Thinking about the D3

[Maximum Drive]

Now, for starters, I know that this phone is over two years old. I've been looking for a good phone to replace my Optimus V. My budget is fairly tight and I can currently get this phone for around 50 bucks. I plan on going with a prepaid carrier. A physical keyboard is fairly important and I hear the D3 had the best around.

So, is it worth it or should I look elsewhere? Been thinking about this or a Thunderbolt.

 

[snowmutt]

The ThunderBolt is a no go in my opinion. Was one of those devices that users got less and less happy with it's performance and battery life the longer they had it. A friend of mine had one and was ready to chuck it agains the wall and go back to a feature phone back in the day.

The Droid 3 was a good- not great- device and would check nearly all the boxes you are looking for. The keyboard on that may have been the best of the entire Droid series. I did not hear any really negative things about it at all- just some disappointment in the screen and some users upset at not getting some updates. Performance wise, I think it was very good for the time it was released. I do not recall anything good or bad about the battery life.

 

[Maximum Drive]

I'm getting that same vibe. A friend of mine had one not long after it came out and it seemed like a solid phone. And I've heard many, many good things about the keyboard. I haven't heard anything terrible about it, but I figured I'd ask here just to make sure before I drop the money on it.

 

[doogald]

Battery life is ok, not great, but better with the extended battery, if you can find it (and it doesn't add much thickness.) I've had keyboard issues - the keys all work, though occasionally key presses are missed. My volume up key stopped working as well.

My phone was never dropped but used pretty heavily for 21 months, and battery life remained ok. There really isn't a good amount of third party rom support and it looks like the phone will never get a full functioning true 4.x ROM.

 

[Maximum Drive]

lol. I'm coming from an Optimus V. While that had 4.x support, it was rather crappy and I always ended up going back to gingerbread. The only cool thing I like about recent Android is the Google Now stuff.

 

[thatguy97]

Have you considered a MOTO G or something

Sent from my Nexus 7 2013

 

[tyro-n-tequila]

just upgraded from a Droid 3 two months ago. it was adequate for what I needed at the time. I used it for a little over a year waiting to get out of my contract after losing a phone. I bought it used and had no issues in the year I had it. Battery life was average to poor so I would just throw it on the charger whenever I had a chance, i.e. in the car or at home. I like the real keyboard feature since my previous phone had problems with the touch screen keypad. But since I have adult fingers and not toothpick sized ones the keyboard was useless to me and I ended up using the touch pad. I experienced the occasional reboots like others but it was nothing I couldn't deal with. But right now, If I had $50 to spend and was eligible to upgrade I'd probably get the Droid Mini