I make no secret that I’m a fan of Verizon’s Android phone line – and I appreciate that they let me test out a lot of the gadgets. However, I get a lot of questions about the NAME. I spent 30 minutes once explaining to someone the difference between their HTC Hero Android phone and a Verizon Droid Eris – all due to naming. So Verizon, I may really like your stuff – but I question the naming convention you’ve gotten yourself into.

So here goes …

Droid is a product line of Android (Google) operating system phones from Verizon. If it’s not from Verizon, it may indeed be an Android OS, but it’s not a Droid. For instance, the Sprint EVO and Hero are both running Android OS. However, they are not Droids. A Droid phone has to be Verizon and run Android OS, but can be made by anyone. Right now, Verizon has good relationships with Motorola and HTC.

To make things slightly more confusing, the first phone released in the Verizon Droid line of phones was … the Motorola Droid. Yeah, I know. It’s basically the Droid Droid.

Verizon also has the HTC Droid Eris, the HTC Droid Incredible, the Motorola Droid X, and the Motorola Droid 2. I think the Motorola Droid Devour is still available as well. Where does it get really confusing? Well, I’m not exactly sure where the Android-based LG Ally falls. Is it a Droid or just an LG?

So, is your T-Mobile MyTouch a Droid? Nope, it’s an Android phone. Is your original Motorola Droid a Droid? Yep, because it’s from Verizon.

I know this seems a bit simplistic, but the amount of times I’m asked this question is a bit out of control. So when you see those Droid Does commercials from Verizon, just remember that even if your Android phone isn’t a Droid, it still probably does a lot of what the ad mentions. In my opinion, apps really help make a phone, and those are available to all Androids.

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Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by one of her day jobs.

Have you ever had the sort of summer where everything gets away from you? That has been my summer. Back in early July, the good folks at Verizon sent me a Droid X to play with. I realized this morning that almost two months later, I still have it. They’ve been very patient with me considering that it had completely slipped my mind.

So, what do I think of the Droid X? Well, it’s a great phone. It’s also a big phone, so I won’t be trading in my HTC Incredible just yet. I need something that fits in my pockets a little more comfortably. But if you’re into bigger is better, you may absolutely love the Droid X.

Thin form, with a bump at the top to support the camera

The Droid X is everything the original Droid (it hasn’t even been a year) should have been. The keyboard, while virtual, I found extremely easy to use. It supports Swype and while I didn’t intentionally use Swype, it certainly typed easier than even my Incredible. It could just be the form factor – no matter which way you turn it, the Droid X has a huge screen.  It’s a 4.3″ FWVGA 854 x 480 resolution screen. It’s crisp and instantly responsive. Putting numbers aside, things just look pretty on the Droid X screen. It’s closest comparison would be the Sprint EVO, which has a slightly thinner, shorter form factor.

There are aspects of Motorola’s MotoBlur integrated into the Droid X, mostly apparent through a few apps and widgets. For the most part, the Droid X is pure Android though. If you’re familiar with HTC’s Sense UI for Android, then you know how different a UI can make this OS. Whatever parts of MotoBlur they added to the X, it’s few and far between. In fact, I’ve gotten so accustomed to the Sense UI, that it could be one reason I wasn’t bowled over by the Droid X.

Over the last 6 months or so, I’ve adjusted to the fact that physical buttons on phones may actually be a thing of the past. A while back, one of my favorite things about the Droid Eris was that the buttons were actually physical. There was a button for home, back, Phone, and so on. The Droid X picks up on this, with buttons for Settings, Home, Back, and Search. While the keyboard is virtual, the physical buttons are a nice switch.

With heavy usage, I’ve gotten one day of battery life out of the Droid X, which pummels my Incredible (for which I always carry a backup battery).  The most draining things on the Droid X battery are using the GPS for actual navigation and using the built-in mi-fi-like 3G Mobile Hotspot. While I believe it requires an extra plan from Verizon, you can easily replace your mi-fi or broadband stick with this feature. Running a test while traveling in Chicago, my husband and I hooked up a netbook, iPad, and full laptop to the Droid X signal and had great service.

The Droid X is a speedy machine, and I would expect nothing less. I laugh a lot about the specs of the new “super” phones. Years ago I had one of the first iBooks (in orange, with a handle). These phones at least triple the specs of that machine, if not more. The Droid X has 8 GB onboard memory, 16 GB microSD pre-installed, and supports up to 32 GB micro SD – total memory expandable up to 40 GB. It has a 1 Ghz ARMv7 processor.  Speedy. I sometimes look at my old/current MacBook Pro and think, “My phone might be faster than you.”

