HTC & VZW Deserve High Praise

[falltime]

Sometimes lost amongst all the discussions, complains and improvements wished for - is how IMPRESSIVE both Verizon and Htc have been handling the Eris phone.

As anyone who has bought phone/consumer electronics that came with such early praise and promise which turned out to be utter crap (can you say LG Dare) can attest , the norm is that...what you get, is what you are stuck with...unless you are willing to shell out for a new product (praying that the new one will finally live up to the hype).

Yet here we are less than 3mo into Eris's lifespan and HTC and VZW have launched 2 major updates (and an upgraded OS planned).

Sure you could say, the phone should have been perfect on launch - but frankly that is just naive - the reality is almost nothing gets launched perfect....and yet most of the time no improvements are ever seen, fixes are never addressed - if you get one firmware upgrade you are very lucky.

An certainly VZW could have scrimped on the Eris, it was their low cost droid, it got little press and even less hype and if a few annoyed customers were bitching on some forums about battery life or intermittent lock-ups it would be of little consequence to Big Red. But it seems VZW is stepping up along with HTC and supporting our phones and trying to address problems...Maybe it shouldnt so rare but it is and therefore I think VZW and HTC should be commended!

 

[Podivin]

Nicely said.

 

[mpaquette]

I agree completely.

 

[willdogs]

+1

 

[Cornfuzzled]

Agree fully. I've seen some ugly product launches for consumer electronics. And this one has been smooth. I greatly enjoy the product, and I love showing it off to my iDrop and BB using phones.

 

[tarponbeach]

Totally Agree. In my neck of the woods, it is very difficult to find the Eris in stock at either Verizon Stores, or Best Buy. The Best Buy rep that I spoke to said that many customers are returning their Motorola Droids, and exchanging them for the Eris. I believe that the Eris is going to be a sleeper hit.

I came from an iPhone 3Gs, primarily because I finally got fed up with AT&T's totally crappy network. I was not expecting much from the Eris, but this phone has exceeded my expectations ten fold. Having used the Eris for a month, I can't imagine going back to the iPhone. The Android operating system is simply better than Apple's, and the HTC hardware is well designed, and built.

I am totally satisfied with the Eris, and with Verizon, and SO happy to be away from evil AT&T.

 

[trekgraham]

LOL I show off my Droid to everyone, I got two friends who plan to get it in March when they can upgrade. One currently has a windows mobile phone, other has a nonsmartphone. I agree vzw has been really good to entire android lineup, but the Eris has gotten extra advertisement lately which is good, they need to provide equal adtime to HTC as they did with Motorola

 

[stymye]

I like my Droid Eris, however this forum is very high in the "whiner" scale compared to most I frequent. Especially when It comes to updates.

I want the 2.1 update when it's 100% ready and fully tested.
I'm not going to stare at my phone untill it comes ...or force updates just because someone else got theirs a day before...

all in all a great phone with very few issues
plus any issues are being fixed on a regular basis.

why do people have to whine about every little detail so much?
it's a good phone ...be happy..cause nothing in life is perfect

 

[rgar1]

ditto stymye.

 

[OLD_gUY]

+1 for the thread and all the POSITIVE comments

 

[ErisDroid?]

WOW Well said! I completely agree with everything that was said. VZW woke up and realized that the iPhone isn't going away. The Droid (Moto and HTC) are VZW's iPhone killer. The Storm was supposed to be and then the krappy Krave ZN4 (by Moto) was also supposed to be. But this is living up to all the hype and then some (in my opinion). Long live the HTC Droid Eris.

BTW anyone know someone that wants a Krave?

 

[ludist210]

Amen. Verizon has done a fantastic job supporting both the Droid and the Eris.

 

[jreed2560]

+1 here. I've had very few issues with my phone. And the one software issue I had (phone was sending pages to my wife when I turned the phone on) was fixed on the very first update. Second issue I had was the microphone going out. VZW swapped for new with no problems. VZW and HTC FTW!

apologies for excessive anagram usage!

