Bionic to be Vanilla Android?

[jpetersen5]

Was talking to a friend that is a developer at Motorola the other day. He was saying that Motorola has received nothing but bad feedback about Blur on their Android phones and that they are seriously considering DeBlurring the Bionic. Not sure that this means a true Vanilla Android phone, but might mean a lot less Blur. Anyone else think a non-blur Bionic is possible?

 

[jdmp10]

Was talking to a friend that is a developer at Motorola the other day. He was saying that Motorola has received nothing but bad feedback about Blur on their Android phones and that they are seriously considering DeBlurring the Bionic. Not sure that this means a true Vanilla Android phone, but might mean a lot less Blur. Anyone else think a non-blur Bionic is possible?

I wouldn't be too optimistic about the Bionic being a completely stock Vanilla build but at the very least I wouldn't be surprised if the Blur effect (did you like that? lol) is much more minimal on the newly released high end phones then previously seen.

 

[gallandof]

I was doing a training for the bionic last night, while its not bone stock android it does seem to be a new version of "ninja"blur. no where near as obtrusive as other devices. and actually a little nicer than the X and droid 2.

 

[djembeman]

I guess I just really got used to and love my Original Droid that Blur just hasn't appealed to me the few times I've checked out the Droid 2. Stuff just kind of gets in my way. I'm waiting for the Bionic until I upgrade, so I can only hope!

 

[jreed2560]

I was doing a training for the bionic last night, while its not bone stock android it does seem to be a new version of "ninja"blur. no where near as obtrusive as other devices. and actually a little nicer than the X and droid 2.

when you say "training" did you mean thru vzlearn?

 

[Dominick_7]

I was doing a training for the bionic last night, while its not bone stock android it does seem to be a new version of "ninja"blur. no where near as obtrusive as other devices. and actually a little nicer than the X and droid 2.

Have a few questions if I may ask. Have you tried the Thunderbolt, if so or at least based on the specs, do you think it's worth waiting for the Bionic instead? I have an love my Droid X, but really would love a 4G device with updated superior video AND audio playback, well updated specs all around, as well as it being faster and a more refined UI over the Ninja Blur we've seen.. would prefer it not being that, though it's ok.. I just use Launcher Pro anyway. I have a barely functioning Thunderbolt so I can't totally judge it, with no 4G or signal or data, but I did notice the Droid X beats it in video playback quality (the colors like in skin tones are more so unnatural, ie reddish/yellow/orangish and video gets cut off as opposed to how it is with the DX), audio (has SYSTEM WIDE bass and equalizer, the TB doesn't and has really no bass in the system usage making Pandora way better to use on the DX) so far.

SEEMS like at least on paper, 1080p video, qHD resolution, a bigger battery, Tegra2, and HDMI would be way better.. but like with the Thunderbolt that advertises 8GBs of on storage memory.. when you get it you find out it's really 1-2GBs left after all the bloatware which takes up 5+GBs.. you never know till you get it in hand and or can watch a review of the official version. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. I will miss the width of the Thunderbolt, it's quickness, HTC Sense and the kickstand..

 

[d3310n]

Have a few questions if I may ask. Have you tried the Thunderbolt, if so or at least based on the specs, do you think it's worth waiting for the Bionic instead? I have an love my Droid X, but really would love a 4G device with updated superior video AND audio playback, well updated specs all around, as well as it being faster and a more refined UI over the Ninja Blur we've seen.. would prefer it not being that, though it's ok.. I just use Launcher Pro anyway. I have a barely functioning Thunderbolt so I can't totally judge it, with no 4G or signal or data, but I did notice the Droid X beats it in video playback quality (the colors like in skin tones are more so unnatural, ie reddish/yellow/orangish and video gets cut off as opposed to how it is with the DX), audio (has SYSTEM WIDE bass and equalizer, the TB doesn't and has really no bass in the system usage making Pandora way better to use on the DX) so far.

SEEMS like at least on paper, 1080p video, qHD resolution, a bigger battery, Tegra2, and HDMI would be way better.. but like with the Thunderbolt that advertises 8GBs of on storage memory.. when you get it you find out it's really 1-2GBs left after all the bloatware which takes up 5+GBs.. you never know till you get it in hand and or can watch a review of the official version. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. I will miss the width of the Thunderbolt, it's quickness, HTC Sense and the kickstand..

