Related
My main usage of the phone will be as an USB modem for my laptop and for SIP, Skype calls.
Anyone try WIFI tethering and USB modem for the whole day long?
and does that stable enough? (heat, disconnection, reboot...)
Can anyone talk about the experience of making a SIP or Skype call. (handfree, loudness, volume adjustment...)
Anyone experience any stability problem? (freeze, reboot...)
=================================================
My review model of the Droid 3 seemed to have reception issues. . . Call quality on the Droid 3 also had its share of problems. . . The phone also does a poor job at filtering out background noises.
mages taken on the 8-megapixel camera came out dark, and all had a blue tint to them.
I've never seen a dual-core phone take so long to open apps or had so many preinstalled applications just crash on me
<from PCWorld review>
It seems to get warm even though I'm not running any apps and I would assume the battery life suffers since it's warmer than it needs to be.
<pekosROB>
Camera Tint? Blue?
<Izeltokatl>
My only major gripe is the batterylife, with all of my social streams, twitter, gplus, facebook, and a couple other i go through the battery in about 10 to 12 hours.
<androidphan88>
I love my droid 3....it crushes my previous phones hands down....and it isn't a weak list.....D1, D2, D2G, X, and X2....all rooted and none compete
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
Trust yourself. Go to the store and mess around with one.
Heelfan71 said:
Trust yourself. Go to the store and mess around with one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said. I got mine Day 1 without any real reviews. I love it.
People here will give you real-world reviews as well as feedback to any questions you have so I trust the feedback.
As already noted the best thing to do is try before you buy.
I got mine about 3 days ago. The first day I had a few problems to start off on. After a little tweaking here and there everything is working great.
Pentile display on the Droid X2 made me wonder about the Droid 3. The Droid 3 is MUCH better imho.
I had a problem with was sliding the keyboard open. Felt really really tight, but playing around with it loosened it up nicely. The keyboard is one of the best I have used. The Epic keyboard is the other.
The device is SOLID. Feels like a well built phone, and doesn't have the light plastic feel to it. I actually love the feel of it better than the Droid X2 which I also own.
Blur - It not so bad... I actually kinda like this "version" though we really don't have it. Some features of blur I wish I had though. remote wipe, and find your phone. Not that I can find similar in the market... I just don't like loading them, and the blur version CAN'T be removed with a factory reset. So you can track them regardless of where they go.
As the people before me will told you it's always going to be based on YOU and not some review. Each person has different tastes and following a review based on not knowing what the reviewer preferences are what get people into trouble. Test it out yourself for a few hours in the Verizon Store.
Phone Arena has a good review of it,
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Motorola-DROID-3-Review_id2786
For the keyboard check the back of the diisplay when sliding it out for a plastic covering. This was something I had to deal with on the Droid1 and the Droid3 also has it. Removing it helps the keyboard slide a bit. Still quite stiff but nothing that bothers me.
<My review model of the Droid 3 seemed to have reception issues. . . Call quality on the Droid 3 also had its share of problems. . . The phone also does a poor job at filtering out background noises.>
<Images taken on the 8-megapixel camera came out dark, and all had a blue tint to them.>
<I've never seen a dual-core phone take so long to open apps or had so many preinstalled applications just crash on me.>
<Quote from PCWorld review>
The basic phone function sounds worrying?
That's what I can't play with in the shop and why I ask.
abnoob said:
<My review model of the Droid 3 seemed to have reception issues. . . Call quality on the Droid 3 also had its share of problems. . . The phone also does a poor job at filtering out background noises.>
<Images taken on the 8-megapixel camera came out dark, and all had a blue tint to them.>
<I've never seen a dual-core phone take so long to open apps or had so many preinstalled applications just crash on me.>
<Quote from PCWorld review>
The basic phone function sounds worrying?
That's what I can't play in the shop and why I ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to me call quality seems good. Better than my incredible. I don't think the pictures are blueish or dark. I've had no apps crash. I really like this phone. Its already super fast stock. Never lags. Even with pandora going and using handscent popup and on the internet. Its a super solid phone. My only complaint is the power button is almost to stiff.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
Just for reference, here are my last smartphones since the "BlackBerry era":
Touch Pro/Fuze, Nokia N85, EVO, DX2, D3.
Also, I switched to Verizon to get unlimited data (but more than 30 days before the D3 came out) so I had a DX2. I am much happier with the D3. The primary reason is for the keyboard. If you must have a keyboard and Android device, THIS is the device to get, hands down.
My only nitpicks? It seems to get warm even though I'm not running any apps and I would assume the battery life suffers since it's warmer than it needs to be. Battery life isn't that great, but can probably get through your day. Screen is better than the DX2. Keyboard takes a little getting used to but is awesome.
Edit: since I got my D3 more than 30 days after the DX2, no return was done. I bought the D3 off contract (almost $500 with tax) and sold my DX2 with Otterbox case for $200. I still don't regret spending over $300 for this phone.
Does anyone try wifi tethering or as an modem via USB cable WHOLE DAY?
and does that stable enough?
I need the function everyday at work.
From my experience, many reviews out there are made with such high expectations. Half the time, they are made by humans - and we know humans aren't always perfect. There typically is biasing involved. If the unit is defective in some way, that screws it up entirely.
Honestly, the best consensus is from us here in the forums. We own the phone, many of which are happy with it. Some have had problems, either from incorrect settings and/or a defect in the device (it's possible).
So here is a proposal for you. Compose a list of questions that concern you the most - allow us to justify the answers to those questions based on our needs, usage, background, experience, etc. (Which, you've already posed some questions..)
I have had a the D3 since last wednesday and i love it.
I owned the OG droid and the DX then i moved to this.
As for the questions about call quality. I personally think that is moto's stong point even back to the days of the razr moto to me always has the best call quality and signal of any of the other manufactures.
The new blur is acutually nice. I hated blur on the dx and had it romed as soon as it was available but the blur on this is nice. There really isnt any lag there are a few instances where it does for example. The camera app takes a while to load, and if you get out of a full screen app it seems to take a second to redraw the home screens. But that is it so far much better than previous blurs.
