Hey look, it's a Hero! We've got the brand new
DROID ERIS for Verizon in hand, and it's not hard to see which particular family of phones it hails from. Still, Verizon has its own twist on the form factor, almost scoring a compromise between the "shiny" Sprint Hero and the more angular, matte GSM Hero. Confusingly, the capacitive touch buttons along the bottom of the ERIS' screen are a haphazard twist on the DROID's arrangement (though it's really Motorola that's the non-standard one here), but the phones don't look completely unrelated. In all the rounded, black matte body of the ERIS sort of "fades away" and you're just left with a nice, bright LCD -- it's not making a statement, which is sort of the statement. There's also an iPhone-style face proximity sensor for turning off the display during calls, and HTC has multitouch pinch-to-zoom on here, something Motorola hasn't seemed to manage. Sure it can't stack up to the DROID for aggressiveness or sheer specs, but it's got it's own sort of budget-friendly charm that's not overshadowed by the DROID's bombastic ways, and two out of three
Engadget editors agree that the HTC keyboard beats the pants off the stock Android keyboard.
posted Nov 5th 2009 10:03AM
Yo Engadget! I'm really Happy for you, that you got the droid, and imma let you finish unboxing it. But the Iphone 3GS is the greatest Smartphone of all time
Tell ya what: we'll just let them downrank you off stage and let Beyonce invite Engadget back up to finish the unboxing, okay?
What's this transparent thing i see on top?
@Sanskrit .. What ? Please speak English not Sanskrit.
You must be confused, the iPhone is not a smartphone. It's a *APPLE CENSORED THIS COMMENT* phone.
They didn't censor your comment, they rejected it. Looks like you--
*call dropped*
Pure...hilariousness.
i think this is what that invisible thing said.... "Yo Engadget! I'm really Happy for you, that you got the droid, and imma let you finish unboxing it. But the Iphone 3GS is the greatest Smartphone of all time"
sorry nick, but you must meet the same fate....[-]
Same phone as the Sprint Hero. So your saving $70 on the phone, but pretty much losing $80 a month on the carrier. How might you ask? Theres no way Sprint offers comparable plans that much cheaper you say? Let me break it down for you.
Verizon's Premium Unlimited plan offers unlimited text & data as well as unlimited minutes. That's great, but it's a CEO like $139.99 a month.
Sprint's EPRP gives you the same unlimted text & data with 450 land-line minutes which nobody uses anymore and unlimited calls to any cell phone on any carrier, essentially giving you unlimited minutes. And they do it for the good Christian price of $59.99
139.99
- 59.99
-------------
80.00 In Savings
And if you one of the few neanderthal's that still call land-lines all the time then bump it up $20 and go for the 1000 minutes, still saving you $60 a month.
If your worried about Sprints coverage don't fret. In Moderate to heavy populated area's Sprint will roam on Verizon's towers. And their 3G is on par with Verizon's Coverage and Performance. Don't believe me? Just check out this handy dandy Comparison that PC world cooked up for us. http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=167391&page=1&zoomIdx=1
This is not a slam Verizon add, as I do think they are the best carrier out there. I'm just trying to educate people in a way that will save them $1840 over the life of a contract (difference in phone price included)
If you have Bentley money then by all means go with the Bentley. (Verizon)
But if your like me and have Used VW Passat money, and want the savings to slap a Supercharger on it then Go with Sprint.
Banksta3: Why did you just compare Verizon's unlimited plan to Sprint's 450 minutes plan? Verizon also has 450 minutes for $40 a month, and although voice, data, and text together is $80, it's certainly not $140.
@chrisk1590. I'm not gonna call you an Idiot because I assume you didn't read the part about Sprint having Any-Mobile-Anytime which equates to having Unlimited minutes unless you call a lot of Land-Lines/1-900 Numbers, In which case you're 450 minutes should be more than enough.
@Banksta3 -
I call landlines for my business all day long.
Sometimes I'm on conference calls for 2.5 hours. Yes conference calls DON'T CALL INTO CELL PHONES!
Most people that use "smart phones" use them for business, thus call business landlines!
If you are using it to talk to your friends on iphones, sidekicks, thats fine.. use sprint. But when I need something that works I'll get this!
Thanks in advance.
