Our keyboarded friend has returned as the DROID3 by Motorola.  With a set of specs straight out of this year (dual-core processor, front and rear cameras, and a “qHD” screen), this phone could be the best yet from Verizon in 2011.  We have been waiting as patiently as we can for them to bring us something current, and this is the first device that at least on paper, looks like it could deliver.  This phone has us hoping that Big Red will cut off all of last year’s tech and start dropping some all-in-one packages.  So D3, can you bring Big Red up to speed with the rest of the Android crowd?  

With the dual-core chipsets from Texas Instruments (OMAP), NVIDIA (Tegra) and Samsung (Exynos) all making their way into devices and our hands in the last couple of months, we wanted to see how each compared to each other in a series of Android benchmarks.  We pulled the results for the Galaxy S II and DROIDX2 from this post that we ran a few weeks back and have now included results from the DROID3 to round out the comparison.  The DROIDX2 is running NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 clocked at 1GHz, the Galaxy S II has their Exynos at 1.2GHz, and the DROID3 is running an OMAP clocked at 1GHz.

Here are the results…  

We finally got a hold of the brand spankin’ new DROID3 and have had just enough time with it to put together some first impressions, a quick video walk-through, and a fancy little gallery.  Overall, we’ve been really impressed by it after our first few minutes.  Motorola has done some major improving upon Blur to make this device feel like nothing they’ve produced before – and that’s a good thing.  The performance is stellar with the dual-core processor, we’re not hating the qHD screen by any means yet, and the keyboard is something we’re beginning to enjoy again.  So far, so good.  

The Samsung Galaxy S II has easily been one of the most anticipated and talked about Android devices of all time.  When it was first introduced back at MWC earlier this year, we all started counting the days to its U.S. arrival after seeing the specs that Sammie was claiming to have included.  The problem is, that we are still waiting.  There is no telling why it has been left off of our shores, but that’s the unfortunate story.

So since all of the U.S. carriers and Samsung seem to be dragging their little feet on this one, I decided to grab the unlocked version, which works on AT&T’s HSPA+, to see if this device could really live up to all of the hype.  I also wanted to give you all a preview ahead of its U.S. release, just in case you were trying to decide whether or not you should pick up the DROID3 now, wait for this, or skip them all and head straight for the DROID Bionic.

Let’s dive in and see if it could live up to our high standards – something very few devices have been able to do over the last couple of months.  

The original DROIDX has a special place in our hearts, so it’s going to take some major upgrades in order for this DROIDX2 to stand a chance.  On paper, it looks like Motorola has done a decent job by tossing in a dual-core processor and upping the screen resolution, but will that be enough to make this the device to take away that upgrade of yours?  Tough call – let’s find out.  

GhostTown is one of those apps that makes me say,”wow” pretty quickly. Within a few minutes of running this app, I started writing the review since I already knew it was going on the App Of The Day today. I’m one of the people that uses my phone as an mp3 player as well as a phone. I like music apps and have tried a lot of them. GhostTown does something that not many music apps do. For free. GhostTown lets you type in the name of any artist and play any song by that artist. There isn’t “you like this artist so try this artist” going on here. It’s straight forward. You can select any song you want, pause it, skip it, rewind it, repeat it, create playlists, and more. This literally is just like having, in the developer’s words, “an infinite playlist”. There is no limit to how many songs you play or how many times you skip songs. I’ll say it again. Any song. Any artist. No watered down lounge singer cover bands here. There are no monthly fees but a .99 cent in app purchase will remove ads. If you use your phone as a mobile jukebox, check this one out.

Market Link

*Today’s free paid app from Amazon App Store is Hundred Pushups. Normally .99 cents and has a current AAS rating of 4 stars.

*Yesterday we reviewed Text Clock.

If you have a suggestion for a future App of the Day, send it on over.

Yesterday we reviewed Simple Text. What did everyone think?

Now, in between keeping up with all of the give away goodies, I think the app Bubble is something everyone should take a look at. How many times have you caught yourself saying, “there was something I wanted to tell you but I forgot what”? Well Bubble is like your pre call assistant. You assign bubbles to any contact with a question or statement. When you call that contact, the bubble(s) pops up on the screen and reminds you of what you had assigned to it. It seems like a simple concept and it is, yet I have found that it’s just plain handy. If I have a thought about something I wanted to ask someone on a future call, I just go in and type up a quick bubble instead of having a note in my pocket or trying to remember what it was. It has a very simple UI and is easy enough to use.

Video and free market link below.