The "Got my D3"/ first impressions thread

[darkmatter]

To have the TI OMAP4 chipset means to have ddr2.


I've switched to GO launcher. I did like blur, but two things I couldn't stand (which any decent launcher should let you change and customize anyway) were the 4 (wtf even number) launcher buttons. I just can't get into not having the app drawer button in the middle. And the side scrolling app drawer. If moto added the ability to change those two things up, I would be perfectly happy with blur. (or if its already there, make it easier to find, lol)

I've also found that going 5x4 grid size for the home screens looks a lot better on this phone. 4x4 had a lot of space between the icons, 5x4 just seems to look more tidy.

Actually the Omap 4430 in the D3 and the 4460 that will be in the Bionic do not have ddr2 as far as the spec sheet from Texas Instruments says.

OMAP™ 4 Platform - OMAP4430/OMAP4460

But the Omap5 series have some sort of quad core CPU up to 2ghz, and DDR3 ram. Full 1080p HD @ 60 fps both recording and playback. And 1080p HD 3D @ 30 fps recording/playback. up to 20mp Camera!?!?

OMAP™ 5 Platform - OMAP5432

I wanna know what those chipsets are going to be in! =]




And the blur is pretty awesome compared to other versions, def. not a hassle, smooth and fast.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-3/157505-some-info-omap4430.html

OMAP 4
The 4th generation OMAPs, OMAP4430, 4460 and 4470 all use dual-core ARM Cortex-A9s as well as two ARM Cortex-M3s running at 266 MHz to offload the A9s in less computionally intensive tasks to increase power efficiency.[5][6][7] 4430 and 4460 use a PowerVR SGX540 integrated 3D graphics accelerator which runs at a clock frequency of 304 and 384 MHz respectively compared to previous incarnations of SGX540 typically at 200 MHz making them theoretically much faster.[8] 4470 has a PowerVR SGX544 GPU that supports DirectX 9 which enables it for use in Windows 8 as well as a dedicated 2D graphics core for increased power efficiency. All OMAP 4 comes with an IVA3 multimedia hardware accelerator with a programmable DSP that enables 1080p Full HD and multi-standard video encode/decode.[9][10][11][12][13] OMAP 4 use ARM-Cortex A9s with ARMs SIMD engine (Media Processing Engine, aka NEON) which may have a significant performance advantage in some cases over Nvidia Tegra 2s Cortex-A9s with non-vector floating point units.[14] It also uses a dual-channel LPDDR2 memory controller compared to Nvidia Tegra 2s single-channel memory controller.

 

[spacecasespiff]

To have the TI OMAP4 chipset means to have ddr2.


I've switched to GO launcher. I did like blur, but two things I couldn't stand (which any decent launcher should let you change and customize anyway) were the 4 (wtf even number) launcher buttons. I just can't get into not having the app drawer button in the middle. And the side scrolling app drawer. If moto added the ability to change those two things up, I would be perfectly happy with blur. (or if its already there, make it easier to find, lol)

I've also found that going 5x4 grid size for the home screens looks a lot better on this phone. 4x4 had a lot of space between the icons, 5x4 just seems to look more tidy.

Actually the Omap 4430 in the D3 and the 4460 that will be in the Bionic do not have ddr2 as far as the spec sheet from Texas Instruments says.

OMAP™ 4 Platform - OMAP4430/OMAP4460

But the Omap5 series have some sort of quad core CPU up to 2ghz, and DDR3 ram. Full 1080p HD @ 60 fps both recording and playback. And 1080p HD 3D @ 30 fps recording/playback. up to 20mp Camera!?!?

OMAP™ 5 Platform - OMAP5432

I wanna know what those chipsets are going to be in! =]




And the blur is pretty awesome compared to other versions, def. not a hassle, smooth and fast.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-3/157505-some-info-omap4430.html

