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Gingerbread ROMs start cooking for HTC EVO 4G et al; keyboard ported for rooted Androids
You can have your doubts about when your phone maker will finally get around to delivering an Android 2.3 update (March if you're with HTC, June if Samsung, 2017 if you're unfortunate enough to own a Sony Ericsson), but the smartphone dev community doesn't work that slowly. The guys who build custom ROMs just for the sheer pride of it have already begun work on delivering Gingerbread to owners of HTC's EVO 4G, Droid Eris, and Wildfire. It's all in the very nascent stages and warnings abound that you should only install these ROMs if you intend to contribute to the development process, but it does give us hope for a consumable new OS in the not so distant future. One thing that does look ready to be gobbled up, however, is Gingerbread's new software keyboard -- you'll find the download and installation instructions at the Droid-Life link below, just remember to bring your rooted Android phone along. [Thanks, Jacob]
Shocker: Verizon says Droid Eris won't get Froyo
Though the HTC Droid Eris soldiers on in user pockets in a variety of guises, Verizon has unsurprisingly decided to disavow future updates for the canceled device. Carrier spokespersons told Computerworld that the Eris won't see Android 2.2. "We have other options in Android devices, so this is part of the normal evolution of our portfolio," a spokeswoman reportedly said. While we didn't really expect Verizon to pull a T-Mobile and support phones that died even before the original G1, we have to imagine there'll be a few ruffled feathers at that particular choice of words. No one likes to be told to buy a new device in order to get a software update. On the plus side, we expect XDA-developers will get a few new members this week, the better to unleash the potential of future neglected devices for us all.
Disney converting Droid Eris into GPS tour guide (update: video!)
If you shed a tear when Verizon put the Droid Eris out to pasture, it's time to dry your eyes; it seems the handset's found greener fields in Florida, at Epcot Center to be precise. That's right, Walt Disney World is reportedly testing out Verizon's HTC Hero as a GPS navigator and tour guide for the entire park, complete with shopping discounts, special bonuses and up-to-the-minute wait times for rides. How or when you'll get your hands on one is presently up in the air, though the man who snapped these shots told Mickey Updates the phones may be an inexpensive addition to your vacation -- perhaps like the $10 BREW-based Mobile Magic application Verizon and Disney introduced last year. Here's hoping that chunky case includes an extended battery -- there's no way a stock Eris could last as long as Nintendo's guide. Update: A video walkthrough of the whole shebang is posted after the break. Thanks, Matt! %Gallery-99188% [Thanks, Durango Jim]
Verizon's Droid Eris goes on permanent vacation
You might have figured that the recent update to Android 2.1 would've given Verizon's Droid Eris a few months of additional shelf life, but alas, it was not to be; the phone is no longer available from Verizon's online store, and we'd assume that any remaining inventory in the field will dwindle to nothingness in the coming weeks. If anything, it seems like the device -- basically a tweaked Hero -- would be able to effectively soldier on indefinitely for $50 or so on contract, but maybe the carrier's intent on keeping Android a higher-end affair for the time being. And hey, with the Droid X and Droid 2 coming any week now, we suppose it's getting pretty crowded anyhow. Ultra-cheap original Droid, anyone? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Verizon's V CAST Video for Android now available, runs $10 a month
Android owners on Verizon now have a new (albeit pricey) way to bide their time as they wait in grocery store checkout lines, doctors' offices, traffic jams, DMVs, and Engadget Show entrance gates, because Big Red is flipping the switch today on its V CAST Video offering for every Google-powered handset to hit its network so far. The Droid, Droid Eris, Devour, Droid Incredible, and Ally are all equipped to take advantage of the app, which claims to offer over 230 full-length shows spanning over 40 programming providers -- but the downside is that it'll cost you $10 a month on top of your data plan, the same that V CAST Video On Demand runs on Verizon's other phones. If you're willing to take the plunge, look for it in the Market right away.
Android 2.2 ROM inevitably falls victim to device ports
Well, who saw this coming? Froyo -- yes, the one and only Android 2.2 that got released via SDK today -- has already begun its grand voyage into hacky, totally unofficial device ROMs that are available to unhealthily brave users. The two we've got for your perusal here are for the Nexus One (of course) and Verizon's Droid Eris, of all things; our understanding is that both of them are ridiculously unstable and unpractical for actual use at this point, but it's patently obvious that these guys aren't going to sleep until there are some solid firmware binaries on the interwebs. Mountain Dew Code Red and bottles of No-Doz, fellas. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Verizon's HTC Droid Eris getting Android 2.1 any time now (yep, it's here!)
We'd been hearing rumors lately that HTC's Droid Eris -- a phone that has never quite made it out from under the Droid's shadow -- is in the midst of being discontinued by Verizon, but the imminent launch of an Android 2.1 update might just buy it a new lease on life. In fact, the update makes this phone just about the first Hero variant anywhere in the world to be graced with an upgrade to Google's latest and greatest stuff, beating Sprint's version thanks to a string of delays that have pushed it out to some unidentified period in the second quarter. We've yet to see any reports of folks actually receiving the update notification on their devices, but Verizon's official support Twitter account is tweeting about the upgrade -- which should fix numerous bugs on top of the hotly-anticipated Eclair boost -- so we'd expect it to start hitting the wild shortly. Keep us on top of your experiences in comments, won't you? [Thanks, Richard] Update: Verizon has now posted the PDF changelog for your perusal while you wait. Thanks, Michael V.! Update 2: It has begun... but this OTA update is being brewed in small batches, it seems, as we're getting reports from Droid Eris owners that have received their Eclair update each and every day.
