I thought that the iPhone 4 did so bad at that particular benchmark just because it has such a high resolution screen and it runs at native resolution, but the qHD screen on the Droid 3 is pretty close and it still wins by an absolute landslide. Any idea if something else is holding the iPhone back?
I know a good number of people who don't want a 3G phone since 4G is rolling out in so many areas and the speed difference is astronomical.
You complain about battery life but really, how many times a day do you have the opportunity to charge your phone? If you're sitting at your computer plug it in. In the car? Plug it in. I'm never away from a charger for more than 8-10 hours and if I'm away that long I am NOT using the phone all the time so the battery lasts plenty long. Anything to complain about new technology.
I'm undecided on the 3G vs 4G issue: we don't have 4G in my suburb which is where I use my phone. With unlimited funds, I would buy the latest and greatest.
Re: Battery life I agree that almost all of us probably have battery chargers readily available. But I also want new technology to change my life for the better. Not having to buy/use a charger in the kitchen, bedroom, car and/or with laptop would be a definite improvement. Until that day comes (and I can afford it), I'll continue to charge my phone often and in different places.
On the 1st Droid, on the back shown in this picture, there was a piece of plastic film. If you removed that, the sliding action suddenly became very smooth, without any rough resistance.
If the Droid 3 has this, have you removed it? Makes the sliding action feel fine.
Yep it had that, and I removed it along with all the other protective stickers. The Droid 3 slider is just not initially very smooth, though a few hours later it's starting to get smooth.
The screen is sunk too far below the gorilla glass on these Droids...same problem as in the D1. Makes for a much-harder-to-see screen when there's a reflection.
I disagree. I'm looking at my original Droid right now and the screen looks fine. Now I will agree with you regarding the Droid 2, I noticed the screen looked much lower than on the original when I played with one and compared the two.
This might be my next phone. The pentile display is definitely annoying, but not a dealbreaker at 4" (which, incidentally, I feel like is an ideal size). The color rendition beats the pants off the Droid X2, that's for sure. Application performance and the general smoothness of the UI is really impressive. And the keyboard is pretty darned good - up with some of the all time greats, like the Blackberry 8830.
Sure, it lacks an LTE radio, but I'm guessing it would need a nuclear battery to power that and a dual core proc. As it is, this thing evidently rarely goes a day without needing a charge. I'm curious to see how the Bionic holds up, when/if it comes out, but I doubt it's for me; I'm not really a fan of the 4.3" form factor.
"Sure, it lacks an LTE radio, but I'm guessing it would need a nuclear battery to power that and a dual core proc. As it is, this thing evidently rarely goes a day without needing a charge."
So you're saying you are away from any place to charge your phone for over 24 hours at a time? Hardly...just plug the damn thing in sometimes. It doesn't hurt anything to plug it into your PC to charge it a bit, in the car too. God people...
Just got back from Verizon store to check out the screen on the D3. Was actually surprised that it looked better than the DX2 screen; same resolution screen and smaller screen size on the D3 makes for a much less grainier screen. The droid Charge next to it though sure made it less appealing.
Netflix has chosen to cheery pick phones for support based on some arbitrary licensing deals and DRM capabilities. They have to get off their asses and enable the switch that tells the app to run on this specific phone.
I can see the anti Pentile folks eating it up already with these pics plastered here n there. Oh well. I really need to see this or the Bionic in person.
If Motorola & Verizon don't lock out the SIM card slot from operating on U.S. 3G networks like they did the Droid 2 Global. I was about to pick one up, but was following the thread at XDA and that is just evil B.S. why they locked it out. I would have bought it outright too :-/
Out of the box it has a hardwired 16GB SD card. You can also add a second card to the slot that sits next to the SIM card. I put a 32GB card in mine and when I plug the phone into my computer it pops up with two separate SD drives and a total of 48GB of flash goodness :)
I got hold of a Droid3 for a short time this weekend @ a Verizon store, primarily to see if the pentile display was going to be as distracting as some of the reviews of other recent Moto phones w/ the same tech have suggested. I'm pretty picky about the displays I use, so I wanted to see if this was going to be a deal breaker.
The display ended up being not bad - I still prefer the screen on my OG Droid, but the D3's screen was pretty usable while browsing the web, and I didn't notice any issues with overall performance.
