Some retail locations have received all the tools necessary to sell the much-anticipated Motorola Droid Bionic. With a surprise Verizon Korean-translated commercial showing an additional frame revealing a Sept. 8 release date, expect droid Bionic to be launched on Thursday.

Ever since the most anticipated phone of the year after iPhone 5 was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show, the Droid Bionic has undergone several changes. And many Verizon customers have focused their attention on Motorola’s smartphone after Verizon failed to rope in the Samsung Galaxy S2, the second best-selling smartphone ever.

Motorola Droid Bionic has undergone several changes in terms of design. It looked like the Motorola Atrix at the beginning of this year, but now looks very similar to the Motorola Droid 3, one of the latest high-end phones launched by Motorola. But the Motorola Droid 3 has a slider QWERTY, unlike the Droid Bionic, which is just a touchscreen phone. Other changes include higher RAM capacity, changed from the Tegra 2 AP20H chipset to the TI OMAP4430 chipse,t and surprisingly the inclusion of lesser battery capacity compared to the one introduced in the beginning. It is also presently thinner (127 x 66 x 10 mm) compared to the original Droid Bionic (125.9 x 66.9 x 13.3 mm) introduced in January.

As for the iPhone 5, most of the features attributed to it are in the realm of rumors. But some features are more likely to be in the phone than others. For sure, the iPhone 5 will feature the latest iOS 5 operating system, the A5 processor found in the iPad 2, a higher megapixel camera compared to the iPhone 4 and a slimmer and thinner design.

In the first half of 2011, the heated battle was between iPhone 4 and the HTC Thunderbolt. Henceforth, the fight will be between the iPhone 5 and the Droid Bionic. Both of these smartphones are right up there in the hype clouds, and hopefully they can both live up to it.

Here is a look at 10 reasons why the Droid Bionic will score over the iPhone 5.

Display Size:
Motorola's Droid Bionic uses a qHD (540 x 960 pixels, 256 ppi pixel density) TFT display for its 4.3-inch screen. qHD is a display resolution of 960×540 pixels which is exactly one quarter of a full HD 1080p and three quarters of a 720p frame, in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Droid Bionic’s screen fits the same 16:9 ratio as your HD TV which, in conjunction with that extra inch or so, and makes film and TV viewing a far more natural fit. Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) looks good on 40-inch LCD TV, but here we are talking about a quarter of the full HD resolution (i.e. 540 x 960) which perfectly fits the 4.3-inch screen and is more than enough to get that HD effect.

If Retina display is taken into consideration, it is an LCD display that boasts of a super high pixel density by squeezing a 960 x 640 pixel resolution into 3.5 inches of iPhone 4 -- a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch (ppi). It's this resolution -- 326 pixels per inch -- which is the same as that of the human eye, Apple claims. The resolution was achieved on a relatively small screen thanks to pixels that are just 78 micrometers wide, according to Apple. However, Raymond Soneria, the president of DisplayMate Technologies, previously stated that the resolution of the human retina is higher than claimed by Apple, working out to 477 ppi at 12 inches (305 mm) from the eyes.

Now with the Apple iPhone 5 expected to feature a 3.7-inch or 4-inch display according to different case designs, it remains to be seen how Apple plans to fit in that perfect retina display capability into the upcoming iPhone. The bigger the screen gets for Apple, the more difficult it becomes for Apple to fit in that perfect 300 ppi.

If we are talking about pure size and shape, the Motorola Droid Bionic easily wins provided one values clarity over compactness. At 4.3 inches, the Droid Bionic’s display dwarfs the upcoming iPhone 5.

The iPhone has the superior all-round picture with its sharpness and clarity at all angles due to its smaller display size. However, the Droid Bionic wins out for sheer size. Besides it has a movie-friendly 16:9 aspect ratio.

With major smartphone manufacturers opting for 4.3 inches as the ideal screen for their phones, it will be interesting to see what comes out on the new iPhone 5.

Processor:
The Droid Bionic offers the TI OMAP4430 chipset, clocking in at 1 GHz, which uses dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 with a PowerVR SGX540 integrated 3D graphics accelerator that runs at a clock frequency of 304 MHz. And it comes with ARM-Cortex A9s with ARMs SIMD engine (Media Processing Engine, aka NEON) which may have a significant performance advantage in some cases over Nvidia Tegra 2s Cortex-A9s with non-vector floating point units. And there is a dual-channel LPDDR2 memory controller compared to Nvidia Tegra 2s single-channel memory controller.

Presently the devices that use this processor are LG Optimus 3D and RIM BlackBerry Playbook. Through various tests, OMAP4430 has overtaken even Samsung Galaxy S2's Exynos 4210 Mali 400MP processor.

Apple’s A5 processor, which will be featured on iPhone 5, has a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with NEON SIMD accelerator and a dual core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. Apple lists the A5 to be clocked at 1 GHz on the iPad 2's technical specifications page, though it can dynamically adjust its frequency to save battery life.

According to Engadget, Texas Instruments' OMAP 4430, NVIDIA's Tegra 2 and Samsung's Exynos 4210 went head to head in a gauntlet of browser and graphical benchmarks, and it looks like the LG Optimus 3D's OMAP 4 came out on top, boasting of minor but significant improvements practically across the board.”

Given how many other SoC vendors are shipping dual-core Cortex A9 SoCs, the A5 was likely no different from NVIDIA's Tegra 2, TI's OMAP 4 or Samsung's Exynos in that regard: armed with a pair of Cortex A9s running at 1GHz.

