HTC Thunderbolt Locked. Hello Bionic

[Bearly]

Can you please show us a review of the Atrix that criticizes the display? I haven't seen it.

Also, to my knowledge the qHD is just a resolution not a display technology like lcd or ips.

I dont think qHD necessarily means Pentile Matrix and given that different size displays can use different tech, its possible for the 4.3" qHD to use a different panel than the one in the Atrix. Knowing the history of product releases I wont hold out hope though, but someome told me via PM that he saw the Bionic at CES and the screen was amazing.

Android mfgrs seem to cut too many corners in the interest of flooding the market with their products.

I actually wrote to HTC about this and got a response asking to apply as a product tester. That's not what I want. I want them to put out a good product, not give me a near production unit to QA.

 

[Bearly]

Also keep in mind that you posted this in the LG Revolution forum:

x
On a side note, I played with an Atrix yesterday.

I want THAT phone on Verizon. Bootloader be damned. The thing is amazing. Perfect form factor. Razor sharp screen. Fingerprint unlock. Sensational battery life. Fast.

Wow. AT&T still sucks. But wow, Motorola.

All the praise for the Atrix could likely apply to the Bionic, so why insinuate otherwise?

Lets wait until the phone is out.

EDIT: Although I am sure most of us are adults, I'm aware that words are misconstrued over the net and most people post from work, possibly right after a stressful event they just dealt with, which would increase the chances for misinterpretation...

So, just wanted to say that I wasn't trying to "out" you in any way, but that I too am really excited/anxious about the Bionic's screen, and that your words were incongruent with another report I read from someone who handled the device at CES.

Let's hope the display looks stellar

 

[Agrajag]

For me, I'm happy with the Droid's display so as long as it doesn't go backwards from that then I'm really not concerned about that aspect.

Motorola's main concern from my vantage point is that the always seem to screw up royally at some point. The encrypted bootloader is one point. Consider their more recent news that they may abandon Android entirely to develop their own OS. Total stupidity and that tells you how much they care about Android users.

Here's a company that was on the verge of vanishing. It was that bad. They then move to Android and light the world on fire with the Droid and Droid X only to now think it was all about them and them alone. I have ZERO interest in a Motorola phone that doesn't have Android. Motorola is known for making tanks and I want an Android-based tank. Not a tank that can't be driven anywhere.

 

[SirKronan]

Also keep in mind that you posted this in the LG Revolution forum:



All the praise for the Atrix could likely apply to the Bionic, so why insinuate otherwise?

Lets wait until the phone is out.

EDIT: Although I am sure most of us are adults, I'm aware that words are misconstrued over the net and most people post from work, possibly right after a stressful event they just dealt with, which would increase the chances for misinterpretation...

So, just wanted to say that I wasn't trying to "out" you in any way, but that I too am really excited/anxious about the Bionic's screen, and that your words were incongruent with another report I read from someone who handled the device at CES.

Let's hope the display looks stellar

It looked fine when I had it solo, but later I got the chance to compare it side by side with the screen on my Fascinate and the screen on the TB as well. The colors just weren't as good. It does look sharp, but the colors and contrast aren't there. I didn't think the viewing angles were as good either. It's not a horrible screen. I suppose like anything it's going to depend on personal preference. Heavy web surfers will likely appreciate the added resolution and battery life.

Now, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but your comment here is a little inconsistent as well, but only half of that praise could be applied to the Bionic - VZ/Moto tossed the form factor and fingerprint reader out the window.

As for the pentile matrix, pentile is simply a type of patented subpixel matrix scheme. Have a look at the description as well as the macro photos:

The Motorola Atrix 4G Preview - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

My eyes are sharp enough to see the pentile matrix in action, and it really annoyed me at first on the Fascinate until I became accustomed to it. Pretty soon you don't see the pentile patterns. You just see letters and symbols. It's really only prominent in straight lines and text, especially black on white or white on black.