The free to other mobile people is stupid. They do that because they couldn't integrate their GSM (Nextel) with their CDMA (sprint) properly and people were STILL getting charged when it was supposed to be free mobile to mobile.
Why don't they just do completely unlimited like BOOST does? Same company, and unlimited minutes, text and data for $50.. why use Sprint for more money??
Mike. I can see your just a little misguided, so I'll clear some things up for you. "Most" people that use smart phones don't use them for business. When smart phones first hit the market (Blackberry, early Windows Mobile) that was true. Thing is, time has changed the mobile industry & with it these devices have all become multimedia hubs and accessories.
For your specific situation I would go for the $99 EPRP plan and still save $30 a month.
"Sometimes I'm on conference calls for 2.5 hours. Yes conference calls DON'T CALL INTO CELL PHONES!"
If they don't call into cell phones, then it really doesn't matter then does it?
"The free to other mobile people is stupid. They do that because they couldn't integrate their GSM (Nextel) with their CDMA (sprint) properly and people were STILL getting charged when it was supposed to be free mobile to mobile."
1st off. Nextel is, has & will always be run off of an iden network, not GSM.
2nd of all. Anymobile Anytime is not network specific, so there can't be billing errors.
If you want to go to Boost then go ahead, they have no phones of value and they are on the iden network.
I really don't know how to respond to the talking to friends on iPhones and Sidekicks as neither of these phones are offered by Sprint, and all carriers offer the same basic needs. Data, Text and Voice. Some just offer it at greater reliability and a lower price.
It's about damn time, ONLY a day before it comes out. >.>
Trying to decide between getting this or the DROID from Moto.
Get the DROID, you'd be happier in the long run.
I'd also look at the HTC Passion if your not a big fan of the form factor of the Moto Droid. I think 2010 is going to be the year of the Android :D
Seriously! haha this one's pretty!
But... i think I'm sticking with the Droid!
The iPhone also invented and introduced touch screen. You didnt know?
Every iPhone enthusiast will swear on their dead grandma's grave (who is actually sitting in their living as they make this swear)
I'd sure love to know why I came back to this page to view a reply to MY comment that has fuck all to do with my initial comment.
That's the awesomeness of Engadget's comment system. It's a shame...their comment system is the laughing stock of all the tech blogs.
How can people give advice on something they don't have? I remember people singing the praises of the BB Storm, while reviews were *bleh*. The Droid is getting much better reviews, but why say x is better than y until you hold it in your hands.
My thing is can the sense UI be ported onto the droid? I wish there was a US gsm version of the droid though.
"There's also an iPhone-style face proximity sensor for turning off the display during calls."
really? Really? REALLY?
My DSLR has that sensor. My enV touch has that sensor. just about every touch screen phone and camera I know, has that sensor.
So is it necessary to call it "iPhone-style" when it is an industry standard?
I'll answer that for you: no.
They ALWAYS feel the need to compare a new phone to an inferior one, you know that. :P
Obviously, jason, the iPhone invented every single damn industry standard ever. Sheesh.
It was the first PHONE to have one so calm down .. Apple defined that industry standard. And Apple as it stands is the benchmark for smartphones so that is why it is often the phone that is compared again.
That being said this DROID ERIS looks amazing. Better looking than the iPhone IMHO.
@obsol337
No, the iPhone invented the telephone. That's why it's at AT&T - so it can tell Ma Bell who's really in charge. /s
@ Sanskrit
I figured the phone was also an industry standard for making calls, heh. xD
I hate the iphone as much as the next guy but at least it doesn't have the 1 million year old BB style to it. You would think RIM would have to run out of those cases sooner or later I mean come on by one get one free and you still can't make up good numbers,.
my lg dare has this feature. but remember, apple invented it.
goodness! That was my first reaction too! iPhone-style? Really?!? that phone did not start every trend and is not the standard to compare everything against. Just had to mention it, huh?
Most *every* touch phone has it. My TP2 has it. If anything, it should have said:
"The Eris has a face proximity sensor for turning off the display during calls, just like all of HTC's other recent smartphones."
Compare HTCs to HTCs, and stop pretending it's necessary to compare everything to the iphone
I think you miss the point about why such comparisons are made. It's not because Apple did it first or even best. For better or worse, the iPhone is perhaps the most well-known and name-recognized smartphone out right now. Its ubiquity is why it is used. If you said something like an "LG enV-styled face proximity sensor", you would be correct, but you'd hit a smaller percentage of people who would know what you're referencing.