OMAP 4
The 4th generation OMAPs, OMAP4430, 4460 and 4470 all use dual-core ARM Cortex-A9s as well as two ARM Cortex-M3s running at 266 MHz to offload the A9s in less computionally intensive tasks to increase power efficiency.[5][6][7] 4430 and 4460 use a PowerVR SGX540 integrated 3D graphics accelerator which runs at a clock frequency of 304 and 384 MHz respectively compared to previous incarnations of SGX540 typically at 200 MHz making them theoretically much faster.[8] 4470 has a PowerVR SGX544 GPU that supports DirectX 9 which enables it for use in Windows 8 as well as a dedicated 2D graphics core for increased power efficiency. All OMAP 4 comes with an IVA3 multimedia hardware accelerator with a programmable DSP that enables 1080p Full HD and multi-standard video encode/decode.[9][10][11][12][13] OMAP 4 use ARM-Cortex A9s with ARMs SIMD engine (Media Processing Engine, aka NEON) which may have a significant performance advantage in some cases over Nvidia Tegra 2s Cortex-A9s with non-vector floating point units.[14] It also uses a dual-channel LPDDR2 memory controller compared to Nvidia Tegra 2s single-channel memory controller.

English please. What does all that mean.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

 

[xxspark89xx]

Actually the Omap 4430 in the D3 and the 4460 that will be in the Bionic do not have ddr2 as far as the spec sheet from Texas Instruments says.

OMAP™ 4 Platform - OMAP4430/OMAP4460

But the Omap5 series have some sort of quad core CPU up to 2ghz, and DDR3 ram. Full 1080p HD @ 60 fps both recording and playback. And 1080p HD 3D @ 30 fps recording/playback. up to 20mp Camera!?!?

OMAP™ 5 Platform - OMAP5432

I wanna know what those chipsets are going to be in! =]




And the blur is pretty awesome compared to other versions, def. not a hassle, smooth and fast.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-3/157505-some-info-omap4430.html

OMAP 4
The 4th generation OMAPs, OMAP4430, 4460 and 4470 all use dual-core ARM Cortex-A9s as well as two ARM Cortex-M3s running at 266 MHz to offload the A9s in less computionally intensive tasks to increase power efficiency.[5][6][7] 4430 and 4460 use a PowerVR SGX540 integrated 3D graphics accelerator which runs at a clock frequency of 304 and 384 MHz respectively compared to previous incarnations of SGX540 typically at 200 MHz making them theoretically much faster.[8] 4470 has a PowerVR SGX544 GPU that supports DirectX 9 which enables it for use in Windows 8 as well as a dedicated 2D graphics core for increased power efficiency. All OMAP 4 comes with an IVA3 multimedia hardware accelerator with a programmable DSP that enables 1080p Full HD and multi-standard video encode/decode.[9][10][11][12][13] OMAP 4 use ARM-Cortex A9s with ARMs SIMD engine (Media Processing Engine, aka NEON) which may have a significant performance advantage in some cases over Nvidia Tegra 2s Cortex-A9s with non-vector floating point units.[14] It also uses a dual-channel LPDDR2 memory controller compared to Nvidia Tegra 2s single-channel memory controller.

English please. What does all that mean.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

It means that the Droid 3, in fact does have DDR2 Memory. LPDDR2 meaning "Low Power DDR2".


If you are wondering what DDR2 means, it's a designation for a type of memory technology. "DDR" means Double-Data Rate, referring to a reference over a previous technology generation: SDR (Single Data Rate). The "2" appended to the "DDR2" is a note of 2nd Generation, where the technology was improved - Using the rising and falling edges of the memory clock during buffering to essentially increasing the speed of the memory.

What does this mean, or should this mean to a consumer? The memory is faster than previous phones with DDR. More efficient app switching, multi-tasking (to an extent), etc.

 

[spacecasespiff]

So just having 512 of ram with this DDR2 is good then. So people should know this a stop being wierd that the d3 does not have 1gb of ram. Makes me feel a little better. Im hoping to get this phone in the next few weeks. Im going to pay full pop for it so its taking awhile.


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[BenLand150]

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-3/157505-some-info-omap4430.html

English please. What does all that mean.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

It means that the Droid 3, in fact does have DDR2 Memory. LPDDR2 meaning "Low Power DDR2".


If you are wondering what DDR2 means, it's a designation for a type of memory technology. "DDR" means Double-Data Rate, referring to a reference over a previous technology generation: SDR (Single Data Rate). The "2" appended to the "DDR2" is a note of 2nd Generation, where the technology was improved - Using the rising and falling edges of the memory clock during buffering to essentially increasing the speed of the memory.

