The Droid 3 has an impressive spec sheet, with updated hardware compared to the two prior generations. (Photo courtesy iFixit)
With its souped-up specs and slimmer profile, Motorola’s latest Droid iteration is a definite improvement on the company’s previous two models. Too bad you’ll be hard-pressed to fix the thing if you break it.
Gadget repair site iFixit cracked open the Droid 3 Android smartphone to find a host of improvements. Among those is a big perk for the world-traveling types, as well as a processor update for improved computing power.
In a big bonus for the frequent flying crowd, the Droid 3 comes with a SIM card, which lets you make phone calls while in countries other than the United States. The Vodafone-carried SIM — which runs on the Vodafone network, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world — allows for data and telephone services in over 200 countries outside of the United States. There’s one big caveat, however: Data roaming charges outside of the United States may reach as high as twenty bucks per megabyte.
The Droid 3 comes complete with its own SIM card, which allows for international phone calls. (Photo courtesy iFixit)
Though not the first phone to run Android, Motorola’s first Droid was the first smartphone running Google’s platform to prove incredibly popular. When the Android platform first launched on HTC’s G1 in 2008, initial phone sales were decent — by no means a failure. Motorola and Verizon, however, beefed up the marketing budget for the first Droid-branded phone, pumping almost $100 million into the handset’s launch. The big bet paid off: Over 5 million Droid phones sold in the first six months after the phone’s release. Motorola hopes it can continue its hot streak by continuing to promote its Droid brand.
It’s important to note that there is a global version of the Droid 2 with a SIM installed, but if you’re looking for something of a hardware update, the Droid 3 may be a good fit.
Each generation of the Droid has gradually stepped up its computing power. The first-generation Droid phone came with a 600-MHz ARM-based processor, and the Droid 2 bumped that processing power up to 1 GHz with its single-core chip. Motorola’s Droid 3 comes with a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 1-GHz processor, competitive with other recent dual-core smartphone releases; more cores means more tasks can be processed simultaneously.
If you’re prone to dropping devices, the Droid 3 isn’t exactly a breeze to repair. Most of the internal components are connected by a single ribbon cable, “meaning that replacing one requires replacing them all,” says iFixit. And if you crack your screen, you’re sorta screwed — at least from an accessibility standpoint. You’ll have to take the whole phone apart to get to your LCD.
A single ribbon cable connects the major internal parts, making it difficult to repair and replace busted pieces. (Photo courtesy iFixit)
Check out the rest of the teardown and iFixit’s full weigh-in here.
