In light of its plan to kill off unlimited data, Verizon quietly announced their first foray into tiered-data with the Motorola Droid 3, which is available for purchase as of this morning for $199 with a two-year contract.
The original sliding iPhone alternative is back touting the “word’s thinnest full QWERTY” in addition to a slew of new features to help modernize the line.
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Underneath the hood is a dual-core 1GHz processor (as opposed to the Droid 2’s single-core), with an 8-megapixel camera that also does HD video. A new front-facing camera takes advantage of the device’s preloaded Skype Mobile app for video calling, though its actual resolution isn’t yet specified.
The Droid 3 doubles-up on its predecessors memory with 16GB of storage, powered by Android 2.3 with Adobe’s Flash Player for the web purists. The display is also a spacier 4-inch 960×540 resolution touchscreen—bigger than the Droid 2’s 3.7-inch screen and the iPhone 4’s 3.5-inch screen.
Though the lack of 4G connectivity may be a deterrent for a few customers, the phone is able to act as a 3G Mobile Hotspot connecting up to 5 Wi-Fi-enabled devices at a time. The Droid 3 is also a dual-phone that you can use globally.
New customers can sign up for the tiered-data plans starting at $30 a month for 2GB, while current ones looking to upgrade can keep their data plans. Read the press release for full specs after the jump.
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Chris Gayomali is a writer-reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @chrigz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.