HTC Droid Eris Phone Verizon Wireless

Posted by Smartphone Review on December 20, 2009

HTC Droid Eris Phone Verizon Wireless

Combining performance and functionality in one sleek package, the ultra-slim HTC DROID ERIS brings the power of the Android platform and the fast, reliable Verizon Wireless network together. Powered by the open-source Android operating system, it offers an intuitive interface with an easily customizable home screen and the ability to personalize it with a wide selection of free and paid downloadable apps via the Android Market. It also includes HTC Sense, a user interface overlay from HTC that makes it easy for you to create an individualized mobile experience tailored specifically to your needs.

The 3G-enabled HTC DROID ERIS runs on the fast, reliable Verizon Wireless network and is powered by the customizable Android platform, with 1000s of apps available to on the Android Market.

Customizable apps.

The 3.2-inch touchscreen interface features zoom capability and a virtual QWERTY keyboard, and it’s paired with a trackball for easy navigation. In addition to 3G connectivity, the HTC DROID ERIS offers Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g) for accessing home and business networks as well as hotspots while on the go and Bluetooth connectivity for both hands-free devices and stereo music streaming. It also offers integrated GPS for navigation using Google Maps and other location services, as well as a digital compass with a sensor that enables the phone to know what direction it is facing.

With integrated Google technology, the HTC DROID ERIS brings one-touch access to the popular Google mobile services millions use every day, including Google Search by Voice, YouTube and Picasa. The DROID ERIS also provides easy access to both personal and corporate email, calendars, and contacts supported by Exchange Server and Gmail. Other features include a 5-megapixel auto focus camera with video capture capabilities, memory expansion via microSD memory cards (an 8 GB card is included with the device), threaded text and picture messaging for seamless on-the-go conversations, Visual Voicemail capabilities, 3.5mm headset jack, and up to 3.5 hours of talk time.

The HTC DROID ERIS comes pre-loaded with a variety of Google and Verizon Wireless mobile services, including:

Google Maps: Get turn-by-turn directions and instantly view maps and satellite imagery, as well as find local business. And Google Maps Street View enables you to explore cities at street-level virtually while on the go.
Gmail: Multiple accounts support and undo for common operations.
YouTube: One-touch recording and playback from home screen widget or app, one-touch sharing with friends, and the ability to view your own uploaded videos and high-resolution videos.
Google Talk: Easily switch between chats, search your chat history, and preview pictures and videos sent by links.
Android Market: Browse and download applications created by third-party developers.
Calendar: Ability to see who has R.S.V.P.’d to your meeting invitations.
Amazon MP3 Store: Download the latest tracks over the air.
Verizon Wireless Visual Voice Mail: Delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions.

Key Features

Fast 3G connectivity thanks to the reliable Verizon Wireless EV–DO, Rev A network
Powered by the Android 1.5 operating system with deep integration of Google services and access to thousands of apps to customize your phone via the Android Market.
HTC Scene overlay: Create and switch between Scenes that reflect different moments in your life, helping you design your perfect weekend, travel or pure play phone.
3.2-inch touchscreen with virtual QWERTY keyboard (320 x 480 HVGA resolution; 262K color depth)
5-megapixel camera with auto–focus and video capture
Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g) for accessing home and corporate networks as well as hotspots while on the go.
Bluetooth connectivity (version 2.1) includes profiles for communication headset, hands-free car kits, and the A2DP Bluetooth profile–enabling you to wirelessly stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones or speaker dock.
Memory expansion via microSD card slot with support for optional cards up to 16 GB (8 GB card included).
Multi-format digital audio player with dedicated Amazon MP3 Store app for over-the-air downloads. Includes compatibility with MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, and WMA formats and the capability to create and manage playlists on the phone.
Real HTML Web browsing provides more pages and better Web content delivered efficiently to your phone; supports Flash Lite 3.7.1.
Standard voice mail and compatibility with Verizon Visual Voice Mail (subscription required), which enables you to delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions. Features include on-screen access to voice mail message status, save up to 40 messages for 40 days (or archive permanently), create up to 10 different caller ID-based greetings, and reply via call back, text or even voice mail.
Text, Picture and Video messaging with threaded messaging feature
Organizer tools including calendar, tasks, alarm, notes, stopwatch
Airplane mode allows you to listen to music while the cellular connectivity is turned off
Integrated Google, Exchange and Facebook contacts
Speakerphone
3.5mm headset jack
TTY compatible
Hearing Aid Compatibility = M3/T3
Memory: ROM: 512 MB; RAM: 256 MB

