We have some pleasing news for those of you still with a Droid Bionic handset from Motorola. You may have been pondering whether a Bionic Jelly Bean update would happen during the first quarter of 2013. We can tell you that Motorola has given a status update on the situation, confirming that the device is still scheduled to receive Google’s latest version of Android, but it will now come at a later date instead.

Let’s not forget that the Droid Bionic was released back in September of 2011, so it’s fair to say that the handset is now deemed fortunate to still be receiving official updates from Motorola – by today’s standards anyway. The Bionic shipped with Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box on Verizon Wireless, but is definitely in line for an update straight up to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Motorola has now updated a section of their support website, to reveal that the Droid Bionic is now scheduled to receive an official update to Jelly Bean during Q2 2013. That means that it could happen anytime within the next month all the way through out Summer.

When it finally does arrive, it will obviously be a fantastic moment for consumers who have stayed loyal to the aging handset – especially considering the various custom Jelly Bean builds that are out there as further temptation. For now though you’ll just have to sit back and wait for a solid release date from Motorola.

A new status of Q2 2013 isn’t exactly ideal we agree, but for a 2011 handset we still think owners are in a good position at the moment. If you are still rocking your Bionic proudly, let us know your thoughts on the revised timetable. Are you prepared to hold it out for a few more months?

Motorola may have taken their time to deliver on this highly anticipated software update, but patient owners won’t care about that as the decision to hold off from the likes of the Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 appears to be justified – for now.

Word has spread that an OTA update is rolling out, identified as build 6.7.246 and brings the Droid Bionic to the updated firmware of 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Some of you may have already received your update last week, but we understand that a lot of you have not received anything yet – but you should have now had the notification pop up over the last 24 hours.

If you take a quick look at our previous coverage on the update delay here, you’ll see that there is over one hundred comments from Droid Bionic owners, with most complaining that they still haven’t received their update, despite Motorola’s reassurances. The general rollout date was considered to be October 19th, but as with most Android updates these days, consumers are often left frustrated with the irritating nature of updates appearing in some locations and nothing in others.

The above image from Droid-Life suggests that the update is definitely happening though, so head to your settings page now via about phone>system updates and with a bit of luck, you’ll be able to push the Ice Cream Sandwich update manually. All this drama over an outdated version of Android, it will be interesting a few months down the line to see if we have the same problems arise regarding a Jelly Bean update.

What is the situation at the moment for you, in your area? Did you receive a notification through the night to update to the build number mentioned above. Congratulations if you have, fingers crossed if you are still waiting.

Verizon made things pretty clear last week when they announced that the Motorola Droid Bionic Ice Cream Sandwich update had started to roll out, although looking at the growing number of comments about the Droid Bionic ICS update shows a different story. It is fair to say that this might be a small number of people that are not receiving the new software yet, although taking the feedback we’ve received and adding it to the growing complaints in the official forums, then it seems that there are some issues with the staggered update.

Things become more confusing on Verizon’s website – we thought a quick check of the official system update page might be a good idea, and after looking we noticed Verizon still have “coming soon” next to the Droid Bionic ICS update. You can see a screenshot of this page below, which we took just moments ago and clearly shows that the update is not live. This might be a lack of Verizon updating the page, but we have to wonder when you take all the comments into account as well.

This page also has a couple of links to the benefits of installing the Ice Cream Sandwich update on your Droid Bionic, and some tips on how to do that. We’ve included an image below that shows the main features of the Droid Bionic ICS update; so feel free to take a look if you need a refresh.

We would still love to know if you’ve managed to get the software update, and if so what location you’re in? If we find out any more details from Verizon on their Droid Bionic ICS update schedule, then we’ll be sure to let our readers know.

The last 24 hours couldn’t have been more frustrating for users waiting for the Motorola Droid Bionic ICS update to roll out, and this is without even considering that Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is still promised for the future, although it had been released by Google months ago. Verizon and Motorola are working together to make sure users receive the Droid Bionic ICS update and announced that the new software is landing on devices, but as with all of these updates it’s in stages.

It seems that the majority of users haven’t seen any sign of the 368MB Droid Bionic ICS update, which has led thousands of users to take to forums with complaints. The frustration has included venting their opinions on how cellular companies “hold users hostage” with this “cycle” of delays and frustration. It is fair to say some people that claim they’re “done with Motorola” are just venting steam thanks to being not the first few to receive the latest upgrade, although it is true that this problem is one affecting Android updates on numerous handsets.

You can check to see if you have the Droid Bionic Ice Cream Sandwich update manually, which involves browsing to settings and looking at the about screen. Here you will find a tab that states “system updates” and then allows you to check for a download, so feel free to try that as well and let us know if you have the ICS update in the comments.

