Motorola's long-awaited Android flagship, the Droid Bionic, is out tomorrow.
At Gizmodo, Brent Rose says it's similar to other recent 4G models such as Samsung's Galaxy S II, with fast-performing hardware in a thinner body. Unfortunately, it has a "super harsh" display and "just falls flat" when using certain features. He also reports lots of pre-installed junk.
The software side is a mixed bag of "Hey, that's cool!" with "Arrgh, please kill me!" On the cool side it has some robust security features, including onboard and SD storage encryption, remote wipe—why isn't this a standard part of Android yet?—and tons of control for your IT admin. Your office really has no excuse to not to let you use this phone. On the bad side, there is just a ton of bloatware on this.
At Engadget, Tim Stevens reports that it's a "bit drab" in the style department but seemingly an excellent performer, and reserves judgment until full testing is complete.
TechCrunch's Jordan Crook says that there's no doubt at all about it being a snappy performer, but finds it a bit large and isn't impressed by the smudgy finish.
USA Today's Mark W. Smith says that it's a winner.
For those who have been waiting out the 4G smartphone race this summer, hoping for a hit with the Bionic, your wait has been rewarded. This one is worth buying.
Joshua Topolsky at This Is My Next awards it 7.5/10 — "Essentially as good and as bad as other recent Motorola entries" — and says its not the killer handset expected by fans. Overpriced, too.
The Bionic has a 4.3" display, 16GB of internal storage and a 16GB microSD card, an 8MP camera with 1080p video, and weighs 5.6 oz. Available tomorrow on Verizon, it is $299 with a 2-year contract.
