Manage updates with the Download AppMotorola Droid 3 (Verizon Wireless)
Manufacturer: Motorola Part number: DROID-3
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- For Verizon customers who crave physical keyboards, the Motorola Droid 3 offers an excellent one, but the rest of the Android smartphone's improvements fail to impress.
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CNET editors' review
Motorola Droid 3 (Verizon Wireless) price range: $0.20
- Reviewed by: Bonnie Cha
- Reviewed on: 07/19/2011
- Released on: 07/14/2011
The good: The Motorola Droid 3 features an excellent five-row QWERTY keyboard. The next-gen Droid also offers the latest Gingerbread software, a dual-core processor, and an upgraded 8-megapixel camera.
The bad: The Droid 3 lacks 4G. Compared with the competition, the smartphone's qHD display isn't that sharp and performance isn't as snappy. Call and picture quality could be better.
The bottom line: For Verizon customers who crave physical keyboards, the Motorola Droid 3 offers an excellent one, but the rest of the Android smartphone's improvements fail to impress.
User reviews
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Fast, Feature rich QWERTY kb phone with a few nitpicks.
by trudeaup on July 14, 2011
Pros: Pros:
- Dual core processor results in little to no load time no matter what you are doing
- Call quality/clarity is slightly improved over previous Droids
- Adobe Flash now works as intended, there are only a handful of sites that challenge this deviceCons: Cons:
- Bloatware such as Kindle and Blockbuster is annoying and cannot be removed unless you root
- Inductive battery cover allows for wireless charging pads but does not insulate well against heat, your hand will frequently be hot as the 1500 mAh batteSummary: Finally, the Droid 3 is here! No, it doesn't have 4G. Yes, it has a great physical keyboard. If no 4G LTEis going to be a deal-breaker for you, ...
Summary: Finally, the Droid 3 is here! No, it doesn't have 4G. Yes, it has a great physical keyboard. If no 4G LTEis going to be a deal-breaker for you, there's nothing you'll read here that will change your mind. I live 30 miles from Philadelphia, and there is next to no coverage in this area, so it isn't a factor for me.
Cnet cut off the beginning of my review, I apologize. Here is the full list of pros and cons as it was originally intended to appear:
First, let's discuss the 5 row keyboard. Personally, I will never be able to get used to using a touch screen or Swype to type with, so I tried to find the best phone on the market with a physical QWERTY keyboard. I upgraded from a Droid 1 which I purchased at launch, and I am quite happy i waited. This keyboard is way ahead of both the Droid 1 and the Droid 2, and not just for the 5th row. The keys are larger, have a slight bit of space between them, and have a good "feel" to them. It really does make that much of a difference.
Next, I have to talk about the speed of this phone. Just to see how far I could go with it, I tried multi-tasking around 15 apps, including streaming FM radio, Youtube, a 3D MMO RPG game I downloaded from the Market, and Dolphin Browser with 6 tabs loaded. Everything worked smoothly with absolutely no performance impact that I could notice. The dual core seems to really do the trick. When I downloaded Adobe Flash on the original Droid, it was a joke, not worth the small amount of space it takes up. Now it works brilliantly, and the only thing that really gives the phone difficulty is running a Flash encoded video in full screen. Normal, everyday use is fine. (Granted, I've only had it for 3 days.)
Now I don't do a lot with the camera and a lot of video recording, but what I did record is crystal clear. The 1080p video is gorgeous, and when coupled with the HDMI out cable to a decent HD LED TV, you'll be very pleased with the quality. As for the camera, it is a great quality 8MP camera, with a couple of faults. It is a little annoying that there is no physical camera button, but this might be my personal issue and others won't care. What you will care is about is the Flash. The default setting is "Auto Flash" which is supposed to detect the ambient light present and determine if the camera flash should be used or not. The problem is that the camera seems to want to utilize the flash in brightest day or darkest night, which results in me having to manually turn it on/off. This was a problem in Droid 1 and has carried over to this device.
Now for the downsides. This device runs hot. There is no other way to put it. After extended use, it will get hot in your hand, which gets annoying. I downloaded a freeware battery analysis app from the Android Marketplace, and the device seems to average temperatures of 101F to 105F after about 45 minutes of active use. I even saw it go as high as 116F! The battery cover does not help matters, as it is very slim. Apparently this allows it to recharge on a wireless charging pad if you have one of those devices, but I do not. I would have appreciated a thicker cover which did a better job of insulating heat.