So the references aren't always there because the iPhone was the first or the best. Rather, it's there because of the name recognition. When you mention a feature on the iPhone, more people (again, for better or worse) will have a frame of reference than if you mention any other smartphone.
I'm pretty certain that if they said:
"has the now standard proximity sensor that shuts the screen off when you bring it to your ear to make calls."
Everyone would understand that.
You dont have to reference a completely different product to make a point; you only have to to show bias.
Frame of reference? What part of "face proximity sensor for turning off the display during calls" is so complicated that it needs a frame of reference? That phrase is perfectly understandable without the gratuitous iPhone reference.
Nathan, no it wasn't. The hell are you talking about?
and secondly, the iPhone didn't even SET the standard because it was already on phones since 2002.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/29/nokia-vs-apple-the-in-depth-analysis/2#comments
When referencing features, it's always better to reference the product that is the most well-known which in this case would be the iPhone since it's the smartphone industry standard. Then people will know what the hell you're talking about. Mention some obscure product like enV and you'll be met with blank stares. Mention iPhone and everyone knows what device you're talking about. It's not that the iPhone had the feature first, it's just that nobody really gives a damn if another company had it first because that product has likely failed miserably.
@schmitdustin: "make up good numbers"? Do you mean sales? If so, then you're not really paying attention. According to Canalys, Apple's OS share grew from 17.3% to 18% between Q3 2008 and Q3 2009, whereas Blackberry went from 15.2% to 21% in the same time.
By anybody's account (well anyone rational), those ARE good numbers, whereas the iPhone growth appears to be slowing, and WM/Nokia are sliding down.
PS: I'm no fan of the BB OS either, but the numbers (assuming they're accurate) don't lie.
Well, that's a stupid analogy to coast on. No wonder AT&T is suing Verizon. *rolls eyes*
and to add, most of my friends didn't even know the iPhone had a proximity sensor.
That said, the proximity sensor is a great feature. Really great. The Hero does not have one.
Apple is the benchmark for smartphones??
Excuse my slang...but...
wurr dey do dat at?
Uh, actually... no. My HTC Magic doesn't have that sensor, and I'm not sure if the GSM Hero has. So at least as far as HTC Android phones go that might be something new. It should be standard though, that's true.
just like the iphone invented picture mail.
Has AT&T still got exclusivity on this? http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/apple-touchscreen-phone-circa-1983
Wouldn't you expect the market share for RIM to go up, I mean the last year they have had buy one get one free. I could have the market share of bags of shit go up if I was giving them away. Lets just be serious here everyone knows that BB are WAYYYY behind. Speaking of market share RIM is supposed to lost almost 10% of their market share in the next year and a half. With all the "NEW" phones that they are coming up with its no wonder why they would loss that much. No innovation plus more of the same equals LAME
@hawksfan03: Bad example. The Dare came after the iPhone.
review it!! I'm torn. $99 is a great price for a solid phone. Then again, for only $100 more, I can pick up what could become an iconic device for nerds! ..
I'm sure I'm not the only one on the fence here.
You definitely aren't. I'm torn also. :(
I object to the misuse of the term "nerd" on this website. Nerds are in love with academia. Geeks are in love with videogames and gadgets.
Hey, nerds can love this device as much as geeks. Plenty of room under the former-social-outcast-but-now-mainstream tree.
true, but nerds are more likely to love some kind of retro device or
an eco-friendly device, than the latest, biggest cutting edge gadget.
that's really a geek thing.
A geek can be focused on anything--e.g., my wife is a fabric geek. A nerd is a geek without the charisma.
not really. they aren't generally used all that interchangeably.
i'm not from the States, but i honestly dont get it why many americans are so inclined to buy the cheaper phones only for $50 or $100 difference. Sure, it seems like it's half the price of the Moto DROID, but actually it's not. What's another $50 when in the end you will be paying around $2500 for 2 year contract anyhow?
avg american is stupid? maybe
BAH! Nerd is a derogatory term...