It has an 8 mp camera that works as fast as the camera in my Incredible. I turned my husband loose with the Droid X while we were on a Frank Lloyd Wright Walking Tour in Chicago and he got some great shots with bright colors. I find the camera button to be a bit stiff, but apparently its just a matter of personal adjustment. There is an HDMI out port on the device as well, which I didn’t get a chance to test. Note that an HDMI cable is not included in the box.

Photo taken with DroidX

As far as call quality, with and without Google Voice, I had great quality and no dropped calls. I had no trouble hearing anyone and they were able to hear me without any issue.

Overall, the Droid X is a great device. I hesitate to use the word “phone” anymore, as these devices are really uber-portable computers. I already have several friends who ordered the Droid X as quickly as I ordered the Incredible. While it’s certainly not the device for me, due to size and my apparent attachment to HTC’s Sense, it’s certainly a great addition to the Verizon Droid line.

It looks as if the latest batch of Droid X devices will be shipping by August 31. With a two-year contract, the Droid X retails for $199.

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Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by one of her day jobs.

By Julie Blaustein

It was wonderful to get out of the city and experience the 32nd. Annual Harmony Festival. Not only was the schedule filled with workshops in health, arts, ecology, spirituality, dancing and both local and Grammy-nominated musicians such as Lauren Hill, there were over 300 vendors to buy cool merchandise and eat mostly healthy food.

The Verizon Grafitti Maker

Techie stuff was all around the festival too. Many of the vendors banners included .com in their names. Verizon was the proud sponsor of the Eco Rally that featured a Skate Contest, Skate Jam Mini Ramp Contest, Best Trick Contest and more. In addition they had a huge vendor space to demo their  products and provided goodie bags that included sunglasses and glow-in-the-dark necklaces for the concerts. They also provided a Graffiti booth that enabled folks to create neon looking wallpaper for either one’s desktop or mobile phones. The Brand Ambassador Tech Lead, Owen Powell, said that Verizon chose to exhibit and sponsor as the demo is on the young side and for the strong green movement at the festival.

Fun with Technology

Don’t miss next year’s 33rd. Harmony Festival. You can connect with them on Facebook and Twitter. They also offer free admission for volunteering!

Many more pics of the Harmony Festival can be found here!

The big mobile data shift has occurred: people now use their cell phones more for data than for calls. According to The New York Times, there’s been a 50% increase in certain areas. This is a major changeover for the utilization of mobile devices, making it an important point for wireless service providers to consider. Every aspect of the mobile industry will, in fact, have to consider this change, as it determines the economic factors surrounding its future.

We’ve seen an explosion in the number of smart phones that are being released and sold on a regular basis. It’s beginning to get difficult to keep up with the improving features of each new mobile phone that emerges on the market. With the advanced technology of these smart phones, it’s also easier to incorporate things like applications and media, thanks to larger storage and faster precessing. The success of application markets like the iTunes App Store are proof that this economy opportunity is booming.

But can the wireless providers keep up? Companies such as AT&T and Verizon are pressuring each other to stay on top of trends, pushing 3G and 4G networks and flat-rate data plans. The speed with which consumers are now using data transfers through their phone has increased in the past few years has alerted the wireless providers to the future of consumer behavior. They believe that continuing at the current rate will be unsupportable in the long run. Both AT&T and Verizon are looking to restructure their data plan offerings in order to charge according to usage, rather than a flat rate.

This takes the mobile industry in a possible new direction, with service providers creating a new price wars around data plans instead of the number of minutes you receive. More and more, the cell phone companies are getting into the business of data transfer, and that will require a new shift all its own. This could affect the prices consumers end up paying, which will be another factor to consider before purchasing a new smart phone.

Tie that in with the increase in patent law suits regarding mobile device technology and manufacturing, and another price war could erupt in another area of the mobile industry. The downside is that this could intermittently increase prices consumers have to pay. The upside is that this is the natural course of business, and will likely affect consumer prices to a significant extent. If anything, these growing pains will continue to make prices cheaper.

So now that we have shifted our remote communication preference from the phone call to the tweet, we must also think of how that affects our relationships, business practices and marketing. Finding a happy balance between face-to-face interaction and the digital world will lend to a great utilization of mobile devices.

I had Verizon’s HTC Droid Incredible for 24 hours, they took it away, and then just as quickly sent me another one so that I could spend more time with it. I’ve had it about 2 weeks, although I’ve only been using it for one. As I mentioned previously, the Incredible lives up to its name.

