Yamaha Home TheaterHTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless)
Manufacturer: HTC Part number: DROID ERIS
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- Though its performance wasn't completely top-notch and we would prefer a more recent Android OS version, the HTC Droid Eris is a satisfying Android device that offers a nice contrast to the Motorola Droid. And you can't beat the price.
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CNET editors' review
HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) price range: $79.99
- Reviewed by: Bonnie Cha and Kent German
- Reviewed on: 11/06/2009
- Released on: 11/06/2009
The good: The HTC Droid Eris offers a slim design, plentiful features, and satisfying performance. It also has pinch and zoom multitouch.
The bad: The HTC Droid Eris has mixed multimedia quality. It comes only with the Android 1.5 OS, there's no file manager, and internal performance was occasionally sluggish.
The bottom line: Though its performance wasn't completely top-notch and we would prefer a more recent Android OS version, the HTC Droid Eris is a satisfying Android device that offers a nice contrast to the Motorola Droid. And you can't beat the price.
Editors' note: Portions of this review were taken from our review of the HTC Hero. The two devices share similar features.
The HTC Droid Eris is the second Verizon Wireless' Google Android phone after the Motorola Droid. Where the Droid was flashy and high-end, the Droid Eris offers a simpler, slimmer design that lacks a physical keyboard. You get the same Android features, but it all comes at bargain price. At $99 with service, the Droid Eris is the cheapest Android phone at the time of this writing.
Design
Though the HTC Droid Eris is essentially a rebranded version of the HTC Hero, the smartphone's design deserves its own mention because it's a beautiful device. The style may be familiar to anyone who knows HTC's Touch devices, as it's a little reminiscent of the HTC Touch with its smooth, rounded corners and black soft-touch finish. Admittedly, the black casing isn't all that exciting, but it's still a classic and it's accented by chrome edges.
In the hand, the Droid Eris feels like a solidly constructed phone. It measures 4.45 inches tall by 2.19 inches wide by 0.51 inch thick and weighs 4.23 ounces, so it's slim enough to slip into a pants pocket and feels comfortable to hold during phone calls. In addition, HTC added a proximity sensor, a feature that was missing on the Sprint HTC Hero, so now the screen will turn off when you're on a phone call to prevent any accidental misdials from a brush of your cheek.
Speaking of the screen, the Droid Eris's 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive touch screen is hard to ignore. With a 320x480-pixel resolution, the display is amazingly sharp and vibrant. Text is easy to read and the colors of images are vibrant and rich. The Android interface, with its icon-based main menu, is familiar, but we're disappointed that the Droid Eris comes only with Android OS 1.5. That means you'll have to wait for OS 1.6 and 2.0.
In addition to a light sensor, the screen has a built-in accelerometer so the screen orientation automatically changes from portrait to landscape mode when you rotate the phone. Be aware that the feature only works in certain applications, such as photos, the Web browser, and e-mail.
The onscreen keyboard also will change depending on the phone's position. Just like the Hero, the Droid Eris uses HTC's own virtual keyboard rather than the stock Android one. We find it to be a little easier to use with its bigger buttons, white background, and more spacing between the keys, particularly in landscape mode. Even with those refinements, it's slightly behind the iPhone's in terms of precision, but it's responsive and provides haptic feedback.
The capacitive touch screen generally is responsive, whether you're tapping an icon to open an app, scrolling through long lists, or swiping through the various home screens. We love that the Droid Eris offers full multitouch support in the Web browser and photo gallery. That means that you can zoom by pinching your fingers and by double-tapping the screen. It's a big improvement over the first-gen Android phones and it removes one of the last remaining advantages of the iPhone's browser. On the bottom of the display are three touch controls for the main menu, a home screen customization menu, and the calling menu. The latter opens the phone dialer and offers access to your recent calls and your contacts list.
There are other ways to interact with your device. Below the display you get four navigation buttons: Home, Menu, Back, and Zoom. However, unlike the Sprint and GSM Hero, these four navigation controls are touch sensitive rather than physical buttons. Like the keyboard, they provide haptic feedback and we preferred them over the Sprint Hero's since they have a more spacious layout and are more responsive. We occasionally had to press the Menu button a couple of times for it to register, but it wasn't a big problem. You also get some physical controls, including a Talk and End/power keys and a trackball navigator.
Of course, what sets the Droid Eris apart from other Google Android phones is the HTC Sense user experience. Instead of three home screens, you now get seven, all of which you can customize with various shortcuts and widgets. HTC makes the phone even more customizable by adding a feature called Scenes. This lets you change the theme of the phone depending on whether you're at work, at play, or traveling. Each scene also provides seven customizable panels so there are plenty of ways to make the phone personal to your lifestyle. For more about the HTC Sense user interface, please read our review of the Sprint HTC Hero.