Nerds are the ones giving all the rest of us geeks a bad name!
that's a matter of perspective. but from my perspective, it's the other way around. though i'm a bit of a geek too. but being associated with videogames and gadgets is embarrassing, while being associated with books and learnin is a source of pride.
See, I'm a geek, not a nerd - I do PLENTY of reading.
Nerd to me isn't about what you follow, but how you act. Nerds are the ones that annoy with their almost psychotic obsession with every little detail of some trivial topic.
It's a fine line, I'll admit, but the key difference is that Geeks know how to function in mainstream society, Nerds do not.
yeah, i completely disagree with your interpretation of the two terms. i see nerds as being the highly educated highly productive scientists and academics, whereas geeks are the engineers, who play videogames, watch anime, and recompile their linux kernels every three days. i think both are functional and increasingly mainstream in society. but nerds are cooler.
As first used in Happy Days the term 'nerd' was anything but flattering. It emphasized the social awkwardness of people and made some suggestion that interest in science or math was something to be ashamed of.
Geek is a popular slang term that has been around in some form for over a century. In the 1920s, a geek was a freak show performer that swallowed bugs and other animals. Today, the word generally has a more positive connotation, used to refer to someone who has a great deal of specialized knowledge in a "geeky" field, such as technology or science.
The term geek is generally more positive than the pejorative nerd.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-nerd.htm
a geek-oriented website providing a definition of nerd. hmmm. i'm proud to be a nerd, but prefer not to be associated with geeks, though i am geeky in many ways.
I still don't get why anyone would get locked into this phone and associated contract when in a few days you'll be able to get an 8GB iPhone 3GS at the $99 price point.
I guess for all the Apple haters, principles are principles. Just don't try to convince me Verizon/Google is a better platform, or the Droid and Eris are better phones.
You're embarrassing yourselves. And, quite frankly, it's tiresome.
We get it. You want to be able to say "I'm so glad I waited for Droid, it's such a better phone than the iPhone. I didn't mind at all using my overpriced failphone these past 2+ years. Now, I'm much more cooler and so different than anyone who uses an iPhone, it must mean I'm really special. And loved, too. I'm loved much more than someone who uses an iPhone."
Ha ha ha ha.
Yeah, right.
But the terms are not mutually exclusive. I'm into gadgets, and I would consider myself an academic as well. So am I a Nerd Geek, or a Neek, or a Gerd, or what?
Oh, shit. I just opened my self up to a major flaming here.
Also, I really like the look of this. Great mid-level "app phone" (stole that from Gizmodo).
I'm definitely torn as well. Nice cheap price, pinch zoom, sense UI, compact, only Android 1.5 (for now) in the Eris. Droid has that nice hi-res screen, lacks the multitouch goodness in everything, so-so keyboard (which I likely won't use), has free turn-by-turn nav, cool dock stations (both of which I'd want), and speedier, apparently crappy camera. If the Hero is anything to go by, the Eris will not have a decent camera either, so that won't make a difference. Gah, why do we still have to compromise on every phone out there (Apple included)?!
Dude, even if you're short on money you're gonna be shelling out data plan prices for thus guy just like on the Droid
I mean, for $100 more to spend on a phone you'll have for 720 something days..
you might as well get the Droid. It's faster and it's With Google plus 2.0 free nav. I can't explain how important "With Google" could become during a major update. Plus you can buy a Dock, it'll have plenty of accessories. I mean, this thing is gonna have lots of support from 3rd party manufacturers as far as software and hardware add-ons like a blackberry. As much as people hate the iphone, iphone owers have a HUGE selection as far as cases, add-ons. It's frickin awesome. My LG Dare has a few cases. And with the ARM Cortex 8, it's a no brainer
I mean, if the Droid Eris is the right phone for you... dude... go for it. But don't let the $100 price difference sway you. It's a long term purchase.
Is it possible to make a post about a smartphone without Engadget mentioning the iPhone?
Never, ever, ever!!!
They made a bet that they lost, and on every post they MUST mention the omnipresent iPhone.
It's boring, but they must do it every time...
Maybe because the iPhone is the standard. The others smartphone are the followers.
Uh... proximity sensor.. this is innovation auhauhauha :D
Good bye from Italy :)
only when someone designs a phone that is not derivative of the iphone. when i ask for a Coke at a restaurant, i really just mean whatever cola brand they have. even iphone hasn't reached that level of universality, so quit complaining.
the moto droid is better
Yes, it is. That's why it costs $100 more.
