The Droid Bionic is a high-powered, multimedia smartphone offering from Verizon Wireless and Motorola. Is becoming part of a trend mentioned by techie luminaries years ago, one that never really got off the ground, until, perhaps, now. In ye olden days (this is what I call the 1980s and 1990s), cellphones were new and rare. The tech industry dreamed of ways to use them in new and innovating ways.
You may remember commercials from various technological powerhouse companies, describing how you could use new tech to remotely activate your house lights, other appliances or other computers, or share multimedia instantly with someone on the other side of the world. Unfortunately, the hardware and infrastructure at the time was not up to the demands the dreams required, and wouldn’t be for a very long time.
Now, to abuse a saying from TV’s “Six Million Dollar Man”: We can build it: We have the technology.
To give you a feel for what I’m talking about, check the Bonic’s full feature list below, as well as these pretty cool accessories and preloaded applications.
Lapdock (available separately for $300)
The Lapdock is a full-integrated laptop that will interact your Bionic and the media on it. You’ll get an 11.6-inch screen with a full-sized keyboard and touchpad mouse:
HD Station (available separately for $100. A charging dock with no HD or USB is $40.)
If you don’t want the full laptop-like conversion of the Lapdock, the HD Station provides additional convenience and expandability. It gives you a charging stand for the Bionic, allowing you to use it (along with a provided application) as a bedside alarm clock and music player. There are also three USB ports, one mini-HDMI port, and a headphone/speaker port if you want to plug in some powered speakers. The HD Station also comes with a remote. Here are a few views of the dock and remote, along with a Leatherman for size comparison:
Droid Bionic Applications
Motoprint: Print to Wi-Fi-enabled printers
Mirror Mode: 1080p HD video playback (requires a HDMI cable, not provided)
Advanced security policies: The Bionic supports device and SD card encryption to better protect your data. (Corporate admins and enterprise environment should love this one.)
Citrix GotoMeeting: Conduct online meetings or attend them with the Droid Bionic.
Citrix Receiver: Access corporate applications and documents from the Bionic
Adobe Flash: Supported! (Not everyone can say that. I’m looking at you, Apple.)
Wireless charger support: One less cable to worry about.
Droid 3 stats and functionality
Talk time: 650 minutes. Standby time: 200 hrs
Bands/Modes: CDMA800, CDMA1900, LTE B13 700
Dimensions: 66.9 x 127.5 x 10.99 mm (2.63” x 5” x 0.43”)
Display: 4.3-inch qHD screen using scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass and a dual-layer anti-reflective coating
Weight: 158 g (5.6 oz)
Battery: 1735 mAh battery
OS: Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
Connectivity: 3.5mm + EMU, USB 2.0 HS, Corporate Sync, DLNA, FOTA
Network: Verizon Wireless, 4G
WLAN: 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
Camera: 8MP camera, VGA P2P Video (front-facing camera), Digital Zoom, Auto Focus, LED flash
Bluetooth: Stereo Bluetooth Class 2, Version 2.1 +EDR (Supported profiles: a2dp, avrcp , gavdp , hfp, hid, hsp, map, opp, pan , pbap , DUN, AVDTP, AVCTP)
Audio: AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, AAC+, Enhanced AAC+, MP3, 8-bit Linear PCM, 16-bit Linear PCM, 8-bit A-law PCM, 8-bit mu-law PCM, WMA (v2, v7, v8, v9+, v10++, L1-L3), QCELP, EVRC and OGG
Video: 1080p HD Video Capture/Playback/Streaming and Mirror Mode with HDMI out (cable required and not included), MPEG4, H.263, H.264, VC-1, Xvid and VP8/WebM
Memory: 1GB RAM, 16 GB onboard memory and 16 GB microSD card preinstalled. Can support up to a 32GB microSD card.
Messaging/Web/Apps: MMS, SMS, Email (Corporate Synch); Full suite of Google applications and services: Google Maps, Google Talk, GMail, YouTube; preloaded with Adobe Flash Player 10, MOTOPRINT for Wi-Fi printing and Citrix Receiver and GoToMeeting
Location Services: aGPS (assisted), E-compass, sGPS (simultaneous)
Conclusion
High-powered, do-everything evices like the Droid Bionic are becoming not just a trend, but an industry standard. We now expect our smartphones to be able to do as many things as possible. (This opinion doesn’t address specialty devices like the Amazon Kindle, because they have their place, too.) For example, with the Bionic and an accessory like the HD Station, you can use the remote to start up a movie or music on an attached HDMI TV, while checking your email on the phone itself.
The downside is that the Droid Bionic isn’t cheap. Even with a 2-year service plan to subsidize the cost, Verizon still charges $300. This is within the smartphone price range, but is certainly on the high side. Throw in a Lapdock and the HD Station, and you’ve spent about $700. That’s a cost of a mid-range laptop.
The Droid Bionic is available from Verizon Wireless for $300 with a service plan, or $590 without.
{ 1 comment }
I had a rapture about 3 1/2 years ago. I recently came to verizon again, and got the motorola droid bionic. I didn’t like the price tags that come with the data plans and I had problems with the phone screen going off while I was pushing numbers for an account or bill. I just purchased a used rapture today, April 10th. I am so happy. It may be only $19 but it was and still is my favorite phone. Why do I need a keyboard on my phone when I have one on my computer and tablet and my roommate has a data plan with a better phone, the samsung droid charge. I am not opening my phone til my birthday. I wish you could give more tips on the rapture and after all this time, about system updates. Thanks.