Motorola Milestone 3 basic specifications leaked

The Motorola Droid 3 may be set to launch in the US next month, according to an inside source who spoke to Techno Buffalo. If it makes it to the UK it could follow previous droids and become the Milestone 3.

The Droid 3 could include a 4-inch, qHD (quarter high definition) touchscreen -- 360x640 pixels, in other words. The processor is rumoured be either the increasingly popular Nvidia Tegra 2, already used in the Motorola Atrix, or Texas Instruments' OMAP, as found in the LG Optimus 3D.

The slightly blurry photo suggests an improved slide-out Qwerty keyboard with a fifth row of numeric keys plus a front-facing camera allowing for video calling and the like. An improved 8-megapixel camera would adorn the back.

We were very keen on the first Droid, known in Blighty as the Motorola Milestone, for its Android power, great touchscreen and keyboard, decent camera and good connectivity.

Unfortunately Motorola let the side down with last year's Milestone 2, a handset with poor battery life and clunky MotoBlur software cluttering up Android. Based on these initial specs, the Milestone 3 could be a pretty decent phone if Motorola lets Android do its thing and resists the urge to stuff bloatware on top. The recent Atrix was promising in this regard. And with Ice Cream Sandwich on its way, users could really do without having extra hoops to jump through to update.

US punters hoping the phone would make use of the new (slightly) faster LTE network are likely to be disappointed. That doesn't really bother us much as we're still stuck with our lowly 3G mobile network.

You can currently pick up the Milestone 2 SIM-free for around £270, so we wouldn't be surprised to see a £300+ price tag for the third-generation model should it hop over the Atlantic later in the year.

Is this really a milestone for Motorola or are there plenty of decent Android smart phones on the market already? 

Image credit: Techno Buffalo