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Droid Bionic or Samsung Galaxy S II?

Droid Bionic or Samsung Galaxy S II

  • Droid Bionic

    Votes: 123 54.2%

  • Samsung Galaxy S II

    Votes: 104 45.8%
  • Total voters
    227
SirKronan said:
But today's LTE phones on Verizon make you sacrifice WAY TOO MUCH just to have LTE.
Click to expand...

Helluva post, SirK.

I agree with some of it, but you seem to be conflating the manufacturers w/the carriers. I'm also concerned about Verizon's overly dominant position, and what that means for pricing and service.

But why fault Verizon for the fact that early LTE radios are still crude and battery hungry? I just looked and Verizon currently offers 4G phones by Samsung, LG, HTC, shortly Motorola, and eventually Apple too. How much more competition could you want to see?
 
BlueBiker said:
Helluva post, SirK.

I agree with some of it, but you seem to be conflating the manufacturers w/the carriers. I'm also concerned about Verizon's overly dominant position, and what that means for pricing and service.

But why fault Verizon for the fact that early LTE radios are still crude and battery hungry? I just looked and Verizon currently offers 4G phones by Samsung, LG, HTC, shortly Motorola, and eventually Apple too. How much more competition could you want to see?
Click to expand...

It's really kind of a joint effort between carriers and manufacturers when it comes down to it, especially on CDMA, which is not as widespread as GSM. The manufacturers can only develop as fast as the network and its accompanying tech will allow. Verizon basically is sprinting before learning to job properly. I would much prefer a polished HSPA+ experience across the board to the "bleeding edge" that LTE is now.

I see what you're saying though, and I definitely am glad I'm not the only one here concerned about the lack of competition. If 21Mbps would've been "good enough" and we could've had Atrix/Sensation like devices before September, it would've been worth it.

Oh well. We've been waiting for a real superphone on Verizon since January. What's another month or two, right?
 
SirKronan said:
Oh well. We've been waiting for a real superphone on Verizon since January. What's another month or two, right?
Click to expand...

You know, I had been getting all hyped up lately w/Bionic and SGS2, but I just returned to my OG Droid after a couple weeks on a borrowed Charge, and... I still like my old Droid! Not even rooted, but it's plenty snappy for the stuff I do which is usually limited by WiFi speeds anyway.

So if Function doesn't have LTE, I think I'll just skip Bionic and wait til Nexus Prime. Maybe it'll have an LED, the lack of which was the only thing I really didn't like about Charge.
 
BlueBiker said:
You know, I had been getting all hyped up lately w/Bionic and SGS2, but I just returned to my OG Droid after a couple weeks on a borrowed Charge, and... I still like my old Droid! Not even rooted, but it's plenty snappy for the stuff I do which is usually limited by WiFi speeds anyway.

So if Function doesn't have LTE, I think I'll just skip Bionic and wait til Nexus Prime. Maybe it'll have an LED, the lack of which was the only thing I really didn't like about Charge.
Click to expand...

NoLED works decently well on most AMOLED based screens, but I like the notification LED too. I liked it on the DX when I had that phone. There's no guarantee yet that Verizon is getting the next Nexus. I really hope they do, but they are such control freaks. They want locked bootloaders like what Motorolas have. They don't want the control in the hands of their customers at all. They didn't even want APPLE to have as much control as they did, hence the several year delay on them getting the iPhone.

I really hope they do get a pure google phone someday, and soon. The Prime would be like a dream come true on Verizon.
 
SirKronan said:
NoLED works decently well on most AMOLED based screens, but I like the notification LED too. I liked it on the DX when I had that phone.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'd be using that.

SirKronan said:
There's no guarantee yet that Verizon is getting the next Nexus. I really hope they do, but they are such control freaks. They want locked bootloaders like what Motorolas have. They don't want the control in the hands of their customers at all. They didn't even want APPLE to have as much control as they did, hence the several year delay on them getting the iPhone.
Click to expand...

I thought the long iPhone/Verizon delay was because AT&T negotiated exclusive rights.

SirKronan said:
I really hope they do get a pure google phone someday, and soon. The Prime would be like a dream come true on Verizon.
Click to expand...

Agreed!
 
The other thing that bothers me is that Moto Blur garbage. Although the X2 is dual core, in the 10 days I had it, I honestly did not notice a difference in speed or smoothness between the X2 and my OG Droid. After doing some research, I have surmised that it's because of the crappy UI.

