Motorola Droid 3 (Verizon Wireless)

It's been less than a year since the Droid 2 came out but you know and I know that the tech world moves fast so it's so no surprise that a newer version is already out. Hey, everyone. I'm Bonnie Cha, senior editor at CNET.com and I'm here to bring you a first look at the Motorola Droid 3 for Verizon Wireless. This is the third version or fourth if you count the Droid 2 Global of the Droid and it brings some nice additions and some disappointments. The design is very similar to the past version of the phone. I actually wished Motorola would switch up the design a little bit since we've seen very little variation over the years. But, it's a very solid rebuilt phone and it's also the thinnest one so far. It's about half an inch thick and you still get a full slide up QWERTY Keyboard. Motorola has actually added a dedicated number of key rows so you no longer have to press the alt key. The buttons are a good size and have a non-slippery texture so overall a really nice keyboard that most people should find easy to use. On front, it's got a 4- inch QHT display. The high-resolution type-screen should be good news but unfortunately the way Motorola arranges the sub-pixels reduces the sharpness of the screen. It's still relatively bright and clear but pixels they are a little more noticeable and texts and images don't look as crisp as they do on some computing phones. So, I wasn't thrilled about that. Also, disappointing is the fact that the Droid 3 doesn't offer support for Verizon's 4G LTE network. It's 3D only but it is a world phone when it comes with the pre-installed SIM cards so you can use it overseas. Motorola also offers device in SD card encryption, remote wipe and other security features that would be good for business users. The smart phone is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Motoblur software. I'm not a huge fan of Motorolas custom wise so I try to minimize the use of their widget. But, that's something you can decide for yourself. The Droid 3 gets an upgraded 8 megapixel camera and a front-facing VGA camera for video calls and things like dual-core processor. You can shoot 10 ADP HD video and use the HTMI port here on the left side to just display content from your phone on to your HDTV. So far the Droid's battery life and call quality have been okay but I don't feel like it's as snappy as other dual core devices. You can read more about the performance in our full review but overall I would say that if you want a physical keyboard, the Droid 3 is probably your best option. But, if you don't care about that then it might be worth waiting for the Droid Bionic 4. It's 4D support. This smart phone is available now for 199.99 with a 2-year contract. I'm Bonnie Cha and this has been your first look at the Motorola Droid 3.