Jan 31 AT 4:11 PM Taylor Wimberly 28 Comments

CES leftovers: Hands-on the Motorola Droid Bionic, headed to Verizon in Q2

The HTC Thunderbolt should be the first Verizon 4G LTE phone, but the Motorola Droid Bionic might be the better overall phone if you are willing to wait a couple more months. Our resident Droid expert Sean Riley already gave his first impressions of the Bionic, but we also have another leftover video from CES that gives a quick walk-through of the device.

The Droid Bionic will be Verizon’s first dual-core phone and it’s expected to go on sale sometime in Q2 (rumors suggest May, but it could land earlier). The device runs Android 2.2 and features a 4.3 inch qHD display (540 x 960), Tegra 2 processor, 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, VGA front-facing camera, 512 MB RAM, 16 GB internal storage, massive 1930 mAh battery, and micro HDMI connector with full UI mirroring.

Visit Motorola’s Bionic product page for detailed device specs.

Even though the Droid Bionic is slated for Q2, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it launch before that. Our friends at Droid Life already spotted an Amazon listing placing the device at $149 with 2-year contract and the demo unit we played with appeared to be final hardware. At this point, it only looks like Motorola and Verizon are finishing off the software portion.

If you are on Verizon and looking for a 4G handset, please let us know what you think. HTC Thunderbolt or Motorola Droid Bionic?

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28 Comments Join the discussion!

@neidlingerGuest 01/31/11 4:16 PM

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Motorola better than HTC?

Come on guys, i but you prefer Ford Focus over a BMW 3-series for performance as well.

the qHD, HDMI mirroring… yadda yadda blah blah blah

that’s all well and dandy but locked bootloaders, lack of updates and Motoblur make this phone a lost cause even before it was born.

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- InquisitorGuest 01/31/11 6:34 PM
  
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  unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.
  
  locked bootloaders are old news, the dx and d2 have a lush dev community. custom roms galore. plus, it can do anything that taylor’s false idol the Atrix can do (minus the laptop dock and lame extras like fingerprint scanned) and it has 4g lte (which, no matter how much taylor tries to say otherwise, is the fastest and closest to true 4g. plus, the bionic’s version of motoblur is decent, and looks gorgeous next to the abortion inhabiting the atrix.
  
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- 22 WickedToby741 01/31/11 8:13 PM
  
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  All of your arguments are invalid. Devs have pretty much found their way around the locked bootloaders and with Motorola’s recent statements, we may not even have to worry about it. Motorola has been second only to HTC in updates for their phones and thats likely because they suck at updating anything without the Droid label (which this has). Also, the Bionic ha a newer version of the Droid version of MotoBlur which is far less intrusive and a lot more tolerable than the regular MotoBlur. Your analogy also fails because the processor of the Bionic blows away any processor HTC offers. Picking the Thunderbolt over the Bionic for speed is like picking a BMW X5 over a Ford GT for speed. HTC makes great quality phones and the Sense UI trumps any of Motorola’s skins, but the Thunderbolt is really lacking in the processor department.
  
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meepstoneGuest 01/31/11 4:26 PM

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@ @neidlinger

Why are you complaining about locked bootloaders, lack of updates and motoblur?

Niether of them have been confirmed or denied because quite fankly i dont remember any questions about either of your 3 complaints being asked and answered/denied/ignored by a moto rep.

One of your complaints I don’t get personally. The lack of updates? Didn’t the droid get 3 to 4 updates last year? Not sure what lack of updates your talking about.

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- @neidlingerGuest 01/31/11 4:37 PM
  
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  once a duck always a duck.
  
  Think about it you’ll get it.
  
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  - 8 krazytrixxxsta 01/31/11 6:39 PM
    
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    moto only update their high end phones, take a look at their verizon phones, then take a look at phones they have at tmo and the other carriers.
    
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just qwertyGuest 01/31/11 4:31 PM

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HTC is better, I would be happy to have it.

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0 sANDLOtsMALLz 01/31/11 4:38 PM

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I can’t WAIT for this phone to come out, still with my rooted OG droid and am excited for this one, no doubt HTC is a better company but I’ve been a motorola fanboy ever since the droid 1, except motoblur…tht shit sux so I pray they dont throw that on the bionic

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- 22 WickedToby741 01/31/11 8:18 PM
  
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  Its got an updated version of the DroidBlur (MotoBlur for the Droid brand) which is far less intrusive than the normal MotoBlur. Its basically an update to whats on the Droid X, 2 Global, and Pro. If you’re okay with that or couldn’t even tell that the newer Droids had a version of Blur, then it’ll be fine.
  
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mattGuest 01/31/11 4:53 PM

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How can you possibly compare HTC to BMW? HTC feels like a cheap piece of plastic in the hand. And you can thank moto and their D1 for the android kraz in the first place. Oh and Im sure the D1 has more developmentthan any HTC piece of plastic. Also why not throw in the fact HTC started these horrible skins.

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- @neidlingerGuest 01/31/11 5:10 PM
  
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  Matt are you that self righteous?
  
  T-Mobile and the G1, along with the MyTouch3G are both HTC phones. They started the entire development community.
  
  Both of them… HTC phones… not one or the other, both. Along with the Nexus One. The G2 and the MyTouchHD.
  
  and just a FYI, Sense isn’t near as useless as MotorBlur.
  
