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HTC Eris

J

Jodiuh

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
5,275
I finally got the courage to try out the Verizon version of HTC's Hero last night and boy am I glad I did. The phone is slower than the DROID and a bit too small as far as the screens concerned, but overall its a great device and definitely my favorite Droid so far. Here are my thoughts comparing the 2.

First off HTC's Sense UI is spectacular. The massive clock widget that shows time, date, day, and temp has been very helpful.

The keyboard used is far superior to the one on DROID. Auto correction does its job and I found hitting the right key happens more frequently.

The browser supports pinch to zoom with no annoying +- icon to get in my way. Every swipe and tap has met with success and I've yet to run into any wild scroll or connectivity issues. When looking at windows open, they are full pages instead of a list.

Unlike the DROID, the screen actually goes dim enough for my eyes to comfortably read in the dark. It's also much more accurately detecting my finger jabs.

Call qualitys fine, although I've not had it long enough to render a final opinion here. Signal strength is better than all of my DROID's.

The charger/usb port is much easier to insert and remove and doesn't fight me like the DROID did.

I'm sure there's more, but if the Eris is an indication of what the Passion will be like, only faster and larger, it will be my next phone.

Anyone else pick up a little hero? :)

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i have one. i switched from att with an iphone to verizon with the droid eris. I love it. call quality is way better and has a lighter, grippier feel. I only miss my iphone for the itunes stuff, although i transferred my itunes music library to my 8gb card in my eris and it plays fine with the album covers there as well.
 
I've been using the Eris for a couple of weeks and am definitely more happy than I was with the Sprint Hero. The Moto Droid is this weird category, while I was happy with the display and speed I just got tired of the slider form factor.
I did find it easier to use the physical keyboard over the virtual, but this made the phone less pocket friendly. Not because of the bulk, but because in the pocket the slider started to wear out fast. I would reach in my pocket and find it halfway open. After a couple of weeks it really became too loose so I exchanged it for the Eris and the sexy Sense UI.
I really like HTC's Sense widgets, they are sweet. The same can be said for their People app.
 
michaelkahl said:
I've been using the Eris for a couple of weeks and am definitely more happy than I was with the Sprint Hero. The Moto Droid is this weird category, while I was happy with the display and speed I just got tired of the slider form factor.
I did find it easier to use the physical keyboard over the virtual, but this made the phone less pocket friendly. Not because of the bulk, but because in the pocket the slider started to wear out fast. I would reach in my pocket and find it halfway open. After a couple of weeks it really became too loose so I exchanged it for the Eris and the sexy Sense UI.
I really like HTC's Sense widgets, they are sweet. The same can be said for their People app.
Click to expand...

welcome back to a good UI.
 
GAH! I'm still getting the wifi connectivity problem. I think I'm going to try flashing the router to Tomato. It's auto scrolled on me a few times too. And sometimes the browser will "forget" pages. Also, page loading is SLOW.

Even w/ all these frustrations, it doesn't it sit in time out like the DROID. Overall, I think I'm just not a slider kinda guy. I love picking this phone up. It feels SO much better than the Moto.

Although, I do wish I could get some of it straightened out. Overall, it just feels a little less "baked in the oven" compared to the the iPhone's browser. If I could get the wifi connectivity straightened out and the Passion kicks the browser up a notch, I'll be good.

Also, are the 4 white touch buttons @ the bottom supposed to stay super bright and on when the screen's on? It's pretty distracting when reading something in the dark. How does something like that get past QA? I mean, I'm looking @ my Samsung TV and it has no led's, but this phone has 4 BRIGHT WHITE LED'S owning my face, lol. At the very least they should dim like the screen. Or even better, give me an option to turn them off.

Any ideas on the wifi?

EDIT: Sense UI = awesome.
 
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Gabe3 said:
welcome back to a good UI.
Click to expand...

Thanks, it's good to be back. I realize that 99% of the widgets I like using are from the Sense widget engine....thank goodness Verizon was smart enough to get a Sense phone from HTC.
 
michaelkahl said:
I've been using the Eris for a couple of weeks and am definitely more happy than I was with the Sprint Hero. The Moto Droid is this weird category, while I was happy with the display and speed I just got tired of the slider form factor.
I did find it easier to use the physical keyboard over the virtual, but this made the phone less pocket friendly. Not because of the bulk, but because in the pocket the slider started to wear out fast. I would reach in my pocket and find it halfway open. After a couple of weeks it really became too loose so I exchanged it for the Eris and the sexy Sense UI.
I really like HTC's Sense widgets, they are sweet. The same can be said for their People app.
Click to expand...

What is better than the Sprint Hero? Just curious as I thought they were the same phones in different form factors (and the Eris has a proximity sensor).
 
I have been using a HTC Hero on Sprint network and I couldnt have been happier. I absolutely love this thing. I have used and downloaded all sorts of apps for just about everything from finance, to comics, compass and even a lightsaber to mess around with. I have owned an Itouch(yes I know its not an IPhone but close enough) and didnt really care for it. But the Hero has been a joy.
 
thelead said:
What is better than the Sprint Hero? Just curious as I thought they were the same phones in different form factors (and the Eris has a proximity sensor).
Click to expand...

some believe that the eris and gsm hero are faster than the sprint hero, due to sprint's preloaded software.
 
