Leaving the Droid3 and Motorola

[glennj]

Well, its been almost a year on the Droid3.

I got a call yesterday from Verizon. They offered me a Galaxy Nexus for free ($30 "upgrade fee") keeping my Unlimited Data and the rest of my current plan. I wasn't actually DUE an update until next year or so, but Verizon offered it early, they said, because they want to move everybody off 3G, as quickly as possible. All I had to do was pick a 4G phone out of a short list with the Nexus (and Razr...) on it and extend my contract something less than an extra year. Two years from now, instead of two years from July 2011. OK. Free phone, why not ? As long as I can keep unlimited data, not that I ever use over 2gigs a month, I am fine with that.

Its my last upgrade ever with Verizon. I'll pay full retail of buy used from now on.

I have to face that the Verizon network is the only one that really provides me the level of coverage in NC that meets my needs. My company provides me with an ATT 3G USB dongle, but I find the Droid3 with the TBH tethering is much more useful. I know there is no way to wifi tether for free with a "4G" LTE phone, but the GNexus is exciting in a number of ways, and it is free (if you ignore the $30 upgrade "fee" Verizon recently imposed...arbitrarily...)

So, I get a phone that shipped with ICS, and that is someday - probably - going to be running JellyBean (not immediately, thanks again to Verizon). I can just keep my current Droid3 activated and let the Nexus hang around as a backup smartphone in case I have an accident.

Motorola and Verizon, between them, broke promises. I was promised when I bought the phone at a Verizon company store, that the phone would be upgraded to ICS, but it will not be and there is no real reason for this failure, technically. We were all promised that this and other Motorola phones' bootloaders would be unlockable, but that has not happened (probably due to Verizon pressure).

I know that with the GNexus I am entering into a whole new world of different issues, but at least I will now have a more or less Google phone, with real Android on it. If it didn't have to have the damn power wasting Verizon 4GLTE radio in it, I would be even happier, but I signed a contract and I'll honor my end...or pay the $175 (from the phone order confirmation system) Early Termination Fee and find a carrier that better suits me, if possible.

Besides, I don't have to actually activate the Nexus !

Took the Droid3 out on a kayak run in the White Oak estuary this afternoon, and it recorded the trip using Trimble's app while stuffed in a leaky zip-lock bag. Droid3 is fine. I'll probably switch back and forth now and then, for a while at least. Maybe I will do some elementary development on the Nexus.

Thanks for all the fish, Motorola !

Glenn

 

[Luzce]

You're getting a pretty sweet deal there... I've never heard of that and would love to see it happening here in Texas.

For my next phone I think I'll want a Samsung Galaxy S3, but I love my D3 keyboard too much. I guess I don't need to worry about it for another 9 months while my contract runs out, unless I get a call like you just did, but I doubt it.

 

[glennj]

You're getting a pretty sweet deal there... I've never heard of that and would love to see it happening here in Texas.

It was a deal for long-term customers on 3G phones with grandfathered unlimited data, and only available before the stinky new Share Everything plans went into effect today. A 2-day window, and my friends who were already on Unlimited Data with Family plans already did not get the offer.

For my next phone I think I'll want a Samsung Galaxy S3, but I love my D3 keyboard too much. I guess I don't need to worry about it for another 9 months while my contract runs out, unless I get a call like you just did, but I doubt it.

I asked about the Galaxy S3 and the sales guy actually laughed at that. Said, "No." Pushed me to get the Motorola Razr, but the HTC Rezound was an option, or a Droid4, or the LG Spectrum, or the Galaxy Nexus (or one of a number of much cheaper 4GLTE phones). Of those, the Nexus seemed the only logical choice, given my heartbreak over Verizon's deliberately killing the potential of the Droid3.

I played with a friend's Droid4, because of the keyboard, but I got the battery door partially off checking out the SD card slot, and it could not be put back on tight until we found a Verizon store that had a special tool. BestBuy Geek squad couldn't even do it, and she was a paying customer for Geek Squad after having bought the phone there. So much for the Geeks...

I'll still have the keyboard on my Droid3 and can hook a BlueTooth or USB keyboard into the Galaxy Nexus with an adapter and a little fiddling. The lack of removable battery combined with the 4GLTE radio's power drain on the D4 decided me against it (along with my embarrassment about the battery cover debacle).

I made sure the GNexus is the 32gig model, so I think I'll have enough memory without needing an external SD chip, which is limited to 32gig anyway.

Still loving my Droid3, but now I can play with the newer stuff too. Might buy a Nexus7 and give my KindleFire to GMa. Her Nook Simple Touch isn't backlit and is not what you would call "responsive" exactly...

Glenn

 

[SecretAgentMan]

I played with a friend's Droid4, because of the keyboard, but I got the battery door partially off checking out the SD card slot, and it could not be put back on tight until we found a Verizon store that had a special tool.

It's not exactly a "special tool". It ships with the phone, BTW. The trick to removing the back door is to use that tool or anything that has a pin about the same size to depress the detent at the top of the case, allowing the door to slide right off. Same thing to put it back.

 

[glennj]

Yes, that was easy to see, but only after we got the back the rest of the way off. She had left her "special tool" home, about 450 miles away. The Verizon store guy took it into the back, so we couldn't see he was probably using a paper-clip, maybe, and came out with it off. Offered to sell us a spare door for only $5.

I'm still glad I'm getting a Galaxy Nexus this time, if it ever arrives. At the rate Verizon is whipping out ICS, the GNexus might be on JellyBean with Project Butter before the Droid4 gets ICS ! Just kidding, I hope. If only Motorola could unlock the bootloader for the Droid4...

 

[redsox985]

Well, the GNex has JB ROMs built already. It's slated to get official JB from Samsung, but probably pending VZW approval. It was leaked that the GSM GNex will soon ship with 4.1 JB. RootzWiki had an article on it.

 

[MicroNix]

@glennj, your title to this post is a little misleading. It doesn't sound like you are leaving Moto and the D3 at all....at least not at this time. I'll tell you, if I was in your boots, battery sucking 4G LTE or not, that D3 would hit the garbage basket so fast it would blow the basket apart. I hate it when people get an opportunity to upgrade and don't use it. Its like a millionaire winning a big lottery.