Motorola Droid 3 (photos)

It's been less than a year since the Droid 2 hit the streets, but the Motorola Droid 3 is already out. Available now from Verizon Wireless for $199.99 with a two-year contract, the smartphone offers a number of improvements, as well as some disappointments.

Some of the new features include a 4-inch qHD display, a dual-core processor, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Overall, the Droid 3 resembles previous models, but it's thinner at 0.5 inch thick. The smartphone is solidly built and has a soft-touch finish on back. Unfortunately, the 4-inch qHD (960x540 pixels) display isn't as sharp as the competition because of Motorola's arrangement of subpixels.

Though the display is disappointing, the Droid 3's QWERTY keyboard is excellent. There's now a dedicated number row, and the layout is roomy. The buttons are a good size and have a slight bump to them, making them easy to press.

On the phone's left spine, you'll find an HDMI port and a Micro-USB port.

On top of the device, you'll find a power/lock button and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Droid 3 features an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, which is a bump up from the Droid 2's 5-megapixel camera. The camera is also capable of 1080p HD video capture, thanks to the dual-core processor.

Picture quality wasn't bad, but the camera struggled a bit in low-light conditions.