Vital Statistics
The HTC DROID ERIS weighs 4.23 ounces and measures 4.45 x 2.19 x 0.51 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3.5 hours (214 minutes) of talk time, and up to 373 hours (15.5 days) of standby time. It runs on the CDMA 800/1900 frequencies as well as EV–DO, Rev A 3G frequencies.

What’s in the Box
HTC DROID ERIS handset, rechargeable battery, wall/USB charger, 8 GB microSD memory card, quick start guide, user manual

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Just about 1 month of ownership. Synopsis: Going very well
Replaced iPhone:

I got this phone just as it came out. It has been a very amazing phone to say the least. I replaced my iPhone with this. Mostly because ever since AT&T bought Cingular the service has been absolutely horrible. It could be my area but I do live in a semi-large city.

New friend:

The Droid Eris seemed unremarkable on the surface. The screen is a bit smaller and it looked like it would not be all that impressive with regards to the apps. Within the first week I saw it had serious battery issues sprouting up. I will list some tips to circumvent these issues until we get Android 2.0 on the Eris (see below).

Since owning it a while I have completely fallen in love with this phone! It is very light, the OS is super intuitive, and there are several fora out on the web where you can find help and tips for the phone. Being it is an open source operating system and the apps are able to be developed with little or no restriction, I see this phone/OS as a real contender to the iPhone. Dont get me wrong Apple is sure to come out with a new killer phone that will blow us all away, for now it is getting a bit long in the tooth and it is great that there are other options out there for we consumers to go to. I would have stayed with the iPhone if it wasn’t for the horrible AT&T service.

For the pro’s I am going to mention things that are included with unlimited data package. When you get the unlimited data, select the cheaper one unless you need to connect to your companies email. The 2 data plans do not mention that both are unlimited but they both are, and if your just using the phone for everything but corporate email, choose the cheaper one. Then call Verizon to verify that you have the unlimited. Good thing I did right after I got the phone because the kind person on the other end changed my plan for me and saved me nearly $200 a year.

Pros:

>> The apps are really great. Surfing these on the phone is particularly easy.

>> Google voice search is amazing. I even tried using a silly accent and it still searched google 100% correctly.

>> Pandora - Its like having a personal satellite radio for your car that you pick the music for. Get Pandora free.

>> Good call quality

>> Small thin- form factor

>> Easily customizable

>> Google maps on the fly

>> Standard mini-usb for power, so anything that connects to power via mini USB can be used on this phone. Example my GPS came with a car charger mini-USB so I didnt need to get another cable to charge this in my car. At home I connect it to my laptop via my mini-usb external HD cable. I have yet to plug this into the wall charger.

Cons:

< < As of today (Dec 14) the battery drain issue has not been 100% resolved. This is because the phone does not fully go to sleep (see tips below).

< < Blank screen 5 seconds into call can cause you to hang up by getting the screen back (example when dialing codes).

Tips for ownership:

Until the battery issue is resolved here is how you can save your battery life.

Most battery life:

1) turn on and swipe down to unlock * Hold hang-up button down a few seconds and release * In Phone Options turn Mobile Network off. (this turns off internet and gps connectivity) Your phone is now just a phone but the battery lasts for days instead of hours.

Small battery life boost:

2) when at home use your wireless network to connect via WiFi. Gives a good boost to battery life.