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  - hoodGuest 01/31/11 9:16 PM
    
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    This guy is out of his mind how do you compare the two when the htc is has the same shit cpu as phones now where’s the upgrade in that there will be no bootloader as far as i can tell. You htc fanboys are starting to sound like the trolls across river maybe you should snap up a I phone I’m sure you’ll be happy with that. sent from an epic htc killer
    
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    - NotRelventGuest 01/31/11 11:51 PM
      
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      If there’s no bootloader the device won’t work. lol
      
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- BryanGuest 01/31/11 11:49 PM
  
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  The droid was a year and a half behind HTC in implementing android, have you ever heard of the G1?!? and HTC is far better that moto. The way I see it moto copied the G1 with the droid copied and evo with the droid x. its easy to develop when its already been done
  
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lovoGuest 01/31/11 5:20 PM

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Are u kidding me lack of uupdats? Sure they suck on low end but I mean look at the Droid 1 the droid2 and Droid x there all on 2.2 and Droid x didn’t take that long to get 2.2 look at Samsung there galaxy s line doesn’t even have 2.2 and how can u compare the 2 u would prefer a 1ghz phone 4g over a dual core? Really specs alone the bionic ish miles ahead of htc

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- @neidlingerGuest 01/31/11 5:48 PM
  
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  While specs are nice. Some people are more worried about the development end of things. They want to be able to split their phone WIDE open and do what they want to do with it.
  
  For example. I own a MyTouchHD phone. I have android 2.3.2 on it. I have it over clocked to 1.5Ghrz. I am pulling 55+FPS on Neocore, and 2600+ on Quadrant. And their are people out there that are darn near 3k on Quadrant. On a stock phone. How come you ask? because i can split my phone open and do what i want to do. While with Motorola i have to trick the system into thinking i am running their version of a OS. and it’s still bogged down with MotoBlur.
  
  you can keep the locked down high power stuff, i’ll take the open little slower stuff and still end up with better speeds.
  
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  - HansGuest 01/31/11 6:31 PM
    
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    I personally prefer Motorola. Sure, their low end phones are rarely updated, but their high ends are always up to date. To be perfectly honest, though…the majority of consumers don’t know about/don’t care about rooting. And even amongst ourselves, not everyone wants to root. And really, what’s the point of having scores that high? I see it mostly ad bragging rights.
    
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    - EvolvedGuest 01/31/11 10:55 PM
      
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      I completely agree with you. Working at a cell phone company that sells a ton of android phones…..this sort of thing rarely ever comes up. The majority of people getting into these phones are looking for something new and cool…..not something they need to take home and spend countless hours on learning how to root and overclock etc. Most will spend the money cause they don’t want to have to do anything else but get used to the phone and call it good.
      
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  - ShadesGuest 01/31/11 9:13 PM
    
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    Alright, alright! We get it @neidlinger! You like to soup up your phone and HTC pleasures your danger zone like nothing else. Instead of posting on here constantly letting us know how superior you are, I think you should start making your own phones. Maybe verizon will pick it up and we could all be discussing the specs of the new Droid Douche.
    
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MarkGuest 01/31/11 5:56 PM

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HTC > Motosucker.

Just waiting for their dual core beast to jump aboard.

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Oscar ZavalaGuest 01/31/11 7:31 PM

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I would go with the HTC Droid Thunderbolt because its coming out first and cuz its better. But the Motorola Droid Bionic is pretty sick.

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ahodge007Guest 01/31/11 7:33 PM

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can someone explain to me what a bootloader is and why is it not good to have it locked please. I just need to know so I wont be confused anymore

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- 100 Taylor Wimberly 01/31/11 8:10 PM
  
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  The bootloader controls which version of Android can be installed on the phone. Some are locked to only allow the carriers’ approved firmware. Others are unlocked to allow you to install any flavor of Android that is available.
  
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Mista2xGuest 01/31/11 8:44 PM

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You lost me at 2.2…

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mattGuest 01/31/11 10:42 PM

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How many droids sold in comparison?

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JAGGuest 02/01/11 6:30 AM

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Get me this beast, much better than HTC

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dagamer34Guest 02/01/11 11:20 AM

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The sad thing about this video is that the rep doesn’t seem to know any of the specs of the device. Which means pretty much any semi-detailed question you ask him will either be deferred or made up. =/

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37 Deter 02/03/11 9:24 AM

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If we were comparing HTC to Motorola this may be a different conversation and most of your arguments may have a place here. The fact is it was a choice specifically between the Thunderbolt and the Bionic. Speed of updates is a moot point: unless your on Samsung crap you’ll be within weeks of each other. The truth is that the Thunderbolt wins in only two categories: it will (in all likelihood) arrive first, and the front facing camera is 1.3m rather than 0.3m that the Bionic has. Everything else is a Bionic win. With a dual core processor (each of which as fast as the Thunderbolt), HDMI out, more sturdy design (speculation based off the history of the two companies) and most importantly the storage space(14GB on Bionic 8GB on Thunderbolt). I have a lot of personal experience with both companies in term of the android phones they both turn out. I can truly say that i wouldn’t be able to hold one company as a whole over the other based on the history. They both has a list of pros and cons. But when asked to compare these two specific product and with me having no particular bias towards ether manufacturer it seems like a pretty clear call to me.

Bionic > Thunderbolt

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