I came from the Thunderbolt, and let me tell you, the Bionic is an awsome phone! There are some TINY issues with it, such as the dead pixel problem, but those are tiny issues. As for the connections being dropped, I have not lost a 4G connection yet. I have also experienced some apps mysteriously dissapearing, but that is still small compared to the trouble I had to put up with the Thunderbolt. This whole pwns, no arguing that! Can't wait to get an actual linux distro on the webtop part of the phone. That will make this phone kick ass just that much more!
Keep your apps on your phone and not your SD card until the early November update, this will prevent them from disappearing. The 1st update is supposed to also fix the other issues you described