What does this mean, or should this mean to a consumer? The memory is faster than previous phones with DDR. More efficient app switching, multi-tasking (to an extent), etc.

Thank you for the explanation, I finally get these terms now.

So basically, as space said, people should really stop complaining about 512mb of ram when only 512m for the Bionic will be available anyway since the rest will be used for webtop anyway.

 

[xxspark89xx]

So just having 512 of ram with this DDR2 is good then. So people should know this a stop being wierd that the d3 does not have 1gb of ram. Makes me feel a little better. Im hoping to get this phone in the next few weeks. Im going to pay full pop for it so its taking awhile.


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yeah, I hate how a lot of people wine about it not having 1GB of ram.

To place it into perspective:

Motorola, HTC, Samsung, etc. all design their phones based on their software requirements.

Look at an HTC phone, some include 768MB of ram. Why? Because "Sense" hogs A LOT of memory. so Ultimately, the user is probably getting, lets say for example 200MB of memory to use.

Motorola has redesigned their "Motoblur" software, which is now just the Motorola User Interface (UI). Their software requires much less memory, resulting in the Droid 3 having 512MB phone memory. So ultimately, you end up with about 200MB usable - just like the HTC example above.

Note: Bionic may come with 1GB of memory like the Atrix, but the additional 512MB is for using it in Webtop mode. (or whatever)

Also to note, Android 2.3.4 is amazing at memory management. Out of the box, 100MB of RAM was left free. After loading all my apps, widgets, services, etc. There was about 100MB of memory remaining - still! Android OS kills services not needed when more memory is needed. If the memory is free, however, it will likely eat it up with useless services. lol

That being said, 512MB is definitely enough, especially with it being DDR2 and much faster than previous generations of the Droid phones.

 

[Malvado]

I remember my first pc having this much ram I think...it ran great lol

Sent from my DROID 3 directly to YOU!

 

[darkmatter]

I think I could handle blur on this thing if I could add a 5th launcher button. 4 just seems really odd to me. I really like/want/need the app drawer button in the middle, and there just is no middle with 4 buttons, lol.

but yea, ram on this thing seems fine. People have thrown everything they can at this phone and it runs like a boss. I personally find I would rather have sufficient and fast ram, than too much and slow.

 

[TyrantII]

Just hit up the store and checked everything out on the phone. It's sweet, especially if upgrading from an older OG Droid (or similar 2 yr old android phone).

The screen concerns are way, way overblown from actually having in my hand. Visible pixel / grid issues are not noticable to me at hand (normal use) length, and the thing is bright and colorful. A huge improvement over my OG Droid screen.

Couldn't bring it outside to test it in full sun, but word of mouth is that it's the best screen yet for outdoor use. Not to mention it's much more efficient and good to battery life.

Put those together, and what more could you ask. I look at android phones as a phone and google location device / social media device first; and as an entertainment device 2nd. I need a super high res, color calibrated display in my small handheld devices as much as I need it to be 3D (not at all!). This devices screen is more than enough, and the benefits it's tech gives us makes sense for me as a phone user. I was worried because of all the attention it was getting, but it's all overblown rabble once seeing it IRL.

One thing I do miss is the camera button. I'm also a little concerned with the size, coming from a OG Droid. This thing isn't huge, but it is a large phone, especially for a guy who likes to carry it in his pocket. Feels lighter then the OG, but still looks and feels solid like it. I'll have to see if it is indeed lighter, or if it's just the appearance because of it's larger size.

Camera is much, much better after checking it out for a few min.

 

[BleedingPurist]

Just in case you missed it, you can use the keyboard OK button for the camera button. It helps for when you need a real button. I kinda miss the Droid camera button, but it was also hard to press making it unreliable.

 

[Malvado]

Just in case you missed it, you can use the keyboard OK button for the camera button. It helps for when you need a real button. I kinda miss the Droid camera button, but it was also hard to press making it unreliable.

Yea there's an option on this phone that let's you use keys as shortcuts for whatever app

Sent from my DROID 3 directly to YOU!

 

[BleedingPurist]

Just in case you missed it, you can use the keyboard OK button for the camera button. It helps for when you need a real button. I kinda miss the Droid camera button, but it was also hard to press making it unreliable.

Yea there's an option on this phone that let's you use keys as shortcuts for whatever app

Sent from my DROID 3 directly to YOU!