I think it runs like a pig. :D

But it holds SO NICELY in the hand. One thing I've learned from owning both DROID's is that I much prefer the portrait style wo/ keyboard. It feels natural to handle a slim device w/ curves...
 
Jodiuh said:
I think it runs like a pig. :D

But it holds SO NICELY in the hand. One thing I've learned from owning both DROID's is that I much prefer the portrait style wo/ keyboard. It feels natural to handle a slim device w/ curves...
Click to expand...
Same here. I went and purchased a Droid Eris yesterday because I'm totally sick of my iPhone and itunes. I previously had the Motorola Droid and it didn't take me long to figure out that I hated the slider keyboard. The Eris' form factor really is a pleasure and while it's a step down from my iPhone in a few ways I don't think I can go back to that thing anymore.
 
I really am liking the device. Just wish I could figure out what's causing the page cannot be displayed errors. I'm connected to the wifi the whole time. But I need to turn it off, then on in order to start browsing again. I'll probably keep the device a bit longer, but definitely return in anticipation for the Passion. The Eris is great, but it's too slow and too small IMO.
 
I've only had my eris a few hours but I haven't really had any browsing problems (other than the browser being way slower than the iPhone 3GS). I know what you mean about the eris bring slow though. Mine is also going back as soon as the passion is out.
 
Yeah, its really odd. Ive had plenty of WiFi enabled devices including a 3rd gen touch on this ddwrt wrt54gn over the years and the 2 droids are the first to throw a fit. It's completely random and can happen over and over or just once. Aside from that an the occasional auto scroll down, my other fix wish list item would be some sort of a sessions saver. The browser likes to lose my open tabs. And I'm limited to 4 anyway. Though that maybe foe performance reasons.

Bring on the passion!
 
Have they rooted the Eris yet? I know that rooting my Hero and using a custom ROM with most of Sprint's pre-loaded apps removed, and the stock apk's zipaligned and optimized it runs a LOT faster. Verizon usually locks down their bootloaders on the HTC phones pretty well, but I haven't done a lot of research on it yet.

And yes, Sense is awesome.
 
This is the phone I would get if I could....waiting for my new every two to come around. I have the Omnia and it was not too sleek until I put a custom rom in it. Now it's great.
 
Dell is currently giving the Eris away for free. I just bought two.
 
How dare I let people know that Dell has them for $100 cheaper than Verizon.
 
This phone feels nice in the hand like the HTC Elf. Which are very similar in design except for the navigation pad, Elf has a D-Pad and Eris has a trackball. I'm not a big fan of the trackball. My friend has recently switched over to Verizon and got a good deal on it. I've been playing with his phone and really love HTC Sense .
 
this is my VZ driod of choice (if i ever get one :( )

pros:

uses the same usb interface as my current phone, so i dont have to buy 10 new chargers.
smaller size fits my pocket and my hands better, its dimensionally smaller than the other droid in every way
no slide keyboard.
multitouch

cons
slower than the droid
not running the latest android os (word is it will be upgradeable though)
funny little roller ball
 
And 2 of the 3 cons will be fixed w/ the Passion. :D

I actually like the trackball, but wish it was a bit more sensitive. Or that I could at least adjust the sensitivity myself. It's a little low by default. But it's very helpful when trying to find a spot of text to edit.

Even though the USB jack's not standard mini or micro, I MUCH prefer it to the DROID's micro. All 4 of my DROIDS would fit unevenly or hit an edge, keeping them from fully connecting unless fiddled with. The connector on the Eris is much larger and easier to insert. It doesn't fight w/ me either. It knows it place. I dig it.
 
Jodiuh said:
And 2 of the 3 cons will be fixed w/ the Passion. :D

I actually like the trackball, but wish it was a bit more sensitive. Or that I could at least adjust the sensitivity myself. It's a little low by default. But it's very helpful when trying to find a spot of text to edit.

Even though the USB jack's not standard mini or micro, I MUCH prefer it to the DROID's micro. All 4 of my DROIDS would fit unevenly or hit an edge, keeping them from fully connecting unless fiddled with. The connector on the Eris is much larger and easier to insert. It doesn't fight w/ me either. It knows it place. I dig it.
Click to expand...

the usb is a wierd mini shape, but you can plug any mini-usb in and it will work
 
the security/charger thing the VZ store used on the droid eris was a mini-usb connector.
 
I was wondering if this phone will be better than the droid after it gets android 2.0 or 2.1
 
I personally love the keyboard on the Droid. Not too big of a fan on on screen after playing with the Eris for awhile. Probably also the reason why I'll most likely keep my Droid over Passion. It's nice to see the full screen when typing stuff in landscape mode :p
 
Yeah i tried the keyboard out today at the store and i dont know how much i love it. I still wish they had predictive text on the physical keyboard too
 
soulesschild said:
It's nice to see the full screen when typing stuff in landscape mode :p
Click to expand...
Editing posts or using IRC is a BITCH on the Eris. :D

But I like the form factor better than the DROID. Also, I'm too lazy to be rotating the phone back and forth. :D
 
How's the battery life been for you Eris owners? I've read so many bad complaints about the battery that I've refrained from buying this phone that I do want...
 
I wouldn't say it's terrible, but it could definitely be better.
 
I unplug mine from the charger at 7AM and it's usually between 50% and 75% by 4PM depending on what I've been doing. I've been keeping Wifi off though as it seems to destroy the battery.
 
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