Sell me on the Droid...

[elchip]

Sorry for the cross-post in the Android News & Talk forum... I didn't see this one at first.

So last Friday I went out and bought a Droid Eris.

I really like the sleek interface, and I like the fact that it has 9 'home' screens vs. the Android's 3. I like some of the default HTC widgets, like the combined clock/weather.

I really don't like the battery life. It would be nice if I could consolidate my MP3 player and phone, but with crappy battery life and 8 GB of memory, the Eris doesn't cut it.

Also, when I've played with the regular Droid in the store, it seemed to load webpages faster and such. (Maybe it was my imagination.)

So, here's my conundrum: Should I eat the $35 restocking fee and pay another $100 for the Droid? Or should I keep the Eris? I'm interested in being sold on one or the other.

 

[CRPercodani]

Well the thing is we aren't you and everyone has different opinions. The DROID has awesome battery life, but no Sense UI. You will also get a 16GB card, but you could just buy another 8GB or even 16GB for your Eris and have even more space. Also I think you can get a extended battery or a spare battery to keep with you for when the other one gets low. With the DROID you will get a bigger screen and a real keyboard, but is that enough to sell you on it?

 

[yasuro]

well, there will probably be an android 2.0 update in 1/2010 for the eris from HTC, so a lot of features and quickness issues may be resolved.

HTC is aware of the htc messaging app draining battery too quickly, exchange email, and some other bugs, so hopefully the update will take care of those.

i had the hero for 3 weeks and couldn't stand the email problem and lag, the 550 mhz OMAP processor in the droid is far superior to the eris' processor (which is 2 years old, iirc) hence the quickness that you noticed.

i also much prefer the build quality and screen of the droid over the eris, but that's a personal choice.

 

[elchip]

Well the thing is we aren't you and everyone has different opinions. The DROID has awesome battery life, but no Sense UI. You will also get a 16GB card, but you could just buy another 8GB or even 16GB for your Eris and have even more space. Also I think you can get a extended battery or a spare battery to keep with you for when the other one gets low. With the DROID you will get a bigger screen and a real keyboard, but is that enough to sell you on it?

Sure, I get that, but will it function well as a replacement for my MP3 player? How much of a battery hog is the music app? Is it genuinely faster in running applications, particularly web browsing? What features does 2.0 have that 1.5 doesn't, besides the voice turn-by-turn directions? Is the battery life THAT much better? Is the keyboard as bad as they say? Sure it's "off center," but the virtual keyboard on the Eris is also off-center when you rotate it on the side.

 

[Vance]

Does the Eris have turn-by-turn navigation? That alone is worth the extra money for some! Don't do it for the keyboard, though, since many find it nearly useless. As far as home screens, you can get aHome or similar and get a LOT of home screens as well.

 

[yasuro]

Sure, I get that, but will it function well as a replacement for my MP3 player? How much of a battery hog is the music app? Is it genuinely faster in running applications, particularly web browsing? What features does 2.0 have that 1.5 doesn't, besides the voice turn-by-turn directions? Is the battery life THAT much better?

i used mine this week on a 2 hour plane ride and it barely made a dent in the battery meter. of course it was in airplane mode, so ymmv.

it is noticeably faster running applications. you can check out the bandwidth testing threads on this board.

the battery life is that much better.

 

[e39e60]

Where would you be getting charged a restocking fee? I guess I've never taken a phone back.

 

[elchip]

Where would you be getting charged a restocking fee? I guess I've never taken a phone back.

Verizon, obviously
They have a deal where you can return your phone within 30 days and get another phone @ the 2-year contract price... but you have to pay a restocking fee.

 

[vincentp]

I have not used the Eris, but I do have the Droid, and I can tell you that the real world battery life is excellent considering all it does and the (presumably) power hungry screen.

I do charge it overnight, unlike my Blackberry which I could sometimes use for two days straight, but it easily lasts me all day. I play with the thing nonstop at work, browsing the web (since we have so much locked out on our network), listening to Pandora, watching the occasional YouTube video, texting and e-mailing. I don't have a whole lot of talk time, so if you use the phone a great deal your results may vary, but I also have not changed any of the default settings that would lower the power usage. By the time I go to bed (which is very late, typically 2-3 AM), the battery indicator is just reaching yellow, so it still has juice left.

I am not terribly happy with the keyboard, but I'm growing accustomed to it. Honestly, I think the keyboard is very nice, but they made one huge mistake. The space key is awkwardly placed, and too small. Why in the world did they not just extend it and use those two empty spaces on the side for the other keys on the bottom row? I just don't get this design flaw on a device which is otherwise perfect. No comment on the touch screen keyboard as I hate them and don't use it, but the phone is small and slim enough that you won't even realize you have a physical keyboard if you never use it.

I'm extremely happy with the battery life on this thing considering all that it does. In addition, as others have said, the free GPS navigation alone is worth the extra dough, and Android 2.0 is much better than what I've experienced with older versions - though I never used them for any extended length of time. You may miss the Eris' UI, but overall, big brother Droid is hands down the best phone I've ever used.

 

[zoukis05]

Verizon, obviously
They have a deal where you can return your phone within 30 days and get another phone @ the 2-year contract price... but you have to pay a restocking fee.

Its been a long time since I've done that, but I never had to pay a restocking fee for exchanging a phone within their grace period. They have no restocking fee for returning a phone outright, so I can't see why they would charge it for an exchange.

 

[yasuro]

I haven't had to fly in a couple years, do they allow you to keep your phones on now? They would always make us turn off ours even if we had an airplane mode.

they want you to turn it off for take off and landing, but no one ever does. most people just set their phones to airplane mode and use the MP3 feature of their smartphones when the plane hits altitude.

but honestly, i put on my bose QC3 headset from taxi to touchdown and no flight attendant has ever made mention of it.

 

[The Antagonist]

Sorry for the cross-post in the Android News & Talk forum... I didn't see this one at first.

So last Friday I went out and bought a Droid Eris.

I really like the sleek interface, and I like the fact that it has 9 'home' screens vs. the Android's 3. I like some of the default HTC widgets, like the combined clock/weather.

I really don't like the battery life. It would be nice if I could consolidate my MP3 player and phone, but with crappy battery life and 8 GB of memory, the Eris doesn't cut it.

Also, when I've played with the regular Droid in the store, it seemed to load webpages faster and such. (Maybe it was my imagination.)

So, here's my conundrum: Should I eat the $35 restocking fee and pay another $100 for the Droid? Or should I keep the Eris? I'm interested in being sold on one or the other.

You can download an app called Weather Widgets to get an htc-style flip clock with weather on the Droid. Programs like Open Home and aHome allow you to have seven screens instead of the default 3. As for media player battery use, it barely makes a dent. I used the Droid in the gym yesterday for close to two hours playing music. The battery use monitor says the "media engine" used 5% of my overall battery consumption.