Product ReviewsMotorola Droid Bionic - 16GB - Black (Verizon) Smartphone

Great value, perfect size, works great!

Still an awesome phone despite originally being released many years ago. Perfect for the average user who doesn't need the latest technology and wants a great value.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: rapid_charge_plus

don't like this phone

This is the worst phone I ever had. I just bought another phone, a Samsung. This Motorola phone has apps I can't remove which are constantly updating. The parts are hard to find, for example a new screen. The battery constantly runs out. I bought 2 of these and paid $30.00 something apiece for them. I guess I got what I paid for.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: rKlNUvJkRYe@Del...

Good phone, excellent call quality, email & browing, but so so camera

It was an excellent phone when it came out. It has excellent call quality, something that is extremely important in a phone but is often overlooked in reviews. The screen is made out of Gorilla glass. Basically, that means it's almost impossible to break other than intentionally. I saw Youtube videos with people trying to break the screens of phones with Gorilla glass. Usually, the people ended up wrecking something else on the phone before the Gorilla glass broke. For practical purposes, the screen never was scratched despite me frequently keeping it without a screen protector in a pocket with keys. Its call quality compares favorably to smart phones that come out now; my Bionic sounds much better than a Moto X that I bought then returned shortly therafter due to poor quality. The best way to determine the call quality of a phone over the internet is to go to the Cnet website, read the reviews, then click the link that allows you to hear a recording of the cell phone caller leaving a message for a landline phone. This phone is clearly dated: There are phones that do a whole lot more than this. However, they're going to be quite expensive or lock you into a long term contract. If you're going to get a phone that's out of date, this is a good choice. When it came out, it was as good as any of its competitors. The camera is only so so.Read full review...

Some Good Choices

This review is for both a Droid 4 and a Droid Bionic which I purchased on ebay in Dec, 2014. One for $31 the other for $34 (auctions). I wanted two "mini tablets" to use around my house and outside (to limits of wifi) for internet radio, mp3 player, news/weather, Netflix, email, Skype, etc. All the functions of a $200 - $300 tablet including Bluetooth and HDMI out. Bionic is dedicated to the bedroom for music to my stereo via Bluetooth and Netflix to my HD TV via 15' HDMI cable. Droid 4 is used as a portable device, mainly because it has the slide out keyboard (believe it is the last smartphone to have one and Moto finally got it perfected). I have Bluetooth receivers on my stereos in my bedroom, living room, and garage and portable mini Bluetooth speakers in kitchen and outside. Bluetooth has become very inexpensive on ebay. Both Droids came factory reset with Jelly Bean 4.1. Neither has a sim card nor contract. They are no longer smartphones, they are mini tablets. Both run Netflix very smoothly, have good wifi and Bluetooth range, and excellent HDMI. Although the screens are small compared to today's smartphones, they have good color and resolution. Both have 8MP rear facing cameras. The Droid 4 is good, the Bionic is not - seems to be a problem with the syncing of shutter release and autofocus. Rock steady gives a good picture, hand held always seems to be out of focus and I'm not a novice. I haven't Skyped yet with the front facing cameras - will be trying that out in a few weeks. Sound is good on both as far as 3 year old designs go. I don't know what the sound is like on new designs so can't make a comparison. I can say both of these can be heard at 50' indoors with no perceptible distortion when placed on a hard surface. Battery life is of course dependent on how well the battery size is matched to the phone power requirements. This value is almost always provided based upon a new battery. When dealing with 3 year old devices with no knowledge of the number of recharges that have taken place or even if one of the batteries has been replaced, this measurement is useless. That being said, the Droid 4 (a newer device) plays internet radio for about 3 hours, the Bionic about 8. As I stated, neither of these are used as smartphones anymore so I can't comment on connection and voice quality or internet using LTE (on the Droid 4). In summary, if you are looking for a device to use as I do, then either of these would be a good choice. Google them and others and read, read, read. You have the advantage of hindsight. And observe the auctions - see what the price is for actual sales and not what someone is asking for. One other thing. If you are considering a Motorola Droid, I have owned 5 and never had a cracked screen or even a scratch on the screen. There is something to be said about Gorilla Glass. One more other thing. If you receive either of these with a factory reset and no sim card then Google "Droid ___ power up without a sim card" to find out how to bypass the activation sim card screen. This review will also be sent to the Droid 4.Read full review...

Great smartphone with great features and quality build! Excellent product!!

This smartphone is great! The Android operating system was a little tricky to get used to at first (seeing as I had just upgraded from an old Blackberry Curve 8530). But, once I got used to maneuvering around it, Android was great! I love all of the apps available at the Play Store, and the camera is really good too. Low light pictures aren't the best, but it's not exactly a full-featured digital camera that's built in either. The phone barely has any lag time with loading apps as well. The only flaw is the battery life; I usually have to charge it by the end of each day with only moderate use, but that's a small price to pay for all the features this phone has. I would definitely recommend this phone to anyone looking for a high quality smart phone!Read full review...

