Official known Bionic problems reported from Verizon

[DanDroide]

I get the standard inane message when I try it.

As I reported in another thread ... when I went through a Droid X OTA upgrade a year or so ago it was released incremtally to various regions around the US. A few weeks before it was released in my region I got a message similar to the one you reference.

When you hear it is avaiable in your region it will probably "magically" be available to you. If it isn't I would go back to where I bought it.

Until you hear it is available in your region I think all you can do is wait.

(If I was a betting person I would bet your region gets it before mine.)

... Thom

Hopefully it will be reported by somebody here, that had that same message (as I do), that the OTA update arrived and installed with no problems....so I don't have to worry

 

[Thom]

Perhaps dashing your expectations ...

In the case of the Droid X it happened to me about 2-3 weeeks before the update was available.

Who knows ... that was 1-2 years ago ... stuff changes ...

.... Thom

 

[cia419gs]

I'm in NH and having the black screen and signal issues

 

[Thom]

Could be battery. Could be bad SIM card. Could be unseated SIM or SD card.

Try a reset (hold down both volume keys and power key for 5 seconds. It should start to load.

Is the battery charged?

If it doesn't come up, open the back, pull the battery, check that both cards are seated. Replace battery. Try to load.

If it still fails take it back and get the SIM card replaced.

... Thom

 

[BarneyDroid]

This is getting very frustrating! VZW told me back in September that this update would be released "shortly". At that point I should have returned my phone. Here we are with a week left in November and still no update. It almost seems like the 3G/4G issues are getting worse. VZW set up a follow up with me during the first week of December to see if the problem presist. Anyone know of any way to get out of this phone? I'm tried of waiting for said update!

 

[Alex Wekell]

Still haven't seen anything about this bug...


So has anyone else experienced this?

I'm using the default video camera app, recording in 1080p, but:

- If turn down the brightness about less then half/50%-ish and try to record video of say, someone in the spotlight while I'm on dark, the video will flicker every 2 seconds to light and dark.

anyone else getting this?

Here is an example of a video I recorded for my girlfriend with this issue:

A Beautiful Mess (Jason Mraz Cover) - YouTube

Also I've tried it both with and without the leaked update and it does the same thing.

 

[Thom]

I just tried it with the brightness turned all the way down and there was no flickler like on your sample.

With the brightness turned all the way up and there was no flickler.

With the brightness set at 50% and there was no flickler.

... Thom

 

[Alex Wekell]

I just tried it with the brightness turned all the way down and there was no flickler like on your sample.

With the brightness turned all the way up and there was no flickler.

With the brightness set at 50% and there was no flickler.

... Thom

You have to take video in very, very low light. Try taking the video at night with a few lights and not using the LED light.

 

[nickc84]

Nov 24th and still no bionic update. Sucks! I hate when my data drops and I cant connect to internet. The problem does seem to be happening less and less though which is a good thing.

 

[Thom]

You have to take video in very, very low light. Try taking the video at night with a few lights and not using the LED light.

I tried it with a single overhead light in a dark room.

Your peoblem is not present.

... Thom

 

[BarneyDroid]

I did notice that when taking still photos of my house with LED Christmas lights that it shutters the lights. So that some of the lights appear to be off when the photo is captured.

 

[djembeman]

Not sure why, but when dialing *228 i either get an activated phone or "welcome to alltell"

Academic at this point, the bionic is factory wiped and being used as a paperweight on my desk until the Nexus comes out. It will have the same tower swapping that all vzw phones have in my house, but only the bionic required a reboot every damn time signal dropped...

I have read that using *228 does nothing for a 4G phone because the LTE SIM updates roaming on it's own, it can also damage the 4G LTE Sim card.

I would try running in CDMA only mode.

 

[mike145]

I have read that using *228 does nothing for a 4G phone because the LTE SIM updates roaming on it's own, it can also damage the 4G LTE Sim card.

I would try running in CDMA only mode.

From what I read in other threads, to update you need to pull the battery while the device is still on, and pull the sim card. Then reinstall. This updates the phone.

 

[bezerk19]

Add unable to charge from USB when battery meter is in yellow.

This irritates the hell out of me, at work I have a standard USB charger and when I forget to charge it and my battery is dying (yellow or red) having to use the USB to charge is useless it just can't keep up with the charging. At one point my phone died and I could never revive it using the usb cable I had to leave it in my truck using the cig lighter plug to charge it, just enough to be able to slowly charge using the usb cable at my desk.

 

[nofear18]

Have the problems on this phone been fixed? Choice between the Razr or Bionic. Thoughts?

 

[Thom]

They are both great devices. They both have problems. Some of the problems are being addressed in the OTA that is in the process of being released.

I suggest you go to a store that has them both. Handle them both. Choose the one you like best.

... Thom

 

[bezerk19]

Have the problems on this phone been fixed? Choice between the Razr or Bionic. Thoughts?

There is a leak that claims to address this issue but it's result is hit and miss. Verizon has yet to release the update.

If I had the choice wait for the nexus, it should be out this coming week. If not go with the Razr.

 

[ray1945]

What else do you really need a16 or 32gig card for if you can't store application data on them? I know documents, photos, and such can but those taller up a minimal amount of storage. Please help me figure out how to store app. data on the external card!!!

 

[Thom]

What else do you really need a16 or 32gig card for if you can't store application data on them? I know documents, photos, and such can but those taller up a minimal amount of storage. Please help me figure out how to store app. data on the external card!!!

Some data you might want to store on the SD-Ext card can be rather large ... like a two hour movie.