In fact, if the D3 had been LTE I'd have grabbed it. Unfortunately, I don't want to be tied into a 3G phone for the next two years.
Hurry up Bionic and Function (assuming VZW's pending Galaxy S II phone is LTE...!
Too bad Motorola locked the bootloader again. Otherwise this would be a slam dunk. After the nightmare with the Milestone, I'll never buy a locked Motorola phone again.
If you like being at the mercy of your carrier for Android updates... buy this phone.
I just got my Droid 3 and i'm just now reading this review, I'll be honest the whole "Not being 4G" never did bother me. (I still have unlimited Data regardless of 3G or 4G.)
First hand use though, this phone is snappy and has excellent call quality, the battery is a little lacking but I keep it charged most the time.
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39 Comments
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tipoo - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
I thought that the iPhone 4 did so bad at that particular benchmark just because it has such a high resolution screen and it runs at native resolution, but the qHD screen on the Droid 3 is pretty close and it still wins by an absolute landslide. Any idea if something else is holding the iPhone back?Casper42 - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
You mean besides Apple? :PStuka87 - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
qHD is roughly 16% smaller than the iPhone 4's screen res, and the Droid 3 has a better video processor (not sure how much better, but 535 vs 540).But I think it also comes down to software. How well optimized is the GL test on iOS vs Android?
B3an - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
"Any idea if something else is holding the iPhone back"Year old hardware + slow single core CPU + dated GPU + tiny amout of RAM + Inferior OS.
Very obvious stuff here, dont know why you're even asking.
AnnonymousCoward - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
ThanksRoland00 - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
It is a pure travesty that this phone doesn't have a lte (4g) radio.I also complain about the use of a pentile screen, but that is just being nitpicky.
mlcloud - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
Add LTE radio:Phone requires more space
Phone drains more battery
To counteract battery life loss:
Add bigger battery.
You'll end up with a thunderbolt with a keyboard. 2 centimeter thick phone =D
kkwst2 - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
Yes, that should change somewhat once they start using the new chips that have the LTE radio built in.dagamer34 - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
Most people would rather have a good 3G phone than a crappy 4G one.cmdrdredd - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
I know a good number of people who don't want a 3G phone since 4G is rolling out in so many areas and the speed difference is astronomical.You complain about battery life but really, how many times a day do you have the opportunity to charge your phone? If you're sitting at your computer plug it in. In the car? Plug it in. I'm never away from a charger for more than 8-10 hours and if I'm away that long I am NOT using the phone all the time so the battery lasts plenty long. Anything to complain about new technology.
clt68tefft - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
I'm undecided on the 3G vs 4G issue: we don't have 4G in my suburb which is where I use my phone. With unlimited funds, I would buy the latest and greatest.Re: Battery life
I agree that almost all of us probably have battery chargers readily available. But I also want new technology to change my life for the better. Not having to buy/use a charger in the kitchen, bedroom, car and/or with laptop would be a definite improvement. Until that day comes (and I can afford it), I'll continue to charge my phone often and in different places.
bjacobson - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
Hi Brian,http://www.droidforums.net/forum/attachments/tech-...
On the 1st Droid, on the back shown in this picture, there was a piece of plastic film.
If you removed that, the sliding action suddenly became very smooth, without any rough resistance.
If the Droid 3 has this, have you removed it? Makes the sliding action feel fine.
Brian Klug - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
Yep it had that, and I removed it along with all the other protective stickers. The Droid 3 slider is just not initially very smooth, though a few hours later it's starting to get smooth.-Brian
bjacobson - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
The screen is sunk too far below the gorilla glass on these Droids...same problem as in the D1. Makes for a much-harder-to-see screen when there's a reflection.NRiess - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
I disagree. I'm looking at my original Droid right now and the screen looks fine. Now I will agree with you regarding the Droid 2, I noticed the screen looked much lower than on the original when I played with one and compared the two.GrizzledYoungMan - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
This might be my next phone. The pentile display is definitely annoying, but not a dealbreaker at 4" (which, incidentally, I feel like is an ideal size). The color rendition beats the pants off the Droid X2, that's for sure. Application performance and the general smoothness of the UI is really impressive. And the keyboard is pretty darned good - up with some of the all time greats, like the Blackberry 8830.Sure, it lacks an LTE radio, but I'm guessing it would need a nuclear battery to power that and a dual core proc. As it is, this thing evidently rarely goes a day without needing a charge. I'm curious to see how the Bionic holds up, when/if it comes out, but I doubt it's for me; I'm not really a fan of the 4.3" form factor.