Best Android phone on Verizon to date.

Pros:
* No significant lag. I had a 4S and it lagged as much.
* Typing is better than any Android phone I have ever tried (about 8 of them)
* Battery life is the best so far for an LTE device.
* I personally like the effects Motorola has added to the phone. G

Cons:
* Camera is mediocre for high end devices.
* Camera lags a little when taking pictures.
* The type of display used (pentile?) is not as appealing as previous Motorola displays, or Samsung's or the iPhone 4/4S.

Summary: I have owned all of Verizon's 4G phones and the Droid Bionic is far and away the best to date and I believe Android is finally on par with the iPhone with the Bionic. That is not to say that the iPhone doesn't have some superior features, it does, but Android on the Droid Bionic with its smooth operation, large screen, and fast wireless Internet speeds are enough to compete toe to toe with the King (or Queen) of mobile phones. Some of this is subjective, of course, but we use these phones for so much more than calling people that a larger screen size and faster Internet speed are becoming requirements, and will be even more so in the future.Read full review...

Love it.. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A 4G *NOT MICRO* SIM card!!

Had a Droid 2, then an HTC, and back to Droid 4 loved my pull out keyboard!! Unfortunately, the battery died before my 2 year upgrade. I purchased this Droid Bionic on Ebay - am very happy with it so far. ONE THING I would hope SELLERS mention.. in my Droid 4 -I had a 4G SIM CARD, I Thought.. easy peasy... I'll pop it in my new Droid Bionic... ahhh, NOPE. Droid 4 has a MICRO SIM card and Droid Bionic has a regular SIM card.. ran into town to get one from the Wireless Zone.. they no longer carry them, since it's been 2 years. Had to drive 1/2 hour to the Verizon Store to get one.. FREE thank GOD! Would have been nice to know, so I could have had it when I received my phone. (It did say it doesn't come with a 4G SIM, but its crazy there are 2 types!!!!) UGH!!! We're all DROIDS.. HELLOO!!! All in all.. happy I finally have a phone, I can use, relatively cheap... and battery holds a charge!Read full review...

There was a reason why this phone took 9 months to release.

I purchased this phone on the day of it's release and was very disappointed with the display quality, which uses pentile. Motorola in fact knew the risk they took using this display and fully regrets it as they will not be using this type of display in their next generation of phones. I sucked it up and continued to use the phone but with the buzzing noise that majority of the bionics made all had was another downfall in the engineering department of the phone's head phone jack. Motorola claims that software updates will not fix this issue. I was also very upset that the phone and hundreds of other phone owners were experiencing data loss connectivity issues. A fix is scheduled late this year for a software fix on the data loss issues. Last but not least, the camera is horrible! It takes roughly 5 seconds for the camera to snap a shot, and looks very grainy. I have tried many different camera apps, however non of them seemed to help. In short I returned the phone to Verizon since I was still in my 14 day grace period.
I am holding out for the Samsung Nexus prime which will be released November 10-11, which has this phone beat in every aspect. Also the phone does not have a locked down boot loader. If you are a die hard Moto fan you will be much happier with the Rzr that also will be released early November.
Many of you probably are wondering why there are so many Motorola Bionics being sold on Ebay lately. The fact is because they are unhappy with the phone and are eager to buy the very shortly coming Nexus Prime.Read full review...

with upgrades in tow, I think this is a winner...

i was using a blackberry storm 2, this phone has everything i would have hoped the storm would have evolved into, great smartphone, less expensive than razr maxx, powerful, can't wait for upgrade software, front camera is not the greatest, but for up close shots of yourself or video chats its cool.............if your looking to get this, factor in the extended life battery, apps and 4G suck the juice right outta the standard battery....extended I can surf web, facebook, watch a few videos, and listen to some music on breaks at work and after 8 hours i'm still good around 60%.....Read full review...

Not bad at all. Especially if you can get this phone on the cheap!

Switched back to Verizon from Boost mobile, so I had to replace the phone. Excellent phone considering this was Verizon's first 4G phone(so I was told). My two major concerns with this phone is the battery life and the camera. I find myself using camera apps to sharpen photos. The capacitive touch screen can be a little buggy at times. Overall, a good choice. I will probably upgrade to a new phone toward the end of the year.Read full review...

Good.. Not perfect... But a good phone.

Has its quirks. Sometimes it will all of the sudden stop receiving emails. The music player may decide to stop working. And I wish it still had the social media widget that allows you to post on Twitter and Facebook at the same time.But overall, the problems aren't very frequent. The 4G speed is as fast as any and the navigation is simply fun. I enjoy my phone, and if it holds up, I expect to have it for a while.Read full review...