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Did Verizon Ever Care About the Droid Bionic?

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Verizon’s launch of the Motorola Droid Bionic never sat well with me. It has always felt, for lack of a better term, half-baked. This feeling started when Verizon failed to announce a pre-order period for the Droid Bionic, which at the time, was one of the most anticipated releases of the year.

It then decided to tack on a $300 price tag to the Droid Bionic, effectively pricing out tons of customers who had been excited about the launch of the first dual-core 4G LTE device. That decision made me feel like Verizon knew that this phone wasn’t going to be able to survive for long with the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus on the horizon.

Like it didn’t care.

Motorola Droid Bionic

Then, to top it off, Verizon’s horrid ad campaign for the Droid Bionic. It felt forced and it lacked imagination. Kind of like the Droid Bionic.

And now, my suspicions have been confirmed today in a snippet from a Phandroid moderator who has apparently conversed with someone about the upcoming Motorola Droid RAZR, a device that should get announced on October 18th.

According to that someone, the RAZR is a smooth and fast and is a big improvement over the Droid Bionic.

Weird, didn’t the Droid Bionic launch like a month ago?

That’s not all either:

Verizon is very, very excited for both devices. I don’t get the feeling they’re “siding” with one over the other, but I can tell you that they never had a lot of confidence in the Bionic having a lot of staying power. Their decision to release the Bionic as is was more of a contractual obligation than a real belief in the product. They are much more invested in the RAZR.

Well I’ll be.

There it is.

Verizon never really gave a rat’s you-know-what about the Droid Bionic . It just wanted to get something out in order to get something out.

Now, I’m not saying that the Droid Bionic is a bad phone. It’s not. But what I am saying is that it probably isn’t sitting atop Verizon’s list of priorities as a phone marketed as a flagship smartphone should be. Need evidence? Look no further than the bug fix update for the Droid Bionic which won’t be out until November. Wondering why?

It’s because Verizon’s priorities lie with another flagship Motorola device. One that will probably have a pre-order period. One that might be decently priced. One that might actually have a halfway decent ad campaign. One that actually gets the flagship smartphone treatment.

And one that stands a chance of succeeding.

Imagine that.

17 Comments

17 Comments

  1. Ralph

    10/10/2011 at 4:20 pm

    I’m sure if the Bionic would launched earlier like was suppose to, the VZW would have backed it better.

  2. Adam Truelove

    10/10/2011 at 5:21 pm

    The launch was half baked because the Bionic is half baked.

  3. Anonymous

    10/10/2011 at 5:50 pm

    I have a feeling the RAZR is going to be a fantastic phone with a huge marketing push to back it up.  Motorola has been a huge disappointment all year for me, but I think the RAZR is the turning point.  This will be one of the top phones to get come the holidays.

  4. Ninotexas1200

    10/10/2011 at 6:42 pm

    yea even in the store – not one of the verizon staff seemed to give a dam about this p.o.s  .  im glad it was a fail – bekuz motorola failed on us .  lets face it –  its what the x2 should of been .  

  5. Alexander Garcia

    10/10/2011 at 7:11 pm

    I agree with the article completely. However, it won’t change my mind about the Bionic being a high end competitor in the mobile realm. It has the top of the line specs that are guaranteed to hold anyone down for the full 2 year contract. Yes this device is as future proof as they come. The problem is not the Bionic. The problem lies within us tech junkies who’ve become spoiled rotten with the unleashing of all these beastly spec’d superphones. We’ve become that parent who looks scoldingly at his/her child for getting A- instead of an A+.

    • BrianB13

      10/10/2011 at 9:07 pm

      The problem is not the Bionic, the problem is Motorola.  Had the Bionic came out last April like it was supposed to or even in June, this article wouldn’t have been written.  Motorola is already coming out with the replacement for the Atrix, HTC is coming out with the replacement for the Thunderbolt, Samsung is coming out with the replacement for the Droid Charge and LG is coming out with a replacement for the Revolution.  So it only follows that if the Bionic had come out when it was supposed to the Motorola Razr would be its replacement.  Unfortunately for Bionic owners, its only going to be two months or so.  I waited all year for the Bionic until I started hearing and then seeing its pentile matrix display.  So I decided to wait a little longer for the HD displays that will be out shortly.  I would have purchased the Bionic back in April or June.  

      • Alexander Garcia

        10/10/2011 at 11:17 pm

        You may have missed my point, but I may be wrong. At the time of the Bionic’s release, there were only two competitors that I could think of that could match the Bionic spec-wise and in performance. The Sammy GS2 and the Photon4G (also by Moto). The Bionic had an edge however, due to it’s LTE radio and dual core CPU combined. This phone is also on the most reliable and most blanketed network in the US. This phone was and still IS nothing to scoff at in terms of specs, speed, performance, and design elegance (however subjective)… and it’s on Verizon’s LTE network! The enthusiasts and the fanatics with their overblown fanfare prior to its launch inevitably brought forth its much predicted disappointment. Everyone expected a Magical Unicorn! What we got was… well… the Droid Bionic… and I was and still am impressed.

  6. Aydensfolks

    10/10/2011 at 7:58 pm

    Well put alexander. Im glad i bought the bionic. $300 is not bad considering thats how much i spent on my og droid 2 years ago. And the bionic is WAY better in every aspect. Im sure the razr will blow the bionic away. But, thats just how it is with android. A better phone every few months. Atleast we have plenty of choices…unlike iphone.

    • Alexander Garcia

      10/10/2011 at 11:05 pm

      Yes exactly my friend. And choice is always welcome and all good… just be sure to choose wisely. ;-)

  7. Harleyangelmisty1

    10/10/2011 at 11:36 pm

    What about the thunderbolt , how long have we been waiting for the gingerbread update , came out in march & was supposed to be updated soon after

  8. John Doe

    10/10/2011 at 11:50 pm

    I suppose neither Verizon nor Motorola really cares. In the end, Verizon customers, like myself, were the real losers.

    I think I’ll just go with the HTC Vigor now. The Bionic didn’t seem all that with the announcement of the Vigor & Nexus Prime, but I’m not sure if I have the patience to wait for the Prime.

  9. Joelhaio

    10/11/2011 at 8:15 am

    wtf how the hell is the bionic a p.o.s. its the fastest phone out right now. clearly you guys know nothing

  10. STP

    10/11/2011 at 1:02 pm

    I can only just sit and wait and lament when the droid razr comes out. I should have listened to my inner voice and waited. The Bionic is great but I am disappointed with the Camera and the display. I am addicted to Motorola phones and even though my number one criterion for selecting a moto phone is the Camera, I went ahead and bought this phone hoping that the camera will be as good as the other specs. I sincerely hope that a software upgrade will solve the problem. If the droid razr comes out with a much better camera and display I will never forgive myself for not waiting!! In a way though “moto” and “big red” screwed us up, knowing full well what was to come.  

    • Novagraduate

      11/09/2011 at 5:42 pm

       The display is considered inferior on the razr. It is not turing out to be the Bionic killer some believed it to be.

  11. Cp2_4eva

    11/03/2011 at 6:42 am

    Ya know, many people were saying the same thing about the RAZR that they said about the droid Bionic. All this is hype for the RAZR. The RAZR might be better, but probably not THAT much better. I might by a RAZR no contract and test it out. If I like it then I sell my Bionic. 

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