Motorola Droid Bionic Arrives as Apple Delays iPhone 5

While Apple Inc. is tight-lipped towards its iPhone 5 release date, the smartphone is expected to face a good deal of competition from Android devices, particularly from the Motorola Droid Bionic, which would be available at Verizon from Thursday.

Motorola Droid Bionic is the first Verizon Wireless smartphone to combine 4G LTE with the power of dual-core 1 GHz processors, 1 GB of RAM and a stunning 4.3-inch qHD display – all in a sleek form factor that makes it the thinnest 4G LTE smartphone from Verizon Wireless.

Droid Bionic will finally be available starting Sept. 8 and will be powered by Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread OS. It will come with several enhancements, including expanded features, functionality and an improved form factor.

Motorola's smartphone introduces ZumoCast, an application that lets customers bring their digital world of videos, music, pictures and documents stored on their computers to their handset via remote access.

With its revolutionary Webtop application, the phone can beam a full-featured Firefox Web browser 4.0, email or documents to a TV or monitor, like the separately purchased Lapdock with a 11.6-inch screen, keyboard and integrated trackpad.

Droid Bionic also comes with additional accessories such as the HD Station, which let users turn the phone into an entertainment center or home office, HDMI cable for viewing pictures, video, and content on any HDTV or monitor, and it lets users share 4G LTE signal with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices when they activate the Verizon Wireless Mobile Hotspot.

Apple is rumored to increase the screen size of iPhone 5 to compete with Android smartphones, probably going for a 4-inch screen, compared to the current iPhone 4 screen of 3.5-inch.

Recently, Best Buy employees have been informed that pre-orders for the iPhone 5 will begin this week in time for a release in the first week of October. A Best Buy source released a document to BGR.com, which shows that the store is anticipating the pre-sales and also that Sprint will be carrying the iPhone 5 at the launch of the new device.

Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) is now taking customer reservations for the next-generation of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 5 starting Sept. 5, as new evidence supports rumors that the iPhone 5, expected to be revealed in October.

Meanwhile, the next iteration of the iPhone is expected to boast of significant hardware and software upgrades, along with an 8-megapixel dual-LED flash camera and A5 dual-core processor found in the iPad 2 to give stiff competition to other dual-core smartphones found in the market today.

Apple may boost the speed of its A5 chip in the range of 1.2 or 1.5 GHz with 1GB RAM. The iPhone 5 would feature iCloud that will store photos, apps, calendars and documents instead of the phone's memory storage.

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 5 as a World Phone - both GSM and CDMA compatible. Another rumor suggested that the iPhone 5 will feature a SIM card slot for other countries except the U.S, allowing users to insert any SIM card when traveling abroad.

The arrival of such a piece from Motorola is a cause of concern for Apple, which is rumored to release iPhone 5 soon.

Here is a look at the features of Motorola Droid Bionic in comparison with the speculated one of Apple iPhone 5.

Operating system: Motorola Droid Bionic will run on the latest version of Google Inc.'s smartphone operating system, Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread OS. On the other hand, Apple’s iPhone 5 will be running on iOS 5, which is the newest of the iOS versions. The new iOS 5 is expected come with 200 new features that will include Improved Notifications System, News Stand and iMessage.

Though Gingerbread isn't quite as refined as iOS yet, it has true multitasking support and is Google's best bet yet against iOS -- at least until it releases Ice Cream Sandwich. It is left to see which platform will outsmart the other in the long run.

Camera: Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to have an 8 megapixel dual-LED flash camera with 1080p video playback and panoramic photo capture, while iPhone 4 has 5 megapixel camera with 720p video playback. Droid Bionic, when compared, will sport an 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash with 1080p HD video capture and a front-facing camera for video chat over 4G LTE, 3G or Wi-Fi.

Screen: The new Apple iPhone 5 is expected to have a bigger edge-to-edge 4-inch curved glass screen, compared to iPhone 4's screen size of 3.5-inch with multi-touch display. Droid Bionic will have a 4.3-inch qHD screen using scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass with dual-layer anti-reflective coating.