Rounding out the device is 3.5mm headphone jack on top, a volume rocker on the left side, and a Mini-USB port/power connector on the bottom. As usual, the camera is located on the back, and the microSD expansion slot sits behind the battery door on the right side.
Verizon packages the HTC Droid Eris with an AC adapter, a USB cable, an 8GB microSD card, and reference material. For more additions, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.
Features
The Droid Eris offers a loaded feature set that rivals other Android phones. You'll find Bluetooth, voice dialing, Verizon visual voice mail, a calculator, a calendar, a speakerphone an alarm clock, Wi-Fi, PC syncing, USB mass storage, and a voice recorder. And of course, you get access to the full set of Google applications like Google Maps, YouTube, Google Calendar, Google search (with voice), and Google Talk.
Messaging and e-mail options are similarly plentiful. Besides the standard Gmail syncing, the Droid Eris will sync with popular POP3 accounts like Yahoo and Hotmail, and corporate mail, calendar, and contacts with Microsoft Exchange Active Sync. We successfully set up a Yahoo account and our CNET account using Outlook with Access (OWA). With QuickOffice and a PDF viewer, the Droid Eris' attachment support is robust as well. Both came in handy for viewing a variety of file types.
You can delve into your in-box folders, but as on the MyTouch 3G it can take time to find the folder you need since they're arranged haphazardly. Also, you'll need to manually refresh each subfolder once you open it. On the upside, we like the options for viewing only flagged messages, and e-mails with attachments. The Droid Eris doesn't have a unified in-box, but multiple account in-boxes are grouped under the same main menu icon.
The Hero's phone book size is limited by the available memory (see below). Each contact holds multiple phone number and e-mail types, a birthday and anniversary, an instant-message handle, a postal address, an organization/company name, and notes. You can organize contacts into groups and pair them with a photo and one of 32 ringtones. You even can send calls from your frenemies directly to voice mail.
The phone book app also offers other useful features such as syncing your contacts directly with your Exchange account and with Facebook and Flickr. What's more, you can compose a list of favorite friends and see a list of upcoming Facebook events. And like the Hero, the Droid Eris' contact management system will automatically pull and import contact information from e-mail accounts and social networks into your address book. Check out our HTC Hero review for a full description.
The Droid Eris also offers a handful of other apps like stocks and weather feeds, a Teeter game that uses the phone's accelerometer, and a Twitter app called Peep. If you need more options, you can access a wide range of utilities, apps, and games through the Android Market.
Unfortunately, you still can't save apps to a microSD card; you must store them on the phone's shared internal memory. The Droid Eris offers 512MB ROM and 288MB RAM, but you can store photos and music files on the microSD card.
Like the Hero, the Droid Eris's browser has Flash Lite support. Though most videos remained jerky and the audio wasn't always in sync, we still give HTC props for including the feature at all. Also, we figure it will get better when Adobe releases a full version of Flash for mobile devices. On the other hand, the browser itself is quite decent. You can open multiple windows and it supports visual bookmarks, copy/paste, and the capability to share sites via e-mail, text message, Facebook, or Twitter. As mentioned, the multitouch improves the Web browsing experience greatly, but there are still hiccups. For example, we didn't like that we had to bring up the browser menu to do basic browser navigation such as Back and Forward.
The Droid Eris has a 5-megapixel lens and offers video-recording capabilities and geotagging through the HTC Footprints app. Compared with other Android devices, editing options are plentiful. You get four image resolution sizes, four white-balance settings, a brightness meter, spot metering, a digital zoom, a self-timer, autofocus, a flicker adjustment, four ISO settings, three color effects, and more.
The camcorder shoots clips with sound and offers a similar set of editing options. You can select a variety of clip lengths--from as little as 30 seconds to as long as the available memory will permit. The controls for both the camcorder and camera are relatively easy to use, but we'd prefer to have a dedicated camera button on the side of the device. Since you must use the trackball, make sure you steady the phone securely.
You can view your images through the attractive Albums app and then share them with the world via Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Picasa e-mail, or a multimedia message. Videos can also be shared through e-mail and multimedia message, and there's an option to upload them to YouTube right from the device.
Unfortunately, photo quality was as disappointing as it was on the Hero. Colors were dull and there was visible image noise. You'll also need plenty of light, since the Droid Eris doesn't have a flash. Video quality was average, as well.
The music player is similar to that on other Android phones, though it shows a few cosmetic differences. It supports MP3, AAC, AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI, and Windows Media Audio 9 format and includes shuffle, repeat, and playlists. But here again, we'd prefer real syncing software to help us manage and transfer our tunes. Instead, we had to drag and drop files while connecting the phone to a PC with the USB cable. It'd also be great to have a file manager so we could more easily find files from our SD card.
Of course, you can also download songs via the Amazon MP3 store. The store allows you to browse by album, song, artist, or genre, and single tracks cost about 99 cents, while albums can range anywhere from $2.49 to $10.99. On the other hand, we'd love access to an online store with a broader array of video content, like movies and television shows.
Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) HTC Droid Eris in San Francisco using Verizon Wireless service. Call quality was excellent, with clear audio and a strong signal that penetrated far into buildings. We could understand our friends clearly and never had a dropped call. Our only complaint was that the volume could be louder; we had trouble hearing in very noisy places. The Droid Eris is compatible with M3 and T3 hearing aids.
On their end, callers said we sounded fine. They could tell that we were using a cell phone, but they had few complaints about the calling experience. The only gripe we heard was that the Droid Eris has a sensitive sweet spot for the microphone. If we moved our head just a little bit, they had trouble hearing. They also had problems if there was a lot of wind or background noise.
Automated calling systems could understand us most of the time, but it was best when we were in a quiet place. Bluetooth headset calls were decent, but it will depend on the headset. Speakerphone calls were satisfactory. The external speaker has decent output and the audio was clear. Also, we like that the calling menu offers direct access to the speakerphone, the mute control, your contacts list, and the dialpad.
The EV-DO (Rev. A) signal was strong; most Web pages downloaded in a matter of seconds, even the busiest sites. Apps, YouTube videos, and files downloaded quickly and the signal remained strong throughout test areas. If 3G isn't available, the Droid Eris will drop back to 1xRTT. The GPS signal was also pretty accurate--most of the time it pinpointed our location within a city block.
Multimedia quality was rather mixed. Music over the external speaker gets rather loud, but the quality isn't very rich. You should use a wired headset for a better quality experience. YouTube videos were a bit fuzzy and jerky, but the audio was in sync and our clips never froze.
The Droid Eris has the same 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7600 processor as the Hero. That means the device performed well most of the time, though it was occasionally sluggish when launching the browser and the music player. The accelerometer also took a bit longer than necessary to kick in.
The Droid Eris has a rated battery life of 3.5 hours talk time, which is a half hour less than the Hero. Thankfully, the tested talk time is quite a bit more at 5 hours and 27 minutes. The promised standby time is 15.5 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the Droid Eris has a digital SAR of 1.19 watts per kilogram.
User reviews
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Why I bought the Eris and why Iove it so far...
by littlebuffalo on November 8, 2009
Pros: Call quality, network, web browser, customization, price, screen quality, autocorrection, mini USB, ease of use, multi-tasking, proximity sensor
Cons: no flash on camera, occasional lag, battery life
Summary: I purchased the Eris on the day it came out because it is the best phone on the market for MY intended uses. I have used the iphone extensively and ...
Summary: I purchased the Eris on the day it came out because it is the best phone on the market for MY intended uses. I have used the iphone extensively and tested other phones in the store including the motorola droid, storm2, palm pre and Hero. I left AT&T to buy this phone. The finish and feel of the phone is great. It seems a little wider, but thinner than the Hero. HTC sense was a little overwhelming at first, but after only two days of owning the phone I have the phone set up the way I want, which is something the iPhone can not do.
A tip for the battery life: set your email accounts so that the update less frequently. I have multiple accounts set up on my phone and I still had one to update every 15 minutes. I changed them all to update every 2 hours and got significant improvement. Now I get 10-12 hours from a charge with medium-heavy use (about 20-30 minutes of talk, texts, email, facebook and a little bit of games thrown in).
The web browser is excellent. It has pinch or tap zoom and webpages load very quickly. The scrolling and zooming is not quite as smooth as the iPhone but the Eris supports flash while the iPhone does not. Youtube videos seemed very poor at first, but then I figured out that you can choose to watch them in high quality and they look great.
One thing that I love and many people overlook or don't care about is that the Eris charges and connects to a computer with a standard mini-usb cable without having to install any software. I personally do not like iTunes, so for me this is very nice. I just plug my phone in and a computer recognizes it the same way it would a jump drive. I just copied my mp3s into a folder I created and the phone played them just fine. I can also use any mini-usb charger, which is almost the standard for cell phones now.
The Eris has been a great phone so far. The call quality is fantastic, including the speaker phone. And so far the Verizon has had better coverage and more stability than AT&T. Within an hour of owning the phone I had all my email accounts, visual voicemail, contacts and facebook set up without having to look at the manual.
There is significantly less android apps than apple, but I have found the ones I wanted and they work just fine. If I'm running multiple apps at the same time the phone does get some major lag, so multi-tasking is a blessing and a curse. I downloaded TasKiller which helps a lot, but there is still some very slight lag. I would say the iPhone 3gs is "snappier" but both phones do not even compare to the motorola droid. The Eris seemed to be quicker than the Hero, which I found odd because it is almost the same phone. One thing the Eris has that the Hero does not is a proximity sensor.
I have found the battery life to be disappointing. This could be due to the fact I have been using the phone constantly since I got it. The camera takes great pictues, but it does not have a flash which would be nice. I found the video quality to be average.
