Hyper24x7 Gadget Review:
What: The HTC Droid Eris Mobile smart-phone for Verizon Wireless
Cost: This android based phone is relatively cheap, only $80 for new customers via the web, its thin, fast, easy to use and provides the awesome Android OS. As always the product rate-down first, then the review.
The Hyper24x7 Gadget Rate-down:
Will you waste your time buying this phone: Potentially yes, you could end up spending hours looking things up on the net, learning about stuff that may have no real impact on your daily life. HOWEVER, you may also get facebook, twitter, and numerous other social networking things done at the same time making phone calls, texts, social plans, in the long run you’d save time by not having to go to a PC or just getting lost.
A to F scale: I’d give this one a B. I prefer a real keyboard, also there is no mention of jacking this for use on other carriers besides Verizon (someone really needs to come up with multi-carrier phones, they would make a ton of money). Also if you put this next to the Motorola Droid for $120, the droid does have better hardware and software, and many old-schoolers would likely prefer the keyboard (hippies, you know who you are, welcome, the future is now).
Will this gadget get worse with age: Feasibly, Verizon should be rolling out their 4G network in the future, whether or not you’ll need special 4g phones or not could affect this phone or any phone currently out sucking wind on the mobile phone internets. That being said, this phone should be able to handle Android OS 2.0 and easily remain vigilant against younger rivals for 2 years. If you paid $80 and divided it by 2, that’s $40, for 40 a year I don’t think if you upgraded every year you could get this good of a phone.
Noob-friendly / New User Friendly: If you can use an iPod, this is roughly a step up. If you can use a Blackberry or Windows Mobile phone, this will seem easier and more open / free. If you currently use a flip phone and have never typed on a screen, the you likely would prefer the Droid over this. However the learning curve is not so steep that you couldn’t eventually figure things out. Besides everyone knows somebody like me: smart, handsome, techy, geeky (ok 3 out 4 ain’t bad).
Would I buy it: If I had to choose between this and the Motorola phone as a Verizon customer, I’d chose the Droid if I had the money, plus I’d prefer a keyboard. HOWEVER, I have my wife and I on the same plan, so 2 Droids would cost me $400, whereas 2 Eris phones would cost me $160. That’s with both phones giving a $100 discount.
This phone is a pretty slick implementation of Android. My cousin recently got this phone and came over for dinner yesterday. I got to try it out and I have to say I was impressed. Features that I really liked about the phone were:
- it was pretty thin, I’d say about half the thickness of my T-mobile G1.
- incredibly responsive / fast, due its faster processor speed.
- the phone had a nice skin from HTC, provides the clock in nice big easy to read numbers as well as makes the phone have 6 different tabs/screens.
- switching between apps and the various functions of the phone was very quick (again comparing to my G1) and there was no stutter or lag using the browser (thanks to Verizon 3G coverage).
- Screen typing (meaning there is no slide out keyboard) is pretty accurate, normally it takes some getting used to but I picked this right up without any problems. People with bigger hands might have a harder time but nobody was on hand (pun) to try it out.
As far as applications built-in I noticed it still seemed to need a task manager / killer app, so I put on Estrong’s Task Manager. As well it was lacking a file manager, so I used Estrong’s File Manager as well. I prefer those purely based on ease of use, the UI is easy to understand and the file manager provides easy to read / see icons. Luckily both these apps are free through the Android Market place.
My cousin mentioned that the battery life was fairly short but this was prior to getting a task killer to save memory from running applications and there was also no widget for turning down the screen brightness or disabling the GPS. The Verizon website specs list this phone has having a 214 minute usage time, so about 3 hours of steady use, but having a 373 hour standby time. That seems highly odd but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the standby time was shorter.
Overall I think this phone would be fairly friendly on users of existing smart-phones, such as my cousin had a Palm-based phone previously. It’s sturdy / doesn’t feel cheap or plasticky like some phones feel they would rip apart or shatter if you dropped them.
The thing about this phone that I can’t get away from is the money value: if you had to buy 2 of these vs. 2 Motorola droids, this is significantly cheaper. This should also hold you over until a 2 year contract runs out (early adopters be damned right?). However if you absolutely must have a keyboard, the question you must ask yourself is “Is a keyboard worth $120 per phone?” and of course in some cases that answer may be yes.
Note: As of yet I have not found a wireless phone affiliate program I feel will be as unbiased and thorough as I am as well as be able to provide the entire range of wireless products to my readers, once I do I will be sure to add it here. For now, Verizon gets a FREE plug 
Verizon Wireless Direct Link