Motorola's new Droid Bionic (Targa) pre-release thread - Part 1

[Winston25]

Posted just a short time ago by black_man_x on Twitter. Maybe the Bionic?

"1.5ghz Dual core, 3g svdo, LTE on board, 4.3inch HD display with 1gb ram. 12mp cam in back 2mp in front.. anyone interested? #justasking"

http://twitter.com/#!/black_man_x/st...86283991834624

From what I have seen Black Man X is right or close enough just often enough to be interesting, but he isn't the gospel some people seem to think he is.
If he is talking about Targa than he is off.

Just curious, would anyone really want a 12MP camera in a cell phone? Seems to me that it would just make your picture files bigger without any gain in quality.
And how many people know the difference between 1.5GHz dual core and a dual core at 1GHz, 1.2GHz, or 1.85GHz? People love numbers, but I would suggest there or other spec numbers that are more important to your user experience.

[bsweetness]

From what I have seen Black Man X is right or close enough just often enough to be interesting, but he isn't the gospel some people seem to think he is.
If he is talking about Targa than he is off.

Just curious, would anyone really want a 12MP camera in a cell phone? Seems to me that it would just make your picture files bigger without any gain in quality.
And how many people know the difference between 1.5GHz dual core and a dual core at 1GHz, 1.2GHz, or 1.85GHz? People love numbers, but I would suggest there or other spec numbers that are more important to your user experience.

Thanks for chiming in. I don't count him as gospel in the same way that I do some folks around here (yourself included), but like you said, he is right enough to be interesting quite often. Now I'm curious as to what phone he's referring to just for mere curiosity's sake. Some say the next Nexus, but that's 100% pure rumor from what I've seen.

Isn't the megapixel count really all about marketing for Verizon/Motorola (and cell phone manufacturers and carriers as a whole)? Anyone who knows anything about cameras knows that there are other things (most notably the sensor) that are the real indicator of quality, but the vast majority of the public doesn't know that. They equate more megapixels with better quality. Verizon and Motorola made a big deal out of the 8mp shooter on the Droid X, and while it was capable in the right circumstances, my 9-year-old 3.1mp Sony CyberShot puts it to shame (and even the iPhone 4's camera is leaps and bounds better). But most people think more megapixels = better quality

[Slinky317]

After having an Incredible and reading about the EVO and Thunderbolt, the problem with HTC is that they seem to make any attempt to make their phones have decent battery life. People with the Thunderbolt are lucky to last a day, and my Incredible will die within a day only with moderate use if I'm not in my office or apartment on WiFi most of the day. My friend has the Atrix and his battery is much better, and I hope the Bionic will be similar. At least Motorola tries to address the battery issue, whereas HTC doesn't even seem like they care.

[Slaughtrr]

If he is talking about Targa than he is off.

And that's that thanks buddy

[gbh2]

From what I have seen Black Man X is right or close enough just often enough to be interesting, but he isn't the gospel some people seem to think he is.
If he is talking about Targa than he is off.

Thanks for chiming in! Always good to see some info we know we can trust.

Just curious, would anyone really want a 12MP camera in a cell phone? Seems to me that it would just make your picture files bigger without any gain in quality.

Absolutely - I would rather have a really good 5MP camera or a good 3MP for that matter. A 12MP with a small sensor and the same crappy lens would probably take terrible pictures. Of course these "bigger" numbers are used to hook the unknowledgeable general populous.

And how many people know the difference between 1.5GHz dual core and a dual core at 1GHz, 1.2GHz, or 1.85GHz? People love numbers, but I would suggest there or other spec numbers that are more important to your user experience.

Again, the bigger numbers are to entice the uninformed. I personally look at the overall capability of the SOC used.

However, it would be exciting to see a "step up" from the OMAP 4430 (a very capable SOC), supposedly in the Droid 3 and DX2, in the "flagship" Bionic.

[ronaldheld]

Thanks Winston. For certain programs I expect to see a difference in performance between a 1 Ghz and 1.85 Ghz dual core CPU. On a phone, if the app was CPU intensive, it should be noticeable?

[BustRAZR]

Just curious, would anyone really want a 12MP camera in a cell phone? Seems to me that it would just make your picture files bigger without any gain in quality.

Are you implying that you guys are actually addressing your crappy cameras this time around?