WebTop Application:
The revolutionary webtop application from Motorola extends the Motorola Droid Bionic into something far beyond the average smartphone. Just connect your Droid Bionic to unique HD Multi-Media dock accessory and webtop does the rest. Via an HDMI connection to HDTV or PC monitor, the user can launch a full Firefox 4.0 browser that gives access to the phone’s interface as well as 200,000 Android Marketplace apps. You can surf the Web, make calls, send texts, or run GoogleDocs, and other Web apps. To make sure this data remains yours alone, several business-grade security measures such as data encryption and remote device management are implemented for maximum security.

HDMI:
HDMI support is available in the Motorola Droid Bionic which is not found in the iPhone 4 and most probably will not be in the iPhone 5. How do you hook it up to your HD monitor? The short answer is that you don't. The maximum audience for an iPhone screening is one or two. You want more? Use your laptop and hook that up, or your desktop machine. Apple offers an expensive HDMI adapter to please a few geeks.

HDMI connects digital audio/video sources (such as set-top boxes, DVD players, HD DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, AVCHD camcorders, personal computers (PCs) and video game consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and AV receivers) to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, video projectors, tablet computers, and digital televisions.

Card Slot:
Quite a few smartphones have slots that support a range of memory cards which allow you to keep one card in the device for a permanent storage solution, and still have a slot available for cards from your camera or other devices. With the falling price of memory cards, you could have several cards with music and videos tucked away in the carrying case.

One way in which Apple’s iPhone versions differ from other smartphones on the market is in terms of removable storage. None of the previously released iPhones have featured removable storage. This is probably by design, as it helps justify a higher priced model with more memory.

Over the years, the iPhone has offered impressive internal storage (from 8GB to 32GB). However, some iPhone users are unhappy with the lack of a memory card slot, which can expand the handset’s storage capabilities and provide a quick and easy way to back up data. As iPhones usually don’t feature card slots, the Droid Bionic holds an edge over iPhone 5.

4G LTE:
Many reports and rumors show that 4G capable iPhone 5 is on the way, but in fact it may be 4G supported through AT&T network and most probably not the Verizon’s LTE. Presently, Verizon’s LTE network is still being built and AT&T’s is still being planned. Even if iPhone 5 comes with a 4G title, the users will not have access to 4G network initially whether it’s built or not.

According to a research note from Hudson Square analyst Todd Rethemeir, the iPhone 5 due this fall will support HSPA+ technology, a development that will allow the device to offer faster data speeds on GSM networks such as AT&T. The present iPhones are shipped with standard HSPA. Even though HSPA+ is slower than the LTE standard, AT&T has begun marketing its HSPA+ network as 4G, meaning that the carrier could position the next iPhone as a 4G device despite it failing to offer LTE compatibility.

Now the question that remains is how many networking technologies can Apple pack into the iPhone 5, which is expected to be thinner than the iPhone 4. Maybe they will have to separately manufacture a different model with modified hardware to fit in this technology.

One of the reasons why the HTC Thunderbolt, which supports 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless chips (which cost an extra $39.75) is being priced at a higher rate is the 4G technology has to bear higher component costs than any other smartphone coming without it. That means Apple will be forced to increase the price of the iPhone 5. With Apple shifting its base from Japan to Taiwan for cost efficient purposes, it is highly unlikely for iPhone 5 to come with 4G LTE chip.

However, Motorola Droid Bionic will be the first dual core smartphone to feature the 4G LTE technology and is expected to make waves in days to come.

Speed:

The speed on the device depends on a number factors including RAM, processor and the network on which the device will run.

The Droid Bionic has received an upgraded RAM memory of 1GB of DDR2 from 512 MB RAM featured during the beginning of this year. The Droid Bionic also has 2 GB ROM support along with 1 GHz of dual core processor. And with 4G LTE, surely the Droid Bionic can live up to the claim made by the Verizon ad, which describes it as “ferocious force and an all-powerful, unstoppable device. Control it and you can control everything.”

In contrast, the iPhone 5 has a dual core processor but it is doubtful whether it will come with a better RAM capacity than that of the Droid Bionic. And with 4G LTE option looming low, iPhone 5 may not stand a chance against Motorola’s flagship phone.

Open Source Advantage:
The entire Android OS is an open source system. The open-source movement has inspired increased transparency and liberty. It also constitutes an example of user innovation. Being made publically available enables anyone to copy, modify and redistribute the source code without paying royalties or fees. Anyone can get access to the source of Android to better the system. This is also a double-edged sword, in the sense that it allows those will less-than-ideal intentions to discover any weakness of the phone. But that can be seen as an indirect plus because when weaknesses are found in the open source community, they are quickly fixed. The same thing cannot be expected of the iPhone 5.

Flash:

This is a big advantage an Android systems holds against iPhone. Flash enriches Web experience. Any Flash player has to be able to animate on top of video renderings, which makes hardware accelerated video rendering at least not as straightforward as with a purpose-built multimedia player. Therefore, even when only displaying video, Flash players are more resource-intensive than a dedicated video player software. Presently for Apple, only Mac OS 9/X supports Flash. As Droid Bionic comes with the Android OS, it enjoys the full support of flash.

Other Goodies:
To support the high-end Motorola Droid Bionic there is a whopping 1735 mAh battery which should give enough power to keep the phone running for a longer period. It has an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD video capture, 2-megapixel with VGA video capture and connectivity supporting Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, HDMI, 3.5mm TRRS audio jack, Micro USB, DLNA and 802.11b/g/n. There is the free ZumoCast app that lets Droid Bionic access or stream data straight from your home or work computers. And the smartphone is expected to be priced at $299.

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