3) Turn screen brightness down to 25%

Overall this phone being so new has some minor issues. If you go out every day and when you come home plug the phone in to charge you will not see any major issues. Its if you forget it overnight then you may see a dead battery in the morning. Verizon and HTC have hinted that sometime mid January Eris will get Android 2.0 which will include turn by turn gps/google maps for free. Right now you can purchase a couple of large and expensive GPS apps for this phone, hold off until next month or so and you should see this built in.

Thank you for reading my review.

2 Stars Droid Eris Freezing Issues Makes This Phone Useless
My wife and I bought new phones from Verizon. The Android operating system was the clincher. Its ability to rival many of the features of the iPhone, its open nature and good usability made it an easy choice for us. I bought the Motorola Droid, and my wife bought the HTC Droid Eris. I felt this was a better choice for her less technical inclinations, as HTC has customized the Droid interface to make it more user friendly than Motorola, which used Google’s designed interface as-is. The Eris has some nice features, is relatively easy to use and has that iPhone look and feel. It is really thin, and I liked the touchball lighting up for notifications. Once you peel back the HTC customizations, I will say the 1.5 Android OS that came with her phone is not as user friendly as the 2.0 OS that came with my Motorola Droid, and the lack of support currently for GPS voice turn-by-turn directions is a bit of a bummer.

The reason this phone gets two stars is that it currently is deeply flawed. My wife replaced her Eris 3 times at Verizon, and now owns a Motorola Droid. Why? Well, it freezes constantly and you need to pull the battery out and reset it. The battery cover is not as easy to remove as the Droid’s either…not necessarily a bad thing as I have had some issues with the Motorola’s battery cover coming off when being pulled out of my pocket, but it isn’t designed to be pulled out every day. She would have the Eris freeze while on calls or texting, and would have to reset the phone constantly. She returned the phone twice and got a replacement, and by the next day would experience the problem again. Verizon’s forums have a good catalog of people recording this issue.

In conclusion, it would be nice to recommend this phone. There is a lot to like, but overall, I can not give it a good rating if it doesn’t fulfill the basic need of working.

4 Stars Still on the fence about keeping it -
I’m within my 30-day-return period that Verizon offers, and not sure if a touchscreen is the way I want to go. I would say if your primary use is texting and email, you might want to stick to one with a physical keyboard of the Blackberry style.

* The battery life is atrocious (all I have to compare it with is my old ‘dumb’ cellphone, which could go days without a charge)- it’s nice that it can recharge via a standard USB-to-mini cord, however.

* The tiny vertical keyboard is maddeningly frustrating (I often need to be able to work the phone one-handed so horizontal is out of the question). Yes, the auto-correction is very good for most mistypes, the problem is the space bar is so close to the period and the BACK key, and hitting either of those means having to stop and correct. Also, if you don’t realize that the phone guessed the wrong word until you have typed the message you have to use the crappy little trackball-thing to move the cursor to the word to correct it - no easy task.

* The row of main keys - Home, Menu, Back, and Search, are “soft-keys”, not buttons, so when typing it’s easy to activate them by accident.

* The apps are very inconsistent so far. I have three weather programs - the standard one that comes with the phone and two apps. None of them seem to keep accurately updated even though I have them all set to stay updated. The other morning it was 32 degrees, but one program told me it was 51 and another told me the high that day was going to be 90.

* Although it allows you to ‘pinch-and-zoom’ on web pages, it doesn’t allow that on Google Search results, so it’s very frustrating trying to click the correct object on the page. More often than not it selects the wrong one and I have to wait for it to load then hit BACK.