Add to that the fact that the Bionic will have a locked bootloader, and I don't know how long I'll have to wait until I can root it and get that crap off. That, along with stupid bloatware (what do I care about having blockbuster?), and I will be an unhappy camper.

Now, Motorola says that they will unlock the bootloader in November with an update. I don't know whether this is true or not. Remember, this is coming from Motorola's mouth. (That old saying comes to mind: How do you know when Motorola is lying? Their lips are moving.............Although I honestly don't think they lie. I just think they're extremely arrogant and tend to overestimate their own abilities.)

So, I'm potentially looking at having a beautiful phone that I can't use the way I want to until NOVEMBER. When's the Prime supposed to come out?

Oh yeah. November.

(Simple logic is required. Sorry, Yoda. Google has confirmed that Ice Cream Sandwich is coming out in Q4, and most speculation points to November, around Thanksgiving.
Nexus Prime is widely considered to be the first Ice Cream Sandwich phone from Google.
Samsung, the maker of the awesome SGS2, might be behind it.
 
bluefire1914 said:
The other thing that bothers me is that Moto Blur garbage. Although the X2 is dual core, in the 10 days I had it, I honestly did not notice a difference in speed or smoothness between the X2 and my OG Droid. After doing some research, I have surmised that it's because of the crappy UI.

Add to that the fact that the Bionic will have a locked bootloader, and I don't know how long I'll have to wait until I can root it and get that crap off. That, along with stupid bloatware (what do I care about having blockbuster?), and I will be an unhappy camper.

Now, Motorola says that they will unlock the bootloader in November with an update. I don't know whether this is true or not. Remember, this is coming from Motorola's mouth. (That old saying comes to mind: How do you know when Motorola is lying? Their lips are moving.............Although I honestly don't think they lie. I just think they're extremely arrogant and tend to overestimate their own abilities.)

So, I'm potentially looking at having a beautiful phone that I can't use the way I want to until NOVEMBER. When's the Prime supposed to come out?

Oh yeah. November.

(Simple logic is required. Sorry, Yoda. Google has confirmed that Ice Cream Sandwich is coming out in Q4, and most speculation points to November, around Thanksgiving.
Nexus Prime is widely considered to be the first Ice Cream Sandwich phone from Google.
Samsung, the maker of the awesome SGS2, might be behind it.
Click to expand...
Dual core isn't the same as 2 GHZ in one processor. You'll see the main difference in multitasking, not while running web pages, etc.

Looked bootloaders help limit the amount of devices get bricked. It also opens the phone up for other hacking that gives VZW fits. Who pays for a device that breaks due to rooting, etc? So far, people haven't been coming to Verizon and telling them that they bricked their phone while rooting it. They just say that the "*#$(* phone stopped working." Who's responsible for it now?
 
YodaDroid said:
Looked bootloaders help limit the amount of devices get bricked. It also opens the phone up for other hacking that gives VZW fits. Who pays for a device that breaks due to rooting, etc? So far, people haven't been coming to Verizon and telling them that they bricked their phone while rooting it. They just say that the "*#$(* phone stopped working." Who's responsible for it now?
Click to expand...

Yoda, anyone who bricks their device nowadays is an idiot. There are so many root threads and instructions out there for anyone with half a brain. If someone bricks their device due to rooting, they deserve to have a useless hunk of metal with a voided warranty.

And how does hacking give VZW fits, exactly?
 
bluefire1914 said:
Yoda, anyone who bricks their device nowadays is an idiot. There are so many root threads and instructions out there for anyone with half a brain. If someone bricks their device due to rooting, they deserve to have a useless hunk of metal with a voided warranty.

And how does hacking give VZW fits, exactly?
Click to expand...

I think I see where he's getting at. If you have undesired results from rooting or whatnot, you can always flash a stock image and return the device. Granted, if you can still flash a stock image, you can flash a better ROM. But if you're like me, no ROM I flash seems to get perfect results. It's not like it was a year ago. I don't know why.
 
Vehtemas said:
I truly hate this mentality...

I buy a phone with a specific function, in this case LTE, and to get it to last longer you have to turn it off???

This makes no sense, phone manufacturer's need to get their crap under control and make their phone so it can handle the functions it is sold with, it is outrageous to think I have to sacrifice something I paid for for the damn phone to last a full day.

J
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!! Brother you can say that again.
 
Vehtemas said:
I truly hate this mentality...

I buy a phone with a specific function, in this case LTE, and to get it to last longer you have to turn it off???

