Hey everyone,
Just came across these forums doing a little research on my Bionic. I just traded in my first-gen Droid for the Bionic last week (actually, I had borrowed a friend's old Incredible for about a month; the original Droid's battery was hardly holding a charge, and he lent it to me while I waited for the Bionic). It's an impressive device!
I've always been kind of a Mac guy, and if I'd been eligible for an upgrade when Verizon got the iPhone 4, I'd probably have gone with it. I was tempted to wait for the iPhone 5, but the Bionic looked pretty stellar, specs-wise, and I already am comfortable with Android, so I just got it. I have an iPad, and just don't get what's so awesome about iOS. My wife just switched to the Charge, also a sweet phone, from Blackberry. She loves it.
I'm actually considering trading in the Bionic for the Charge, for two reasons: battery and camera. The battery life on the Charge seems to be way better than the Bionic; I have the Bionic extended battery, and it's good for a whole day of moderate use (some web, lots of email, Facebook, and a few pics). But it changes the whole feel of the phone - it's thick and heavy. The standard battery can't make it all day without a charge. I leave GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi off at all times, unless I need them for something specific (video upload, navigation, etc.).
The camera is really the main problem, however. The shutter lag is absurd. It can take 5-8 seconds to lock the focus and shoot from the time you hit the shutter button. It averages a few seconds, at least, even in good light outoors. We did a side-by-side comparison of camera speed on well-lit indoor shots, and the Charge was around a second or less to get a pic most of the time. Seems like no big deal, but it results in a lot of blurry photos, missed pics, and shots of people walking into the frame.
So, there you go. That's my intro. Thanks for all of the informative, helpful posts I've read so far. Hope I can add some value here.
- BionicDad
Just came across these forums doing a little research on my Bionic. I just traded in my first-gen Droid for the Bionic last week (actually, I had borrowed a friend's old Incredible for about a month; the original Droid's battery was hardly holding a charge, and he lent it to me while I waited for the Bionic). It's an impressive device!
I've always been kind of a Mac guy, and if I'd been eligible for an upgrade when Verizon got the iPhone 4, I'd probably have gone with it. I was tempted to wait for the iPhone 5, but the Bionic looked pretty stellar, specs-wise, and I already am comfortable with Android, so I just got it. I have an iPad, and just don't get what's so awesome about iOS. My wife just switched to the Charge, also a sweet phone, from Blackberry. She loves it.
I'm actually considering trading in the Bionic for the Charge, for two reasons: battery and camera. The battery life on the Charge seems to be way better than the Bionic; I have the Bionic extended battery, and it's good for a whole day of moderate use (some web, lots of email, Facebook, and a few pics). But it changes the whole feel of the phone - it's thick and heavy. The standard battery can't make it all day without a charge. I leave GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi off at all times, unless I need them for something specific (video upload, navigation, etc.).
The camera is really the main problem, however. The shutter lag is absurd. It can take 5-8 seconds to lock the focus and shoot from the time you hit the shutter button. It averages a few seconds, at least, even in good light outoors. We did a side-by-side comparison of camera speed on well-lit indoor shots, and the Charge was around a second or less to get a pic most of the time. Seems like no big deal, but it results in a lot of blurry photos, missed pics, and shots of people walking into the frame.
So, there you go. That's my intro. Thanks for all of the informative, helpful posts I've read so far. Hope I can add some value here.
- BionicDad