quickly and in 34 hours not a one has locked up or crashed.
7. Stability: with the 1 GB of RAM the memory functions wonderfully! I have yet to go into task manager and kills apps or even clear memory of apps. The up time is now 28 hours.
8. Sleep mode: have you even gone to bed with a full battery only to wake-up the following morning to a flashing red battery icon? Well, I have, and too many times! The Droid was still at 100% battery life this morning.
9. Google Voice: the integration is still seamless - thank you Motorola, Verizon, and Google for playing nicely together!
10. LED blinker: the reminder/notification light works great!
11. Camera: TBD (to be determined) I will post some sample pictures later tonight
AFK 17:59 (away from keyboard to go running). I would normally take the new phone with me, however, it is really humid here in South Carolina and I hesitate damaging such a wonderful mobile device this early in it's lifespan ;)