Those are my initial thoughts on the phone. I am very happy with my purchase and I like the Eris better than the iPhone. I'm not saying that it is a better phone, but I am saying it is a better phone for me. The iPhone works fantastically for what it can do, but I can't do everything I want to do which is probably the biggest decider for me. I hope my opinion helps, but I encourage people to research and test phones extensively themselves to determine the best phone for them.
Updated on Nov 14, 200946 out of 46 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Beautiful, Slim Smartphone from Verizon (FINALLY)
by billysive on November 9, 2009
Pros: Slim form factor
Beautiful screen
Customizable
Verizon - but NOT loaded with Verizon proprietary stuff (like VZ Cast etc)Cons: No direct media sync software
No built in To Do that will sync with Outlook tasksSummary: This is a pretty long review designed to help someone decide if this is the right phone for them. I am a someone who always checks out CNET reviews before ...
Summary: This is a pretty long review designed to help someone decide if this is the right phone for them. I am a someone who always checks out CNET reviews before buying a new product and the user reviews have always been helpful. This is the first time I am writing a review about a product - hope it helps.
I am a long time Verizon customer who was still using a Palm Treo smartphone and who had iPhone envy. I wanted a beautiful phone - but with all the comments about bad service on ATT was worried to make the jump. Also I always loved the customizability (is that a word? :) ) of my palm phone and wanted something I could make more like my own.
Along came all the hype about the Droid - I started to get excited - until I saw it. I hated the design :( But then I started seeing pictures of the Droid Eris and I thought - this is the phone for me.
OK - enough background info - here's the deal on the phone.
DESIGN:
It is very slim and light - dare I say it is very iphone like in its looks and feel. Slightly smaller screen than iphone but more than adequate.
The HTC sense UI is beautiful and pretty intuitive. Like any new product there is a slight learning curve - but I found myself quickly navigating around the phone without a user guide open in front of me.
If you are reading this you probably know this has no physical keyboard. I was nervous about this. However I quickly found myself typing away with the onscreen keyboard. The auto-correct is very good. It definately takes some getting used to - but now I like it. I hate the idea of a slider phone so this is just right for me.
The touch screen is very responsive. Movement from screen to screen is very smooth. One of the negatives seen listed about this phone is that it has a slower processor than the Droid (and the iphone) - but I have not found it sluggish at all 3 days in. Is the Droid faster - I guess it must be - but does that mean this is too slow? - no.
PIM MANAGEMENT:
I use Outlook (not exchange) for my main contact and calender on my desktop. HTC has its own sync program (download from their website) which allows you to sync the phone with your Outlook contacts and calendar. However it does not give the option to sync your Outlook Tasks.
You can also set up the phone to sync with an exchange server and sync your email, calendar, and contacts from there.
Allows you to have more than one calendar on the phone and you can see any or all of them in one view The calendar options are somewhat limited. I used to use Agendus on my Palm and it gave so many views and custimization features. But I hear they are writing an app for Android.
And of course since this is a Google Android phone If you use a calendar on google and/or are a gmail user then everything will sync with ease.
MEDIA (MUSIC and VIDEO)
Although the phone has a good music player and can also play videos there is no built in software to sync your media onto the phone. You have to connect the phone to you computer (with supplied usb cable) and then it acts like a hard drive and you transfer files over to the phone. As would be expected the ease of use of the media player is not as good as on an iphone / ipod - but it is more than adequate. But I am the type of person who wants a phone that can play my music - not a music player that can make a phone call.
At first I couldn't find a video player (there is a music player program) and was worried the phone couldn't play videos. But then I realized if you move a movie or video onto the phone it shows up in the Albums programs along with your photos. (Tip: download free Video Player software from Android Market - it acts as an interface to see what videos you have on the phone - in Albums you cannot see the names of the files just a screenshot)
Phone has standard 3.5mm headphone jack so you can use whatever headphone you like (none included).
ANDROID MARKET - theres an App for that.
Of course no where near the amount of apps available as on the iphone app store - but there are still 1000s of them. No way to browse full list of apps on your computer (found this very disappointing) but there is a direct link from the phone. You need a gmail account to use the store - but that also means all your apps are remembered in the cloud - so you can always go back and find them if you have to reset the phone. When you do find an app you like it is installed over the air - very very easy. And just as easy to uninstall it if you don't like it. Most seem to be free.
FINAL WORDS
I am very happy with this phone. It has been a long time since I got a new phone. I have been waiting for Verizon to come out with something worth getting. Android seems a nice operating system - but I think it is HTC who has really made this a great phone.36 out of 36 users found this user opinion helpful.
