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About to sign my life away

Hello Eris / Driod users, I need your advice on several topics!

1. reliability - I see lots of complaints about the Eris but it seems that this is a good phone.. so many good reviews! is this a reliable sound device? ( I am an IT guy so i can handle some problems / glitches )

2. reception - heres the thing.. i live in southern Maine, we currently have two motorola phones on the USCC network. Somehow despite having good coverage in our area our home is a dead spot for USCC and ATT. My parents have Verizon phones which have a moderate signal ( 2+ bars ).

Will the Driod Eris have a descent signal if my parents phone does okay... i am aware i can turn off the mobile network to allow for 1x signal.. ( if i am correct )

Thanks for any input.. ( of course i have 30 days to decide wether the phone will work well. but rahter than wasting time i would love some advice! )
 
thanks for the info guys! its greatly appreciated.. lol " straight wooded area" i know what you mean that is most of maine! so far i am 99% certain i will be buying an Eris tonight! pretty excited! even more excited to make a phone call from my home
Make sure to read up on the stickied topics. :)
I'd invest in an extended battery also, available January 10th I believe.
 
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1. The complainers will always shout louder than those who are content. I by no means think every Eris will be perfect ... but if you follow the tips and tricks on this site, you should have a good expirence with the Eris. If you end up with one that has a major problem, bring it back for a new one.

2. I live near Minneapolis/St Paul, as expected I do not have any problems. However ... my wife's grandparents live in north western Minnesota in the middle of no where and we were there this past Saturday. I had 3G and 3 or 4 bars the entire time. We own a cabin in northern Wisconsin, but I have not been there since I got my Eris ... when we go up there Iw ill let everyone know how the reception was.
 
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reception in my experience is solid. not the best ever but very good. i have heard some people say HTC is known for phones with weak reception. not sure if that's actually true or not. but with the Eris i don't seem to have any issues. i did drop a call or two in my apartment but i think the same thing happened with my droid. i have a very weak signal here. but most of the time the Eris holds on and as long as the call doesn't drop there is no choppy sound.

my phone locks up about once a day. it's irritating because i have to remove the battery. but i am assuming this is something that can be fixed with a software update once HTC figures out why it's happening (and we know they know about it because we've all complained a great deal to them). other than the lockups, the phone is pretty reliable software-wise. it's a bit laggy but solid.
 
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It's reliable if you know what to expect from it.
Reception...you always get good reception with the Eris, just sometimes the UI doesn't display it as such. That's a bug in the software.

This may be true, but it will drain the battery if it's not showing any bars. I've been in good coverage areas where my friends' Env's have 2 bars and I won't have any. While you're correct, I can make calls & send texts, my battery drops about 20% in 3 hours. I posted this somewhere else. Where I have good signal showing, I have no battery issues whatsoever.

Will the Driod Eris have a descent signal if my parents phone does okay... i am aware i can turn off the mobile network to allow for 1x signal.. ( if i am correct )

Thanks for any input.. ( of course i have 30 days to decide wether the phone will work well. but rahter than wasting time i would love some advice! )

Use your 30 days to try it out.
 
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This may be true, but it will drain the battery if it's not showing any bars. I've been in good coverage areas where my friends' Env's have 2 bars and I won't have any. While you're correct, I can make calls & send texts, my battery drops about 20% in 3 hours. I posted this somewhere else. Where I have good signal showing, I have no battery issues whatsoever.



Use your 30 days to try it out.
The fluctuating signal is a UI issue and it's a battery drainer also. Only thing that makes me really resent the Eris.
Also that "feature" where it switches from 3G to 1X every time you send or receive SMS drains the piss out of your battery...I swear every time... it does that I wanna throw it.
 
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The fluctuating signal is a UI issue and it's a battery drainer also. Only thing that makes me really resent the Eris.
Also that "feature" where it switches from 3G to 1X every time you send or receive SMS drains the piss out of your battery...I swear every time... it does that I wanna throw it.


Verizon and HTC have both confirmed that voice & sms are both over the 1x network. 3g is only for data. Apparently the switch is perfectly normal and happens with all phones.
 
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Yeah, you both are correct about the battery drain. ESPECIALLY, if you don't give the phone time to revert back to 3g before putting it to sleep.


