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Droid 3 - First Impressions

Clementine_3 said:
I can't tell if it helps with the cell standby but it does seem to help with the battery.
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Yeah, I found that setting an hour or so after playing with the phone yesterday, but can't speak to if it affects battery usage or not. I suspect it should though.

Still looking for a way to get rid of these preset locked bookmarks in the browser. :(
 
xXIncognitoXx said:
Here is a side by side shot I took. This site resized the photo slightly, so you can't see the pixelation as much, but you can if you look closely. I can upload the original unresized photo to a file sharing site if anyone is interested. The first thing I notice out of the box is that the top bar is pixelated, the battery meter, and the small numbers next to the K9 icon. In the image, it looks a little sharp, but this is not the case in reality. On the original photo, I can tell that the D1 actually washes the colors out when zoomed way in, which makes it look much more "crisp". The D3 also has a distinctly more blue display.

nJFYq.jpg


This resized image doesn't really show the pixelation very well, so for many people, they probably won't even notice or care at all. I'm just hyper sensitive to such things I guess. :) Again, the original unresized photo does show the difference, it's just too large for most of these sites (6mb untouched).
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Great photo for comparing displays and relative size :)

I now also see that unlike the poorly designed D1 keyboard which seemed almost arbitrary, the D3 design centers around the keyboard.

Assuming the apparent random reboots and idle power drain is quickly resolved, I will get the D3.

Added:

Folks, suggest forgetting the stock browser and use Dolphin HD or X scope and then locked bookmarks not an issue.
 
I do have to say the physical keyboard is awesome. This is what it should have been like in the first Droid. Very happy with the KB.
 
Richman21 said:
I do have to say the physical keyboard is awesome. This is what it should have been like in the first Droid. Very happy with the KB.
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I agree 110%! I have small hands and that stretch with my right thumb was awkward. Also, I have several passwords and they all have a number in them. It's very, very nice to be able to skip that step of having to press the Alt key to put in my password. Even better to not have to press the Alt key twice in order to type in a phone number. (And then forget to turn that off and mess up the next thing typed.) I also just like the feel of the keys better.
 
One thing that I liked on the D2G but is not on the D3 is the little LED light that lit up when charging and then went dark when done charging.
 
As far as keyboards, I had the Droid 1 and thought the kb was awkward and the keys stiff. Also thought the D2 keys were too stiff.

Would be bice if the D3 kb was "just" right.
 
rushmore said:
As far as keyboards, I had the Droid 1 and thought the kb was awkward and the keys stiff. Also thought the D2 keys were too stiff.

Would be bice if the D3 kb was "just" right.
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I think the D3 keys are even stiffer than the D1, but they are bigger and easier to hit. One thing is that because there is an extra row of keys for numbers, there are more symbols so some things have moved. If I hit ALT+S now for the exclamation point, I will get the British pound sign instead. The exclamation point is now on the Q.
 
I've found the D3 keys to be not stiff at all. Not even close to as stiff as the D1.

Update on rooting: Have tried a few more things, including GingerBreak v1.2 (standalone). Have tried various times, letting it run up to 10 minutes each time, and no luck so far. :( Looks like any rooting will require a developer update to the exploit tools out there.
 
Clementine_3 said:
My cell standby is also extremely high. I changed my mobile networks (in settings) to just use CDMA...that seems to be helping with the battery a bit anyway. No sense searching for GSM when it's not going to use it anyway.
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I remember having to turn GSM off on my BB Storm. It helps a lot.
 
If anybody has a buddy with an HTC Evo 4G I'd love to hear your thoughts on screen comparisons between the Evo and D3. I'm using an Evo on Sprint right now but my contract is just about up.
 
The keyboard is not as stiff as a D1, at least not mine. I would call mine "just right". Also, if you look at the design, they wouldn't be able to fit the 4.3" on this without extending the screen half of the phone all the way down to the keyboard side's bottom edge. While there is some room left and right in the bezel, the capacitive keys on the bottom and the camera/speaker/sensors up top don't leave vertical room for the 4.3" to fit.
 
New to the forums, but wanted to share my thoughts on my D3 which I received yesterday. Coming from the D1 so far I am very pleased with it. My major concern was how fast it was sucking down battery, then I disabled GSM (thanks for the tip!).