 

[trau]

group hug for verizon

 

[Haxcid]

Agreed. I love my Eris, I love the lack of Verizon preloaded crap in it. I am totally satisfied with my phone and coverage.

Props to HTC on building some wonderful mobile devices.

 

[erisuser1]

When you consider that in the US, there's AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless ... and "all those other carriers", the Eris is a major deal for HTC not because it is the first HTC Android phone, but the first HTC+Verizon Android phone.

HTC stands to win big in "brand recognition" if they knock it out of the park with Verizon and their customers - even if they totally lose their shirts on development costs.

Down the road, this kind of treatment probably won't be typical, after VZW has rolled out a lot more Android phones. So, I guess that means that the early adopters of "VZW+Android" get some benefit as a result.

And for VZW's part of things - I find it almost incredible that they are taking a step with Android, given how tightly they have locked down all their branded handsets in the past. I'm sure it is giving them some troubles in support issues, customer returns, etc - but they must see that they need to have this in their playbook in case Android takes off.

But, ya never know - maybe VZW is only doing the Android thing to gain a negotiating lever with Apple - their competitor is AT&T, after all, and they can erode AT&T's brand by getting the iPhone family on their own network.

eu1

 

[johnLEE]

i can only imagine what HTC will have available for big red when its time to upgrade in two years!

 

[pkopalek]

+1

 

[ericnail]

Im pretty sure google has a lot to do with that. They are, and always have been about customer service and this is one of their first non-fully-digital products. I believe you will see Google push Verizon and HTC with ease because its clear google may well become the next gen. OS and relations are everything. All google asks in return is the right to throw in some ads here and there.

I may not be a tech. Buff, however, i do know my business affairs.

 

[RC Addict]

I concur! Love my Eris! Great phone!

 

[Napster]

Are you kidding??? Every OTA update has done nothing more than lockup phones and disable apps like youtube. Everyone phone is more unstable now that the OTA updates have been pushed.

 

[Caddyman]

Where's the waaaambulance when you need it..... I like my phone tyvm...

 

[Anducks]

Are you kidding??? Every OTA update has done nothing more than lockup phones and disable apps like youtube. Everyone phone is more unstable now that the OTA updates have been pushed.

 

[falltime]

Are you kidding??? Every OTA update has done nothing more than lockup phones and disable apps like youtube. Everyone phone is more unstable now that the OTA updates have been pushed.

Ok the way I see it you are either naive or just like to complain.....

Verizon&HTC (and MOT) just rolled out an entirely new OS across an entire network - an OS that is not only new but totally open (meaning an infinite combination of unforseen events can occur because Verizon cant control what you put on the device or in what combination you use the 10ks apps.) and if problems arise, rectifying them would be well beyond the average VZW store CS person.

(Yet anecdotally) despite that every day there are more and more people getting the phones the chatter on boards such as this appear to be going down. And even you can cite only 2 problems - one of which (the lockups) appears to be SOLVED based on this last update and the other is so minor (no You tube app over 3G but Wifi and Browser work) that it can only be described as trivial (and that has only existed for approximately 4 weeks).

I am no 'fanboy' - and I think you actually missed 1 major problem - the dialer app stinks, it has weird delays and results in far too many mis-dialing and other issues.

But that being said, if you have ever bought any tech with an OS, especially one on the 'bleeding edge' and with the complexity of Android (as oppossed to say a cable box or digital camera)- you know that things could be alot worse, and USUALLY are.

This doesnt just "happen" and I am sure VZW and HTC are filled with their share of the same lazy, short-sited, not so bright folks as every other company, combined with politics and inertia - but clearly somewhere in these companies, some people seem to care enough to actually try to get things right (and have admirably succeeded in any FAIR comparative view of it) and for that I for one am grateful and am willing to offer (in to the ether) my praise.

If in YOUR perfect world, everything usually works like it should, and everyone gives 100% to make things go perfectly smooth, and no obstacles ever slow anyone to inertia, then I am truly envious (and skeptical)

 

[Wolfedude88]

Agreed!