Two days after update installed, phone is almost flawless. In retrospect, I am glad I didnt get a new replacement. So far, its blazingly fast, no data drops, no BSOD, smooth bluetooth connectivity.Intermittent roaming pop up, but in the scope of things, its hardly noticeable.Battery life is at least 100% better and charging time has been reduced significantly.
One wonders if the Bionic was released prematurely since the software was so buggy until now.
Anyway, I hope that all who were experiencing problems are now ok and those whose Bionic were problem free continue to have a problem free phone....
Apprehensive about rooting at this point.
It's actually funny to read your post, and no offense meant, but the BIONIC was actually delayed around 9-10 months or so, IIRC. Based upon what I've been reading about various fixes, plus what I have been reading about other stuff, it seems they should have just waited the entire year, eh?
But, to credit Motorola, they developed their LTE chip in-house - and it was a very rapid development - so I expected some issues (although the number and breadth of them was a bit staggering). But, I also knew that, since it was their own chip, they'd eventually get it working correctly, b/c that is how they've always been about their chips - they'll get them dang near flawless if you give them enough time (with a couple of notable exceptions).
I've commented on time and time again - this is a true beast of a phone, and I'm truly happy to see people starting to like the phone again after making it to 902. I'm running ICS4BIONIC over my 902 system, and if you like the phone now, you'll **LOVE** it when ICS makes it out of the Moto dev labs and onto your phone.
Enjoy the new blazingly fast monster that you've got - I know I'm enjoying mine!
And if you're apprehensive about rooting, don't be - just read up about it good and well, and take some time to study up on it, and don't let ANYONE tell you it's easy and it takes 10 seconds and start waling you through the process before you've done this reading.
Trust me on this - b/c there are plenty of folks in many different forums who've rooted their phones maybe all of twice and it's gone smoothly each time so they think that this will be the case 100% of the time - it won't. But, doing a lot of reading (and asking question before you start) will save you derrière a lot of anguish and your brain a lot of piece of mind.
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...great advice ... the only thing I would add is ... assume that you are going to do something that will screw up.
I have been in software for a long time and EVERYONE assumes their mod is going to run without a hitch the first time. EVERYONE gets nailed.
The solution is to assume it is going to fail and have a backup that you can easily revert to. For those times you don't have to revert to it you can smile and move on.
For that one time you have to restore from the backup you will thank your good luck for having it.
Root-ing doesn't cause problems. The mistakes you make when rooted is what causes the problems ... like deleting pre-installed software (aka bloatware) instead of freezing it.
So far, I have successfully rooted my Droid X and now my Bionic.
As the previous poster stated, assume you will screw it up. Which I have done, numerous times, BUT these forums and the forums over at XDA have absolutely amazing people that have always been able to help me find my way back.
The things you can do once you root your phone will make you wonder why you didnt do it sooner.
Hats off to the people here that help us noobs find our way!
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So far, I have successfully rooted my Droid X and now my Bionic.
As the previous poster stated, assume you will screw it up. Which I have done, numerous times, BUT these forums and the forums over at XDA have absolutely amazing people that have always been able to help me find my way back.
The things you can do once you root your phone will make you wonder why you didnt do it sooner.
Hats off to the people here that help us noobs find our way!
Screwing it up is part of the experience. Doing all of this stuff for my phone that it was not originally designed for makes me very happy, as did my PSP, OG Xbox, Wii, and every other device I've modified in some way.
[OT] - thanks, everyone, - one of y'all got me to the magical 1500 thanked - I appreciate it![/OT]
Breaking things is great and all - if you're savvy enough to figure out what you broke and fix it. Most of you will remember that I tried hard to break my phone to test the update process back when I had installed the 5.7.893 update - I was confident in my skills in fixing what I knowingly did to my phone.
However, I would not recommend assuming that you'll break something - I never once broke my rooting process on my OG DROID b/c I read like a madman first and then followed the steps explicitly listed to get root. Little things like making sure I had a full battery, etc. made for fun times. Good solid cables, no animals running around in the room, yeah, little things that assured me success.
But I can never stress enough the read factor.
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Lovin' 902
Since the OTA update to 902 on my Bionic, I have almost constant and reliable 4g. No more toggling to airplane mode, etc. Battery improvement is not noticeable however, although I stumbled upon the fact that my Lookout app was caught in a loop since the update. The auto backup was cranking in the background. Turned the app off and back on, and all is good. And since I was so aware of the 4g/3g issue since I bought the phone, I also noticed that the strength of the 4g seems better on weekends and at night. Is that my imagination or does the 4g strength depend on the number of users at any given time? Anyway - count me as a happy Bionic owner.
I do like the Bionic, after 6 months of struggle with another good phone (Revo). From my experience LG doesn't have the same factory attitude toward fixing firmware. Yes I did start with 901, had it for a day and pulled the update for 902. And after spending many years in an electronics company I am well aware of issues that delay product releases; the truth is we would not release a product that would not meet a specification.
So here is a question that I don't fully understand. As the owner of this phone why did it not come to me with the option for me to take administrator permissions?
Here is my point, given the choice wouldn't having open root be a selling point?
Sure folks want to maintain firmware control, that should still be possible either way.
I do like the Bionic, after 6 months of struggle with another good phone (Revo). From my experience LG doesn't have the same factory attitude toward fixing firmware. Yes I did start with 901, had it for a day and pulled the update for 902. And after spending many years in an electronics company I am well aware of issues that delay product releases; the truth is we would not release a product that would not meet a specification.
