N
NefariousAryq
Guest
Hello all. This is my first new thread here on Android Forums; only been a member for a few days and haven't made many posts. I signed up in anticipation of getting my first Android device, the HTC Droid Eris. I ordered it on Friday morning from the website (so I wouldn't have to deal with mail-in rebates and etc) and it arrived this afternoon.
I'm coming from an LG Dare, which a year ago Verizon was pushing the heck out of as being an "app" phone, as being an iPhone killer, as being the next big thing... etc etc. They WAY over-promised and WAY under-delivered with the Dare. After dealing with it for a year, I could not get rid of it fast enough!
After having played with the Eris now for the last 4 hours, I simply have this to say -- this is THE SINGLE BEST PHONE/DEVICE I HAVE EVER OWNED! That is no joke either. The Dare and the Eris are like night-and-day... Trying to compare them just simply isn't fair to the Dare at all.
Where to start... The size of the device is *perfect* for me. I'm a smaller guy, and the phone fits my hand perfectly. The weight is nice, and I like that it's thinner than my Dare was... so it'll be less noticeable in my front pocket of my jeans. Design is nice, not overly flashy or complex... I like how theres very little to it. My only (minor) complaint about the design is I wish the volume rocker was a bit higher up on the left side of the device, but thats a very minor complaint.
Android itself is awesome, and SenseUI is absolutely gorgeous. In all the time I've played with the phone today I have not experienced a single bit of anything I would consider "annoying lag"... Everything is smooth! I've got some sort of widget on all 7 of the screens (calendar, search, toggles, music favorites, messages, weather).
I've already downloaded a few apps (Pandora, Solitaire, Weather Channel App, Barcode Scanner, Layar, Speed Test, and a few other things)... I've also already downloaded 2 songs from the Amazon MP3 store, as well! Connected the phone up to my laptop (with no issue at all) and dumped a couple hundred songs onto the SD card (which transfered a lot faster than I would have anticipated for being just a class-2 card!)
Signal isnt quite as good on the Eris as it is on the Dare... sitting side-by-side, the Dare has 3 bars and the Eris has 2 (sometimes dropping to 1)... yet the 3g network speed on the Eris seems to be perfectly fine, in fact I just got 1575kbps down and 809kbps up with the Ookla (speedtest.net) app.
The browser is great (pinch zoom is great!)... the Gmail app is great... the Google Maps app is great... voice search is great... the camera is actually quite decent, which surprised me... the sound/volume are great... It's just overall -- GREAT!
Okay, now for a few minor annoyances... I use "Google Apps For Your Domain" and let Google host my domain for my e-mail. Upon initial setup, I was not (at first) able to use that account because in the Domain control panel I had turned off Google Chat for my domain, since I dont use it. Sooo, I had to go turn it on and wait for the setting to propagate out before I could continue with setup. Kinda annoying, but not a huge deal.
Has anyone figured out how to turn off the vibrate when using the four touch-sensitive buttons just below the screen? Last I checked, no one had... At first they didnt bother me, but the more I use them the more they kinda annoy me a little. Again, kinda annoying but not a huge deal. Hopefully they'll give us an option to turn those off down the road.
By default, it sync's EVERY single contact in your Gmail contact list... and by default, Gmail adds everyone you ever contact, even if its just ONCE, to that list. So initially I had HUNDREDS of people in my phone address book that I did NOT want in there. Had to figure out where to set it to only sync certain groups... once I did that, no big deal. All is fine now. Once again, a bit of an annoyances, but NOT a huge deal at all.
Alright, this is a MASSIVE post... I'll stop raving now... I probably sound a bit kookie... ha ha
But I've been waiting for this day (a decent smartphone on Verizon) for A LONG TIME. I honestly was starting to believe this day would never get here, and us Verizon customers would be relegated to crapphones forever. I *almost* pulled the plug and switched to Sprint for the HERO a month ago... But I'm quite happy about sticking it out and waiting for the Eris!
Ciao!
~Aryq~
I'm coming from an LG Dare, which a year ago Verizon was pushing the heck out of as being an "app" phone, as being an iPhone killer, as being the next big thing... etc etc. They WAY over-promised and WAY under-delivered with the Dare. After dealing with it for a year, I could not get rid of it fast enough!
After having played with the Eris now for the last 4 hours, I simply have this to say -- this is THE SINGLE BEST PHONE/DEVICE I HAVE EVER OWNED! That is no joke either. The Dare and the Eris are like night-and-day... Trying to compare them just simply isn't fair to the Dare at all.
Where to start... The size of the device is *perfect* for me. I'm a smaller guy, and the phone fits my hand perfectly. The weight is nice, and I like that it's thinner than my Dare was... so it'll be less noticeable in my front pocket of my jeans. Design is nice, not overly flashy or complex... I like how theres very little to it. My only (minor) complaint about the design is I wish the volume rocker was a bit higher up on the left side of the device, but thats a very minor complaint.
Android itself is awesome, and SenseUI is absolutely gorgeous. In all the time I've played with the phone today I have not experienced a single bit of anything I would consider "annoying lag"... Everything is smooth! I've got some sort of widget on all 7 of the screens (calendar, search, toggles, music favorites, messages, weather).
I've already downloaded a few apps (Pandora, Solitaire, Weather Channel App, Barcode Scanner, Layar, Speed Test, and a few other things)... I've also already downloaded 2 songs from the Amazon MP3 store, as well! Connected the phone up to my laptop (with no issue at all) and dumped a couple hundred songs onto the SD card (which transfered a lot faster than I would have anticipated for being just a class-2 card!)
Signal isnt quite as good on the Eris as it is on the Dare... sitting side-by-side, the Dare has 3 bars and the Eris has 2 (sometimes dropping to 1)... yet the 3g network speed on the Eris seems to be perfectly fine, in fact I just got 1575kbps down and 809kbps up with the Ookla (speedtest.net) app.
The browser is great (pinch zoom is great!)... the Gmail app is great... the Google Maps app is great... voice search is great... the camera is actually quite decent, which surprised me... the sound/volume are great... It's just overall -- GREAT!
Okay, now for a few minor annoyances... I use "Google Apps For Your Domain" and let Google host my domain for my e-mail. Upon initial setup, I was not (at first) able to use that account because in the Domain control panel I had turned off Google Chat for my domain, since I dont use it. Sooo, I had to go turn it on and wait for the setting to propagate out before I could continue with setup. Kinda annoying, but not a huge deal.
Has anyone figured out how to turn off the vibrate when using the four touch-sensitive buttons just below the screen? Last I checked, no one had... At first they didnt bother me, but the more I use them the more they kinda annoy me a little. Again, kinda annoying but not a huge deal. Hopefully they'll give us an option to turn those off down the road.
By default, it sync's EVERY single contact in your Gmail contact list... and by default, Gmail adds everyone you ever contact, even if its just ONCE, to that list. So initially I had HUNDREDS of people in my phone address book that I did NOT want in there. Had to figure out where to set it to only sync certain groups... once I did that, no big deal. All is fine now. Once again, a bit of an annoyances, but NOT a huge deal at all.
Alright, this is a MASSIVE post... I'll stop raving now... I probably sound a bit kookie... ha ha
But I've been waiting for this day (a decent smartphone on Verizon) for A LONG TIME. I honestly was starting to believe this day would never get here, and us Verizon customers would be relegated to crapphones forever. I *almost* pulled the plug and switched to Sprint for the HERO a month ago... But I'm quite happy about sticking it out and waiting for the Eris!Ciao!
~Aryq~
I'm kinda "wordy" sometimes. LoL 
