Motorola DROID 3 Release Thread

[tjmonkey15]

evidently since im using a feature phone the "unlimited data" is different then "unlimited data" even though you pay the same price of 29.99 and it is not considered transferable. even if online if i click "phones that match my plan" it includes smart phone. bogus. looks like im switching to sprint.

Based on the information that's been available online, we knew that feature phone unlimited plans would not grandfather you in for the smartphone unlimited plan...2GB is still a decent amount of data. I've only ever gone over 1GB once. Depends what you plan on using the phone for though.

[dancingcrab]

If you order on-line, it is sent overnight, so you should have it on Friday.
If you call and place an order on Friday, you can have the Rep select Saturday delivery, but it costs extra.

No way, this can't be true. That's totally unfair. Dammit, if I'd have known I would have just ordered it today. Instead I've got to wait until Monday.

What's even more unfair is that the lady on the phone told me that it'd come no later than Saturday (free two-day), which I was suspicious of, and having just checked the online tracking, I now know she was wrong. Ugh.

[islander90]

Thoughts so far:
big. Heavy. much more substantial than the D2. Slider action is fairly stiff but i imagine it will loosen up over time as the D2 has.

I haven't activated it yet so I unfortunately can't answer software questions unless someone knows the "bypass activation screen" trick for the D3 (is it the same "touch 4 corners" thing?)

No physical camera button on the case, so that part of the VZW doc I posted near the end of the pre-release thread is wrong for sure. Don't know about RAM yet.

The bezel around the screen is sort of a steel gray, gunmetal-ish, while the main body is black. Back casing is soft-touch coated (IBM Thinkpad style), but it is a piece of plastic, not metal. Just snaps on.

You can change SD card without removing battery!

Other HW questions just ask and I will answer what I can... I'm a busy IT guy so I don't know if I will have time to activate during the work day (I need my old phone working for now).

[edit again]
Bypass activation is the same.

Quadrant tells me that the phone has "450,000 kB Total Memory," which implies to me that the phone is indeed a 512MB unit.

which version of GB... 2.3.4 or 2.3.3?

how'd you manage to get one already anyways??

[edit]
also what are your initial impressions on the keyboard since it's a major step up from D1 and D2?

Thanks!
[/edit]

[islander90]

and why does motorola feel like we need semi-direct access to the euro, pound, and yen symbols?? haha

[jackals]

How much ram is it confirmed 512mb?

[RYOBI]

The D3 looks so, Moto like. Must be the same bozo designs all their phones. I watched the vids on the how to use your D3 and it looked like there was some lag going on. No LTE, no deal.

[experiment626]

Would I have to give up my America's Choice II Plan to upgrade to the Droid 3? The VZW press release for the Droid 3 mentions that buyers have to have a smartphone data plan(either tiered of grandfathered unlimited) and a Nationwide Plan. Thanks.

[dancingcrab]

which version of GB... 2.3.4 or 2.3.3?

I would also like to know this. And how is the lag? There is a tiny bit in the demo vids, mostly after opening an app.

Wish I didn't have to wait until Monday...

[bradenmcg]

which version of GB... 2.3.4 or 2.3.3?

2.3.4.
About screen reads:
System Version: 5.5.959.XT862.Verizon.en.US
Android Version: 2.3.4
Baseband version: N_03.18.16P
Kernel: 2.6.35.7-g42f0276
w30471@i93lnxdroid42 #1
Build Number: 5.5.1_84_D3G-20_TA-9

how'd you manage to get one already anyways??

Asked my business rep to order it for me on Tuesday. Approved the order on Wednesday, it shipped with priority overnight and was actually at my office by 8:30AM today (it got here before I did).

also what are your initial impressions on the keyboard since it's a major step up from D1 and D2?

Wider spacing on keyboard. I type a lot of passwords and IP addresses, so the separate numbers are VERY VERY welcome. Feel is similar to D2, with maybe a hint more downward travel in the push. Happy they got rid of the stupid back button on the keyboard (easy enough to go up to the one on the screen instead).

Blur is different, icons look different, only 5 homescreens instead of 7, and the app drawer is horizontal scrolling now (!?) It has the "blink out" screen power off animation in it. I was running the leaked gingerbread on my D2 previous to this, and there are definitely differences.

I still haven't activated it yet and battery is only ~50% right now so I am trying to avoid playing with it. I unfortunately have Real Work to do.

I have no idea why they gave us quick access to the currency keys, except maybe because this is a global phone? I'm just happy that the square brackets and curly braces are both instant now rather than having to go through SYM for them. I wish the right-hand OK button was gone, I prefer two shift keys, but otherwise it is pretty good. The dedicated numbers are going to save me a ton of contortion with passwords and typing IP addresses (192.168.1.1 is a real pain when you had to keep going between alt and std for the numbers vs. the period).