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2 Weeks in n I love this phone. Its amazing
by banmille on November 7, 2009
Pros: For a phone you can bearly feel in your pocket this phone is packed. I have GPS, WIFI, fast reliable internet, clear voice calls, tons of 5 star rated apps from the Market (free) 5 megapixal camera/video. If you can think it you can probably do it
Cons: When Im running 20 apps and only have 20M of ram available the phone slows down a bit. There's an app for that. Advanced App Killer ( free at the Market ) 5 seconds later I have 90M of ram and I flying again
Summary: Its a phone with great call clarity, no dropped calls. Its also an Excel and Word viewer, a compass, a level, a stop watch, an alarm clock, an MP3 player, ...
Summary: Its a phone with great call clarity, no dropped calls. Its also an Excel and Word viewer, a compass, a level, a stop watch, an alarm clock, an MP3 player, with email, a calendar, Youtube, weather, traffic, directions, smooth fast browser, smooth fast touch screen, someone besides Apple finally figured out the touch screen. It may not have 75000 apps but it has over 10000 and all the ones i downloaded are free. This phone rocks
25 out of 25 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great alternative to iPhone for Verizon users
by cheekygirl34 on November 19, 2009
Pros: Smart phone, able to customize, add apps, great call quality, love the way it feels
Cons: Battery life, manual on how to use the phone is NOT INCLUDED in box. Had to go to the website listed on the inside of the "tips/shortcuts" manual and upload the PDF (going green I imagine!).
Summary: I've been holding off on getting a new phone or switching carriers to get the treasured iPhone (I love Apple), but I'm glad I waited and stayed with ...
Summary: I've been holding off on getting a new phone or switching carriers to get the treasured iPhone (I love Apple), but I'm glad I waited and stayed with Verizon. I did a lot of research on the the internet before the release date of 11/6/09 and then spent about two hours in the Verizon store asking questions about the Moto Droid and the Droid Eris and taking my time to really work both phones and get a feel for how they work, what they offer, how they feel in my hands, etc. In my opinion, the Eris is a better buy...not only does it look sleeker and feel better in my hand, but I didn't enjoy the aesthetics of the Moto Droid...which was too clunky. Did not like the slide-out keyboard either.
Even though the Moto Droid is already running Android 2.0, it wasn't enough to push me towards the Moto Droid...I have to actually like looking at a phone and enjoy how it feels in my hand, but that is my own personal preference. HTC is working on the Android 2.0 upgrade for the Eris, and because of the extreme customization that can be done with the Eris the upgrade is taking a little longer. I can wait for the 2.0 upgrade if it also means I can save $100 off the cost of a new phone as well. I should mention that I did like the docking station "alarm clock" concept of the Moto Droid...wish the Eris had something similar, but again, it wasn't enough to sway my purchase decision.
PHONE FUNCTION. First and foremost, this device has to be a PHONE for me and not a mobile computer. I am impressed with call quality, how contact info is organized and how the touch-screen numbers are large when you go to place a call that you manually have to type in.
BATTERY LIFE. Out of the gate, I didn't get a lot of battery life - but then again I was busy customizing and loading apps, calling friends to verify call quality, playing games to see how the interface worked, etc. I've found that by switching the phone into "airplane mode" when I'm at work (inside the building - cannot get phone service) it saves battery life as the phone is not actively searching for a signal or for updates. I've had the Eris since it's debut on November 6th and the battery seems to be lasting a lot longer now than it did the first week I had it...which is a good thing.
CUSTOMIZE, CUSTOMIZE, CUSTOMIZE! Love this phone for that reason. Suits my needs perfectly. I can change the home screen interface to reflect if I'm in "work mode" or "casual mode" (there are other options available, but those are the only two I use). You can pull all the info you wish to see on the SEVEN different home screens then save the "Theme" under a custom name you give it. This is a great feature if you wish to keep your personal apps separate from your business apps.
CAMERA. Love that it has a 5.0 megapixel camera to capture those impromptu photo ops. Wish it had a flash, but am not too dissappointed that it does not. When I want to take "real" photos I just use my "real" camera and not my phone. I love the "albums" feature and how I can seemlessly flow through the pictures I've taken or downloaded to my phone.
SOCIAL. Love that I can do updates to my social network pages on the go and that all of my contacts also get updated. Convenient!
WEB. Love that you can save bookmarks of your frequently-visited web pages!!! I've found the browser fast and responsive.
MP3. Have not tried to upload music yet. Will be interested to see how sound quality is and how the interface is. I'm used to seeing Verizon's music interface so this will be different as it does not support V-Cast.
Overall, great phone and it's a "keeper" for me. I've been loyal to LG phones in the past, but HTC has certainly swayed me to try something new...and I'm glad I did.13 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Tried 5 high end phones in last 2 months, Eris wins!
by johnw43 on November 20, 2009
Pros: Great form factor, feels good in hand, very solid. HTC keyboard very good. Sense UI is good. Excellent display. Battery life not as bad as reported by other reviewers for me. Verizon network.
Cons: Looking forward to 2.0 operating system
Summary: This phone has it all. Don't mean to review other phones here, but I have tried a number of phones lately. Had jailbroken Iphone for 30 days, liked the ...