It sports a rubbery backing that I like, covering a bright red “racecar” interior that peeks through around the camera lens and the speaker. The indentation on the backing actually follow the lines of the internal parts. I can appreciate that HTC is calling out that they designed a lovely device both inside and out. You have to remove the backing to get to the battery (replaceable) and the memory card slot.

Photo from C|net

Not that you really need that memory slot. The Incredible has 8 GB of memory built-in. That’s on top of the 1Ghz Snapdragon processor. This phone is faster than my first iMac. Full specs: 3.7? AMOLED capacitive display, 512MB of RAM, 512 ROM, 8GB of internal storage, an 8 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash, Wi-Fi, an accelerometer, digital compass, Bluetooth, GPS, and Android 2.1 with the latest Sense UI.

The Incredible comes equipped with a dual-LED flash 8 MP camera, fully loaded with similar customizable options that you might find on a low-end point-and-shoot camera. In fact, this phone could eliminate my need to carry a small point-and-shoot camera. Low-light photos and video aren’t bad. Not fantastic, but we are still talking about a mobile phone.

Right. It’s a phone. I haven’t had any dropped calls and it seems to have good call quality. People can hear me and I can hear them without any buzzing, hissing, popping, or blank spots. Here’s my first issue with the phone, and apparently I’m not the only one. I don’t seem to have consistent 3G. It can be sitting side by side with my Droid, which will be showing 3G, and the Incredible will not. Again, I haven’t had call quality issues, so maybe this is a display issue and not a reception thing.

As far as hardware goes, there’s an optical directional pad (which I’ve rarely used), a microUSB port and volume switch on the left, and power button on the top. That’s it. To launch the camera, you need to use the software.

I love the Android OS and have no complaints. Everything I ever used on my iPhone seems to exist in the Android market. Last night I counted up the apps on my Droid: I’ve downloaded and am using 42 apps. Now, the standard OS only gives you three screens to play with, but Sense UI adds four more. The Incredible will let me load up and easily access countless apps and widgets, as opposed to just accessing them through a pop-up menu.

Sense adds some other great features, but my favorite by far is the ability to pinch in and see all 7 of my screens – sort of an Alt-Tab fuction for the phone.

Other Sense-only widgets include a nice email viewing widget, an SMS viewing widget, and Sense’s own FriendStream. FriendStream lets you view your Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr streams without having to go to each individual app. Since it only pulls in one Twitter app, I don’t actually use it. I do like that I can post directly to Facebook and Twitter from FriendStream though – it’s a nice addition to the phone for someone who isn’t quite as account-overloaded as I am.

Sense also does away with the standard Android email app and uses Sense Mail, which accesses IMAP, POP, and Exchange accounts. As opposed to a true combined inbox, you have a pop-up view of your accounts, letting you know where you have new messages. I love 90% of the email program. It offers pre-filtered views, including the useful threaded Conversations, as well as Unread and Attachments.

This is where my second issue with the phone comes in though. I’ve posted this question to every forum, hoping there is just something I’m missing. I have gotten into the habit of starring/favoriting/flagging specific email messages on my phone to pay more attention to them when I see them on my computer later. I cannot find a single way to flag/star email messages within Sense Mail. I can do it in the Gmail app, and I can certainly download the stock Android mail app or K-9 and do it there, but not in Sense Mail. I notice that the Mail Widget on the HTC Hero (also Sense) even has a Flag option built in, so it’s not like it’s a foreign concept to the folks at HTC. So I’m working on this one. It is a dealbreaker for me in that I’d have to download and use an alternate email application.

Contacts are integrated with Facebook. This is good and bad. You can easily link contacts, as the Incredible is actually pretty conservative with its choices in linking. However, if you unlink, all sorts of weird things happen. For instance, I unlinked my stepmom’s Facebook account from the contact card for her and my Dad. Yet suddenly, my stepmom showed up as a contact all on her own, when she wasn’t originally. Weird.

HTC gives you an option to actually sync with your PC (not your Mac). Yes, you can use your Android phone and not have all of your information in the cloud. The software comes built into the phone. Alternatively, you can join me in the cloud and just allow your phone to show up as a hard drive on your computer. This worked with both my Mac and my PC. When I added a microSD card (16GB), it showed up as yet another drive.

I loaded videos, music and photos onto both the phone and the SD card without a problem. The Incredible found them, despite my slightly crazy-on-purpose filing system, and siphoned them off to the correct areas. This also included ringtones and notification sounds. (Note: The latter options had to be in specially designated folders to be recognized.) Sense makes the default music app slightly more aesthetic, which is nice, and I had no trouble pulling up and playing several episodes of True Blood on the video player.