For those that enjoy tinkering with their phones and customizing to their heart's delight, you will be disappointed that it comes shipped with a locked bootloader. Not sure what else to say about that. I have no desire to hack or root my phone, but for those that do, you are out of luck as of the writing of this review.
Other than that, there are some nitpicky issues. Motoblur UI takes a little while to get used to if you've been on Droid 1 for awhile, and it has some minor quirks such as scrolling left to right to view your app list, but nothing too awful. The device does not come with the extended battery, and it isn't even available for purchase yet (that I could find). If you have a Droid 1 or 2 and enjoy the Multimedia docking station, you will need a new one as the location of the mini USB charging port has moved.
The phone comes pre-loaded with some bloatware such as Citrix, Blockbuster and Kindle and some games. Some of these can be removed, some cannot (except if you root the device). Not too big of a deal for me, but as I have 72 apps currently installed, I don't want to be forced to look at icons which I will never use. If you purchase this phone, you will definitely want to download some type of "Startup Manager" type of app, so that unnecessary bloatware services don't eat away your phone's memory when first booted.
Last thing, many phone reviews these days do not talk about call quality, which is the purpose of a phone (no, not Angry Birds!). I am happy to report that the call clarity seems a little bit better than that of the Droid 1, especially while on speakerphone. Also, when answering an incoming call, you do not need to "slide" to answer, you can simply press the answer button on the main interface, which is great. There is a feature called "In-Pocket" detection that claims to "Lock your device automatically when inserted in pocket. This is a great idea which would prevent "butt dialing", but I cannot say for sure that it works or not, or how the device determines if it is located in a jeans pocket or not.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the product presented here. I would have made a few design decisions differently here or there, but there is so much to love. It is everything I hoped the Droid 1 would be, and more. Give it a test drive, but if you don't care about having a physical keyboard and 4G is at the top of your wishlist, there is probably a better product out there for you waiting to be released any day now.
Updated on Jul 14, 2011
Pros:
- Dual core processor results in little to no load time no matter what you are doing
- Call quality/clarity is slightly improved over previous Droids
- Adobe Flash now works as intended, there are only a handful of sites that challenge this device
- 1080p video recording is phenomenal and a snap to use
- 8MP camera is crystal clear, and much better than comparable Motorola phones
- Seamless transition/upgrade from a Droid 1, Droid 2 or Droid X
- Initial boot time extremely fast
- Front facing camera very intuitive and is useful for Skype/videoconferencing
- 5 row keyboard feels great and new keyboard has physical space between the keys
- HDMI out could be useful in certain situations
Updated on Jul 14, 2011Cons:
- Bloatware such as Kindle and Blockbuster is annoying and cannot be removed unless you root
- Inductive battery cover allows for wireless charging pads but does not insulate well against heat, your hand will frequently be hot as the 1500 mAh battery seems to be constantly running at 105F+
- Locked bootloader will frustrate those who want to tinker with the phone
- Does not come with extended battery by default
- Incompatible with original Multimedia Station for Droid 1
- Battery cover difficult to remove/replace
- Stock browser and text messaging apps still unacceptable
- Some legacy apps broken with Android v 2.34
- Motoblur UI is a love it/hate it scenario
- Battery life could be better
- Lack of physical camera button slightly irritating10 out of 11 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Super fast phone but has some major issues.
by ITZcoolGUY on July 10, 2011
Pros: Dual Core Processor
5-line keyboard feels much better than Droid 2
Great screen resolution
8mp camera/1080p video
Camera facing front and back for video chat
Android 2.3
HDMI out
About 12 GBs of available internal storage
Only $200 with new contract (pricCons: Battery cover very fragile and difficult to remove
No physical camera button (you have to use the touch screen to take a picture)
Lacks 4g
No auto-rotate on the home screen when keyboard is closed
Charging port in awkward spot
Battery life not the best
MiSummary: This is a great phone that is definitely going to be a hit on the Verizon network. Although lacking 4g the phones dual core processor and 5 line keyboard will ...