Likes:
Keyboard (so much better than D1, Moto nailed it for the most part)
Design, the edges are very sharp IMO
Size/weight
Camera, great quality photos/videos
Speed!

Dislikes:
Keyboard (couple small dislikes)
-Dont like the position of the A (I keep hitting tab...ill get used to it though)
-cant press enter to send txt's (have to hit OK on the screen...unless im missing somthing)
-no dedicated ? key (have to hit tab)
Lack of Physical Camera button
Unmovable bloat ware
Speaker isnt nearly as loud as D1
New Icon images for certain things
Cant delete multiple pics in the gallery like with FROYO at once (not the phones fault I guess)

All in all, my dislikes are just things I need to get used too. The fact that the phone cant be rooted YET is a dissapointment, but, we should be getting an OTA update later this year (Droid 3 sadly shipping with locked bootloader -- Engadget) (http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/0...ockable-in-late-2011-where-carriers-allow-it/) to address that.

Out of curiosity, does anyone elses phone seem to not be sealed properly down by the mic? If i push very very lightly to the left of the Verizon slogan it clicks like its not completely locked in place. Im going to call VZ later today and see if they will issue a replacement because of that.
 
xXIncognitoXx said:
mikepinto65: Mine seems solid, I hear no clicking when I push anywhere on the phone.

edit: z4root does not work either.
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Thanks, Just got off the phone with VZ and rather than send it back they notated my account so I can just go in store Thursday and exchange for a brand new one.
 
One more dislike to add to my list!
You cant just sync FB data to only your existing contacts, its extracts all FB friends and adds to contacts. Someone please let me know if they found a way around that!
 
rushmore said:
I think you folks have sold me. I will be getting one this week :)
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I think you'll like it a lot more than the X2. I sent K at Droid Life a huge review with pics and commentary, so he'll probably get some of it up there at some point after he gets some more feedback from others. I'm generally very, very happy with it.
 
mikepinto65 said:
One more dislike to add to my list!
You cant just sync FB data to only your existing contacts, its extracts all FB friends and adds to contacts. Someone please let me know if they found a way around that!
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That's a Gingerbread restriction. Google didn't like the way FB locks down it's contacts.
 
I'm starting the think that there is something wrong with my phone. The battery keeps draining when I'm doing nothing with the phone. It was completely charged this morning and had low battery by 3 o'clock. I charged it up again and it was fully charged at 6. It is now at 70%. I have had no calls, no texts, no emails. I have done nothing. And it feels warm to the touch. That doesn't seem normal to me.
 
Barbara said:
I'm starting the think that there is something wrong with my phone. The battery keeps draining when I'm doing nothing with the phone. It was completely charged this morning and had low battery by 3 o'clock. I charged it up again and it was fully charged at 6. It is now at 70%. I have had no calls, no texts, no emails. I have done nothing. And it feels warm to the touch. That doesn't seem normal to me.
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Mine is doing this too. However, as a test, I am letting it run completely down. I'm at 8 hours now, and it's at 30%. Been at 30% for the last 2 hours now. Going to let it completely discharge and see how long it lasts (I suspect it'll possibly last through till tomorrow morning).

Oh, and I've been using it a fair amount during these 8 hours too, so overall, I think the battery usage will probably be acceptable, compared to the D1 which seemed to get about the same amount of time out of a battery charge w/ usage (possibly less actually!)

edit: Mine does not feel warm to the touch though, even after quite a bit of usage. :o
 
Barbara said:
I'm starting the think that there is something wrong with my phone. The battery keeps draining when I'm doing nothing with the phone. It was completely charged this morning and had low battery by 3 o'clock. I charged it up again and it was fully charged at 6. It is now at 70%. I have had no calls, no texts, no emails. I have done nothing. And it feels warm to the touch. That doesn't seem normal to me.
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Something is running in the background. If you were to try a reset to stock and minimal apps on the device still do not help, may be another case of poor Moto firmware.

Is so, why is Moto not catching this?

Keeping on to hope the issues are not common and some installed apps are causing the issues. Just when I was going to get my local store to order one. I will wait until Thursday and check the D3 out before buying.
 
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