YouTube is a little different. The Incredible automatically defaults to the lowest-resolution video on the site. You have to specifically tell it to show you the HD version. When I first watched the Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody on the Incredible, I was shocked at the low-res, until I realized I needed to just specify the resolution.

I’ve also heard complaints about the lack of brightness. But Boy Genius discovered that the Incredible default brightness setting isn’t the brightest, for battery saving most likely, which dims things a bit. Crank up the brightness setting and the colors just pop off of the screen.

Battery life is lacking a bit. Once I got used to the phone and wasn’t playing with it more than I usually might, I discovered that it didn’t last me an entire day. My default settings include turning off Bluetooth and GPS and dimming the screen, but those didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I’m hoping this is something they can fix with a firmware update, as they seem to have with the Motorola Droid.

I’m anxiously awaiting the accessories. There is a desk clock mode and car kit mode, similar to the Droid. While the Incredible doesn’t have the magnets in it, I’m hoping a rumored car dock and desk cradle will find a way to trigger those options. I’m pretty attached to my Droid accessories.

Back in the fall, I reviewed Verizon’s Droid and Droid Eris, right as they were being released. I loved the HTC Eris, but finally settled on buying the Droid for myself. Why? Because I wanted the “real” Android operating system and not the Sense UI wrapper around it.

And yet, tomorrow I’m “upgrading” my Droid to an HTC Incredible, which is really just an Eris on steroids and similar to the Google Nexus One. I’m getting an Android phone with the Sense UI wrapper. In my video review, I may have mentioned that I’m a little nervous about trusting HTC with this. After all, they haven’t (to my knowledge) released Android 2.1 for the Eris yet, even if leaked versions are available.

Regardless, I’m holding my breath and jumping in. It’s a good sign when the reviewer runs out to buy the phone.

I had about 24 hours to play with the HTC Incredible this weekend and I loved it. If you can handle an on-screen keyboard, and want an Android device, then this is the phone for you.

Quick specs include 8 GB internal memory, 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor (which makes it snappy), 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive screen with yes, pinch to zoom, and integrated GPS. Oh, it also has a rather amazing 8 MP camera.

The Incredible is available for pre-order from Verizon today and will arrive in stores on April 29. It’s priced at $199.99 after a $100 rebate and with a 2-year contract.

It’s tempting to trade in the Droid for the Incredible. It really lives up to its name.

So, remember how I’m trying to get better with web video? Well, I haven’t really improved, but at least I’m not scared of it anymore. See the video review below.

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Visit Michelle at her day job, tweet her, or visit her when you’re craving some wine.

AppleInsider is reporting the rumor that Verizon may be getting the iPhone by Q3 of next year.

Qualcomm’s new hybrid CDMA/WCDMA chip offers the potential for a single, global iPhone that users can take to any major carrier, solving the network fractionalization problem. It also solves other issues that had served as roadblocks, including the issue of user confusion that would result from Apple selling separate CDMA and GSM/UMTS versions of the iPhone.

With one phone that works on both types of networks, any differences between the two (such as in features like conference calling and simultaneous voice and data, unique to UMTS) will be more apparently tied to the provider’s network rather than to an iPhone model itself.

They’re also reporting that the Verizon iPhone will be smaller (more like the Eris in size, I imagine), with a screen size of 2.8″.

The end of AT&T exclusivity means a couple of things:

• If you were waiting for the iPhone to switch to Verizon so you can hightail it away from AT&T, your dreams may be coming to fruition.
• If you were going to get a Droid or Eris because you wanted an iPhone-like phone, but didn’t want to leave the Verizon network, you might want to wait.

Why wait? Well, if what you really want is an iPhone on Verizon, you might not want to pay the early termination fee. Boy Genius reported last week that Verizon is upping their ETF for enhanced devices to $350. That’s a hefty price to pay, even pro-rated, to switch phones. The new ETF apparently goes into effect on Saturday, 11/15. I’m bothered enough that I’m sending my husband into Verizon on Friday, before I get home, to pick up my Droid. After all, there’s a huge chance I’ll switch phones within the next year or two.

I’m curious to see how many people leave AT&T once the iPhone is available on multiple carriers.

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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.

by Michelle Lentz

An HTC Droid Eris (along with a Blackberry Storm 2) appeared at my doorstep yesterday, and I’ve had just enough time with it to give you my first impressions. After playing with it for a week or so, I’ll make sure to do a more in-depth, thorough post. Keep in mind – these are just initial impressions.

