Verizon’s newest entry into the very competitive smartphone market — the HTC Droid Eris — was introduced last month with a provocative new ad campaign dissing the iPhone. But is this cool gadget for real, and should you believe the hype calling it the “iPhone Killer?”
Well I’m not about to tell you that the new Droid Eris will cause millions of rabid Apple iPhone users to change their stripes and ditch their favorite handset in 2009. But the Eris is a terrific touch-screen mobile device, and priced at an eye-opening $99 (with contract), it’s easily the largest bang for your smartphone buck this holiday season.
This means that even in a slumping economy, for under a hundred bucks you can still give a tricked-out smartphone as a gift this Christmas.
HTC really loaded this new droid with plenty of standard apps, features, and mobile services courtesy of Google…Here’s just a few:
1. The 5-megapixel camera with autofocus lets you record a video, upload it to Youtube with a custom app, and mail it to your friends while you view it on the large touchscreen.
2. HTC has done a nice job designing some custom apps that they include as standard features on the Eris droid…My favorite is the Twitter app. Of course you can visit the Android Market to further customize your new droid.
3. Google Maps turns this droid into a full-blown GPS device, complete with turn-by-turn directions and a cool “Where am I now?” function. The Bluetooth and Wifi features also come standard.
It’s fantastic that the HTC includes “Multi-Touch” as a standard feature on all their smartphones these days, and the Eris is no exception. This is a user-friendly interface that gives you “pinch and zoom” capabilities in the browser (and it’s a feature that isn’t included on the new $200 Motorola droid!).
Smartphones are notorious for killing batteries, but I’ve had no problem with the Droid Eris. The specs say that a single charge will give you 3 1/2 hours of talk time on the Droid…In my experience I would say that this is a conservative number. I haven’t had it quit on me yet during the day, and I’m on the phone quite a bit at work.
The only thing missing with the Droid Eris is a real keyboard. I know this is an ancient-school preference of mine, and my wife will say that it really dates me. As it is, the touch screen keyboard on this droid has a nice feel to it, and surpasses many other virtual keyboards that I have tested.
To be honest, despite (or maybe because of) all the hype for the Droid Eris, I didn’t have fantastic hopes for this device…But boy did it surprise me. This droid is a terrific combination of performance and functionality, all wrapped around a gorgeous interface. And you’ll be hard pressed to find an electronics device this Christmas — in any catgory — that is a better value than this fantastic small droid.
What 3 things do you need to know before purchasing your nextsmartphone? Don’t get burnt…find out from Dave first right here.
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