MOTO touchscreen comparison recruits robotic implements for heightened precision (video)
So you saw that the first MOTO smartphone touchscreen comparison was done with a fleshy humanoid controlling the testing finger and discounted it as scientifically flawed? Well, MOTO's back and this time the arm of judgment is operated by a coldly mechanical and ruthlessly precise robot -- a machine in itself, we'll assume the robot is intrinsically immune to developing fanboy tendencies. Joining the iPhone, Droid Eris, Droid, and Nexus One of the earlier test are Palm's Pre and RIM's BlackBerry Storm 2, whose results you can see at the source link below. The full test methodology is also explained there, including a list of the drawing apps used, which were selected with a view to minimizing smoothing algorithms that may prejudice the outcome. We're not gonna tell you who won, you have eyes of your own after all, and will just direct you after the break for the full robot-on-smartphone video action.
Skype mobile heading to Verizon smartphones on March 25th
We knew it was coming, and now we have a concrete date. Starting this Thursday, March 25th, Verizon Wireless customers with one of nine select smartphones (Motorola Droid and Devour, HTC Droid Eris, various BlackBerrys) and data plan will be able to use Skype over the 3G network. As we heard before, Skype-to-Skype calls will not affect your VZW minutes, and now you've got the option to use the app for cheaper international dialing using the mobile app. Full list of compatible devices after the break, a list we're hoping gets expanded in the not-so-distant future.
Droid Eris rooted to 2.1, but look before you leap
Tired of waiting for Verizon and dissatisfied with a series of recent buggy leaks, the fine folks at XDA Developers were determined to trade their Cupcake-laden Droid Eris for a more toothsome Eclair on their own terms. Yesterday evening, it seems they finally achieved their goal, though not without a caveat or three. If you're still running the stock Android 1.5, it's a simple matter of dropping a ZIP file onto your SD card and restarting your phone; if not, you're completely out of luck. Rooters warn that the hack won't work on phones that have already been flashed to that aforementioned Eris 2.1 leak, and that they haven't yet figured out a way to restore any non-1.5 phones back to factory default. If hacking isn't your daily bread, proceed with caution -- Sense UI may be fancy and all, but chaining your phone forevermore to an unsupported OS just ain't worth it. See what an Eris Eclair looks like after the break. [Update: 2/9/16: The picture originally in this post was taken by the XDA Developers poster Justin Case, and did not contain his original watermark. This is not consistent with our editorial policy. We have removed the picture and apologize for the error.]
Android 2.1 for Droid Eris leaks out
We've already seen a broken build of Android 2.1 for the Droid Eris slip out accidentally, but now the full package is available for installation courtesy of the fine folks at xda-developers. We haven't tried it ourselves, but we're told it's working fine, and that snazzy new version of Sense is apparently quite snazzy and new. Of course, you're risking your phone and all your data if you try this, so the absolutely smart and prudent move is to wait for the official update, but do let us know how it goes if you're daring enough to load it up, okay? Update: And just like that, it's been ported to the Sprint Hero, although not everything works quite yet. You be careful, kids. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Some Droid Eris owners getting Android 2.1 update?
We're not entirely sure what's going on here, but that's a shot of a Droid Eris running Android 2.1, and we're told the update came over the air -- a story seemingly corroborated by a couple other people around the web. Unfortunately, it seems like things aren't quite fully baked yet: the update doesn't include Sense UI, and it apparently wipes all your data and doesn't allow you to log back into your Google Account. Verizon tells us that the Eris update to a "newer" Android is still in testing and hasn't yet been officially released, so we're taking all this to mean that there's been a slip-up along the line -- especially since this obviously isn't final software. In the meantime, we'd say Droid Eris users should probably back up their sets just to be safe. [Thanks, Vido]
HTC pulls wraps off Droid Eris' kernel source
They knew this day was coming, but still, we can't help but feel like there must be some higher-ups at Verizon that are squirming today at the knowledge that the innermost workings of one of their highest-profile smartphones -- the Droid Eris -- are now available to anyone willing to invest the couple minutes that the package takes to download. This should give hackers some more elbow room to cook custom ROMs for Verizon's remix of the Hero -- and if they can beat an official Android 2.1 release for the phone by even a single day, that sounds like a win in our book.
HTC Droid Eris gets an ultra-minor update
What you want for your Droid Eris: Android 2.1. What you're actually getting: the tiniest of updates designed to fix just one bug. ROM version 1.17.605.1 is starting to make its way into the world via the phone's over-the-air update mechanism, fixing an intermittent bad signal indicator when bringing it out of standby. Yep, that's it -- so there'd better be a much heartier update in the wings later this quarter as Big Red has previously promised. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Droid doesn't. Have touchscreen accuracy, that is...