The keyboard is amazing miles ahead of the d1 keyboard and one of the best i have ever used. I will say the screen is not the best if you are looking for color accuracy but it is still good.
My only major gripe is the batterylife, with all of my social streams, twitter, gplus, facebook, and a couple other i go through the battery in about 10 to 12 hours.
I would say go for this phone, deffently the best droid phone i have owned so far
im debating switching to the D3 from my Inc2. i love the devlopment of the Inc2, but i miss a Physical keyboard...allot...
do you still love/hate yours? looking for opinions on D3 owners...
Thanks
dvigue said:
im debating switching to the D3 from my Inc2. i love the devlopment of the Inc2, but i miss a Physical keyboard...allot...
do you still love/hate yours? looking for opinions on D3 owners...
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still love my D3 despite the "sticking" keys, finicky battery life, and failed Alt key presses that cause me to type things like "dualvcore processor." From what I've read, a leaked update fixed all of these issue and that leak may be released shortly.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
i also was a little concered with the low RAM..is that an issue for anyone?
I like it a lot better now than when I first got it. The screen will always suck, but I'll live.
why does it suck? the pentile display you mean?
Silly question.
-smc
Yes, enjoying my D3 tremendously. I still have my old Droid and that phone now frustrates me with how slow (even overclocked) it is in overall use.
As for the screen, love the screen. I can actually use my phone outside in full sunlight/daylight conditions.
I came from my old Droid as well. I agree even overclocked, it just didn't have the hardware to run 2.3 very well. I love my new Droid 3, its got everything I liked about the original only better. The few quirks in the phone now I don't worry about, they'll all hopefully be fixed via updates. The only thing that has me concerned at this point is the whether we'll be able to get what we need to unlock this thing to get custom rom's going. After running Cyanogen and cyanogen based roms for years, going to any stock phone just seems bland. I've made my decision to stick with the D3 and see were it goes (if they unlock it like they alluded that they would), but for me it'll be a deciding factor as to whether I buy a Moto phone in the future or not.
Lemme break it down, moto cliq robbed me of the android Xperience, ran like crap, was promised and update that never appeared, and overheated like a mother! So I upgrade to Mytouch slide for a couple days, felt cheap, screen sucked, and wasn't much of an upgrade to my cliq as the cliq felt more solid and ran just as good when deblurred and Overclocked. So finally I upgraded to SGS Vibrant. I loved it! It was practically unbrickable! Unfortunately Samsung was slow to give updates or support. To have upgrades or updates of merit came with a heavy cost of potentially killing the phone. RFS filesystem sucked and made it run way slow compared to EXT3/4 filesystem phones and required a filesystem conversion (dangerous) ! And of course swype is nice, but in my hands a hardware keyboard is better.
Now for the D3, THE ONLY DUAL-CORE TI-ARM proc, with KEYBOARD, Front Facing Camera, 8MP 1080p Rear Camera with LED flash, mini-HDMI port, SGX540 video card (same as SGS Vibrant, but evidently better scores), great battery life (after update), with guarantees of updates and upgrades on the best service provider in the US! And Moto has given promise to unlock bootloaders.
Needless to say, I love my D3. Its the best phone I have EVAR had and it has crazy potential. Can't wait to OC this thing, deblur it and turn it into the android power hungry demon that it was meant to be!
Great posts guys...Keep em coming!!!!
Darksurf said:
Needless to say, I love my D3. Its the best phone I have EVAR had and it has crazy potential.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed.
Can't wait to OC this thing, deblur it and turn it into the android power hungry demon that it was meant to be!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot wait for the day that we can run vanilla android! I'm already tired of moto blurs Grey-blue, blueish-grey, grey, cyan colored theme.
The Droid 3 exceeds on almost every one of my criteria. I love everything about it except for two things. The awful screen and the Motorola crud. Thankfully there's something that can be done about the later. The former is just a sad decision on Motorola's part. It would have been absolutely wonderful if they just increased the size because even though it has a higher resolution, the droid 2 and 1 still beat it out in terms of clarity. Pathetic. Everything else is upgraded but the screen is downgraded. That's all I have to say.
I love my D3, and I work hard every day to make it even better.
I came from the OG Droid, which I loved dearly until it started to physically fall apart (battery door started getting loose, USB jack was almost unusable, headphone jack started shorting out), at which point I then reimaged my wife's OG Droid (that she retired for an iPhone 4) with my nand backup, thus successfully performing the proverbial "brain transplant". I used that phone for a few months, just long enough to get me to the D3 release.
I was originally waiting on the Bionic, but (a) I got tired of waiting, (b) I didn't want to put up with the notorious LTE battery life issues that were seen on other devices and (c) I wasn't too keen on the $100 premium I was sure would be included in the Bionic price tag (as will all the other newly-launched VZW LTE devices). So, I came to love the D3 and picked one up at lauch via web order.
I LOVE this phone. The keyboard is clearly in a class of its own (better than my old Blackberries, which are generally considered the "gold standard" of mobile keyboards). I'm OK with the Moto BLUR (or whatever they call it now) stuff on there, but I really don't use it. I gave the homescreen a try for a while, but missed the scrolling dock from Laucher Pro+, so I went back to LP+ recently.
The phone has always been fast enough for me (no more disappointment from my overclocked, overly-warm, OG Droid that still can't run heavy stuff smoothly). I was never really concerned about the RAM size, and it hasn't been a problem for me. Now that my D3 is rooted and I've frozen on the bloatware, even more RAM stays available, the phone runs even faster and the battery life improved, marginally.
Ultimately, battery life was the only thing I was a bit disappointed about on this phone. I instaleld the leaked update and now that has been fixed to my satisfaction. So, overall, I am quite happy with this phone. As long as the hardware holds up, I'll likely be keeping this one full-term.