Of course we could root and remove bloatware. And 5+gb? Um i dont think so bloat ware is only a few apps and shouldnt even be over 100mb. And whats the big deal it wont be installed on ram and you can put other apps on sd card.

 

[rushmore]

Of course we could root and remove bloatware. And 5+gb? Um i dont think so bloat ware is only a few apps and shouldnt even be over 100mb. And whats the big deal it wont be installed on ram and you can put other apps on sd card.

Some of the bloatware concern is the TB and that is a misnomer, since people assume 5gb of the TB is taken by bloatware. The real reason for most of the missing space is HTC deliberately cut off function of 4gb. This results in false advertising, since not really 8gb internal, but most folks appear to let HTC and VZW get a free pass on it.

 

[Lucidot]

I have a question that may seem a little odd.

What in the hell is MotoBlur??

The Android phones that we have owned (HTC Eris, Moto Droid 1, HTC TB) have all pretty much looked the same. I really haven't noticed any real differences. So what exactly is this MotoBlur, and how does it affect the appearance of the device?

 

[addictedtocars]

I'm new to smart phones and waiting on Bioic to drop, but the thing that turns me off about many Android phones is the vendor UI that is on most of these devices. I understand the maker wanting to make the device "theirs" to differentiate them form the competition, but make the vendor UI optional, sure default to that, but give me an option to fall back to plain Android. I hear this marketing pitch to users all the time, go Apple becasue Apple IOS is consitent across devices and iterations, go Android and each divice looks and feels different. While that can also be a plus I think after playing with HTC's UI I was immediately turned off. I have yet to spend too much time with MotoBlur, but see how it is annoying as well.

 

[edward90]

Its true that apple has a consistent UI but that's because its running on one device..while its true I'm not a huge fan of these custom UI, I think they have come along way and are getting better with each version ..the invisible hand of the market will force these UI s to become really good or they will go away.

 

[YankeeDudeL]

I have a question that may seem a little odd.

What in the hell is MotoBlur??

The Android phones that we have owned (HTC Eris, Moto Droid 1, HTC TB) have all pretty much looked the same. I really haven't noticed any real differences. So what exactly is this MotoBlur, and how does it affect the appearance of the device?

I'll take a stab at this. I've not owned a phone with MotoBlur, but I've got a OG Droid and 2 DIncs, so I'm at least familiar with the diff between a custom UI and vanilla Android.

UI (for those unclear) stands for "user interface". Basically, as stated in one of the posts above me, is just a way for the phone's manufacturor to give a phone it's own flavor. This usually means apps and widgets that work with that particular UI only.

Take for instance HTC Sense. I'm not a fan of how they lay out their "people" app (which would be the contacts app on vanilla Android). It's pretty much just a jumbled mess, as to where the contacts app works with the phone app and is more streamlined and organized.

There's usually pretty handy apps and widgets that come with, or can be DLed from the Market that are pretty useful and handy to have. However, most of these will have a counterpart available to all to DL (LauncherPro Plus mimicks many of HTC Sense's widgets, as an example).

I'm not sure what MotoBlur offers (or hinders, for that matter), but I'm thinking it's probably a pretty similar experience to Sense. Hope this helps give you an idea, and perhaps someone with a more technical experience with this could chime in.

 

[jreed2560]

Was talking to a friend that is a developer at Motorola the other day. He was saying that Motorola has received nothing but bad feedback about Blur on their Android phones and that they are seriously considering DeBlurring the Bionic. Not sure that this means a true Vanilla Android phone, but might mean a lot less Blur. Anyone else think a non-blur Bionic is possible?

except that blur is like an unpolished beta version of sense

 

[King_Bean]

I hope the Bionic has vanilla Android. HTC Sense is the only vendor UI that I like (and even it I can do without).

On the other hand, I'm not going to sit around and wait for a decent phone with vanilla Android or HTC Sense to come along. Who knows how long that would take. Forget that, I'm ready for a new phone and I'm just going to have to put up with Blur.