Summary: This is a great phone that is definitely going to be a hit on the Verizon network. Although lacking 4g the phones dual core processor and 5 line keyboard will attract many. This is definitely one of the fastest droids on Verizon's network. Albeit, there are major issues with the device such as the battery cover. It is very difficult to remove as you have to pop open clips. It actually feels like I'm going to break the cover when taking it out, and I'm sure many will break it. Also, I am not sure what Motorola was thinking by not having an external camera button. I feel the market is moving too soon to all touch screen when most are screaming for a middle ground with touch and keys. Sometimes it's just better to push buttons.
I am not sure why but my Cons seem to be cut out (cnet, what happened?!)
The phone is advertised with a 16gb internal memory and does NOT comes with SD card. Only about 12 GB (over estimate) comes available on internal storage. Another major issue that continues to baffle users is the auto-rotate on the home screen. When first getting the phone, it would auto-rotate, but after using certain applications (Google Sky Map), mine stopped rotating on the home screen (even with the auto-rotate setting on). I looked the issue up on Google and discovered that this has been going on with previous phone models for years now. You can, however, install a third-party app from the droid market that reorganizes your home screen, takes care of the auto-rotate issue but gets rid of the factory look.
I've been waiting for months to upgrade my contract so I could get this phone. I was anticipating 4g and am shocked that Verizon hasn't pushed phones that have 4g with a keyboard. Am I happy with it? Overall yes. It truly handles the operating system very smoothly. Although, the battery cover, lack of camera button, and lack of 4g are major downfalls that are unsettling.
Updated on Jul 10, 2011
Cons:
Battery cover very fragile and difficult to remove
No physical camera button (you have to use the touch screen to take a picture)
Lacks 4g
No auto-rotate on the home screen when keyboard is closed
Charging port in awkward spot
Battery life not the best
Does not come with: Global Chargers, HDMI cord, Micro SD
Camera doesn't take great pictures despite 8mp camera (although has enhance option in editing menu)
Wifi connection not as good as Droid 2
Tiny mic hole; Speaker phone not the best5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great phone. Easy to use, FAST, packed with features.
by jveta172 on July 13, 2011
Pros: -amazing camera/camcorder
-easy to use
-fast
-good call quality
-little "bloatware"
-QWERTY keyboardCons: -battery life is short, but that is expected with any smartphone. if used conservatively, lasts a day or two
Summary: This phone is great. I had it fully charged and running in 30 min. People complain about many new phones not being LTE. LTE in my opinion is not a ...
Summary: This phone is great. I had it fully charged and running in 30 min. People complain about many new phones not being LTE. LTE in my opinion is not a good idea. 3g is amazingly fast on this phone. LTE is going to result in more data usage, as well as making the phone larger and heavier. LTE is also a new technology. It's going to take a few years to get good coverage, and for all the kinks to be worked out. WiFi is a plus. Makes it possible to get away with a 2gb data plan. I was amazed with the camera. 8mp looks like 12 on this, and the 1080p is crisp and clear. The interface is easy to use. The one kink I found was in the music. There is no music manager for my computer (MML does not work with 7 64), so I have to use Windows Device Sync. The phone is a little large, but that is expected with a 4 inch screen and a 5-row keyboard. The keyboard is nice. I have never been a fan of virtual keyboards, I like to slide across them. Swype is a pain. Overall it is a great phone. I recommend it to any first time or long time android user.
5 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
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It's a piece of garbage!
by rdingwall on April 5, 2012
Pros: None! I seriously can't think of one pro.
Cons: Freezes often. You have to remove the battery and put it back to get it to work again.
Touch screen keyboard is clumsy and hard to use.
GPS fails constantly.Summary: Buy an iPhone! Seriously! Anyone that thinks Droid is better than iPhone is smoking something. I have to use it for work, and hate it. I use the GPS function ...
Summary: Buy an iPhone! Seriously! Anyone that thinks Droid is better than iPhone is smoking something. I have to use it for work, and hate it. I use the GPS function a lot to find my way around town, and it will suddenly read "Searching for GPS". So you have to turn the phone off and on again to get it to work again. I have an iPhone for my personal phone, and love the touch screen keyboard. The touch screen keyboard on the Droid is ridiculous! I constantly misspell things, and rather than correcting it for me, it gives me suggestions to choose from....sometimes.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good, solid smartphone, but very far from great.
by ArynRavenlocke on September 2, 2011
Pros: Physical keyboard
Sturdy constructionCons: No 4G
Excessive unremovable bloatware
Social Network preventing modification of contacts
BATTERY LIFE IS HORRIBLE!!!Summary: This phone has mist everything a casual user of a smartphone could want. The camera is average, but not great. Front and rear facing (no flash on the front though) ...
