Verizon Droid Bionic launches Sept. 8, $299

Verizon launched the Droid Bionic, another 4G LTE phone, on Wednesday, just a day before the handset will be available in stores. The Bionic, built by Motorola, complements 4G network support with a dual-core processor and a large, high-resolution touchscreen. Verizon will offer the Droid Bionic for a contract price of $299 starting on Sept. 8.

This high-end handset was shown off by Motorola back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, where Sanjay Jha, Motorola’s CEO, said it would launch in the second quarter of 2011. That didn’t happen, but Android enthusiasts on Verizon’s network may forgive the carrier based on the hardware features and functions in the Bionic:

1 GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM
4.3-inch qHD (960×540) touchscreen with antireflective coating
32 GB of storage: 16 GB internal, 16 GB microSD card (included)
Google Android Gingerbread 2.3.4
8 megapixel auto-focus rear camera supporting 1080p video recording
Front-facing camera for video chat over 4G, 3G or Wi-Fi networks

Similar to the Motorola Atrix that debuted earlier this year on AT&T’s network, Verizon will offer a lapdoc solution for the Bionic. The $300 accessory is an 11.6-inch notebook shell that is powered by the smartphone when docked. A $99 dock option charges the phone and pipes video to a connected HDTV.

Stay tuned for a first-look video and full review of the Droid Bionic; we have a review unit in-house and will follow up with more details and impressions of Verizon’s newest LTE smartphone.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Now playing on more Android devices: Netflix

Netflix has certified more Android devices for its mobile application today, adding support for a number of handsets and tablets powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor. This follows the May launch of Netflix for Android, which initially worked on just a handful of smartphones. Instead of rolling out its software for all Android phones, Netflix is testing the app on specific handset models and mobile processors to ensure secure and proper content playback.

Android owners can hit Google’s Android Market to see if their handset is now supported, but here’s the current list as of today:

Casio G’zOne Commando C771 with Android 2.2
HTC Droid Incredible, Droid Incredible 2, EVO, EVO 3D, G2, Thunderbolt
Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet
LG Revolution
Motorola Atrix, Droid, Droid X, Droid X2, Droid 2, Droid 3, Droid Charge
Samsung Epic 4G, Galaxy S, Galaxy S 4G, Fascinate, Nexus S, Nexus S 4G

One quick unofficial addition to the list: Lenovo introduced two new Android tablets today, the IdeaPad K1 and ThinkPad tablet. Although the Android Market only shows that one of the two tablets supports Netflix, Lenovo says that both do.

I understand Netflix’s requirement to test each device and I’m glad to see this isn’t taking too long to do, although there are hundreds of handsets to go yet. When it was announced in February that Netflix software would initially be supported on Qualcomm Snapdragon devices, I was concerned about chip fragmentation issues. Consumers don’t want to worry about which chip is powering their mobile device. Instead, they’re buying into a software platform with a smartphone or tablet, and they expect apps to run on the platform.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.