The $99.99 (with two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate) Droid Eris is the smart phone for Verizon Wireless customers who are looking for something more pocket friendly and affordable than the Motorola Droid. While the Eris doesn’t have the latest Android 2.0 operating system or that other Droid’s high-resolution display, you get the intuitive Sense user interface and very good Facebook and Twitter integration. Add in a rock solid industrial design and a first-class Web browser (complete with multitouch support), and you have one of the best smart phones under $100. However, the Eris is not necessarily a better deal than its $179 cousin on Sprint.
Design
The Eris measures 4.5 x 2.2 x 0.5 inches and weighs 4.2 ounces. It’s a bit lighter than the HTC Hero, its cousin on Sprint, and feels comfortable in the hand. On the front of the phone, its 3.2-inch, 480 x 320 resolution display is less impressive than the Droid’s 3.7-inch 854 x 480 resolution display. However, the Eris’ display is multitouch-enabled, where the Motorola Droid’s is not. The entire device has a matte black rubber texture surrounding all of the major buttons and the camera, which makes the Eris easy to hold.
Above the Send and End keys, which flank the trackball at the bottom of the Eris, there are four touch-sensitive buttons that are common on Android phones: the Home key, a Menu key, a return button, and a search button. Silver borders around the proprietary USB charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and 5-MP camera give the device a premium look.
User Interface
The Eris runs Google’s open source Android operating system, which, in addition to allowing third-party software makers to create apps for the device, also lets manufacturers install their own custom user interfaces. Unlike the Motorola Droid, which has the most recent version of the Android OS (2.0), the Eris runs Android version 1.5—which means no free spoken turn-by-turn GPS, for one. HTC has said it will likely release an upgraded version of Sense with Android 2.0 in the future.
There are three primary buttons on the home screen: one arrow that brings up the application menu, another to access the phone app, and a third + button that lets you add widgets to the home screen. From the home screen, you can pull down a notification shade by swiping your finger down from the top of the display, allowing you to view missed calls, messages, or other alerts.
HTC’s Sense theme, also found on the HTC Hero, creates a rich desktop experience. From the home screen you can swipe your finger (or roll the trackball) right or left to explore a total of seven screens that you can customize with widgets. To add a widget, simply hold your finger down and choose either Android Widget or HTC Widget. Sense comes preloaded with tons of custom HTC widgets that you can add to your desktop. These include Bookmarks, Calendar, Clock, Footprints, Mail, Messages, Music, People (your Contacts), Photo Albums, Photo Frames, Search, Stocks, Twitter, and Weather.
Each of these widgets updates in real time, so if you have the Twitter widget (powered by Peep) on your desktop, for example, you can view your friend’s status updates as they roll in. These Sense enhancements are also available on the Sprint HTC Hero.
The aforementioned seven-panel home screen can be tweaked to your preferences, and you can save specific themes you’ve created. Different themes, or Scenes, as HTC calls them, can be applied by pressing the Menu button from the home screen and choosing Scenes. HTC includes a few basic ones, including Play, Social, Travel, and Work, all of which possessing predefined widgets that are designed to match the corresponding theme name.
Sense also contains some smaller (but important) touches. Inside the Contacts application, for example, you can create groups of friends, favorites, or even link people with Facebook to view updates or upcoming events. T-Mobile’s Motorola Cliq, which features Motorola’s Motoblur interface, offers a similar widget interface, but displays friend’s status updates from social networks like Facebook directly in your inbox, which may prove to be a more seamless and robust experience. On the other hand, Motoblur provides only five screens you can customize.
Keyboard
The Eris has a similar virtual keyboard as the Hero, which HTC tweaked a bit from the stock Android version. It’s easy to type on, but switching from vertical to landscape mode takes about 2 to 3 seconds, which is frustrating. Also, if you type fast, the phone starts to lag. Overall, though, it’s one of the better on-screen keyboards we’ve come across, so our quibbles are not a deal breaker.
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