Summary: This phone has mist everything a casual user of a smartphone could want. The camera is average, but not great. Front and rear facing (no flash on the front though) is a nice touch that allows for better picture taking opportunities for social network users. The amount of bloatware that comes preinstalled on the phone is nuts, but can be hidden away with a little bit of menu customization. Call clarity is average, as is the quality of the speakerphone.There's nothing at all wrong with the clarity, but even a marginally noisy environment can make it hard to hear without an earbud. The wireless (WiFi) receiver seems a bit touchy. The biggest drawback of this phone is the battery life. As a smartphone, the battery life is not expected to be great, but in this case, the battery life comes stacks up as well below average. Keeping the phone plugged in as often as possible (including charging in the car betweeen stops) is almost a necessity in order to get through an entire day. I use the Droid 3 for text messaging and very light Internet use (sometimes no use). I can't speak on talk timme as I don't make enough voice calls to fairly rate it. However, with my useage, a good battery stretch for me is 8-10 hours. If something comes up and I find myself making excessive use of the Internet, that number drops precipitously to around 5 hours. Thankfully I learned from my brother's example that syncing with Facebook can be problematic. Once a contact is imported from Facebook, the system does not allow editing of the contact details. This is exceptionally irksome. Any contact information on the phone should be editable on the phone.
In short, this smartphone will do just about anything the casual user would expect to be able to do with a smartphone. Those who expect more out of a smartphone for professional reasons, or those who are tech savvy early adopters are likely to be let down a bit. Other than the battery issue, I have not found any horrific short-comings, but for a new phone that is supposed to sit towards the top of the line, it is missing certain features or lacking performance in other features, making it a slightly above average smartphone and not a great one.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great Phone held back by horrid battery life and camera
by FutureDancer on July 31, 2011
Pros: Keyboard is big and easy to type on
High resolution screen means you can see more
Fast 3G. The 3G on this device is faster than my Droid IncredibleCons: Battery Life is Horrible. 1.5 hours of heavy use, 5 to 6 of mild use
Camera is always out of focus and has a blue tinge on all the photos
GPS often doesn't find location when other phones doSummary: Had the phone for a couple of days. Overall it has many great features but is held back by a complete lack of quality control resulting in terrible battery life ...
Summary: Had the phone for a couple of days. Overall it has many great features but is held back by a complete lack of quality control resulting in terrible battery life and an unusable camera
Here is my battery life report:
I have tried everything possible to minimize battery use including removing widgets that regularly hit the network, turning off wifi and bluetooth, taking out the sim card so only cdma is used. The battery is still terrible. I get 1.5 hours of heavy use and 5 to 6 of mild use. It needs to be charged twice a day. What makes the problem worse is it take 2+ hours at the wall for a full charge.
The camera is also terrible, photos are out of focus and there is a blue tinge on all of them
The camera and the battery are a big leap back for Smartphones
I will probably return this and get a Droid Incredible 2
Pity
Updated on Aug 1, 2011
From fully changed to 10% took 10 hours and 50 minutes on moderate use. Occasional call, Occasionally browsing the net. Stock weather widget on dashboard is the only widget. Occasional email
27% Cell Standby
22% Phone Idle
19% Camera360 <-- Note i only installed this and took 3 photos to check that it resolved the blue tinge issue. If there was no blue tinge issue i wouldn't need to install it.
16% com.motorola.home
Display 7%
Voice Calls 4%
Android System 3%
Android OS 2%
Speed Test 2%
Overall there is no way this phone would last a whole day unless it was switched off. Definitely not the 300 hours of standby time Verizon advertises
Fix is definitely needed 49% of battery life should not be used up when the phone is on standby or idleing2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Definitely one to avoid!!
by textek on November 20, 2012
Pros: Might make a fair door stop?
Cons: Frequent spontaneous crashing/rebooting.
Sluggish, non-responsive.
Very poor picture quality (camera).
Erratic performance, yet predictably frustrating.Summary: I find it amazing that I concur with everything negative written about the Motorola Droid 3. In fact, the validation I receive from reading the "cons" others have listed for ...