This makes no sense, phone manufacturer's need to get their crap under control and make their phone so it can handle the functions it is sold with, it is outrageous to think I have to sacrifice something I paid for for the damn phone to last a full day.

J
Click to expand...

The problem is not with the technology of hte phone - it lies with the antiquated technology of the batteries that we use to power the phone(s), in that they really cannot hold a large charge - but the technology that we are demanding in our phones these days requires a boatload of charge.

BlueBiker said:
You know, I had been getting all hyped up lately w/Bionic and SGS2, but I just returned to my OG Droid after a couple weeks on a borrowed Charge, and... I still like my old Droid! Not even rooted, but it's plenty snappy for the stuff I do which is usually limited by WiFi speeds anyway.

So if Function doesn't have LTE, I think I'll just skip Bionic and wait til Nexus Prime. Maybe it'll have an LED, the lack of which was the only thing I really didn't like about Charge.
Click to expand...

I dislike all overlay UIs - I prefer vanilla Android, which I doubt I'll ever see again in a bombtastic (yeah, I said it) device. Still, though, here's to rooting phones to get rid of unwanted fluff....

SirKronan said:
NoLED works decently well on most AMOLED based screens, but I like the notification LED too. I liked it on the DX when I had that phone. There's no guarantee yet that Verizon is getting the next Nexus. I really hope they do, but they are such control freaks. They want locked bootloaders like what Motorolas have. They don't want the control in the hands of their customers at all. They didn't even want APPLE to have as much control as they did, hence the several year delay on them getting the iPhone.

I really hope they do get a pure google phone someday, and soon. The Prime would be like a dream come true on Verizon.
Click to expand...

NoLED is OK, but still not as good as mu multi-color LED on my DROID. I'd really hate to have a phone without it, but...

bluefire1914 said:
The other thing that bothers me is that Moto Blur garbage. Although the X2 is dual core, in the 10 days I had it, I honestly did not notice a difference in speed or smoothness between the X2 and my OG Droid. After doing some research, I have surmised that it's because of the crappy UI.

Add to that the fact that the Bionic will have a locked bootloader, and I don't know how long I'll have to wait until I can root it and get that crap off. That, along with stupid bloatware (what do I care about having blockbuster?), and I will be an unhappy camper.

Now, Motorola says that they will unlock the bootloader in November with an update. I don't know whether this is true or not. Remember, this is coming from Motorola's mouth. (That old saying comes to mind: How do you know when Motorola is lying? Their lips are moving.............Although I honestly don't think they lie. I just think they're extremely arrogant and tend to overestimate their own abilities.)

So, I'm potentially looking at having a beautiful phone that I can't use the way I want to until NOVEMBER. When's the Prime supposed to come out?

Oh yeah. November.

(Simple logic is required. Sorry, Yoda. Google has confirmed that Ice Cream Sandwich is coming out in Q4, and most speculation points to November, around Thanksgiving.
Nexus Prime is widely considered to be the first Ice Cream Sandwich phone from Google.
Samsung, the maker of the awesome SGS2, might be behind it.
Click to expand...

Waiting until November is great, as long as you realize that it is, in fact, November - another 3 months off - and then we still don't know that it is coming to VZW. If the Prime comes to VZW, I'll upgrade another line and get it - but until then, my choices are the Bionic or GSII (or, *maybe* V igor, though I doubt it).

YodaDroid said:
Dual core isn't the same as 2 GHZ in one processor. You'll see the main difference in multitasking, not while running web pages, etc.

Looked bootloaders help limit the amount of devices get bricked. It also opens the phone up for other hacking that gives VZW fits. Who pays for a device that breaks due to rooting, etc? So far, people haven't been coming to Verizon and telling them that they bricked their phone while rooting it. They just say that the "*#$(* phone stopped working." Who's responsible for it now?
Click to expand...

And you think that with a locked bootloader they'll change their tune? *scoff*

bluefire1914 said:
Yoda, anyone who bricks their device nowadays is an idiot. There are so many root threads and instructions out there for anyone with half a brain. If someone bricks their device due to rooting, they deserve to have a useless hunk of metal with a voided warranty.

And how does hacking give VZW fits, exactly?
Click to expand...

By having to replace phones that are not truly dead with new phones, and then having to have these returned 'defective' phones refurbished, eating into their bottom line, as they cannot sell the refurbs as new phones anymore.
 
johnlgalt said:
By having to replace phones that are not truly dead with new phones, and then having to have these returned 'defective' phones refurbished, eating into their bottom line, as they cannot sell the refurbs as new phones anymore.
Click to expand...