-SR-
PS: I even like the floppy plastic battery cover that some people complain about. I just enjoy messing with it, for some reason. I think I like how it fits so well when I snap it back on, and the texture is good in the hand. Call me crazy (you wouldn't be the first).
dvigue said:
im debating switching to the D3 from my Inc2. i love the devlopment of the Inc2, but i miss a Physical keyboard...allot...
do you still love/hate yours? looking for opinions on D3 owners...
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My DROID3 seems more awesome everytime I use it. GO PENS!
Yes, I very much love my Droid 3. The keyboard is out standing and I have not had any problems with sticking keys or missed alt presses whatsoever. The screen can look **** some times but as stated before it does view well in sunlight so I guess it's a trade off. The phone is very fast and responsive. Stock launcher looks awesome and has great widgets, but it's laggy. It flies with ADW. All in all, I just want AOSP Gingerbread/Ice Cream Sandwich and I'm good to go.
I'm getting bionic envy with the larger screen and LTE but in the end, I like the keyboard so I know the D3 is the right phone for me.
Before root and OTA? No
After root and OTA? Yes
Why? Purely because of the obvious bugs that went out that weren't properly QC'ed (serious, serious problem with almost all carriers and mfg's these days), poor battery life, and too much of Verizon's forced bloat that should be uninstallable.
Post OTA,battery life is great, performance is snappier and even better when rooted and freezing the bulk of bloat ware.
I started on the OG Droid the day it was released. Then when the Droid 2 came out, I upgraded to that. I now own the Droid 3, and I can honestly say that they pretty much got it right this time. If it was Blur-less, it would be the perfect phone.
I've since rooted to remove all the crap, and put Go Launcher on it. Now it really performs the way it should, and the battery performance has been night and day since I made those changes.
I'm pretty happy with it right now.
dvigue said:
i also was a little concered with the low RAM..is that an issue for anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tiny ram is a pain only because the bloatware fills it up. If the phone were running AOSP, it would fly.
Here are my initial impressions on Motorola's Droid Bionic in comparison to every other HTC phone I've had (EVO, G2, myTouch 4G, ThunderBolt).
The Good
Best speced phone on Verizon
Fastest phone I've ever had (thank you Dual Core + 1GB RAM)
Absolutely lag free browsing
Motorola's 4G chip is quite a bit faster than even the ThunderBolt
Very thin
Very light
Gingerbread 2.3.4 (with Google Talk video) straight out-of-box
Call quality is stellar (actually sounds like talking to person in real life)
Camera and video quality is quiet amazing
Stereo speakers are loud and very good sound quality
Vibration (Haptic Feedback) feel is really effective and different
Notifications light is very useful (I was originally a BlackBerry user)
Talk and Web simultaneously on Verizon (just like the ThunderBolt)
Motorola's Application Platform UI looks really sweet
Easiest root method I have used
Lots of great ringtones and notifications (especially the DROID ones)
I can actually tell it's a Verizon device now (for some reason I couldnt feel it with the ThunderBolt)
Extended battery is very thin
Tons of accessories on sale right on launch date
Free overnight shipping if buying online
The Bad
The display quality is terrible (even though it's higher resolution than every other phone I had)
I can see the jagged edges clearly and black between the pixels
Also unsure if it's the UI or the display but colors look very dull/distorted
True yellow looks like mustard yellow
True orange looks almost brown
Motorola's Application Platform UI (previously known as Motoblur) is no HTC Sense
It is a very unique look and feel but I already miss the smoothness of HTC Sense
There are so many things locked down from modding to the point where apps that are supposed to work have compatibility issues
Now Facebook can only sync ALL my contacts and not just the ones existing already on my phone (like it did with HTC)
Corporate E-mail doesn't have option to sync more than 30 days
E-mail accounts cannot have separate notification sound/vibration settings
No unread e-mail number displayed on the E-mail account shortcut icons
Market Apps on my account did not sync down to the phone upon first login like most HTC devices normally do
Storage defaulted to internal storage and no option to change to SD card as default
The reception is a bit worse than on my ThunderBolt
When traveling I get switched over to 3G a lot more frequently
Camera auto-focuses too often
Tethering takes too long to give an IP address to devices (sometimes 2-3mins)
Volume randomly overdrives speakers and crackles when sound is playing (very rarely though)
Phone gets very hot, very fast, especially when in use
Battery life for out-of-box condition is not much better than on the ThunderBolt
Official OEM Matte screen protectors are not full surface of the glass (just the display) (Fix)
Additional OEM holster/shell combo feels very cheap and uncomfortable texture (also pricey)
No kickstand (Fix)
No FM radio (Fix)
No flashlight app (Fix)
Activation process can be a bit tedious
Additional Comments
I'm willing to let the display quality slide
Motorola has invested into this Pentile technology quite hard
Battery saving reasons - Link 1 + Link 2 + Link 3
They arent changing it anytime soon
Its not really a specific to the phone issue since it has been used before in other Droid devices
It definitely looks better than other Droids I compared at the store
I am willing to accept the flaws of Motorola's Application Platform since they are still somewhat acceptable
Although reception is generally worse, the stability of the signal is much better and faster in lower signal areas
Will not judge battery entirely yet because it has not been cycled to full condition yet
A few apps are not fully supporting the phone entirely yet (although I will wait for app updates)
The Facebook sync existing contacts only issue
No option to sync IM contacts (like for AIM)
Can't get Skype video to show my camera (just black) - (Fix)
SpeedTest app doesn't support qHD resolution and shrinks the app (Fix - Latest Update)
Other very minor apps don't support qHD or missing features
Overall Opinion
Still testing prior to completing this section
Talk and Web simultaneously on Verizon (just like the ThunderBolt)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're just talking about LTE + Talk, correct? From what I remember from the FCC filing, the Bionic does not do SVDO on CDMA like the HTC Thunderbolt, since that was something special with the Thunderbolt's radio not present in the Bionic.
I am usually only a lurker but I logged in just to say, fantastic review! I like the bullet point approach as opposed to an essay.
Great review. I came from a Thunderbolt and the only thing I really miss is the kickstand. It's a pretty cool convenience.
Nice review, I'm thinking of getting the Bionic myself.