So here is a question that I don't fully understand. As the owner of this phone why did it not come to me with the option for me to take administrator permissions?
Here is my point, given the choice wouldn't having open root be a selling point?
Sure folks want to maintain firmware control, that should still be possible either way.
Welcome to the modern cellphone market.
It is possible to gain "administrative permission" (root) over your phone, however you do so at your own risk and neither Verizon nor Motorola will support you. However, there is a community to help you out and the possibilities are endless: Bionic - All Things Root - Android Forums
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sgschwend
I do like the Bionic, after 6 months of struggle with another good phone (Revo). From my experience LG doesn't have the same factory attitude toward fixing firmware. Yes I did start with 901, had it for a day and pulled the update for 902. And after spending many years in an electronics company I am well aware of issues that delay product releases; the truth is we would not release a product that would not meet a specification.
So here is a question that I don't fully understand. As the owner of this phone why did it not come to me with the option for me to take administrator permissions?
Here is my point, given the choice wouldn't having open root be a selling point?
Sure folks want to maintain firmware control, that should still be possible either way.
You can currently root your Bionic using a third-party method that is not supported by Verizon or Motorola. If you do root you assume total responsibility for your device. Motorola or Verizon could refuse to provide any support to it (currently they don't seem to be enforcing that).
When root-ed you can run an application that will allow you to permit SU(Super User) to an application. This is like administrator privilege on some other computers. With SU many doors are unlocked and you have the potential to really create havoc in the device.
Some people buy the Bionic and see it as a computer in their pockets that also makes phone calls. Root-in is attractive to them.
Some people buy the Bionic and see it as a phone that can run apps created by others. They should NEVER be root-ed.
The one area in your question that intrigues me is why doesn't Motorola maintain a switch that says Root-ed or Un-root-ed. When you throw it to Root-ed you put up a disclaimer that says proceeding past this point removes your warranty and you assume total responsibility for whatever happens.
Some users would just not read it, go forward, get into trouble, and then expect Motorola/Verizon to correct it.
The way it is now ... they have to do something with a third-party (in violation of their agreement with Motorola/Verizon) to root and assign SU.
As is shown over-and-over ... especially in Bionic - All Things Root - Android Forums ... many people have proceeded without understanding the implications in what they are doing.
Motor la/Verizon is attempting to protect some users from shooting themselves in the foot.
... Thom
Last edited by Thom Little; February 25th, 2012 at 01:27 PM.
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You can currently root your Bionic using a third-party method that is not supported by Verizon or Motorola. If you do root you assume total responsibility for your device. Motorola or Verizon could refuse to provide any support to it (currently they don't seem to be enforcing that).
When root-ed you can run an application that will allow you to permit SU(Super User) to an application. This is like administrator privilege on some other computers. With SU many doors are unlocked and you have the potential to really create havoc in the device.
Some people buy the Bionic and see it as a computer in their pockets that also makes phone calls. Root-in is attractive to them.
Some people buy the Bionic and see it as a phone that can run apps created by others. They should NEVER be root-ed.
The one area in your question that intrigues me is why doesn't Motorola maintain a switch that says Root-ed or Un-root-ed. When you throw it to Root-ed you put up a disclaimer that says proceeding past this point removes your warranty and you assume total responsibility for whatever happens.
Some users would just not read it, go forward, get into trouble, and then expect Motorola/Verizon to correct it.
The way it is now ... they have to do something with a third-party (in violation of their agreement with Motorola/Verizon) to root and assign SU.
As is shown over-and-over ... especially in Bionic - All Things Root - Android Forums ... many people have proceeded without understanding the implications in what they are doing.
Motor la/Verizon is attempting to protect some users from shooting themselves in the foot.
... Thom
That is a very good concise explanation of both rooting, and its pros and cons, Thom.
The way I view my smartphone is that there is a "phone core" which contains the firmware to operate the parts of the phone to ensure the phone meets specifications as warranted and there are applications. Some applications (I believe folks see these a "bloatware") have this protection they do not deserve at least based on any need for the phone core to operate.
Certainly there are features and data sources that could be used to produce a new application those should be open sourced, isn't that what Android is about?
I like many others like to select what my phone does and what applications are TSR. I believe they should lock their core and leave the remainder open for the owner to modify. Any hand shake deal with a third party should include me as the owner.
Thanks again.
Steve
Last edited by sgschwend; February 28th, 2012 at 10:22 AM.
Reason: added note
Any hand shake deal with a third party should include me as the owner.
It would be interesting if Verizon offered versions of their phones that cost $25 more (or whatever) with no bloatware at all, or with the ability to remove it. Of course I understand that the number of handsets offered would lead to an inventory nightmare, but it would still be a nice option.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doogald
It would be interesting if Verizon offered versions of their phones that cost $25 more (or whatever) with no bloatware at all, or with the ability to remove it. Of course I understand that the number of handsets offered would lead to an inventory nightmare, but it would still be a nice option.
Nice post.
There should be a switch that you could throw that would delete all pre-installed apps.
A system update should be two steps instead of one ... update the system ... if you have pre-installed software update the pre-installed software.
They could be done separately ... one by Motorola and one by Verizon.
When the Motorola Droid Bionic was first announced at CES 2011, it featured a 4.3-inch qHD display, NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor clocked at 1GHz, and support for Verizon's 4G LTE high-speed network. After the handset was delayed, Motorola... Read More
Update on 5.9.902
