Droid Eris available for $30, shuns Black Friday theatrics
By Paul Miller 
posted November 27th 2009 4:00PM
posted November 27th 2009 4:00PM
[Thanks, Jeff]
posted November 27th 2009 4:00PM
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"Judged purely on its own merits, $30 is a pretty smashing price for this handset, but in two years when that hefty Verizon contract is up it's probably going to seem even more outdated by new versions of Android and faster processors than it does now."
That's OK..The Android community is amazing, and I am sure there will be tons of 3rd party mods and firmware updates. Cyanogen Mod owns, not sure it supports the Eris yet but hopefully it will soon.
@surgex the hero is the exact same as the eris so I would suppose so
That's a cheap phone.
yep, for that price i'm sol
@oralfredo 'sol' changes the context of your comment from the assumed 'sold'. I would be 'sol' because I just bought this phone on monday...
A lovely price for the droid Eris. More power to Android!
"it's probably going to seem even more outdated by new versions of Android and faster processors than it does now."
Like every other phone on every using any other processor running any OS out there today? -_-
It's free if you're already with verizon and looking to upgrade.
on that note, I'm quite sad that my upgrade doesn't come until next October.
huh?
@Cam nope.
@Cam
2-yr Contract Price $199.99
Online Discount -100.00
Your Price $99.99
Yeah, not so much.
@andthemaniam It is for me... screenshots on request.
@Dylan
The part you missed is that he is an existing customer (with a contract prior to 2/15/09) which means he gets a $100 New Every Two Discount. sooo....
$199 Price
-$100 "Instant Rebate"
- $100 "New Every Two"
= $0
@JayMonster
New every two discount is $50 on phones under $100.
@ManjyomeThunder You are correct... well sort of... it depends on what phone the person is upgrading FROM... prior to 2/15/09 the NE2 discounts were $100 or $50 (depending on what you bought). So if he is upgrading from say a Q9m (which was $149 2 years ago), his discount now is $100 (making the Eris FREE)... of course next time, the discount will only be $30 (the NE2 discounts are now $50 and $30)... but still in theory, somebody upgrading now *could* get the Eris for free (as the initial poster stated) and not the $99 prices that Dylan was quoting.
MUST BUY
Man I was down to Omnia II vs the Eris, and was thinking of the Omnia II for the usually well rated Samsung SQ and AMOLED screen. But, at this price I may really have to say EFF it and get this.
@Patlex Do it! Android is better
Well, I will hate to admit it, but I do like WM. Then again I have been using WM since the old 2002 days and change is always a good things. Only thing that is turning me off a bit is not sure how the SQ on HTC devices are.
@Patlex
What I am going to do is purchase the Omnia 2 a week after it comes out (supposedly due out December 2nd) -- then, if the HTC Passion or Dragon comes out within 30 days, Verizon will let you do an exchange provided you didn't scratch the hell out of it and give them 35$...seems like a good deal. I'd rather have the HTC Passion but, it's taking too long to launch and I need a phone now. Rumors are saying it's launching before Christmas, but who knows if that's true.
It may not be terribly powerful, but man is it sexy!
What if your Vzw store was right next to Wally World..how bad would that blow?
This phone is amazingly sexy. I used it at the VZW launch of Droid in comparison to the Droid itself and actually preferred the Eris. it' small, light, and will easily fit into your pocket--whereas the Droid is rather thick and too much for a pocket.
Plus, the Eris has a nice display and was very responsive--a perfect little Android device. 2.0 is coming soon for it, which is just icing on the cake.
If I was looking to renew right now, this is the choice I would make.
(As fate has it, I have the HTC Touch, which is almost like the grandfather of the Eris and the Touch2, and is almost as fast, what with a 400 Mhz Qualcomm CPU compared to the Eris and Touch2's 528 Mhz model--and thankfully, dzo from XDA has now gotten an Android ROM to boot from NAND, which means soon we'll have native Android on the Touch. How fantastic is that?!)
@Shidell
I got a chance to use the Eris and Motodroid both side by side as well.
Eris hands down - it's just a much, much nicer experience.
"Judged purely on its own merits, $30 is a pretty smashing price for this handset, but in two years when that hefty Verizon contract is up it's probably going to seem even more outdated by new versions of Android and faster processors than it does now."
You know, Verizon will still sell you a BlackBerry 8700 for $30.
how much on prepaid?
still crap $30 is too much. On a 1 year contract ok but.
@(Unverified) I take it you were laid off recently
I just recently got a touch pro 2 and bought the Eris for my wife... I'm pretty sure I'll be trading my tp2 in for an Eris before my 30 days is up. Sure I can hack the crap out of the TP2, but I just want a phone that works for what I need, and the Eris does just that...
Holy shit i've never actually seem this device, it is THIN
I'd love one, thanks.
i wish there was a contest for this beauty
Dear Engadget, it makes NO SENSE to mention the price of a handset on contract. If we´re ever going to be able to compare handset prices, you have to set a standard consumption or a basket of alternatives and tell us the price for the contract period, or at least let us know the minimum price for one or two years...
@Eplemannen That sounds great and all, but it's just not realistic (nor necessary) for engadget to compute for every phone they write about.
If you're referring to straight up price vs contract price, that's almost a moot argument, especially for Verizon. If you are going to buy the phone, 99% chance says you'll be paying Verizon monthly fees for a couple years anyway, so of course people will sign contracts to save money up front. (With unlockable GSM phones, that could be different.)
And in terms of how much a contract will cost over the duration, everyone needs different things. Some people will be on family plans, some will be business users. Some will need unlimited calls, some not so many. Also, taxes and fees vary by location, so for engadget to calculate a "lowest price contract overall cost" for each phone is a waste of time since it would only apply to a small part of its readership.
Like any major purchase, you're best bet is to look up how much it would cost you to get the plan options that YOU want. In a world of choices, everything is personal.
That's a good price, makes me want to swich
Physical Keyboard? :(
@d3sc3nd3ncy Does it look like it has one? The virtual keyboard on this phone is unbelievably amazing.
The Hero/Eris actually aren't too bad on performance. They have slower CPUs but aren't starved for RAM so they tend to operate pretty smoothly.
Ram vs which phone?
@Patlex Newer Androids like Moment and Droid.
But Hero/Eris do run smooth, I have a Hero. It'll hiccup or stutter here and there, but overall it's a very smooth&fast experience.
@Patlex
Droid has 256MB, Eris & Hero have 288MB to make up for the slower ARM11 CPU. The original G1 handset had 192MB AND a slow CPU which made it pretty unbearable to use from what I've heard. The biggest area the Eris/Hero suffer IMO is web browsing. It's not quite as smooth. Not sure if this is CPU limitations or simply that the Browser in Android 2.0 is significantly better. (Eris & Hero are currently running 1.x software) Probably a bit of both.
You guy's forgot to mention that they offer it for FREE if you are renewing a service contract - which I assume most people who are buying the Eris are.
just do it and send me one
I wish I could get a decent deal like this on a HTC Hero for Sprint. Unfortunately Sprunt doesn't do nice things for people like myself with old contracts.
Actually it's $0 on LetsTalk.com for both new accounts and upgrades.
As for the total contract cost, minimum buy in is $69.98/mo with 450 minutes and unlimited smartphone data. That works out to a two year cost of $1,679.52. With unlimited messaging that rises to $89.98/mo and $2159.52.