I totally forgot there's no FM radio on the Bionic.. Not that I ever used it on my Tbolt. I might have used it more if it didn't require headphones to be plugged in on my Tbolt.
My son has my old Thunderbolt, and one thing we checked out is what kind of signal we were getting in the same place. The Bionic consistently got two bars more than the Tbolt. I understand bars are relative, and therefore don't put a lot of stock in them. I'll try to find some app that actually measures the signal strength.
I haven't gotten around to looking at Exchange client apps yet, but just like with text messaging, I dislike depending on manufacturer apps for critical functions. I wonder if there is a client out there that does everything you want, and if that isn't the better approach? Even if it is a paid app, the price would have to be irrelevant compared to the benefit.
When I tether using Easy Tether Pro, the "connected" bubble comes up instantly on my laptop. What are you using? I'm hearing that wireless tethering doesn't work because Verizon has found a way to block it. There was an exploit that someone on the D3 forums found from elsewhere on XDA that provided a work-around. Are you using that?
Flashlight app can be downloaded. There are many. I am currently at 23hrs/70% battery with light usage, which is somewhat better than I remember doing with my Thunderbolt with dasBAMF. Also, I believe that the auto-sync of market apps was a function of the ROM rather than a stock feature of the Tbolt. For the case, you might want to consider the Otterbox Commuter. It was available day 1 but not offered by Verizon. The Defenders are huge and I can't see anyone who isn't in a rough-and-tumble occupation putting up with the size.
I don't remember Tbolt having Skype working. I went to a D3 when they came out, so it must have happened after that. I believe that a lot of what's bugging you now are things that will shakes out over the next few months, as they did with the Tbolt. I don't have faith that we'll get the kind of robust ROM'ing environment that the Tbolt enjoys unless someone defeats the encrypted bootloader. That, to me, is the real disadvantage to the Bionic and all other current Moto phones on Verizon.
I've had the Thunderbolt, Droid Charge and now the Droid Bionic.
So far the Bionic wins in every respect except for the screen. 4G connectivity on the Bionic is much more stable than on both the Thunderbolt and Charge. I frequently am in areas where there is no 4G, and the Bionic is the only phone I've used that seamlessly returns to 4G when it's available again. The Bionic may show fewer bars than the others, but when I go into Settings > Phone Info > Status, the signal readings are quite a bit better than I've seen on others.
For example, my Thunderbolt would range from -87 to -92 db in this one location, while the Bionic ranges from -83 to -89.
I came from the evo (rooted) and the sensation (had for 29 days then returned it). The sensation was by far the best device I have ever used or had. Battery life on that was amazing. The sensations qhd screen was almost perfect imo. The weight and feel of the sensation was perfect. Super slim and light. Only issue was T-Mobiles crappy service and wannabe 4g. Oh and I can't forget... sense 3.0 was great.
Now for the bionic. I picked it up on Thursday and also got the extended battery for it cause it was half price. I always hated the stupid lump on the back of the DROID x's. But with the bionic its not as bad. And the extended battery doesn't add much thickness either. Makes it feel right in the hand. My biggest complaint is the vibrate on this thing. Sounds like a 5 year old phone with a loud annoying vibrate. Especially the keypress vibrate. Crackles everytime i text. Now I don't know if I got a lemon but im gonna go to the Verizon store and see if there's do the same. Other than that... service is amazing. Call quality it great, speaker is loud and clear. The screen is where i need to stop being picky but im getting uses to it. It could be worse. Although some colors aren't just there. MOTOBLUR or whatever its called is different. But it works for me. Nothing like sense 3.0 but can't have everything. The bionic is fast. Very little lag with some apps. Not bad. Battery life with the extended battery is lasting me about 20hrs of heavy use. We will see how long I can keep the bionic knowing their is a new Htc device coming to Verizon. I don't think I will ever have another carrier again. Verizon has me now Haha.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium
Well I just went to the Verizon store and after playing around with the Bionic I decided to make the purchase. The Bionic is a really nice device.
First impressions
Experience: 3 hours
Previous devices to compare with: iPhone 4, Nexus S, Nexus One
The pros:
- Speed: the Bionic is quite fast and snappy despite the Moto-Blur or whatever they call it now, and the bloatware.
- The screen: what most people seem to knock it for I actually find it to be a plus. The screen is plenty bright, the colors look good, and this is coming from someone used to Retina, and Super AMOLED. Compared to the Droid Charge (Super AMOLED Plus) sitting next to it in the store I thought the colors though less vibrant looked more realistic. As for the pixelation people complain about with these Droids, I personally don't really notice it at all unless I look really close at the battery indicator. But I normally do not hold the phone that close to notice it anyway.
- Call quality: is excellent, voices come through loud and clear. The first call I took on it the volume was only up about half-way yet it was still plenty loud to carry on a conversation in a mall full of people.
- Light weight: despite its size the Bionic is surprisingly light weight. It's noticeably lighter then the iPhone and maybe even a hair lighter than the Nexus S.
- Size and form factor: I find the screen to be a nice size, its not too large and not too small. Compared to the iPhone 4 and Nexus S, I find using the keyboard on the Droid Bionic much easier thanks to the bigger screen. Also the form factor of the Bionic is nice, it feels nice in my hand, and FYI it is not as thick as it looks on Youtube or pictures you might have seen. Its thinner than the Nexus S but thicker than the iPhone 4.
- Coverage: while spotty with 4G, the coverage is excellent with 3G and the device does not seem to suffer much from the "grip of death" like my iPhone 4 did.
The cons:
- Build quality: The reason the Bionic is so light is probably due to the fact that it is made mostly of plastic. The Nexus S got knocked for being plastic but the plastic on Nexus S seems more solid and less flimsy.
- Slow 4G: This is likely due to where I live and not the device itself seeing as I get about 2 bars of 4G in my house. I'm only getting about 8 mbps down which is not bad but nothing like the 12-18 mbps I've seen in some reviews.
