Another "What should I buy" thread...

[Sharrock]

Yes, I'm a n00b to this forum, and I apologize in advance if everyone is sick of these kinds of topics, but I'd like to ask the experts on here their opinion.

So I had a Blackberry Storm with a new Verizon contract almost 20 months ago. About halfway through the contract I realized that the BBS was lacking, so I decided to hold out and get an iPhone 4 when it came out on Verizon. I really liked it at first, but the constant syncing through iTunes, the jailbreaks not being up to snuff, and the general "lockdown" feeling I get from iOS has decided that maybe I should officially join the Android camp. I'm eligible for an upgrade tomorrow (and I think I get a discount since I signed up for a new contract before Verizon axed the New Every Two program) and I'm thinking about taking advantage.

Now obviously the Droid Bionic just came out, and it seems to be a mighty powerful phone that I might enjoy. I can go out and get this bad boy ASAP, but I've heard mixed things about the screen, camera, and design. I also heard of the Droid Prime and HTC Vigor. I know the latter two run at a higher clock speed (at least rumors say that), but if I can overclock the Bionic to those speeds then I'd still be well ahead of the game.

So I ask you, should I wait until the Prime or Vigor are officially announced? Or go all in on the Bionic? I'm open to all suggestions or anything you can tell me about the Bionic, Prime or Vigor, because like I said I'm not super familiar with Android.

 

[jseah]

Can you hold out for another month? If not, then go for the Bionic now. If you can, then wait to see when the new phones come out. If the rumors are true, the Vigor should be out in another 3 weeks or so. Prime isn't rumored to be out for another 5 or 6 weeks (end of October).

 

[dezymond]

I can't comment on anything about the Prime or Vigor as I don't know too much about, but the Bionic is pretty sweet. And anything is better than your blackberry at this point, especially the storm, sorry i have a strong dislike for that phone.

I actually liked the Bionic when I went to go check it out, but I realized it wasn't that much different compared to my Inc. Sure it's faster, bigger/better screen, and has 4g, but I mean the Fall lineup of phones is dropping fairly soon. Heck, even ICS might be out by next month. There is nothing wrong with the Bionic, it's a great phone and is arguably the most powerful phone out there, on Verizon's network for sure, but the problem for me is that it came out way too late. Had this phone been released in Feb like predicted at first, I would've gotten it, no questions asked, but it's too late. Google has said it wants it new OS to be out by the end of this year (i think that's what they said at some press conference or event recently by Schmidt), and my contract ends in Nov, so that's only 2 months away which there should be newer phones that are on par or better than the Bionic.

The Bionic is currently the only phone on verizon that's dual-core 4g, but that won't be for too long, at least from what I read. My advice to you is to maybe hold out a little longer and see what is releasing in the near future. Most of all go to the store and check out the Bionic for yourself and see how you like it, it really is a different beast compared to your Storm. I can only speak for myself, but I'm playing the waiting game a little more and if nothing else better comes out by then I'll most likely pick up a Bionic.

 

[Sharrock]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll probably wait a bit until we get some more concrete info on the Vigor. However people say that HTC products have terrible battery life. Can anyone attest to this? The Bionic is said to have really good battery life.

 

[jseah]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll probably wait a bit until we get some more concrete info on the Vigor. However people say that HTC products have terrible battery life. Can anyone attest to this? The Bionic is said to have really good battery life.

Yes, the Thunderbolt has a horrible battery life. However, the only reason the Bionic has a really good battery life is because the battery is larger by comparison. The Thunderbolt has a 1350 mAh battery. The Bionic has a 1785 mAh battery. The stock Bionic battery is almost 1/3 larger. By comparison, the extended batteries for both phones are almost the same size.

I really don't understand why HTC skimps on the battery when they are designing the phone. It's not like they are saving a considerable amount of money by putting in a small battery.

 

[Sharrock]

Gotcha, makes sense I suppose. I guess I can just buy an extended battery with the Vigor (or Incredible HD, whatever the hell they decide to call it) when it launches. I guess the 20th there's an HTC conference or something and they're unveiling it there?