Now there's a nicely-documented fact that you can throw back in the face of that annoying friend of yours who got a Verizon Droid and who keeps saying "It's just like an iPhone!" According to a report cited on AppleInsider this morning, the touchscreen accuracy of the iPhone is much better than that of three Android phones: the Motorola Droid pushed by Verizon, the HTC Droid Eris, and the new Google Nexus One. Why is that important? Well, when you're trying to tap a link on a website, for example, chances are very good that you're going to be successful on the iPhone and not on the Android phones. The tests, performed by MOTO Development Group (no relation to Motorola), measured touchscreen accuracy with a simple test. On each device, a drawing app was launched and a tester drew straight diagonal lines in both directions across the screens with a finger. iPhones showed straight lines in situations with both light and medium finger pressure, while the Android phones showed zig-zag wavy lines across the screen. MOTO stated: "On inferior touchscreens, it's basically impossible to draw straight lines. Instead, the lines look jagged or zig-zag, no matter how slowly you go, because the sensor size is too big, the touch-sampling rate is too low, and/or the algorithms that convert gestures into images are too non-linear to faithfully represent user inputs. This is important because quick keyboard use and light flicks on the screen really push the limits of the touch panel's ability to sense." Several user comments on the MOTO site validate the findings. Have any TUAW readers been able to compare touchscreen accuracy on an iPhone and an Android device? Leave a comment below. [via AppleInsider]
MOTO gives straight advice on smartphone touchscreen quality (video)
Like simple and unsophisticated tests? Here's one sure to generate some heated discussion. MOTO, a group of super brains that assists companies from startups to Microsoft in their product development, has devised a dead-simple test to measure the accuracy of touchscreen devices. The test involves slowly drawing a few diagonal lines across the display using any drawing program on your device. Straight lines are good -- stair-stepping is bad. Now, assuming the app isn't doing some kind of smoothing algorithm then what you see above is symbolic of the accuracy of the iPhone, Droid Eris, Droid, and Nexus One (moving left to right). We met with Morgan Venable, Senior Project Lead / Electical Engineer at MOTO, and saw this test performed live here at CES. Compelling stuff. Video after the break. Update: Test under medium pressure after the break.
HTC debuts widgets for Sense-equipped Android phones
HTC was already in the Android software game by virtue of the fact that it drops a fully-customized UI and widget suite on some of its models, but this is new: they've migrated over to the Market. Now, what'd be insanely awesome here is if you could, say, buy Sense for $9.99 and install it on any Android device, but yeah, not so much -- what we've actually got here is a four-pack of free widgets that are compatible with the Hero and Droid Eris. Dice, Today in History, Tip Calculator, and Battery are each downloadable individually; none are particularly exciting or different than what's already available in the Market, but they've all got that famous HTC high style and the exclusivity of knowing that Motorola, Acer, Samsung, and Huawei riffraff can't use them. All four are available now.
First Droid Eris update makes the slow OTA rollout starting tonight
Sorry, no Android 2.0 here (yet), but Verizon's version of the HTC Hero is now getting its first over-the-air update. Known by its affection title of Droid Eris ROM:1.16.605.1, the patch is more or less the usual minor tweaks and improvements, although those who like to dramatically hang up on someone should be advised that the phone goes into screensaver while on call, and two presses of the End key will be required to exit the mode and then conclude said conversation. The week-long rollout starts at midnight ET tonight, but as usual, it could take up to a week to hit your system. Full patch notes after the break.
Verizon commits to 'newer' Android for Droid Eris with Google Maps Navigation in Q1 2010
HTC has pulled no punches about the fact that it intends to bring Heros up to Android 2.0 (or is that 2.1?) spec at some point, though neither Sprint nor Verizon had quickly followed on to assure customers that there'd be upgrades ready and waiting for their versions (sure, technically, the Droid Eris is a different internal HTC codename than the Heros of the world, but they're basically brothers from the same mother). Well, good news: Verizon has just announced that it'll be bringing the phone to a "newer" build of Android with integrated Google Maps Navigation for release in the first quarter of 2010. Since Google's nav app works on 1.6 now, that really doesn't give us much of a clue which version the Droid Eris can expect to see -- but seeing how we have leaked Hero firmwares running on 2.1 at this point, that'd seem like a probable target. With the Droid taking a baby step to 2.0.1 in the next few weeks, it seems at least possible that the shadow-dwelling Eris could end out ahead in the never-ending Android version game -- crazy how the world works, isn't it?
Verizon's Android BOGO flier shows up, Droid Eris only free option
So the good news here is that Verizon's rumored buy-one-get-one-free deal on its Android line this weekend is shaping up to be legit -- the bad news, though, is that the most expensive (and probably most desirable) option is getting left out in the cold. Well, that's not quite true -- you'll still be able to take part in the offer if you buy a Droid, but for your free phone on the second line, you'll be stuck with a Droid Eris from HTC -- a phone that normally runs $100 instead of the Droid's $200. Of course, the Droid Eris is still a great little device, and as for Verizon, don't worry about them -- they'll get their money back. Trust us.