- Bloatware: Though it doesn't seem to slow the device down much, there are quite a few Apps I'll probably never use that I'll be looking to get rid of in due time.
- Camera: The camera is decent, the pictures look good but not as good as they did from the iPhone camera.
Undetermined
- Battery life: the battery only had about 40% left with the initial power up, and is down to about 30% after activation which took like 10 minutes, set up, and some playing around which no doubt drained the battery quicker than normal.
Conclusion:
If you are currently using an iPhone 4 or you are an Android owner looking to jump to Verizon from another carrier and you can't wait for iPhone 5 or the next Nexus, the Droid Bionic is not a bad choice. It's plenty fast, its got excellent call quality, good coverage, and a nice screen.
nedu09 said:
I am usually only a lurker but I logged in just to say, fantastic review! I like the bullet point approach as opposed to an essay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wanted the TB for a while but could not find anyone wanting short of a mortgage payment for one. My wife and I ordered two Bionics and can always take them back within 14 days (should be here either Monday or Tuesday). Droid Eris was a decent little phone once it was FIRST released, wife had Motodroid, I have Droid X right. THE pattern tends to be better workmanship/part quality on Moto devices but better software on HTC. I will need to try the screen out before I judge it.
This was an excellent review. Amazing details....
Thanks everyone for the compliments. I'm still in the process of testing more things out and I will be using this phone very actively this week for work so I will update this review very soon. I'm hoping I can get the battery properly conditioned now. Plenty more details coming soon.
Just wanted you guys to know that it does have an FM receiver, just doesn't have the App. Infact, if you have TitaniumBackup installed you will notice an FM radio driver installed on the system.
P3Droid posted on twitter that you can install the D3's radio apk on the Bionic.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
Btw I'm coming from a DROID Charge, and prior to that a DX. I've only had the phone for a couple hours, so I'm not privy to say much, but so far, so good.
Screen is not as bad as people say it is. For one thing its much much more visible outdoors than it is on the Charge. Battery life seems more robust than my Charge running stock roms and kernels.
On the negative side, I find it to drop from 4g to 3g and back again as much as the Charge did which is very disappointing considering that was my only beef with the Charge and one of only two reasons I got the Bionic.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
For those not liking the missing FM radio, check out Tunein Radio.
It gives you'll the radio stations and it's streaming.
First Day of Work
Battery life on 4G is still on par with the ThunderBolt
Not having separate E-mail account notifications is really an issue (constantly checking my device if it's work related or not)
For some reason my phone seems quieter now than when I first got it and seems to have a softer version of this bug (Link)
Device switches between no reception and signal much faster than my ThunderBolt (ie. when coming out of the subway stations onto the street)
Also according to the battery manager this display is not consuming as much power as it did on the ThunderBolt (no longer #1 in power consumption percentage list)
I added a few fixes to the OP and an explanation to how the battery saving works on Pentile displays, see links.
open1your1eyes0 said:
First Day of Work - Battery life on 4G is still on par with the ThunderBolt; not having separate E-mail account notifications is really an issue (constantly checking my device if it's work related or not); for some reason my phone seems quieter now than when I first got it and seems to have a softer version of this bug (Link); device switches between no reception and signal much faster than my ThunderBolt (ie. when coming out of the subway stations onto the street); also according to the battery manager this display is not consuming as much power as it did on the ThunderBolt (no longer #1 in power consumption percentage list).
I added a few fixes to the OP and an explanation to how the battery saving works on Pentile displays, see links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have separate ring tones for my email accounts uusing the Gmail app.
The newly updated Gmail app has the ringtones buried deep into the settings. It's like that on Honeycomb too.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
cdf3 said:
I have separate ring tones for my email accounts uusing the Gmail app.
The newly updated Gmail app has the ringtones buried deep into the settings. It's like that on Honeycomb too.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
My main accounts are my work e-mail (Corporate E-mail) and I have two personal and professional Yahoo mail accounts. It's really quite bizarre that Motorola would overlook something as obvious as separating Corporate E-mail and Yahoo E-mail notifications. I still can't get over that.
Second Day of Work
Battery life is still terrible and I'm forced to stick to 3G for the majority of my day just like I did on the ThunderBolt (can pretty much confirm now it's not getting any better)
The notification issue is still a problem but getting used to checking my device more often now
The volume bug is beginning to be an issue now, I often miss E-mail notifications when I'm outside because it's too quiet
My biggest problem however is this Shell/Holster I purchased. This thing is terrible for protection and the holster is atrocious. The nice and shiny top and bottom of the phone is exposed to scratches and nicks in the shell and the holster barely holds the phone in place (While travelling in the subway and it fell out several times onto the floor when shuffling between people), already have a few nicks
Decided I am purchasing the extended battery now, however, it is more important for me to get this thing protected at all costs so I am buying the OtterBox Defender case. Unfortunately, this is not going to work with the extended battery as OtterBox refuses to account for them therefore I'm going to have to set aside the extended battery until Seidio releases their case.
Hi all,
I finally got a chance to go to the store to check one of these out. I wanted to see what all the hype was about and if I could justify spending the money to upgrade my D2G (not elligible for upgrade yet).
First Impressions:
- Screen: I read all the hysteria about how bad a pixelated screen looks etc. Some people said that you could barely see the difference unless youre holding the right up to your eye holes.. They are wrong. You can easily see the difference holding it at normal viewing distance. If you like the screen on the D2G it will take some serious adjusting to. It simply 'seems' like outdated tech and looks cheap.
-4G: This is the first 4G device I have ever used. It is shockingly quick (had 2 bars in Central NJ). I download a few apps (dolphin browser) and went to a couple of web pages. I also ran the speed test 19.6mb down // 3.99 upload. I went to youtube and loaded an HD video and the video never stuttered once (video time never caught up to buffering). I was very impressed with 4G and that is mainly the reason I wanted to take a look at the Droid Bionic.
- Stress testing:? Not sure what to call this but I wanted to see if I could make the phone hang up. Im not even sure if these are applicable to the hardware, but I ran 2 apps. The first of which was Google Maps, it didnt seem to be any faster than on my D2G. Scrolling isnt any more impressive neither is zooming in, I felt like the rendering speed was the same.