Summary: This phone has it all. Don't mean to review other phones here, but I have tried a number of phones lately. Had jailbroken Iphone for 30 days, liked the phone, AT&T call quality unacceptable. Mytouch 3G was nice, but could not type with any accuracy on the soft keyboards, even with HTC, Touchpal, and Better keyboard apps. Motorola Droid was heavy, and slide out keyboard was worthless, soft keyboards not so great either. T Mo BB Bold was very good, except call quality was terrible, very unblackberrylike. Browser stinks too.
I was nervous about the typing experience on this phone, but I am very impressed. The Iphone soft keyboard, to me, is excellent, and this one, even in portrait mode, is a close second. Call quality has been very good, happy with Verizon thus far. Love the HTC sense UI. Had read phone could be sluggish, not really a problem for me, use task killer liberally though.
This thing is a sleeper, GREAT Phone, especially for the initial cost.9 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.
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communication/navigation/social aggregation tool
by jnorm77 on November 19, 2009
Pros: The OS is great,Google Voice search, GPS and Wi-Fi, open source frame work allowing for unlimited customization, Sense UI..so may Pros..this phone is an amazing tool
Cons: Havent been able to find a Google tasks app..battery(although through tweaks and tricks the battery is fine for a day)
Summary: I own a small marketing consultant biz and I am always looking for the next app and gadget that helps me multi task and stay connected in real time..this ...
Summary: I own a small marketing consultant biz and I am always looking for the next app and gadget that helps me multi task and stay connected in real time..this phone is all that and then some..I finally am able to walk away from my computer and continue to do the same tasks that i would on the comp with this phone..I utilize a lot of IM services and Social network tools as well as Financial streaming data such as stock quotes etc..this phone allows me access to all of those services and keeps me updated to those services in real time..FANTASTIC ..the other day while utilizing the Wi-Fi I was emailing and Skyping while having a phone conversation...maybe that sounds like a little much for some of you but my job requires some major multi tasking lol..
The GPS functionality on this phone almost takes this device into the SciFi realm..the other day i was in a town and wanted something to eat..so utilizing one of the augmented reality apps I was able to scan the horizon and the app pointed out the eateries and gave directions to them AMAZING..Also, one of my hobbies is to hunt, hike and scout...there is an app for this phone that allows you to record your tracks and stats, take pics and send it off to google maps to create a nice personalized map of my trip..very useful
Some say this phone is sluggish..well my comment to that is get a task manager installed and kill some of the apps running in the back ground..I push this phone to the max and sometimes it feels sluggish but then i open task manger and realize i have just about every app on the phone running at the same time ..even a comp slows down with too many apps running..
THE BATTERY..at first i was worried about the battery issue..out of the box it stunk..but by utilizing some settings configurations and an app killer I can get a good solid days use out of my phone now..and I have always charged my phones at night so a 1 day use doesnt bother me
The customization of this phone is really only limited by your imagination and whether or not a developer can develop it..I am all for the Android experience and where its heading and I also like what HTC has done with this phone ..really a gem9 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Surprisingly Good Phone
by bssapp on December 9, 2009
Pros: Touch screen. Apps. Speakerphone (try out through a car casette adapter!) Media capabilities. Phone clarity. Ease of use.
Cons: Honestly, not a lot. The touch keyboard takes some getting used to, but other than that it's pretty amazing. The battery can get used up quickly.
Summary: I bought this phone from Verizon on an upgrade and with the rebate. So at $19 walking out the door I was pleased with the deal I got to begin ...
Summary: I bought this phone from Verizon on an upgrade and with the rebate. So at $19 walking out the door I was pleased with the deal I got to begin with. But I even told the salesman that if Verizon was able to get the iPhone in the future "I'd throw this phone in a ditch and buy an iPhone whatever it costs." See, I'd love an iPhone, it's AT&T I won't use. And I really like Verizon.
But now I had a droid I didn't expect much out of. And it went out of its way to convince me of its usefulness. I switched from a moto q, a blackberry like phone. The biggest change is the onscreen keyboard, but I'm getting used to it. I chose the eris over the moto droid because I like a candybar style phone, and in my experience moving parts, like a sliding keyboard, break.
The apps are amazing. Games are fun and responsive. Web is easy. You even get iPhone-like pinching and swipeing. The screen is rich and colorful.
Using media like mp3s and video took a little more research and experimentation. The best way, I've found, to get media onto the eris is with an app called usbmount. It allows the sd card in the phone to be seen like another drive on my mac. Then transfers and organization are simple. I use an app called meridian for playing music and mp4s encoded through quicktime. 500 kbps seems to be ideal for mp4s.
Google maps and the direction capabilities of the droid really surprised me. I was looking for a gps, but no more. Also, my ipod stays on the dock. I casually surf the web on my phone, so I use my desktop mac about half as much. Although I'm still a holdout for the iPhone coming to verizon, I won't be tossing put my eris the day that happens.