And the Atrix screen is still sharp because it's a 4" screen - same size as Fascinate - but with qHD resolution. When you bump the screen up to 4.3" you're going to lose a bit of that sharpness, and the pentile effect (assuming they use that subpixel pattern) will be even slightly more pronounced.

Anyways, to each his own. I would still consider the Atrix if it were on Verizon, but I don't expect I'll like the Bionic all that well, with the absence of half the RAM, the bulkier form factor, and the locked bootloader. We'll see though. It still has HDMI out, and is likely going to have great battery life.

Verizon and their phone choices are sure making things difficult. I want the GSII on Verizon, WITHOUT fat, battery hungry LTE tech ...

Edit: And you asked in your post above for a comprehensive review on the Atrix screen that criticizes it. I will again say that it's not a bad screen, but it's not as good as others. Look at that same AnandTech review I posted above, and you'll see that the Droid X beats the Atrix in every single screen test category, minus resolution. Better blacks, better whites, better contrast overall.

So the Atrix screen is sharp, but compared to others the colors don't quite "pop" and the blacks/whites simply aren't as good. My criticisms stand and are well-founded on personal testing and based on the research of others.

At least this time. Who knows what falsehoods I'll be spouting tomorrow!

 

[Bearly]

Thanks for the reply. I read AT daily (daily!) and have seen that Preview. However, I disagree with them on a few things and that's namely their screen tests:

They list the Droid X and Droid 2 as having higher brightness than the Fascinate, which I can honestly say (I own a Fascinate and friend's own X and the D2) is just plain wrong. The contrast is also better on the Fascinate. I have no clue how they're measuring their data but it's simply wrong; the Fascinate is substantially brighter than either of those two and is even better in sunlight.

Again, I hope the Bionic is a nice phone, despite having an encrypted bootloader. I don't think I'll get an LTE phone until I see a 4" qHD screen and at LEAST 1 GB RAM to be honest. My Fascinate has what, 384 MB RAM free? I can't play a game or and come back to Home without screen redraws which can take a while. Really annoying.

 

[jinwons]

The smaller RAM on Galaxy S is due to allocating some part of it to PowerVR 540 GPU in Hummingbird processor. So it's full size is still 512Mb. Doesn't Tegra2 based phone allocate some part of RAM to its GeForce GPU too?

 

[SirKronan]

Thanks for the reply. I read AT daily (daily!) and have seen that Preview. However, I disagree with them on a few things and that's namely their screen tests:

They list the Droid X and Droid 2 as having higher brightness than the Fascinate, which I can honestly say (I own a Fascinate and friend's own X and the D2) is just plain wrong. The contrast is also better on the Fascinate. I have no clue how they're measuring their data but it's simply wrong; the Fascinate is substantially brighter than either of those two and is even better in sunlight.

Again, I hope the Bionic is a nice phone, despite having an encrypted bootloader. I don't think I'll get an LTE phone until I see a 4" qHD screen and at LEAST 1 GB RAM to be honest. My Fascinate has what, 384 MB RAM free? I can't play a game or and come back to Home without screen redraws which can take a while. Really annoying.

You might be right about the Fascinate being brighter, and on the actual total contrast ratio I believe the Galaxy S phones are absent, perhaps because a true brightness of zero yields an otherworldly higher true contrast ratio. And photos and video certainly look more vibrant (hehehe) on SuperAMOLED. My point was simply comparing the above to the Atrix screen left me MOST disappointed with the Atrix, other than one single factor - sharpness. And when the Bionic takes that screen and makes it bigger, they are taking some of the ONLY advantage that screen had over the others to begin with. Bad move.

The smaller RAM on Galaxy S is due to allocating some part of it to PowerVR 540 GPU in Hummingbird processor. So it's full size is still 512Mb. Doesn't Tegra2 based phone allocate some part of RAM to its GeForce GPU too?

Whether it does or not, this is one case where we DO want more gee bee's, regardless!