Doesn't rooting your device void your warranty? If the warranty is voided, you're not getting an old phone replaced with a new one. You get a new one, and then once they find a Superuser permission in your phone, they send you a bill for the full price of the new one they gave you. They're not losing any money.
 
bluefire1914 said:
Doesn't rooting your device void your warranty? If the warranty is voided, you're not getting an old phone replaced with a new one. You get a new one, and then once they find a Superuser permission in your phone, they send you a bill for the full price of the new one they gave you. They're not losing any money.
Click to expand...
You'd think . . . and how often has this happened?
 
bluefire1914 said:
Doesn't rooting your device void your warranty? If the warranty is voided, you're not getting an old phone replaced with a new one. You get a new one, and then once they find a Superuser permission in your phone, they send you a bill for the full price of the new one they gave you. They're not losing any money.
Click to expand...

Yes, it does void the warranty. However, it's very simple to flash a stock image and no one is the wiser. And in the unlikely event that a phone is completely bricked, the really have no way to prove you tinkered with it.
 
Sandroidfan said:
Looks like Bionic will face strong competition from HTC, LG as well as SGS2. So Yoda's prediction there will be no other dual core/LTE phone this year seems to be wrong.

Motorola DROID Bionic, HTC Vigor, and more appear on new Verizon MAP list | PhoneDog
Click to expand...

yeah, especially HTC Vigor seems like incredible beast with HD resolution, 1.5Ghz dual core snapdragon. But is it confirmed to have LTE?

HTC Vigor, Droid Bionic and Other Mysterious Devices Outed in Verizon’s Pre-Map List
 
I am surprised to see the HTC Vigor show up in official documents before the SGS2. Although it sounds like an awesome phone, I know I will want one :)
 
@johnlgalt,

The issue is more to do with the LTE tech, since uses 45nm fab, which is more of an issue than cpu ic's due to the needed volts to channel the higher band width.

Anandtech has good articles about this as will as the 28nm LTE chip fabrications coming next year. This year will mean trade offs for LTE, with battery life being the commodity.
 
rushmore said:
@johnlgalt,

The issue is more to do with the LTE tech, since uses 45nm fab, which is more of an issue than cpu ic's due to the needed volts to channel the higher band width.

Anandtech has good articles about this as will as the 28nm LTE chip fabrications coming next year. This year will mean trade offs for LTE, with battery life being the commodity.
Click to expand...
@rushmore, that was your 4000th post! Interesting. Since LTE won't be coming to our area for at least another two years, this alone makes me want to wait on current generation LTE.
 
AntimonyER said:
I am surprised to see the HTC Vigor show up in official documents before the SGS2. Although it sounds like an awesome phone, I know I will want one :)
Click to expand...

Has anyone seen Vigor passing FCC before?

It seems to have dual core snapdragon 8660 @1.5Ghz. It saw its benchmark somewhere before and it seems comparable to Exynos @1.2Ghz, so it's not as fast, efficient as Exynos.
 
magdelaine said:
@rushmore, that was your 4000th post! Interesting. Since LTE won't be coming to our area for at least another two years, this alone makes me want to wait on current generation LTE.
Click to expand...

The Droid 3 will cover me until the next gen LTE arrives in force, next year. Still do not see the point of current 4G, with low battery life and a need to reboot the device to get back into 3G only mode.

Still, I respect others that do, since we all have our own priorities :)

Next year should yield the higher res IPS panels from Hitachi and second gen LTE chips. Perhaps the Droid 4 will have these :)

Added: And the Bionic 2
 
magdelaine said:
@rushmore, that was your 4000th post! Interesting. Since LTE won't be coming to our area for at least another two years, this alone makes me want to wait on current generation LTE.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that despite the "first-gen-ness" of the LTE in the Bionic, it will still be a pretty polished device, but it will still be thicker and much heavier than the SGSII. I'm honestly starting to be of the mind set that I'd rather NOT have LTE in a device until it's more polished and mature, on that new 28nm fab, and available in more areas. I will spend 99% of my time in non-LTE areas for at least the next year, possibly more. The SGSII may actually be more appealing to me if it doesn't have LTE.

Obviously if I could have LTE tech without any negative trade offs I would take it, but right now to get LTE you have to put up with THREE major trade-offs: Heat, bulk, and battery drain. Putting up with one wouldn't bother me too much, but having to put up with all three of those, just to get a speedy LTE chip I'll never be able to use in the phone's lifespan?

Hmm .... :(
 
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