[Schmiggy_JK]

Are you implying that you guys are actually addressing your crappy cameras this time around?

Please let it be so. Every Moto phone Ive had (from Nextel to Verizon) has had average-to-terrible camera senors.

[ronaldheld]

How could that be fixed? A different manufacturer for the sensor?

[gbh2]

How could that be fixed? A different manufacturer for the sensor?

Better quality and/or larger image sensor, better quality optics (a larger lens would help)- then the best camera firmware they can write. So, throwing money at the problem will definitely help but there are also serious size limitations

I personally think my Droid 1 takes pretty good photos of fixed objects and low depth scenes when there is good lighting. It can't take photos as well as my point and shoot 5MP - which in turn cannot take pictures as nice as my 35mm SLR. Camera phones have their uses, but I think it is unrealistic to expect them to replace dedicated cameras for all around usage - at least for now and the reasonably foreseeable future.

[Ark6]

Please let it be so. Every Moto phone Ive had (from Nextel to Verizon) has had average-to-terrible camera senors.

I'll have to agree with this. I thought my HTC Incredible had the best camera I've ever used, but theres the battery life issue..

Nokia and Sony-Ericsson are well known for good cameras, but none of them sell phones on Verizon's network. And Nokia has suck-*** Symbian OS.

[Ark6]

Better quality and/or larger image sensor, better quality optics (a larger lens would help)- then the best camera firmware they can write. So, throwing money at the problem will definitely help but there are also serious size limitations

I personally think my Droid 1 takes pretty good photos of fixed objects and low depth scenes when there is good lighting. It can't take photos as well as my point and shoot 5MP - which in turn cannot take pictures as nice as my 35mm SLR. Camera phones have their uses, but I think it is unrealistic to expect them to replace dedicated cameras for all around usage - at least for now and the reasonably foreseeable future.

It's getting to the point that camera phones (especially smart phones) are approaching the quality of a pont and shoot camera. Besides, what's the device that you almost always have on you? A phone...So why not expect a phone that is as capable of taking pictures as a mid-range point and shoot camera, especially for the kind of money that we throw down on a phone?

[Paulo1300]

I'll have to agree with this. I thought my HTC Incredible had the best camera I've ever used, but theres the battery life issue..

Nokia and Sony-Ericsson are well known for good cameras, but none of them sell phones on Verizon's network. And Nokia has suck-*** Symbian OS.

xperia play was just released today.. so looks like you can get the sony-ericsson haha

[TC_Mits]

Anyone care to comment on the 8mp camera on the HTC TB? I had the phone for a cupla weeks before giving it back -- too new to Android to know if I could make it right for me within the 2 week window or not. Anyway, for the short time that I had it I thought the camera was pretty sharp. I'm using a pic from the TB as my PC wallpaper and it's very sharp at 900x1440. Not like my p&s 10mp Panasonic, but better than the 3mp on my old V9800, which I thought was quite good for its time.

Still, a 12mp is 50% more pixels, lenses will have to expand if that's to make sense quality-wise. I'd still rather see the lenses and sensors catch up with the pixels than have the pixels drop back down to, like 5mp. Yes, I carry my phone and I expect it to take good pictures when something unexpected comes up that I want to shoot.

[Friend-O]

From what I have seen Black Man X is right or close enough just often enough to be interesting, but he isn't the gospel some people seem to think he is.
If he is talking about Targa than he is off.

Just curious, would anyone really want a 12MP camera in a cell phone? Seems to me that it would just make your picture files bigger without any gain in quality.
And how many people know the difference between 1.5GHz dual core and a dual core at 1GHz, 1.2GHz, or 1.85GHz? People love numbers, but I would suggest there or other spec numbers that are more important to your user experience.

Just to follow up, here's BMX's latest post, via Android Central, in regards to the above:

Originally Posted by blackmannx
"Well since I have to answer the question I will. I am still in Maryland and still on vacation, havent seen what the revisions of the "bionic" even look like. The device I was giving specs for is not the bionic and isn't even a Moto device... IN FACT it hasn't even been picked up by a carrier yet.

Not sure who the guys at HOFO are as I haven't been over there in years but perhaps they have information from moto that I dont have access to.. wouldnt be the first time but I can and will only speak with devices I have in hand.

That being said I am glad that in the face of all these other launches you all are still excited by this device."