cmdrdredd - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
"Sure, it lacks an LTE radio, but I'm guessing it would need a nuclear battery to power that and a dual core proc. As it is, this thing evidently rarely goes a day without needing a charge."So you're saying you are away from any place to charge your phone for over 24 hours at a time? Hardly...just plug the damn thing in sometimes. It doesn't hurt anything to plug it into your PC to charge it a bit, in the car too. God people...
asdfasdfasdfasdf - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
yeah, just use it as a landline.GrizzledYoungMan - Sunday, July 17, 2011 - link
Yeah, great point. I could just plug in my phone every 2.5 hours.kcmanuel - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
Just got back from Verizon store to check out the screen on the D3. Was actually surprised that it looked better than the DX2 screen; same resolution screen and smaller screen size on the D3 makes for a much less grainier screen. The droid Charge next to it though sure made it less appealing.Eagerly waiting on the Bionic now.
ijozic - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - link
as discussed in this thread:https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/419617
uncola - Sunday, July 17, 2011 - link
this cpu was just certified for netflix yet this phone can't run the netflix app. :/NRiess - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
Netflix has chosen to cheery pick phones for support based on some arbitrary licensing deals and DRM capabilities. They have to get off their asses and enable the switch that tells the app to run on this specific phone.snoozemode - Sunday, July 17, 2011 - link
Why dont you tes/compare to the Galaxy S2? Theres a lot of european readers here as well...jmcb - Sunday, July 17, 2011 - link
Had to show the Pentile effect huh...lolI can see the anti Pentile folks eating it up already with these pics plastered here n there. Oh well. I really need to see this or the Bionic in person.
Myrandex - Sunday, July 17, 2011 - link
If Motorola & Verizon don't lock out the SIM card slot from operating on U.S. 3G networks like they did the Droid 2 Global. I was about to pick one up, but was following the thread at XDA and that is just evil B.S. why they locked it out. I would have bought it outright too :-/Jason Cook
photoguru - Sunday, July 17, 2011 - link
Out of the box it has a hardwired 16GB SD card. You can also add a second card to the slot that sits next to the SIM card. I put a 32GB card in mine and when I plug the phone into my computer it pops up with two separate SD drives and a total of 48GB of flash goodness :)sotoa - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
This looks like the best global phone on Verizon so far. I look forward to a full review before I make a decision.Vereynn - Monday, July 18, 2011 - link
I got hold of a Droid3 for a short time this weekend @ a Verizon store, primarily to see if the pentile display was going to be as distracting as some of the reviews of other recent Moto phones w/ the same tech have suggested. I'm pretty picky about the displays I use, so I wanted to see if this was going to be a deal breaker.The display ended up being not bad - I still prefer the screen on my OG Droid, but the D3's screen was pretty usable while browsing the web, and I didn't notice any issues with overall performance.
In fact, if the D3 had been LTE I'd have grabbed it. Unfortunately, I don't want to be tied into a 3G phone for the next two years.
Hurry up Bionic and Function (assuming VZW's pending Galaxy S II phone is LTE...!
3DoubleD - Tuesday, July 19, 2011 - link
Too bad Motorola locked the bootloader again. Otherwise this would be a slam dunk. After the nightmare with the Milestone, I'll never buy a locked Motorola phone again.If you like being at the mercy of your carrier for Android updates... buy this phone.
Scott586 - Tuesday, July 19, 2011 - link
Agreed the locked bootloader is disappointing. Two years is just too long to be locked down. Nearly had me considering this phone but for that.jmcb - Thursday, July 21, 2011 - link
I see you havent been keeping up with Atrix news...Google Atrix and bootloader.
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I just got my Droid 3 and i'm just now reading this review, I'll be honest the whole "Not being 4G" never did bother me. (I still have unlimited Data regardless of 3G or 4G.)First hand use though, this phone is snappy and has excellent call quality, the battery is a little lacking but I keep it charged most the time.
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