If you’re looking for a great deal on a Verizon LTE phone… keep looking. On the other hand, if you’re one of the handful of people whose heart is still set on the Motorola DROID BIONIC, then today is your lucky day. The phone has dropped in price to free on-contract. It’s been eight months since Moto’s first LTE device debuted on Verizon, though it’s been considerably longer since it was announced – the BIONIC had an unusually long gestation period.
For the uninitiated, the Motorola DROID BIONIC packs a dual-core 1GHz processor, 4.3-inch 960×540 display, a full gigabyte of RAM and an 8 megapixel rear camera. The storage is a still-decent 16GB, and it can be extended a further 32GB with a MicroSD card. The BIONIC was one of Verizon’s first LTE devices, and as far as specs go is still a pretty powerful one. Even so, the BIONIC became one of the most disappointing releases of last year.
We’d still recommend going with something else if you can possibly raise a little more dough. As Moto’s first LTE phone, the BIONIC had a lot of growing pains in both the software and hardware that still plague it today (at least on the official Gingerbread ROM). It’s set to get Ice Cream Sandwich at some point, but Motorola seems hesitant to send out updates to any of its American devices. If you’re on a budget but want a Verizon 4G LTE device, the newer DROID RAZR and DROID 4 are both $99, and the mid-rand LG Lucid will only run you $79.
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[via Droid-Life]
Sometimes free is not worth it. Get a Nexus device. At least then you can benefit from third-party support without fighting a locked bootloader.
Its a great phone. Ive had it since the beginning. Early on the connection issues plagued it but since .902 all has been great. Almost perfect as a matter of fact. Stock battery lasts a day and a half normal usage and it is rock solid. In this case free is a great bargain. Its a Razr named Bionic.
I’ve had this phone since it came out. My husband thought I should have gotten the iphone because he has one and likes it. The Apple restriction of apps sort of is a turn off. Too much control. I’ve had no issues with the bionic, and the contract period time will be up in Oct. 2013. I like the phone, and finally felt like I didn’t get a lemon of a deal by choosing it. As long as it holds up, I’ll keep it until it finally dies. I don’t have it loaded down with a ton of apps, so maybe that is why I’ve not had any issues with it. My son, who is on the Sprint network, said that it was unbelievably fast compared to his HTC smartphone. The screen is large and clear, and the phone is capable of doing far more than I do with it. I just hope that when it dies, a smartphone that is good as this one is available. I have dropped it once, and the screen scattered. I found a place locally that replaced the screen, and voila, as good as new. The cost was $100.00, but better than what Verizon would do to repair the screen.