Long time lurker, first time poster, hello all!
VZW Store at Colorado and Evans in Denver had a few people waiting outside, not all of whom were there for the Bionic. I was probably the first one to get one at that location, and when I turned around, there were about 15 people milling about looking at the Bionic. The manager told me I was lucky to get in when I did, as a lot of the people just arriving were getting phones for multiple lines (4 or 5 in some cases).
With my wife's corporate discount on the account, I got $50 off the phone and 25% off all accessories. Bought the battery dock and holster. I'm not sure about the other docks because I don't know if they'll fit with the holster (my impression is no).
Initial impressions:
1) FAST, but QS and Antutu benchmarks are inconsistent at this time. I want to run some more to see if the numbers stabilize and get back.
2) I think that I need to get the phone closer to my eye than my progressives will allow to see the subpixel pattern that people hate with PenTile.
3) Screen is not as rich in color as my OG Droid, or the AMOLED screens I've seen. Have yet to get it outside. White text in a browser looks fine to me.
4) Zumocast is neat, and hopefully not full of security holes.
5) Why won't VZW let us uninstall crapware? After an SBF arrives, and enough people have rooted to convince me it's stable, I'll do it just to clean up the phone.
6) The MOTOBlur that must not be named is not as obnoxious as I thought. I'll probably still put LauncherPro Plus on it.
7) Build quality is good - My OG Droid was a tank and it felt like one - this has a lighter but not insubstantial feel
8) I hated the OG Droid physical keyboard, and the onscreen portrait keyboard was too narrow for thumbs. It's nice to have a little breathing room on the Bionic's portraint keyboard.
9) Swype. Nice that it's pre-installed, as it's actually useful.
10) Isn't Blockbuster going under?
11) Took a retry on activation - probably 15 minutes or so. No big deal - I left the store and it eventually worked.
12) I don't really think we need more DROID branded sounds, do we?
This is a good upgrade for my Droid, which was limping. I know it won't be king of the hill for long, and that's fine. I want a phone that will perform reasonably well for 20 months, and I don't think Charge, TBolt, and Revolution will hold up to apps that arrive in that time frame.
Good luck to anyone trying to get it!