To the OP, I would recommend the Eris. The only problem I have is battery drain when my phone doesn't pick up a strong signal (outside the occasional lock up). Utilize that 30 day return policy. Take the phone everywhere you'll think you will use it regularly and try it out.
 
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thanks very much guys.. great info.. much of which i have read. ( i am a little ocd and study everything before i buy)

great to hear that overall the reception is good. the battery issues are a non issue with me ( i dont mind plugging it in at my Desk ( as i spend most of my day on a computer remoted into servers )

the lockups however are a casue for concern. someone mentioned it locks up once a day... wouldnt that be enough to have verizon replace it ... or is it a case of verizon cant duplicate the issue so they dont believe it is happening?

looks like this is a good forum... pretty excited to read / add to it
 
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thanks very much guys.. great info.. much of which i have read. ( i am a little ocd and study everything before i buy)

great to hear that overall the reception is good. the battery issues are a non issue with me ( i dont mind plugging it in at my Desk ( as i spend most of my day on a computer remoted into servers )

the lockups however are a casue for concern. someone mentioned it locks up once a day... wouldnt that be enough to have verizon replace it ... or is it a case of verizon cant duplicate the issue so they dont believe it is happening?

looks like this is a good forum... pretty excited to read / add to it
Verizon gave me that bullshit about not being able to duplicate the lockups...after the tech did a factory reset and used my phone for 5 minutes.
I haven't had one RECENTLY, maybe in a few days.
 
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thanks very much guys.. great info.. much of which i have read. ( i am a little ocd and study everything before i buy)

great to hear that overall the reception is good. the battery issues are a non issue with me ( i dont mind plugging it in at my Desk ( as i spend most of my day on a computer remoted into servers )

the lockups however are a casue for concern. someone mentioned it locks up once a day... wouldnt that be enough to have verizon replace it ... or is it a case of verizon cant duplicate the issue so they dont believe it is happening?

looks like this is a good forum... pretty excited to read / add to it

Mine is about once a week on average. If mine locked up once a day, it would go back. HTC is aware of the issue. Hopefully it's remedied in the next round of updates.
 
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a lock up here and there is no biggie.. most all of the phones i have owned have lockups from time to time. daily on the other hand.

My response to verizon not being able to replicate the issues is. I work with technology when a client or user reports a problem with their PC or other tech. It is my job to find it wether i believe it exists or not.. as my tech / phone company i require that you find out why my phone is locking up wether you believe me or not. or else the BBB.org will have a posting about how poorly VZW supports their clients.
 
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a lock up here and there is no biggie.. most all of the phones i have owned have lockups from time to time. daily on the other hand.

My response to verizon not being able to replicate the issues is. I work with technology when a client or user reports a problem with their PC or other tech. It is my job to find it wether i believe it exists or not.. as my tech / phone company i require that you find out why my phone is locking up wether you believe me or not. or else the BBB.org will have a posting about how poorly VZW supports their clients.
Well I'm just telling you how my experience went. Sometimes you'll get a rep who ACTUALLY cares and tries their best, you know? But most of the time you get an overpaid douche who just wants to get his shift done with.
 
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Well I'm just telling you how my experience went. Sometimes you'll get a rep who ACTUALLY cares and tries their best, you know? But most of the time you get an overpaid douche who just wants to get his shift done with.


i wasnt making light of your situation.. i completely understand.. maybe if you try a different approach with them...

honestly my approach doesnt always work.. infact there was one point where i thought i was going to be kicked out of ATT lol.. promptly canceled and went elsewhere.

pretty excited.. feeling like a high school kid waiting for a new toy :)
 
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I have the droid, not the eris but the android os is close enough. My prarents live in a valley in WV between two mountains 1/2 mile high. Verizon phones can usually get a voice signal when the weather is nice there but rain or snow it drops out. All previous phones would run the battery down real fast there searching for a signal, the droid is the first that I couldn't tell any decrease in battery life and the data signal would bounce up and down even when I didn't have a voice connection so things like e-mails would get through.
The Android OS is way more stable than Windows mobile, I had a WInmo phone for the last 2.5 years and waited for something better to come along.
 
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