The love and hate relationship with Google Android and phone makers – we’ve seen it with the Samsung Galaxy S3 and waiting for Jelly Bean to arrive, and now users are shouting similar complaints about the wait for the Droid Bionic ICS update and Motorola. The problem lies with Android rolling out to brands like Samsung and Motorola, and after they add their extras it could be many months down the line, which results in untimely updates. These same users could never imagine moving to Apple thanks to the constraints and control Apple has over their OS, so it certainly seems a never-ending cycle filled with frustration for the smartphone user.

Do you feel certain phone makers are better than others at releasing Android updates, and if so what is your favorite right now? It is worth noting that we’ve been contacted by a growing number of people that have the Droid Bionic ICS update, although an equal number also state that they’ve seen nothing yet. Do you have the Droid Bionic ICS update installed, and if so what part of the world are you in?

The Bionic may be deemed an old Android device now with the likes of the Droid RAZR, RAZR MAXX and the Droid 4 carrying the flag for Motorola, but try telling that to loyal Bionic owners who are more than happy with the functionality offered in their device.

The one feature that most Bionic owners crave for though is Ice Cream Sandwich and considering that it has been almost six months of waiting, it doesn’t look like Motorola are prepared to release their official update any day soon. This has prompted a lot of you to try your hand at a few custom ROMS via a rooted handset and earlier this week, we heard that a brand new version is available to try out.

Older Ice Cream Sandwich builds for the Droid Bionic lacked the support for 4G LTE data, but you’ll be happy to hear that the latest update rectifies this. According to a report from Droid-Life, this is actually due to Motorola’s recent official firmware update for the Bionic, and of course the clever people at DroidModderX for fiddling with that update and emerging with an all new Ice Cream Sandwich build.

It looks like this is the most stable version yet, with the only notable feature not working so far being the camera application. Everything else works fine though, so you should head over to this link for the download and installation notes if you want to try this out. One word of caution though, you’ll need to be running the latest Droid Bionic firmware which is 5.9.902 otherwise this won’t work. If you want to study this build in finer detail, there’s also a full changelog up at the link above to read through as well.

If you have a Bionic and are willing to give this a try, let us know how you get on. Who needs the latest smartphone when great custom updates like this become available? Having said that, it would still be nice for Motorola to show some love to those who insist on waiting for the official update.

Over the weekend we gave you a useful Ice Cream Sandwich reference guide, which gave you a list of the confirmed handsets and tablets so far that will be getting an update to Android 4.0 ICS. One of those handsets included on the list is the seemingly forgotten Droid Bionic, which now finds itself way down the pecking order with the Droid RAZR and Galaxy Nexus on the way.

That doesn’t mean that the Bionic is poor handset though, and far from it as it is still a speedy little device and is another of Verizon’s 4G LTE devices if you had forgotten. Now seems like the perfect time to pick one up if you had previously been interested in it, as Amazon are now offering the device for a stunning $119.9 retail price, as reported from Phandroid. This is a huge discount from Amazon’s original listing price of $699.99, and there isn’t no catch either. Obviously you’ll need to hook yourself up with a calling and data plan but at $120, you’ll find it hard to find a similar price for a 4G phone in today’s market.

And don’t forget, the Droid Bionic has already been confirmed to be getting an update to Ice Cream Sandwich, making it in our books, the cheapest route to Ice Cream Sandwich, since the Galaxy Nexus and Droid RAZR are going to be $299 on contract, excluding expensive data plans for 4G LTE with Verizon. If you read reviews for the Droid Bionic, you’ll find that the device is still one of the best on Verizon at the moment, although there are some concerns about battery life so that is something to bear in mind.

Head to Amazon’s product page here if you want to buy one. Let us know if this deal interests you or if you have found a cheaper alternative to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Is ”seemingly forgotten” a fair tagline for the Bionic? A few months ago, it was the most anticipated Android handset in history – until Nexus Prime / Galaxy Nexus rumors started to take over. Now as we move into 2012, it looks certain that the Bionic will be pushed into third place in Verizon’s pecking order after the Galaxy Nexus and Motorola Droid RAZR.

The good news for owners though, is that you’ll be getting the update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Motorola has just issued an update to their Twitter account informing everyone abou the news, and also confirming once again that the Motorola RAZR and Xoom tablet will get Ice Cream Sandwich again, just like we told you here and here.

Here is the message that they put on Twitter, as reported from Droid-Life:

”@nightdragon70 DROID BIONIC will get an upgrade to ICS. We’ll have more info on timing after Google releases the final version”

As for other Android handsets aside from the Droid Bionic, Nexus S and Droid RAZR that have already been confirmed, Motorola wasn’t prepared to be so open about forthcoming updates. When quizzed on whether or not the Droid X would be getting Ice Cream Sandwich, Motorola had this to say in response:

”@snakesnake449 We’ll release devices to get the ICS upgrade 6 weeks after Google’s public push. Hope this helps!”