The battery life could be better, but it can charge through miniusb so there are plenty of opportunities to do so. Also, if you turn off the WiFi and gps antennas when you're not using them, the battery lasts much longer.
So, 1 month in and this little phone has completely changed my mind. I really like it. I'd buy it again, at full price.
And to prove the functionality, I even wrote this review on my eris.8 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good Phone
by buy_smartly on November 9, 2009
Pros: track ball, good resolution, multiple screens to customize, widgets, touchscreen, call quality and lot of features
Cons: battery life
Summary: This is a nice phone for the price.
One of the major problems I am facing is the battery. I have used LG env touch, IPhone, Samsung rogue, LG Chocolate ...Summary: This is a nice phone for the price.
One of the major problems I am facing is the battery. I have used LG env touch, IPhone, Samsung rogue, LG Chocolate in the past .. and I would say this was the worst in terms of battery. It drains out really quick. Besides the battery issue, there are no other issues with this phone [atleast so far].
Good things - The touchscreen feel was really better when compared to LG env touch and rogue. [If I have to compare with Iphone .. no difference in the quality]. I will definitely say .. this is the first verizon phone [in the ones I have used] that made me happy with the touch screen.
Other notable things is the customizable home screen. Though it got only 7 screens to customize .. I think they are more than enough [in general]. Instead of adding regular icons to these screens, try adding their widgets that came preinstalled with this phone. They are really sweet.. I liked them a lot !!
The android os is not the current version .. but, I heard HTC is trying to bring 2.0 for this phone too .. then, it will be a software upgrade [as per the verizon sales person].
The other cool thing is the track ball .. I never used this track ball in the past .. But, I became a fan of it as soon as i started using it. It is very nice and easy to use ..
Just to mention - Camera quality is average .. , no key board. [if you are a serious texter and needed a keyboard... look into motorola droid .. ] ..
I know it is heard to cover everything .. but, I am sure .. I mentioned the most important things I liked/disliked .. In case if I found anything worth mentioning with this phone .. I will update it here.8 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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New to Android and I love it!
by chaserhill on November 9, 2009
Pros: Slim design, Great touch screen, HTC Sense User Interface, Customizable, Lots of free apps
Cons: Battery life is not that good. No folder management. Task manager app needed to close apps.
Summary: I know that many of you out there want to compare every phone that comes out to the iphone. That's fair considering that the iphone has pretty much set ...
Summary: I know that many of you out there want to compare every phone that comes out to the iphone. That's fair considering that the iphone has pretty much set the standard to what a smart phone should be. But like anything, there's no single device that's going to be perfect for everyone. Whether it be which service provider it's on, or form factor, customization, etc.
HTC has done a wonderful job of taking the Android OS and putting it's own twist on it. It is a clean and fairly simple to use interface. Sure it has some quirks about it but what device doesn't? Android is still very young but I think it has already shown us what kind of potential it has with the release of 2.0.
If your on the market for a new phone and cannot decided between an Android device or and IPhone the best thing to do is go out and get your hands on all of them. Is the Android an "IPhone Killer"? No it's not. Does it come close to being as good of a device as an IPhone? It sure does. There's pro's and con's to all the devices out there and all you can do is keep an open mind when checking them out. Don't let your friends/co-workers make up your mind for you.
As for me...I'm pretty happy with my Droid Eris so far. It's fairly easy to use. The HTC Sense user interface looks good and seems pretty smooth. GPS seems to be pretty accurate. Call quality is great! Customization is nice. Browsing the internet is worlds apart from my blackberry. And the "pinch" zoom is nice. My only real complaint is the battery life. I've had to make a few tweaks to the settings to get a full day of battery life with normal use ie text, facebook, twitter, google maps, little internet browsing.
Although I'm a new Android user I can already see that I will be one for a long time to come.8 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Amazing phone for the price! I love my new Eris.
by jnsaulang on November 30, 2009
Pros: 7 homescreens, ease of use, ability to truly customize, widgets, HTC Sense UI, and too many other things to name
Cons: If I had to put one, I'd say the battery BUT this is only if you don't know how to easily tweak the phone to get very good battery usage
Summary: Overall, this is first and foremost an excellent phone. I love this phone. Yes the Droid has a faster processor and Android 2.0 but my Eris performs quickly and ...
Summary: Overall, this is first and foremost an excellent phone. I love this phone. Yes the Droid has a faster processor and Android 2.0 but my Eris performs quickly and the Android 1.5 with HTC Sense UI makes the phone fast and have a better aesthetic than the Droid. I have had ATT for several years and never moved up to the iPhone. I have an iPod Touch which I've had for around 2years and lately it has been somewhat glitchy which told me the iPhone would probably perform in the same way. Also, my service with ATT has been shotty as of late and I could barely get a signal in some places which was ridiculous. So far with Verizon, my service has been phenomenal and so has the Eris.
