CES 2011 LIVE: Motorola Droid Bionic Hands-On & Pictures

Tweet

You can’t deny what the first Motorola Droid and it’s predecessors did for Verizon and the Android operating system. So, as Verizon unveiled their massive collection of 4G LTE devices this week here at CES, the folks at Motorola have unveiled the Motorola Droid Bionic. This 4G LTE Droid features a 1GHz dual-core processor. But can this little Droid compete with the three other big shots in the Verizon 4G launch line up? I got my hands on the phone at the Motorola booth here at CES – what did I think of it?

The first thing I noticed on grabbing the Droid Bionic in my hand is that it doesn’t feel like a MOTO Droid. I’ve had the honor of either owning or getting to review every single Motorola Droid device that has been released, the Droid, Droid 2 and Droid X. But, the Droid Bionic doesn’t feel like that. It’s got a solid, well-built feeling to it. But, it doesn’t have this metallic feeling that makes it feel rough – like industrial equipment. Instead, Motorola has found a nice spot between the cheap, plasticy feel of the Samsung Galaxy S and the factory-floor feeling of the earlier Motorola Droids.

They say that the Droid Bionic has a 1GHz dual core processor. And it certainly feels fast when using applications. But, in the home screen, something feels wrong. The phone feels slow and unresponsive. Granted, the phone isn’t out yet and they may have some optimization to do. And they can always patch it. But something feels off when you’re at the homescreen.

Speaking of the home screen, the Droid Bionic isn’t using MOTOBLUR. The Droid 2 and Droid X used a modified version of MOTOBLUR, and now the Droid Bionic is using an even different custom user interface. Sorry, Android fans, it isn’t the stock Android user interface, but it is more appealing than MOTOBLUR.

Click hands on images below for full size:

Other thoughts on the phone, it’s got a big screen, and carries the same 4.3-inch display as the Droid X. And, as mentioned, it’s a 4G LTE phone, so you’ll get fast mobile bandwidth. On conclusion, I really want to like the Droid Bionic. I use a Droid X as my personal phone, and an LTE 4G phone with a dual core processor would be my ideal next phone. But, for some reason, I just can’t get over the lag and unresponsiveness of the home screen. Hopefully, Motorola and Verizon can sort this, or many Android fans may want to go with one of the other three 4G LTE Android offerings from Verizon this year.

Want to catch up with more of our CES 2011 Hand On postings? You can see an index of all our CES 2011 Hand On posts – each complete with their own gallery – here.