Droid 3 or Wait for Droid 4?

[Jon Jon]

Hey guys,

I have a question. My Droid X has aged and I am actually having hardware related issues with the phone (it randomly hard locks for no reason, regardless of the ROM I have on it). I actually SBF'ed back to stock so I can send it in if need be, but then I read that it'd be $100 USD to make a claim (so not worth it).

So my question is, since I need a keyboard for work (writing long e-mails and etc. from my phone is just obnoxious on the touch screen), it's either I save money and get the Droid 3 (would cost me anywhere between $50-$20 USD to upgrade to it), or wait for the Droid 4 and buy it at launch price which I assume will be $300 USD.

Is it worth waiting for? I do have 4G available in my area mind you.

Also, does 512mb of RAM versus 1024mb of RAM really make a difference on these phones?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Droid Firefighter]

IMO, it all comes down to price. The D3 will obviously be cheaper because its been out for a while. From what I hear its a good phone. If you want the latest and greatest then the D4 is the phone for you. Improved keyboard is a plus I think. If you like to root and theme your phone you will have to wait until someone cracks the bootloader. When its released, go to the store and play with one. Only after having them both in your hand will you really know which phone will be yours. Good luck!

This post is Incredible 2!

 

[UrbanBounca]

Yes, the RAM makes a difference. IMO, I would wait for the D4. The D3 is dead in the water, and it's unfortunate for D3 owners.

 

[Jon Jon]

@Droid firefighter

The price is definitely big to me, but if it's worth it to wait, I feel like I could manage. It's just getting to a point with my X that it's getting frustrating, and I've been trying to wait for the 4 since it was teased back in the Fall D:. It just gets annoyying that when I get phone calls it'll randomly hardlock, same if I want to text, or even just UNLOCK THE PHONE. It started doing this when I was on Liberty, so I figured it was the ROM, but then I SBF'ed to stock and now I'm running stock gingerbread (latest official OTA) and it still does it :/.

@UrbanBounca

Do the latest and greatest apps take advantage of the extra RAM? My big uses for my phone are typically just browsing with a lot of tabs, texting, and the occasional game (would definitely be inclined to game more if you can map the controls to the keyboard). The Droid X seems to handle it fine when it's not hardlocking, which is why I ask. Also, how is the D3 "dead in the water"? Did Motorola just forget about it our something?

 

[dezymond]

I'd personally wait for the d4. Its pretty much launching within a few weeks from what I've heard.

I think anyone with a d3 should be allowed to upgrade to a d4 considering how it only took a couple months for the next version to come out. I'm no d3 owner but I'd be quite irritated seeing the d4 so soon. Bad move on Moto's part imo

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[LocoRon]

Since you mentioned writing long emails on your phone... I love the slider on my D2, and only rarely use the virtual keyboard, but even still, I wouldn't want to write any long entries on my phone. If its vital that you write those long emails on your phone, I would recommend just getting a bluetooth keyboard. They come in all different sizes, and I think even a small-ish one might be a little better than a slider for long text entries. As for the actual question, though: I would wait for the D4 (oh wait... I actually am waiting for it ). I read some pretty bad reviews for the D3 when it first came out. Those issues (not that I can even recall what they were, aside from lack of 4g) may have been fixed by now.

 

[Jon Jon]

@LocoRon

It's not that I have difficulty with the virtual keyboard, it's just the fact that it's hard to edit a large amount of text. With the keyboard, you have the entire screen's real estate to view what you are typing and you can easily backtrack and fix errors with the arrow keys as opposed to tapping the area of the screen that you want to fix in hopes of it actually placing the cursor where you want it to (at least that's how it is on my Droid X). Rather not fight with my phone when I need to type out a professional e-mail. Random texting is fine, but anything more and it's just a pain.

What were the issues that the D3 had at launch?

 

[Jon Jon]

UPDATE:

So I ended up just waiting for the Droid 4. I'm glad I waited. I am really loving this phone and the keyboard is just fantastic!

I also love how it doesn't really feel like it takes up anymore space in my pocket than my Droid X did!

Also, I'm loving how I'm getting anywhere from 6-14mb/s down and 4-8mb/s up in my area.

So for those who are on the fence about shelling out the extra $100 USD, I recommend the Droid 4, hands down.