- Moto BLUR/UI whatever its called these days: Its still sucky you will want to root and change it.
I also downloaded a PDF and scrolled around that. Same issue, rendering doesnt seem any faster.
Im not even sure if something like this can be critiqued because these things arent even smooth on a regular PC.
Its clearly a good phone if you can deal with the screen thing. Once roms and stuff are developed for it, it will be even better. I would probably pull the trigger if i was elligible for an upgrade.
Just my 2 cents.
I personally wouldn't recommend the Bionic. I'm currently using one, as it "fell into my hands". There are many more options coming VERY soon which will have greater specs than the Bionic and won't have the terrible display.
I can't believe how much denial the people are in when they say that the screen is fine. If you say the screen is fine you're lying to yourself and everyone else, but whatever makes you feel better about your $300+ purchase I guess.
I will say that the Bionic has a leg up on my Incredible as far as outdoor viewing goes.
BerkleyJ said:
I personally wouldn't recommend the Bionic. I'm currently using one, as it "fell into my hands". There are many more options coming VERY soon which will have greater specs than the Bionic and won't have the terrible display.
I can't believe how much denial the people are in when they say that the screen is fine. If you say the screen is fine you're lying to yourself and everyone else, but whatever makes you feel better about your $300+ purchase I guess.
I will say that the Bionic has a leg up on my Incredible as far as outdoor viewing goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I'm in denial and deny it! lol.. its not the best screen, but its not horrible! I think its quite ok.. the pixels don't bother me much, my battery life kicks butt compared to tbolt! Then again, im not one for watching movies on my phone I got a Sammy LED at home for that...
For those of us who:
-would rather watch a movie on something larger than a 4 inch screen.
-would rather fap to pr0n from a pc
-would rather play games on a pc, xbox 360 or ps3
-care about performance of the best 4g radio and so far the best processor/ram combo
OR have a connection for incredibly good deals on phones and don't really care...
Yeah, denial is the right term.
Like i've been saying - Rendering performance will not be hardly any different until Icecream comes out. Gingerbread is singlethreaded.. you're not going to see the OS take any advantage over dual core for a while.
The good news is that it's still just as fast as any other single core phone. If any app is coded to take advantage of dual core, it will shine in those but in average usage - you're not seeing any performance advantage here.
The pentile screen doesn't bother me. I can tell at times but still doesn't impact me. I would rather have better battery life than a non-pentile screen. I don't want the Thunderbolt battery issues.
After removing a bunch of bloatware, I kinda dig the new Blur. I was using CM7 with ADW Ex on top. It is running so butter smooth! I will probably go back to ADW Ex when a ROM comes out without Blur.
I got 30 days to try it out but I might exchange it for the HTC Vigor. Depends on what happens the next 30 days.
Diversion said:
Like i've been saying - Rendering performance will not be hardly any different until Icecream comes out. Gingerbread is singlethreaded.. you're not going to see the OS take any advantage over dual core for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While it's true it's barely worth mentioning. "YET" or "UNTIL" are key vocabulary for this CPU.
Coming from a droidx here... the screen looks a-ok to me on the bionic.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium
I've been using htc phones since the ppc6600. Battery life has been terrible since then, and I don't see it getting any better, unless they do something magical. 6600:terrible battery life. 6700 terrible battery life. 6800: terrible battery life. Incredible : incredibly terrible battery life.
There seems to be a trend here. I do believe I am done with htc.
The battery life alone, to me, is worth the money.
No doubt that the screen is disappointing, but LTE is absolutely insane, and the phone is noticeably faster than the Sensation running a Sense ROM. Overall, I'm very pleased with my first Motorola device, and it was a steal at $179 from Amazon.
--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.
I think that people are being to anal about the screen. I use the phone in direct sunlight now and it looks incredible. The text looks super sharp and you dont have to put your hand on top of the screen to block sun light. this phone is amazing. and yes better phones will be out and when you get that awesome phone that will come out in a few months another better phone will be out after that. is a never ending cycle. I love the bionic and i dont regret buying it. When i want to watch porn I use my computer or my galaxy 10.1 tablet. If you really really need a porn fix the bionic could take care of it too.
86shelby said:
I've been using htc phones since the ppc6600. Battery life has been terrible since then, and I don't see it getting any better, unless they do something magical. 6600:terrible battery life. 6700 terrible battery life. 6800: terrible battery life. Incredible : incredibly terrible battery life.
There seems to be a trend here. I do believe I am done with htc.
The battery life alone, to me, is worth the money.
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Click to collapse
It's Sense. Put CyanogenMod on any HTC device, and you get amazing battery life. Can't wait for it on the Bionic.
--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.
TheBiles said:
It's Sense. Put CyanogenMod on any HTC device, and you get amazing battery life. Can't wait for it on the Bionic.
--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense didn't exist until after the 6800. I had cm7 on my DInc, it still sucked, battery wise anyway.
The hate for the screen is warranted, and not warranted. I don't know how to put that. I was adamantly against a PenTile screen and it was almost enough to put me off on this phone. I had seen it in store and focused on the screen, and it just annoyed me. Then I got some real time with it and it's seriously a bunch of nonsense. The screen is sharp, great colors, great in daylight. It's not AMOLED level there but it's a do-it-all screen.
The 4G is super fast, and the battery life is amazing. I came from a Droid X and it's an impressive phone. Suck it up on the screen and you'll forget about it in a day.
Vexorg said:
Hi all,
I finally got a chance to go to the store to check one of these out. I wanted to see what all the hype was about and if I could justify spending the money to upgrade my D2G (not elligible for upgrade yet).
First Impressions:
- Screen: I read all the hysteria about how bad a pixelated screen looks etc. Some people said that you could barely see the difference unless youre holding the right up to your eye holes.. They are wrong. You can easily see the difference holding it at normal viewing distance. If you like the screen on the D2G it will take some serious adjusting to. It simply 'seems' like outdated tech and looks cheap.