Processor: Droid Bionic will be powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM. Apple's iPhone 4 runs on 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, and the iPhone 5 is rumored to sport a 1.2-1.5 GHz dual-core A5 processor, which powers the iPad 2, with probably a 1GB RAM.

Size: Motorola Droid Bionic has a dimension of 127.5 x 66.9 x 10.99 mm (5 x 2.63 x 0.43 inches) and weighs up to 158g (5.6 oz). On the other hand, iPhone 4 has 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm (4.5 x 2.31 x 0.37 inches) and weighs up to 137g (4.8 oz). Rumor suggest that iPhone 5 design may have dimensions of 4.33 x 2.36 inches, suggesting a shorter but only slightly wider design.

Storage: Motorola Droid Bionic will feature 16GB internal storage and another 16GB microSD card preinstalled, which can be expanded up to 32 GB. On the other hand, iPhone 4 has fixed 16/32 GB internal storage. Apple iPhone 4 doesn't have external storage. It is expected the iPhone 5 will have 16/32/64 GB internal storage.

Pricing: Apple’s iPhone 5 has been rumored to be priced at $600, while iPhone 4 is listed on Verizon at $299 for 32GB version with 2-year contract. On the other hand, Droid Bionic is priced at $299 with 2-year contract.

Input Features: Droid Bionic input features include multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, touch-sensitive controls, proximity sensor for auto turn-off, and HTML 5 capable. The features like biometric fingerprint reader, MOTOBLUR UI with Live Widgets and Gorilla Glass display similar to Motorola Atrix cannot be ruled out in Motorola Droid Bionic.

Droid Bionic can beam a full-featured Firefox Web browser 4.0, email or documents to a TV or monitor, like the separately purchased Lapdock with a 11.6-inch screen, keyboard and integrated trackpad. The smartphone introduces ZumoCast by Motorola, an application that lets customers bring their digital world of videos, music, pictures and documents stored on their computers to their handset via remote access.

With iPhone 5 expected to closely resemble iPhone 4, expect scratch-resistant oleophobic surface, multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, three-axis gyro sensor and proximity sensor for auto turn-off.

3G: Motorola's smartphone gives Rev. A up to 3.1 Mbps and LTE. Droid Bionic users can expect surf on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network with download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G LTE mobile broadband coverage areas. On the other hand, iPhone 4 has HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 5.76 Mbps support, while iPhone 5 is expected to have HSDPA 14 Mbps to 21 Mbps.

WLAN/Bluetooth/USB: Droid Bionic has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot support along with Bluetooth version 2.1 with EDR. Apple iPhone 4, on the other hand, has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth version 2.1 with EDR wireless technology. iPhone 5 is expected to have Wi-Fi and an advanced Bluetooth version.

Battery: Motorola Droid Bionic has standard 1735 mAh battery. iPhone 4 has standard Li-ion 1420 mAh battery which gives up to 14 h of talk time on 2G and up to 7 hours on 3G with a standby time of up to 300 hours.

Review of Droid Bionic: Most customers aren't won by fact sheets that list things like dual-core processors or HDMI connectivity. They don't want a machine or tool. They want a piece of the magic that has sent the iPhone to the top of buyers' wish lists. The Droid Bionic has that, if you can wade through all the cold packaging, according to USA Today's review.

It's an undeniably great phone, powered by the fastest wireless network in the air today. For those who have been waiting out the 4G smartphone race this summer, hoping for a hit with the Bionic, your wait has been rewarded. This one is worth buying, USA Today added.

Apple certainly knows how to surprise and already has a few things in place like iCloud which can steal the thunder from Android devices. Apple's iPhone features are extensively varied from Motorola Droid Bionic, which means loyal Apple fan base remains the same. And for Apple, there is no reason to fear a potential loss with respect to buyers.