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 November 5th 2009 10:03AM
Seems about the same as the HTC touch which I've had for about 2 plus years now. I would consider the HD2 or the iPhone a huge upgrade to my old phone though.
This is just a Hero with a proximity censor...
and 8 gb sd card, i think.
Well, an uglified Hero. Though more comfortable.
This phone is darn smexy. If only Motorola would have made the Droid look as nice as that...
As much as I like the looks of the Eris, it would only be an incremental upgrade until the HD2 ...
First
first. finally.
WTF, this phone has 2 logos on it: HTC, Verizon and Google. Looks very close to an F1 car.
Wouldn't that be three logos?
It could say Pepsi on it too if they would give it to me for $50 cheaper..
Corporate logo's don't bother me.
Of course, I meant 3.
just for the record: i will never buy a phone that comes from the factory with the pepsi logo on it. i want to slap my OWN pepsi decal on my phone.
Why are people not even considering this phone as competition to the Droid? IMO, Sense UI + multi-touch browser > Stock Android with no multi-touch
Looks like an HTC Touch with a trackball to me.
I thought they couldn't have SenseUI if it was a "with Google" phone, which the back clearly says it is. Has this changed and I just didn't notice?
My sprint HTC Hero has with google on the back but comes with Sense UI
mine does not have any mention of google printed anywhere.
That's been debunked ages ago.
I don't understand why Motorola is calling their device simply "the droid" when a HTC device also ends up getting that moniker. So instead of having that advertising campaign benefitting Motorola, it ends up just being phones with Android on Verizon. One would think that Motorola would name their device Motorola Droid (insert model name here).
I suspect that it was the first one created, hence, THE Droid and that Verizon came up with the idea of a Droid Line afterward. I'm interested to see how the Calgary (if it does end up at VZW) will be labeled.
Love the sense UI
Why in the gallery is the Eris is being compared to the Sholes?
That's pretty useless considering no one can buy that phone yet. I'd prefer a size comparison with Sprint's Hero.
For whatever reason, the Hero looks to be a whole lot thicker and bulky than the Eris.
@htowngator
It also looks a lot uglier.
If you're on Verizon (which I am), it doesn't really matter how the Eris sizes up against the Hero (aside from funsies) since we're only able to get the Eris.
I'm glad they compared the Eris and Droid since I think that's the decision a lot of people are going to be making tomorrow.
I think this phone would sell really well if they offered it without a data plan. I have a feeling that for the extra$30 you pay a month for data, most people will wait for the Droid or Passion.
Ok so after thoroughly reviewing this device specs n abilities.
What can be said?
Should competition be fearful?
Should we be detered by the $350 ETF n $30 data plan contract?
Should we run out to replce iPhone 3gs?
Will this entirely be my only mp3 player reader etc?
Will specs alone destroy vowel phone?
I read so many positive comments here on a phone that bloggers have never touched or used sounds like masses will run out n buy million in first weekend.
Sprint CEO which i respect. "iPhone is the Michael Jordan of smartphones." aug 2009
just stating facts don't downrank fanboyism aside. .
Here's a video of the Eris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo6d82ptscA
@word:
get apple's iDick out of your mouth.
+1
I can't wait to pick this bad boy up! Sense UI is great. As long as it's not dreadfully slow, I'll definitely be giving up my BlackBerry for this!
Same here, I'm giving up my Storm for this beast.
BB ain't got shit on HTC!
Queue the Bonnie Tyler!
I have a request for the review: On the Hero, the camera has this issue where it auto focuses just behind the subject. Does the Eric have the same issue?
Correction: "Eric" should be Eris of course. :)
I think Canon had that proximity meter first on their DSLR screens before Apple did on their phones
There's also a BoyGeniusReport-style hands-on report on Engadget that provides photos and comparisons of an upcoming device.
RT, no real geek would get an Eris over the Droid! The fact that you'd even consider it means you're no geek!
Hey every body. I just got my eris about a week ago and Im loving It! I've already figured out. multiple ways to integrate it into my music production. I've even recorded a sound from a touch screen synth instrument and used it in a song. Lol.
Check out some of my music if you'd like...
http://www.MySpace.com/eddiemarshall
PhoneMyPC is the greatest app of all time.
Check out http://www.Droid-Eris.com and a video I made of me using my eris to completely control my recording software on my computer.