-4G: This is the first 4G device I have ever used. It is shockingly quick (had 2 bars in Central NJ). I download a few apps (dolphin browser) and went to a couple of web pages. I also ran the speed test 19.6mb down // 3.99 upload. I went to youtube and loaded an HD video and the video never stuttered once (video time never caught up to buffering). I was very impressed with 4G and that is mainly the reason I wanted to take a look at the Droid Bionic.
- Stress testing:? Not sure what to call this but I wanted to see if I could make the phone hang up. Im not even sure if these are applicable to the hardware, but I ran 2 apps. The first of which was Google Maps, it didnt seem to be any faster than on my D2G. Scrolling isnt any more impressive neither is zooming in, I felt like the rendering speed was the same.
- Moto BLUR/UI whatever its called these days: Its still sucky you will want to root and change it.
I also downloaded a PDF and scrolled around that. Same issue, rendering doesnt seem any faster.
Im not even sure if something like this can be critiqued because these things arent even smooth on a regular PC.
Its clearly a good phone if you can deal with the screen thing. Once roms and stuff are developed for it, it will be even better. I would probably pull the trigger if i was elligible for an upgrade.
Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your comparing a Droid 2 Global to a Bionic .... Bionic>"D2G"
---------- Post added at 04:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:54 AM ----------
The "VERY" part of your statement, stands out as if you know something the rest of "non" Verizon Wireless employee's would know... if you dont work for verizon wireless please share what these options are..if you do work for vzw i can understand if you dont because you dont want to get a lawsuit.
Thx for the detailed review while playing with a demo model in-store for how long?
*crack me up!
manolith2011 said:
I think that people are being to anal about the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm spending $200 to $300 on an smartphone it better have a damn good screen. No offense but the Bionic does not have a good screen. Yeah at times it can look good but anything with green for instance suddenly brings out the crap factor. If it doesn't bother you then enjoy it. As for me I'll wait until either the HTC or Samsung offerings are out both of which will have a better screen over the Bionic.
Ok so right now am looking for a phone to buy.
And had the droid x
And droid charge.
So my question is would anybody recommend the d3?
And how is the development for the d3 look in the future?
I heard about motorola unlocking the bootloader but when the day comes, will they only provide it with the new phones? Or would it be like an update?
Absolutely would recommend!
I wholeheartedly recommend the D3 - especially if you are looking for a physical keyboard.
Development is well under way and there are now at least 2 full working ROMs. I've tried both Steel Droid and Monster and both are great - i find monster to be faster and thats my preference.
When I first got the phone, I was pretty bummed that the locked bootloader had put a huge damper on development. Ever since root has been acheived, however, things have been much better and you could not pry my D3 from my cold dead hands.
I hear that Blur is much better than previous iterations, but I use launcher pro so I don't use blur at all.
heres a link to the ROM, Mods and Themes thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1289611
As much as I like my D3, I would not recommend it to anyone looking to get a new phone. unless you absolutely need a keyboard, I would wait for either the Droid Razr or Galaxy Nexus. Both will have better hardware and FAR better screens and will be LTE.
I got a D3 yesterday, after having the D1 the last two years. After about 20 hours using it, I love it. I really dig how fast it is, and the larger screen is nice too.
As soon as I got it home, I rooted it and ran the scripts to remove the VZW apps. I really don't see a need to flash a ROM since this D3 runs so smoothly already. I'd like to edit some PNG files here and there, and that will probably be about it for me. I remember the constant flashing of ROM's, SBF files, and themes on my D1. This time around, I'm really not looking forward to that. It feels to me like VZW and Motorola did a great job with the device as is once you skim off the bloatware.
Like SrulDog, I switched to LP immediately. I've been using LP since about the time it was released, so I am very comfortable with it. It runs great on the D3 too.
I say go for it. I don't know how it compares to the Droids you have owned, but I know it is much better than the D1.
-Mike
kishin14 said:
As much as I like my D3, I would not recommend it to anyone looking to get a new phone. unless you absolutely need a keyboard, I would wait for either the Droid Razr or Galaxy Nexus. Both will have better hardware and FAR better screens and will be LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure the screen looks crap sometimes. But I'm standing in direct sunlight in 100 degree weather right now and I can see every detail on it. Try that on an AMOLED.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
I have had this phone for a couple weeks and I am enjoying it. I had an OG Droid that the screen crapped out on me so this was nice because it works! I am used to the hardware keyboard on a Blackberry Tour/Bold 9650 but that's personal preference. I am getting used to this one though and I can fly on it so I guess it's pretty good for a keyboard.
A couple things I have done are root, freeze a few apps like VCast and run Autokiller at Strict, and the phone is as smooth as butter now. It has the same hardware as the Bionic really so I mean it's as high end as you can get. If you want 4G then as mentioned you should wait, but I have been getting great 3G speeds and yes I have to wait for the Market apps to download a little but it's a lot faster than it has been in the past with my OG Droid.
Well 4g isent really a biggy for me.
More like.batterry life and great rom features really
Androidsims said:
Sure the screen looks crap sometimes. But I'm standing in direct sunlight in 100 degree weather right now and I can see every detail on it. Try that on an AMOLED.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
+1
/droid3
Great responses here! This is why I love XDA! To answer the question…yes, I would definitely recommend getting a DVD for all the reasons given above. Dev work is going well, CM7 is on the way, and we MAY have an AOSP rom by the weekend (permissions to port pending). The physical keyboard is outstanding, and the screen is good. Even though colors are a bit washed out, being able to view the screen in direct sunlight, with no issues, is a massive bonus. If you don't need the keyboard, and can wait a little while, I would jump all over the Nexus Prime/ galaxy Nexus/ whatever they're calling that 4.65" piece of sexiness! Either way, you'll end up satisfied imo.
Sent from my DROID3 using xda premium
The biggest bugger for me is the lack of RAM. Phone would have been a whole lot better if it had 1GB ram instead 512MB only. The screen is a letdown IMO, but indeed is great in the sun and also better on the battery.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk
Aside from the occasional issues from being in Australia, I must say I recommend the Droid 3. It's excellent!