Where exactly should I be looking to *confirm* the RAM total? The status screen makes no mention of it. Quadrant said "450,000 kB Total memory", from which I'm assuming that maybe it is a 512MB unit and some portion of that is stolen or reserved for the graphics memory...?

[edit]
Was going to play with the camera, but when I tapped the icon for it, the phone locked up. Rebooted, tried to tap it again, and it just pops up on screen, "camera is unable to initialize"... Hoping maybe this is because I haven't activated the phone yet, but who knows...

[Lb1878]

Thanks for the keyboard feedback. Glad they didn't go backwards. Although when it comes to dimensions and weight, the numbers aren't far off, I am surprised that the braden's first impressions were big and heavy. The dimensions are smaller with the exception of the height of the phone on the D3.

By substantial, do you mean it feels more rugged and not like it"s cheaply manufactured?

I've heard from people who have 4G phones that their batteries are eaten up b/c the phone is constantly searching for a 4G signal. I was also interested in a 4G phone but when I realized that my home was not in the coverage area yet, it no longer became a deal breaker for me. I have not been able to see the difference in speeds but I guess the 4G appeals to people who are not around WIFI as often. For me, it's a cell phone so I don't expect to get the same speeds as a broadband signals...lol

Thanks for the initial feedback braden.

[bradenmcg]

It definitely feels slightly heavier than the D2, I think maybe due to a more substantial slider mechanism, the additional camera, and more glass. While they are pretty close in size, the D3 is wider. If you're coming from a Dx, it is almost the same width and height, just thicker (held it up to my coworker's X).

Yes, substantial = more rugged, better built. However, the cruddy plastic snap-off back detracts from that a bit. That said, I bet it won't pop off as easily as the D2's back does in a drop, and it's probably cheaper to get a replacement since it's all plastic. It feels like you're going to break it when you take it off though.

The pentile kind of sucks. You can see it in borders around colors and stuff. However, if it means higher resolution, I'll take that tradeoff. I'm not trying to proof photos on the damn thing.

My take on 4G is that it doesn't have any real purpose on a phone unless you are tethering. Honestly, most stuff I'm doing is plenty fast with 3G - most of the time just getting e-mails or quick Wiki searches. If I need to do more substantial browsing, I would rather use my iPad or a computer, but if I have to use the phone I often have wifi nearby anyway so I'll just turn that on. 4G is great with aircards though, I have one of those and it is seriously faster than my home internet connection, especially on the upstream.

I am a fairly heavy user, but my primary uses are e-mail and calendaring, as I'm a corporate IT guy. To someone who is in high school wanting to stream videos all the time, I can see the appeal of 4G, but honestly for many people I don't think it is that big of a deal. The only other benefit I could see is simultaneous voice+data - there are the rare times where it would be nice to reply to an e-mail or forward pictures while I'm talking to someone, but again most of the time this comes up I could just use a computer or iPad or something else.

[Lb1878]

Good stuff, thank you again. Hopefully that camera issue is along the lines of what you said. I am a little disappointed that there is no dedicated camera button. I use that all the time and rarely use the touch screen.

I was thinking it felt heavier b/c the battery is slightly bigger or maybe more glass like you said. Although, the specs on the site show its taller and lighter than the D2G. Oh well, the front facing camera was a big thing for me so that works.

Looking forward to you activating and giving us some insight on the operation of the phone. Thanks for taking time to answer our questions. Now get back to work! :-D~

[Rellik1414]

Any word if you will be available to get this early from Best Buy stores like what happened with the X2? I switched to VZ yesterday to get in on the unlimited data, hoping that I do not have to wait a week for them to arrive in stores.

[bradenmcg]

If you switched to VZ yesterday, why didn't you have them order you one at that time? Did you already have a different smartphone, or did you pick up something else at the order time? You should be able to exchange, FWIW.

[bradenmcg]

Another find - on D1 and D2 you could alt + shift + backspace to reboot the phone. That seems to be gone from D3, or it is some other key combo.

There is a small spot next to the USB port that looks like it should be a charging LED similar to D1 and D2, but mine is not lighting up even though the status icons are indicating that the phone is charging. I am using the official moto charger (but I also tried an HTC charger that is 1A vs 850mA and no change).

I'm also seeing the battery continue to GO DOWN, which is somewhat worrying. I haven't even been using it much, I have wifi enabled and it is connected to my GMail and Exchange accounts, but i'm not constantly using the screen or anything. Kind of odd... I hope that after the initial charge it will figure out the battery. That, or I just have a lemon (given the oddity with the camera app as well).