Summary: I find it amazing that I concur with everything negative written about the Motorola Droid 3. In fact, the validation I receive from reading the "cons" others have listed for this phone is like attending a support group. I had an iPhone, and received the Droid as a work phone... in some ways I look back on my old Blackberry with fond memories. Command this Droid in one direction, all too often it will not respond, or lag terribly, or simply crash. It feels and responds in a very old-tech manner. I expected comparable photo quality to my 8MP iPhone camera... not a chance... resolution greatly lacking... and, as an added special torture... the phone regularly crashes while using the camera... or the camera loads upon touching an unrelated app. Overall, the painful sluggishness of this phone in concert with its erratic, unreliable performance and spontaneous crashing definitely make it the one to avoid!!
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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the droid 3 is a crap phone!
by ChayzzDevyant on July 16, 2012
Pros: fantastic keyboard, large display and fantastic front camera
Cons: almost everything!
Summary: i would never recommend the droid 3 to anyone. i have went through 8 of these phones from verizon and they all do the same, apps freeze, home screen crashes, ...
Summary: i would never recommend the droid 3 to anyone. i have went through 8 of these phones from verizon and they all do the same, apps freeze, home screen crashes, camera crashes...compared to most phones the phone is amazing but yet with all the issues the phone is a failure. and for anyone thinking of saying it was an app or task killer doing it! i got a certified verizon dealer to take a look at it and they even came to the conclusion that the hardware and processors were failing drastically. this phone gave me so many issues that when it came time to upgrade to the razr maxx....i went with the htc thunderbolt! very sad Motorola...very sad!
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Okay phone for users that like getting left behind.
by hankerson95 on May 23, 2012
Pros: All I can think of is the Keyboard
Cons: Camera Sucks
Display is pixely
Motoblur (NKA (now known as) Motorola Aplication Process)
RestartsSummary: I owned this phone for all of 6 months. In those 6 months I had it replaced on 3 different occasions. THe screen was very pixely, I noticed pixels a ...
Summary: I owned this phone for all of 6 months. In those 6 months I had it replaced on 3 different occasions. THe screen was very pixely, I noticed pixels a lot. The phone got laggy all the time, it restarted like 3 times on me everyday. The camera, dont even get me started on the camera, they can gloat all they want about having an 8 megapixel camera, but when it takes horrible pictures, the shutter is 2007ishly slow, and it gives everything a blue hue, its not gloat worthy. Here is an example on my thoughts of the camera, (Imagine this) Your trying to take a picture of your friend riding a bike, by the time the phone takes its good old time, your friend is already 2 miles away. All I have to say is Good Riddance Motorola.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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A rushed to market product with awful customer support.
by woosamaquin on May 6, 2012
Pros: Slide out keyboard
Decent processor
Surprising battery life
Audio quality
Decent signal/receptionCons: Numerous sofware/firmware issues
Atrocious customer service
Unusable internal "Media Space"
Disappearing applications
Self reboots
Text selection problemsSummary: Although a few pros exist (primarily the physical keyboard), the combination of hardware (the "media area" which exists specifically to allow for the moving of apps to sd is non-functional), ...
Summary: Although a few pros exist (primarily the physical keyboard), the combination of hardware (the "media area" which exists specifically to allow for the moving of apps to sd is non-functional), software and insufficient/sub-par support has convinced me never to purchase a Motorola device again.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Motorola
- Part number: DROID-3
- Bottom Line: For Verizon customers who crave physical keyboards, the Motorola Droid 3 offers an excellent one, but the rest of the Android smartphone's improvements fail to impress.
General
- Product Type Smartphone
- Phone Design PDA
- Width 2.5 in
- Depth 0.5 in
- Height 4.9 in
- Weight 0.4 lbs
Cellular
- Technology GSM / CDMA / WCDMA
- Band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) / CDMA 800/1900 (Dual Band) / WCDMA 850/1900/2100 (Tri-band)
- Service Provider Verizon Wireless
- Operating System Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS
Messaging & Internet
- Messaging & Data Features Text messages,
Multimedia messages (MMS),
Instant messages,
E-Mail,
Voice mail - Downloadable Content Ring tones,
Wallpapers - Mobile Services VCAST
Communications
- Wireless Interface Bluetooth 2.1,
IEEE 802.11b/g/n
Manufacturer info
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Motorola products on Shopper.com
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- Manufacturer:Motorola
- Address:
600 N. Highway 45, Libertyville, IL 60048 - Phone: 847/576-5000
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