I still fail to see what the lack of ram is holding us back from. But I've already convinced pne person to buy this phone, and they text me damn near everyday to thank me.
sent from my MONSTERDroid3 from the XDA app
Two years ago the Milestone was an awesome terminal for its time.
Nice design, perfect size, one of the best display ever seen, incredibly good audio quality and decent CPU power.
The only drawbacks were the horrible battery life, the cheap keyboard and the crap camera.
The D3, although can't be considered a bad phone, is the shadow of what the MS1 was.
The performances (I mean the real ones, not the benchmarks) aren't on par with one years old phones, the crap camera and the poor battery life are still there, the keyboard is improved but is still built like a toy, while the phone grown more than the display, the display went from the best available to the worst ever seen, the signal sensitivity went from the top to the "below the average". The audio quality, while better than the HTC phones is not on par with the motorola ancestors.
As I already said, my Desire Z (aka G2) was a better phone in any area, excluding the audio level and the lack of the numeric ROW.
From my point of view was a boring phone, everything worked from the beginning, good battery life, great photos, super stable system, good keyboard, and fantastic tethering capabilities.
The display was also good, not as the one on the Milestone 1, but light years better than the Droid 3's one.
All in all I suggest to buy the D3 only if you can get a very good deal.
If you like a ready to go smartphone, a DZ/G2 is still a way better choice, especially considering its today average price.
gravenimage said:
I still fail to see what the lack of ram is holding us back from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
x2.
i think people come from older phones and get hung up on the numbers when with a better processor and other amenities a 'low' RAM really isn't a factor and can actually make the phone faster with everything cached and saved to the system memory. I don't even check the RAM since i've never had an issue with slow or choppy speed.
Also i go a whole day with my phone and end with 30% battery at the end of the day. i use it heavy while im out, not as much when home from work but even then i come home with 50-40% battery. I'm not sure what you guys are doing to get poor battery life.
kern417 said:
x2.
I'm not sure what you guys are doing to get poor battery life.
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Click to collapse
Usually just using it on modern networks.
The motorola basebands are usually poor (especially on the erly releases), and the power drain has a lot of variation depending on the generation and the make of the BTS/node-b, whatever.
Just for example when I got the milestone 1, with the initial firmware tha battery lasted less than six hour with a vodafone SIM, and almost a day with a three SIM.
The Solutor said:
Usually just using it on modern networks.
The motorola basebands are usually poor (especially on the erly releases), and the power drain has a lot of variation depending on the generation and the make of the BTS/node-b, whatever.
Just for example when I got the milestone 1, with the initial firmware tha battery lasted less than six hour with a vodafone SIM, and almost a day with a three SIM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Idk I hear people on Verizon say the same thing and we get pretty good service just about everywhere. sure at my old job where I was tucked in the basement my phone would die quickly but I couldnt blame that on the phone or the software, like you said it's the radio trying to get signal. I think it more depends on the user and how they use the phone/what services they run.
I had installed Juice Defender originally because i thought it would increase battery life, but i turn my screen on and off so much that it actually drained more battery from turning data off and on all the time, so now i only use it to automatically enable wifi when i'm home and turn off data while i'm asleep. maybe something like that could help you out?
All in all I think the D3 is one of the best Android options out. Plus i'm petty and like the fact that not everyone around here has one since it didn't seem to get a bunch of publicity...people still ask me 'What phone is that???"
kern417 said:
I had installed Juice Defender originally because i thought it would increase battery life, but i turn my screen on and off so much that it actually drained more battery from turning data off and on all the time, so now i only use it to automatically enable wifi when i'm home and turn off data while i'm asleep. maybe something like that could help you out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I bought the MS1 "wi sync plus" was the program that saved the ms1 form a jump out of the window.
Btw i never tried any wi sync+ clone, like juice defender.
I'm about to purchased D3 today. Too bad it's hard to find one here. Already ask the seller to check with the supplier if there is any. I only found Motorola Atrix at one single shop here.
This is definitely my choice right now. In my opinion, 512MB RAM is enough for a dual core 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 SoC processor. PowerVR SGX540 is just nice, too bad that it only support OpenGL 2.0 and not DirectX as in Playstation Vita with PowerVR SGX543.
QWERTY keyboard has improved a lot this time. It had HDMI Type-D, Physical Button for Camera & Sound Volume & Micro-USB. I really hope it will get ICS update when it release and capable of USB Host. Another thing is that Motorola had been bought by Google, I believe Motorola will have latest update every time new Android version released. I hope so
One thing that make me stay away from Samsung Galaxy S2 is that it had one single port Micro USB for everything(HDMI through MHL, USB data, USB Charging, USB Host)
If i use HDMI output, then I cannot use USB Host at the same time. I wonder if the USB Host adapter connected to USB Hub, can it handle and recognize multiple device such as keyboard, mouse,game controller,USB Pendrive etc?
Yeah, but the way I understand it, even the phones that have 1gb of RAM right now (Atrix, Bionic) dont really have 1gb because 512mb is locked to be used with Webtop. And so far as I have been able to find, no other phone has more than 512mb right now. Can anyone confirm?
This mattered to me because I have an Atrix right now on AT&T and I absolutely love the phone, but can't take the ****ty service everywhere anymore, have to switch to Verizon. I had basically three phones I was looking at in the Amazon penny sale, D3, Bionic and the new Samsung qwerty, Supernova or something. So, if the above is right, the D3 I'm getting is essentially the same phone as my Atrix now without Webtop (don't care) or 4g (not here for years, boucou wifi) but with a physical kb, which actually makes it way better. I actually really, really like Gingerblur, and if it's slow I dig Launcherpro, so I should be good, yeah?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
This. Coming from an Atrix getting HDMI mirroring will be a big deal to me; I didn't buy any docks and haven't rooted or reflashed other than official 2.3 update, so the only thing I ever get over HDMI is the media player interface. Which is cool, but I want something else.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App