"two out of three Engadget editors agree that the HTC keyboard beats the pants off the stock Android keyboard"
The HTC keyboard on WinMo is also a lot better than the stock WinMo keyboard.
Agreed.
Especially those HTC hardware keyboards they put on a few phones :P
I'll make it easy for you kids: Wait for the Passion. That way you'll have both the BEAUTY (no physical keyboard or 80's gold trim) and the BEAST (snapdragon inside!).
But what if you really genuinely like the physical keyboard and the 80s gold trim?
I've read that this phone is the iPhone killer, is it true? Is it really that close and comparable to iPhone?
I thought this kind of comments were automatically banned...
"I've read that this phone is the iPhone killer, is it true?" -- No, you haven't. You're thinking of the other DROID, the Motorola Sholes. "DROID" is Verizon's brand name it's going to put on all its Android phones.
looks like a really solid phone HTC is the best
Not bad.....
+1 for the avatar
Should I be impressed that it took htc 3 years to make a phone as slim as iPhone. ??
I dont think I'm alone here right ?
htc touch...
you should be impressed with apple. no other manufacturer has yet made a phone with a screen as responsive as the iphone. and actually, i don't think either this or the droid are as thin as the iphone. three years. THREE years. and counting. apple engineers are geniuses.
Get out the ban stick
Should I be impressed with your trolling skills?
i'm commenting about a gadget on a gadget website. it's your problem if you take offense at it. in fact, i would call that a major personal problem. if you want a forum where speaking favorably about the iphone is officially prohibited, then buy a domain, install vbulletin, and start one.
At first it ws there was no phone as slim. Now he's changed his mind to there is, but took them so long. Really?
There's been phones as slim and slimmer than the iPhone. will always be.
Is this what it's come down to. You've ran out of pluses...so you're pulling irrelevant things out. Wow.
Next it's gonna be
"Well Xphone is .0000001mm thicker than the iPhone so it fails"
-facepalm-
i think you'd be better off just typing the comment in your own language then using google translate.
@a
The fact they can make a device WITH a keyboard that is only about a mm or so thicker...hmm.
Now imagine no keyboard and it would be thinner. WAY thinner.
hmmm... i guess if you like physical keyboards and the 80's look, you should stick with Blackberries and hip holsters. Oh, and braided rope belts.
Firstly, looks aren't everything...
Secondly, I've done a fair amount of typing on touch screen keyboards and I will -always- prefer a physical keyboard...
Thirdly, and most importantly, the BlackBerry product for my -personal- tastes and my personal needs far exceeds other phones that I have used. It is a matter of personal taste, that's why comparisons are so pointless, they can only hold true from THAT point of view.
Compare for yourself, don't berate others their views, or assume your own are correct - that is the real lesson from these pointless iPhone comparisons.
i've had a blackberry, iphone, and now the hero, and the hero is the best for me so far, though mostly because at&t sucked and i could never get push email to work on my iphone (i only had it for the trial period, though). blackberry sucks, though. it seems so incredibly low tech these days.
When will Verizon stop defacing beautiful devices by plastering their logo all over them! There is no way Apple would allow that...AT&T's network sucks, Verizon's practices and strong arm policies suck, AT&T's network sucks, Verizon's CDMA speed isn't great, AT&T's network sucks, Verizon's devices - mostly - suck, AT&T's network sucks.....oh man...
Really? Really?
You're complaining about a logo.
How oh how did we make it thru those dark times with carrier logos on phones you buy from carriers. Oh Lordy Lordy!
=\
You guys do know that it's super easy to install the HTC keyboard on any Android device, right? It doesn't require any hacking, just installing a program using the standard installer, that's it.
Truth here
Is it an Android Market thing or something else you have to download?
I also imagine they will have to re-tool it a bit to fit the resolution of the Droid and 2.0 Android.
@htown
1.) No it's no resizing or anything. You take the HTC_IME.apk, put it on your phone, open it via file manager, and bam. You got it.
2.) They have Better Keyboard you can get from the Market, and have a skin that is similar to the HTC/iPhone keyboard.
Of course...I prefere the actual HTC keyboard for their superior dictionary.