Hmm, I don't think he's talking about pressing the camera button to start the camera app (and I hated that function on the Droid, whether it was modded to start the music player on a custom ROM or start the camera... it kept going off in my pocket,) and maybe you aren't either. The OK button for the camera shutter is a default rather than an option, though.

 

[jaycemiskel]

Actually 512 isn't reserved for webtop on the Bionic so the Bionic will have more usable ram, but this thing is running perfectly memory wise so I'm definitely not complaining.

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[jjhiza]

Hey people

I haven't been around much in a long while, my D1 got tired of all the rooting, surfing, calling, picture/video taking and the "new toyness" wore off. Work got busy, life went on. My D1 continues to hang in there like a hair in a biscuit, BUT my daughter picked up her D3 yesterday and now she's asleep and I can't get it from her to play with it.

This has been asked 1,203,014 times already, but HOW IS IT?

I'm holding out for the Bionic, at 50 my eyes will welcome the BIGGEST screen possible!! What is the D3's possible pixellization I've been reading about?? Just curious, no biggie.

Other than screen size and 4G the D3 might have snagged me except for my up isn't until 9/14.

Later ya'll

Personally, I love this phone! I've had it a full 24 hours, and I'm still being blown away! The screen size is just right imo (the 4.5" Bionic screen just seems massive!), but the pentile screen is a little annoying if you play games. Things like Pocket Legends and Star Legends really amplify the pixel flaws, but other games, like NOVA, play and look flawless. You get used to it after a while, and unless you use your phone 2" from your face, you'll probably never notice it. Sound quality and video quality are excellent, and this thing is seriously fast (2138 quadrant score - my first and only run). Surprisingly (being a LauncherPro user since beta), I don't find the Blur UI super annoying. The transitions are nice, the widgets (Blur only) are resizable and intuitive, and it really just looks nice. Eventually, I'll replace it with LP for customization, but I'll give Blur another day. The real winning feature on this phone though, has to be the keyboard; seriously, coming from the Droid, this keyboard is a beast! Five rows, with one dedicated exclusively to numbers, good key spacing...it's incredible, hands down! I hope this kinda answers some of your questions.

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Hey, thanks for the reply!! Unfortunately, I DO hold my droid very close to my face (when I have my contacts out - at night when surfing/playing games in bed). With my contacts in I wear reading glasses at a more reasonable distance. Pardon my ignorance/lack of research, but will the Bionic be a "pentile" screen??

THANKS again!

Hey, no problem! I'm just trying to help people make good choices for them, and if my two cents can be of help, then I'm happy. Yes, the D3 does have a pentile screen. It's really not an issue unless you look closely at it, and even then (depending on the game you're playing) it's not necessarily a deal breaker. Like I said, both Pocket Legends and Star Legends, will put some of the pentile display's shortcomings right in your face (character names look pretty bad, but actual character rendering still looks good). Some of the more HD games, like NOVA, Backbreaker Football, etc, look just fine. I still need to test how emulators run on the D3, but I would assume there would be little to no issues with quality. I wear both contacts and glasses as well, so I do have to put my phone close to my face from time to time, and the overall rendering quality doesn't really bother me. If you have some spare time, I'd suggest giving it a thorough test drive in-store, to see if the display is going to cause you any problems. If it does, unfortunately, you may need to go with a device manufacturer other than Motorola, for the simple reason that from the X2 on, the pentile display will be in use (correct me if I'm wrong). Hope this clarifies my position on the screen, and its quality.

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[cerps]

I got to play with my wife's D3 today that she got after exchanging her X2 we got to lock in unlimited data. I think the screen on the D3 is better than the X2. The X2's issue was probably a combination of the matte screen protector and 4.3 inch screen being larger than the 4 incher on the D3. I like the 4 inch pentile screen on my Atrix.

The phone does seem to lag a little. This is running blur. I run Go Launcher on my Atrix and it is much smoother. I don't recall lag on my Atrix when running Blur, but I only used it for a short time.

I did have it reboot on me within one hour and I covered the circumstances in the reboot thread.

I hope it stays stable enough and doesn't lag so my wife is happy until they run out a firmware bug fix. All in all I think it's a nice phone and it should be good in the long run. Getting it for $100 with a upgrade and her work discount was icing on the cake.