Motorola Droid 3

4" qHD Display / 5-Row QWERTY Keyboard / Model XT862

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Motorola Droid 3 Teardown

Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.

The Motorola Droid 3 has landed on our doorstep, and no new gadget would be complete without a proper iFixit teardown.

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After various upgrades and special editions of the Droid 2, its successor has finally arrived! The third Droid to hail from the halls of Motorola is appropriately named "Droid³," or more officially, the Droid 3.
With almost two years since the launch of the first Droid, Motorola has had plenty of time to load the Droid 3 with some impressive tech specs.
- Android 2.3 OS (Gingerbread)
- Dual-Core 1GHz processor
- 5-Row full QWERTY keyboard
- 8 MP Camera with 1080p video capture
- 4" 960 x 540 qHD display with Gorilla Glass

Motorola advertises that the Droid 3 is the "Thinnest Full QWERTY Smartphone Ever."
- When compared to the original Droid, it is clear that the Droid 3 is smaller. However, the thickness difference is hardly something to brag about.
The rear-facing camera on the Droid 3 includes an LED flash and 8x zoom capability.
The Droid 3 features both micro USB and micro HDMI ports, allowing for full 1080p output to any compatible device.
- The port layout on the left side gives the Droid 3 an uncanny resemblance to the Motorola Atrix.

Pulling off the back cover gives us our first glimpse at the user-replaceable battery.
Motorola claims that the battery inside the Droid 3 will last for over 9 hours of continuous talk time, or over 300 hours of continuous stand-by time.
- We suspect, however, that having the phone in standby for 300 hours would be very, very boring.
The battery is rated at 3.7 V and 1540 mAh.

Whoa! This Droid has a SIM card!
- CDMA, the network protocol for Verizon, does not require SIM cards.
A lack of SIM cards severely hampered international use of Verizon's network. This SIM will enable the Droid 3 to be used almost anywhere in the world.
- For a more complete explanation of Verizon, CDMA, SIM cards, and other, similar things, check out our Verizon iPhone Teardown.
A very attention-grabbing informational card included with the phone is neon orange for a reason. For some regions outside the USA, data charges might be as high as $20.48 per MB!

Like its predecessors, the Droid 3's rear case is held in place by a few T5 Torx screws.
Motorola likes to hide screws and latches beneath the information label, making opening the phone a rather sticky affair.
- Of course, these obstacles are of little challenge to our spudgers, 54-piece bit driver kits, and talented fingers.
With the screws unscrewed, the clips unclipped, and the stickers unsticked, we get a full-on exposè of the Droid 3's innards.

Next, we use a plastic opening tool to lift the camera ribbon cable off its socket on the motherboard.
The Droid 3 is equipped with an 8 MP rear-facing camera capable of recording 1080p video at 30 fps.

Adiós motherboard screws, we hardly knew you...
After removing a few more connectors, the motherboard easily lifts off the phone.
In order to strip the motherboard bare, the speaker/antenna assembly must be pried off of the board.
The speaker assembly uses pressure contacts to transmit data to both the speaker and the antenna. Interestingly, a hole through the motherboard allows sound to pass through for better transmission to the outside of the phone.