You can store app data on the SD card or the SD-Ext card. You can not install the app on the SD-Ext card.

The confusion comes in because the SD card is not removable and the SD-Ext card is removable.

Prior to now, most applications were written to access data from the SD card. They have to be revised by the authors to process data to/from the SD or SD-Ext card. (A lot of the camera apps have settings that allow you to save the images on either card.)

The Files app sort of hides what is going on. If you want to see how it fits together and you are not root-ed, try the Astro File Manger app from the Android Market. It will show you the overall structure and allow you to move around inside (some) of it.

The Titanium Backup Pro app is the defacto best app for this purpose if you are root-ed.

... Thom

 

[Austin224]

Recently I switch over from my HTC Incredible for the more powerful Moto Bionic.

When i first activated my Bionic i was without network connectivity for a few hours. A few battery pulls later i was in business.

A little over a week in and i have only run into this problem 2 more times.. mainly in areas where the service is crappy to begin with.

My concern is that this is a sign of future problems to come.. is it a hardware problem or a software bug?? Will it get worse or better?

When functioning i like my bionic a lot.. but should we part ways before things take a turn for the worst..

Suggestions..

 

[Thom]

You should be on the 5.5.893 of the system. If you are on 5.5.886 you should do the upgrade.

Also go to Settings | Battery & data management | Battery mode
Select Performance mode

The problem you describe is referred to everywhere as "data drops". It was a combination of tower-side and bionic-side problems. They have been working on both sides. It now seems to be a Bionic-side only problem/

There is a probably a new release 5.9.902 that will become the production version.

There was a release 5.9.901 that was pushed to some but not all Bionic users. 5.9.901 seems to have correct just about all the remaining data drop problems.

Your options are ...
-- Wait to convert to the Bionic until after 5.9.902 is released.
-- Go with the Bionic today using 5.5.893 and have some data drops.
-- Install the unsupported 5.9.901 today and probably have no data drops.

I am using 5.5.893 and can meet most of my data requirements with WiFi. I have customers who need data to communicate from their office in their truck to their home office. They can not tolerate unreliable data. My recommendation to them is to wait until 5.9.902(?) is released and stay on 3G until then.

... Thom

 

[PhilD]

Recently I switch over from my HTC Incredible for the more powerful Moto Bionic.

When i first activated my Bionic i was without network connectivity for a few hours. A few battery pulls later i was in business.

A little over a week in and i have only run into this problem 2 more times.. mainly in areas where the service is crappy to begin with.

My concern is that this is a sign of future problems to come.. is it a hardware problem or a software bug?? Will it get worse or better?

When functioning i like my bionic a lot.. but should we part ways before things take a turn for the worst..

Suggestions..

if you are still within your 14 day worry free window, then return it ASAP. this phone has been broken since release on 9/8, and VZW/Moto have given no indication that they have any idea how to fix it. return it and buy a different phone.

 

[Thom]

if you are still within your 14 day worry free window, then return it ASAP. this phone has been broken since release on 9/8, and VZW/Moto have given no indication that they have any idea how to fix it. return it and buy a different phone.

They have been working to fix the problems on both the tower-side and Bionic-side. The tower-side appears to be done. The Bionic-side appears to be done with 5.9.901 (and probably 5.9.902).

When 5.9.902 is released it looks like the major problems will be solved.

There is of course no announced date for when that will happen.

Options ...
-- Get out.
-- Wait for 5.9.902.
-- Install the leaked 5.9.901.
-- Revert to 3G and get the Bionic after 5.9.902 is released and pr oven.

... Thom

 

[rdsok]

if you are still within your 14 day worry free window, then return it ASAP. this phone has been broken since release on 9/8, and VZW/Moto have given no indication that they have any idea how to fix it. return it and buy a different phone.

I completely disagree with this... My phone has worked well from the beginning with few data issues and it is now rock solid since I updated to 5.9.901...

 

[doogald]

Recently I switch over from my HTC Incredible for the more powerful Moto Bionic.

When i first activated my Bionic i was without network connectivity for a few hours. A few battery pulls later i was in business.

A little over a week in and i have only run into this problem 2 more times.. mainly in areas where the service is crappy to begin with.

My concern is that this is a sign of future problems to come.. is it a hardware problem or a software bug?? Will it get worse or better?

When functioning i like my bionic a lot.. but should we part ways before things take a turn for the worst..

if you are still within your 14 day worry free window, then return it ASAP. this phone has been broken since release on 9/8, and VZW/Moto have given no indication that they have any idea how to fix it. return it and buy a different phone.

I completely disagree with this... My phone has worked well from the beginning with few data issues and it is now rock solid since I updated to 5.9.901...

I'm going to both agree and disagree. rdsok, if you are not having problems, that's fine, but don't project your experience on others. If Austin224 is having data issues, then it's up to Austin to decide whether waiting for the 901/902 OTA to be delivered (which may not solve the problem for everybody, just because it has for you) is worth the risk of having to keep a phone that does not work with 100% reliability. The 14 day exchange period is a critical time to determine if a new phone works for you. I know I had a Bionic with random data drops and I can't begin to tell you how frustrating that was. I'm glad that I exchanged it in my 14 day period - here we are 4 months later and the Bionic data drop issue is still not resolved for everyone. Believe me, I wanted the Bionic to work for me.

I can't believe that it will be another 4 months before a solution is found, but given the OTA development and testing cycle, if the OTA is not accepted by Verizon it's possible that it may be many weeks before there is a solution.