Motorola and Verizon are pretty solid when it comes to updating handsets, so we’re guessing that the Droid X will definitely get Ice Cream Sandwich at some point. If the handset does get the update, you would feel that the likes of the Droid2, Droid Pro, Droid 3 and Droid X2 will also be getting the update. It is obviously an anxious wait though – many of you have probably just decided to go for the Galaxy Nexus rather than hold out for an update that may never happen.

Do you own the Bionic or another Droid device on Verizon?

The S II and the Bionic will be the main competition for the 4S, well just until the Nexus Prime is released. We already know just how much more powerful the new iPhone is compared to the current version, but the real test comes when it has to go head-to-head in a smartphone showdown with rival models. So let’s see how they fare, thanks to a little research from Engadget?

Now you may have thought that the 4S would have come out on top in almost all categories, but that is not the case. There are a few areas where each handset shines, but it will not be until real world tests begin that we will get a true sense of the power of the iPhone 4S.

We will always compare the 4S first, the S II next, which will then be followed by the Bionic. The first test is the CPU, here we have a 1GHz Dual-core A5 compared to a 1.2GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos or 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 and a 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430. Then there is the memory, likely 512MB compared to 1GB for each.

Screen sizes are 3.5, 4.3 or 4.5 and finally 4.3 inches. Storage is 16GB, 32GB and 64GB for the iPhone 4S, and 16GB for the other two. However, the latter two does benefit from microSDHC expansion.

All three handsets benefit from an 8-megapixel camera, but from what we have seen the 4S will have the edge, as it uses far better lens technology. These are the most important features, but we were shocked with the battery results, as the iPhone 4S performs poorly when compared to the Bionic, as it gives away at least 2 hours when using 3G.

Do you think that the iPhone 4S is worth the upgrade?

Early signs are far from perfect, with many reviews touching upon potential worries with the battery life. However, the one positive note about this issue that there is a secondary extended battery available if you feel like the Droid Bionic is not perfoming as well as it should be.

If you are considering buying the extended battery from Verizon for $25.99, which you probably should since it’s still half price for the time being, then you will have to part ways with a considerable chunk of ‘sexiness’ on your Droid Bionic, as the battery is noticably bigger and will add that extra bit of luggage inside your pocket.

[pic: Droid-Life]

If style isn’t an issue for you at all, then we really would recommend it. It is becoming more and more apparent that 4G LTE data seriously eats away at your battery life, so paying $25 for a 2760mAh battery as opposed to the shipped 1735mAh battery is a pretty big difference, one which you should notice right away when resuming with your daily Bionic duties.

Of course, we’ve also heard the argument that Motorola and Verizon shouldn’t be charging extra for a secondary Droid Bionic battery when the standard one doesn’t work as well as it should – have no lessons been learnt from the Thunderbolt after all? Either way, customers are going to have to make a decision sooner or later on whether to sacrifice the Droid Bionic’s sex appeal for more battery juice in the long run.

What are your opinions on this argument? Most of you will probably agree that the extra battery is worth the money, but are you more concerned about the extra weight and looks of the Bionic once the battery is equipped inside?

Not bad at all, but definitely a lot better than the Thunderbolt it seems. The worrying factor which may be putting consumers off from their purchase of a Droid Bionic is conflicting reports about battery life, as we’ve heard both praise and criticism for the Droid Bionic, supposedly dubbed as the best Android handset on the market today.

An recent article over at Cnet praised the battery life on the Droid Bionic, claiming that it offered a good 7 hours and 55 minutes calling time with 4G LTE data switched on. This increased to almost 10 and a half hours on the Droid Bionic when 4G was switched to 3G mode, so this does seem like Motorola have been working hard on trying to eliminate battery life fears during the handset’s well documented period of exile.

However, a few other reports have questioned the battery life on the device, suggesting that the great features on the device may be overshadowed by poor battery life – the same disease which plagued the Thunderbolt. ConsumerReports have touched upon this matter in their first impressions here, while a review over at ThisismyNext actually listed poor battery life as a disadvantage of the device, adding that ”it’s clear that the battery life of this phone succumbs to the drain of LTE service.”

For those of you that have been using a Droid Bionic for a few days, would you agree with the claims that the battery life on the device is a bit disappointing after so much promise? Drainage when using 4G LTE may prove to be one issue which cannot be avoided, but it remains to be seen just how big of a problem it may become for consumers, and also Verizon and Motorola in the long run.