* Since I’m on the road a lot, one of the reasons i wanted to try this phone is because of an app that allows you to voice-text: the program transcribes what you say into a text message. Unfortunately it mangles what you say into a jumble of random words. I’ve tested it about 30 times and it hasn’t gotten it right yet. On the bright side, its guesses are so laughably wrong that it made for a fun party game i.e “We can meet at the club at about 6 o’clock for drinks” became “wikimedia clubhouse clock for drinks” — on the other hand, the voice-to-text option for the Google search has worked well every time

5 Stars Wow! This is the perfect phone!
The HTC Droid Eris surprises you with an amazing operating system and well built hardware. Comparisons are hard to avoid with the iPhone, which has proven to be the benchmark for touchscreen smart phones and the overly hyped Moto Droid. I went to the Verizon store to buy a Moto Droid and found it to be poorly built. It looks terrible, feels terrible, and I couldn’t type anything on that keyboard. Then I noticed the Droid Eris on the same shelf and before I picked it up I could tell the Eris was a solid phone. I have owned it for a week now and I’m still impressed.

The build quality is fantastic, clean lines, feels good in your hands, brilliant screen, thin yet solid like a brick, and a wonderful rubberized matte black finish, which does not show fingerprints or scratches and will not slide around on smooth surfaces. This is my first HTC, but it won’t be my last.

The phone is well thought out. Android is great and with HTC’s Sense UI it is slick, completely customizable and easy to use. I’m a Apple guy, I like their products. I own a 64 gb touch and have used the iPhone before. The Eris’s only flaw compared to the Apple products is the music player. I want my phone ready to answer calls so I don’t want it connected to my home or car stereo anyway. I use my touch for music and movies and use the Eris for everything else. I couldn’t be happier.

I have multiple email accounts and with the Eris they can all be managed easily and separately for notification options. HTC includes many widgets for email, txt mssging and my favorite, your favorite contacts widget, all phones should have that one. I use google voice and android’s integration with it is seamless. There is just too much good stuff packed into this device to tell here.

With all phones like the Eris, battery life is an issue. You can’t have a device like the Eris or iPhone 3GS and not have to charge it everyday. It is just that simple. Sure you could dim the screen, keep the WiFi and Bluetooth shut off and only make calls to get normal battery life but why own a smart phone then? Learning how to use the Eris I spent 5 hours straight making calls, browsing the internet, using WiFi and Bluetooth, syncing my email, playing with every widget, changing all the settings, downloading apps and using them… Basically worked the phone as hard as possible and I needed to charge it when I was done. That said, with typical usage it lasts all day. I like full batteries so I will charge it at night and every time in the car. For a sleek, fully customizable phone on Verizon, look no further than the Droid Eris.

Also, HTC will be updating the Eris’s operating system to android 2.0 or 2.1 soon.

5 Stars Eris Gives Other Droid Based Phones a Run For their Money
I was in the market for a smart phone, especially after reading about the Google Android OS. I have a Verizon contract, making it relatively easy to buy either the HTC or Motorola based systems. After watching some interesting YouTube reviews and reading more about each phone, I chose the HTC Eris

Pluses

1) Uses the Google contacts in my Gmail account system, making the transition instantaneous upon powering up. Whenever you change your Google contacts, your phone is automatically updated.

2) Slim size and rounded corners - I prefer a sleeker look to my cell phone.

3) Hundreds of helpful applications to choose from, including the bar code scanner - check online prices out while you shop in the mall.

4) WiFi and 3G switchable - it easily goes between my home, my office and my favorite hot spots with ease.

5) No pesky flip keyboard - This may be a plus or a minus. For me, I like the way the phone seems to know exactly what key the middle of my finger pushes. When I tried to use one of my old Palm styluses, they didn’t work. After about 10 minutes, I was texting with no problems using my thumbs just like my old phone.

6) Google maps with GPS! I put a mount on my bicycle to help me see exactly where I’m going and how close I am to my goal.

Minuses

1) Lack of documentation or helpful tips sheets. It was trial and error to find the right applications in the Marketplace section. If you have specific needs, there probably is an application for that! But, be prepared to search.

2) Battery life when using GPS navigation - I like the applications that show where the red light and speed cameras are. But be prepared to have your battery life drop off! A car charger is a must for longer road trips.

Overall, it has been a great experience. I do recommend buying a set of plastic screen covers as well as a case to help protect the phone. I am using it more than any other phone, including my former Blackberry! Enjoy and good luck!

Buy/More Info

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