I will be honest in saying at first the Android operating system can be a bit overwhelming, however give it a chance and you'll realize very quickly how easy it is to use and how in some ways it's similar to using and IPhone or iPod Touch in my opinion. The vast array of ways to customize the phone is amazing...you can truly make the phone your own. I have had no problems finding the apps I want from the Android Market with one exception; I wish there were a Chase Bank app, but I'm sure it's coming soon.
If you're worried about the Eris because it doesn't have Android 2.0, don't worry. The 1.5 OS with the HTC Sense UI gives you many of the things Android 2.0 gives the Droid. AND as soon as HTC finishes inegrating their sense UI into 2.0 we'll be able to download it over the air.
The call quality is phenomenal and I could not ask anything more from my experience use the Eris for it's primary use - a phone. I have no problem hearing the other person and they have not had any problems hearing me. I get service every - even in my classroom (I'm a teacher) which is in the interior of the buidling and has four cement walls. I never had a signal anywhere in my room when I had ATT.
As for the battery life, please do not fret. There are several things you can do to improve battery life and get an actually good battery life for the Eris. The 2 most important things I have found in maintaining a good battery life are two widgets found under the HTC widgets menu: Wireless and Mobile. These widgets allow you to turn off WiFi and Mobile connectiosn. You truly only need these to surf the web or update facebook, etc. With the normal phone signal you can send sms and make calls. Once you have these widgets on one of your homescreens you simply tap it and it turns on/off. I will say with the Mobile widget I do sometimes have to go into the Menu to turn it on because occasionally it doesn't turn on when tapped (but these is only on occassion). I also downloaded Handcent SMS from the marketi which has been invaluable. The SMS system on the phone doesn't allow the Eris to properly sleep therefore it drains your battery; with Handcent this is no longer a problem and ti's FREE. By doing the 2 simple things and downloading Handcent, I have saved lots of drain on the battery. I also suggest visiting Droid Eris forums to learn even more ways to save battery life as well as other "how to" things.
I absolutely love this phone and I could not be happier. I high suggest playing around with it and I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I do.6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: HTC
- Part number: DROID ERIS
- Description: Create and switch between scenes that reflect different moments in your life. The personalization helps you design your perfect weekend, travel or pure play phone. Easily reach your contacts and track communications with the touch of a finger. Stay in the loop with Facebook status and event updates, twitter posts and more! Discover unexpected surprises like the weather forecast automatically being updated based on your location. Or the multi-touch display that makes it easier to read and surf, while automatically reflowing the content! With the Droid Eris by HTC, you can personalize your phone to however you like to live!
General
- Product Type Smartphone With digital camera
- Service Provider Verizon Wireless
- Width 2.2 in
- Depth 0.5 in
- Height 4.4 in
- Weight 4.2 oz
Cellular
- Technology CDMA2000 1X
- Band CDMA2000 1X 1900/800
- Phone Design Candy bar
- Antenna Internal
- Polyphonic Ringer Yes
- Phone Navigation Buttons Trackball
- Call Timer Yes
- Conference Call Capability Yes
- Voice Recorder Yes
- Caller ID Yes
- Speakerphone Yes
- Wireless Interface IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
- Additional Features TTY compatible, E-911 compliant
Communicator Features
- Operating System Google Android 1.5
Messaging & Data Services
- Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
- Mobile Email Yes
- Internet Browser Yes
- Included Services Android Market
- EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) Yes
- Messaging / Data Features Text messages, E-Mail, HTML Browser
Multimedia Features
- Playback Digital Video Formats H.264, MPEG-4, H.263 video and AMR audio, WMV (Windows Media Video)
Digital Camera
- Camera highlights With a resolution of 5 megapixels, this camera phone will give you higher quality pictures than other phones.
- Sensor Resolution 5 megapixels
- Focus Adjustment Automatic
GPS System
- GPS Navigation GPS receiver
Display
- Type LCD display
- Technology TFT
- Display Resolution 320 x 480 pixels
- Diagonal Size 3.2 in
- Color Support Color
Digital Player (Recorder)
- Supported Digital Audio Standards AAC, AMR, MP3, WAV, WMA, MIDI, AAC +
Memory
- Flash Memory 8 GB - microSDHC
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x Headset jack - Mini-phone 3.5 mm
Miscellaneous
- Hearing Aid Compatible Yes
- Cables Included USB cable
Power
- Type Power adapter
Battery
- Technology - Lithium ion
- Capacity 1300 mAh
- Talk Time Up to 214 min
- Standby Time Up to 373 h
Manufacturer info
- HTC
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse HTC products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.htc.com/
- Address:
13920 SE Eastgate Way, Bellevue, WA 98005 - Phone: (425) 861-9174
- Email: info@htcamerica.net
- Fax: (425) 861-1715
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