First off, Verizon is really on a bit of a smartphone bender, releasing gadget after gadget between now and the end of the year. Since they seem to like to let me play with their phones a bit, you’ll probably continue to hear a lot about Verizon. (If those other companies would let me test out their gadgets, it wouldn’t seem so one-sided.) Next, their marketing is a bit funky. Droid is the Motorola Droid that I already reviewed. However, Droid is apparently also a series of phones, which thus far includes the Motorola Droid (we’ll just call it the Droid) and the Droid Eris (which we’ll call the Eris). Verizon is slated to release two additional Android devices by the end of the year, so I expect those to be prefaced by the Droid series name as well.  As far as the Eris goes, Eris is the Greek goddess of Chaos. I suspect some enterprising marketer was going for Eros (love) but decided no one would pronounce it or spell it right. After all, it was originally the HTC Desire. So now the phone sounds like it’s named for a robotic goddess of chaos.  Nice.

I had some preconceived notions about the Eris, I admit it. I was so in love with the Droid, and Android 2.0, I couldn’t imagine this surpassing it in any way. In fact, I am guilty of calling it the “lower-end Droid Lite.” It just goes to show – don’t listen to preconceived notions.

Form

The Droid is an elegant little phone. It’s smaller than my iPhone in width, but about the same length. Like the iPhone, it has rounded corners, which just adds to the aesthetic. The Droid is not a large phone, and until today I had no issues with its appearance. Next to the Eris, however, it’s all square edges and chunkiness. The Eris also has a nice  trackball that adds to navigation and serves as the LED for notifications.

The Eris, unlike the Droid, has physical call and end buttons. It also has the Home, Menu, Back, and Search buttons (in the usual order – unlike the Droid) as light buttons. There is a soft, almost rubbery feel to the back, which I rather like. Again, that’s something I thought would be cheesy and instead, it actually adds to the quality of the phone.

I just don’t think I can convey how light and airy this phone seems. The only adjectives I’ve got for it are sexy and elegant. Even ZDnet finds the phone a bit sexy.

Here are the specs:

• Qualcomm MSM 7600 528MHz processor (By comparison, the Droid has a 550mhz processor.)
• CDMA/EV-DO Rev A. support
• 3.2 inch 320×480 HVGA capacitive touch screen and trackball interface
• 5.0 megapixel auto focus camera
• Expandable memory with pre-installed 8 GB microSD card (I upgraded to 16 gb.)
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3.5 mm headset connectivity
• Integrated GPS and a digital compass with a sensor that enables the phone to know what direction it is facing
• Smart dialer for simplified dialing by name, number or initials
• Dimensions of 4.45 x 2.19 x 0.51 inches and 4.23 ounces
• 1300 mAh Li-Ion battery (removable, by the way)

Function

The Eris is running Android 1.5. I’ve read that it can be upgraded to Android 2.0, and it would seem that the hardware could support that. It’s also wrapped in the Sense user interface (UI) from HTC, which basically takes the Android operating system to the next level. For instance, instead of 3 screens, you have seven. There are enhanced widgets. As opposed to some of the nice, but basic widgets included in the Android operating system, this adds to them. In this example, you can see the music widget available in the Sense UI. You can choose from multiple different displays for each widget available. In the clock widget, there are 12 different styles to choose from – everything from a standard clock to more of a steam punk look.

I have no love of virtual keyboards and have always blamed my discomfort with the iPhone on the keyboard. My fingers just aren’t dexterous enough. But, like on the Droid, I had no trouble with the Eris virtual keyboard. I suspect this is because I can turn on haptic feedback, which means I get some sort of physical confirmation that I’ve actually hit a key. The Eris keyboard is available in portrait and landscape, so no worries there.

It loaded web pages rather fast. I always test phones by loading my wine blog, and I didn’t notice any difference in the load time between it and the Droid. I didn’t time it, but it wasn’t slow enough to annoy me.  As with the Droid, I had no trouble pulling in any of my contacts or calendars, but that’s because Google owns me. I easily set up my mail accounts – both Gmail and IMAP accounts. I can’t seem to add, through the GMail app, more than one GMail account, but that’s easily fixed by adding the second as an IMAP. There’s also a fantastic little Sense UI email widget that lets you page through your IMAP emails.

I don’t use Exchange, but here’s what my friend at the Gadgeteer had to say about that experience:

I was not expecting Exchange support since it was added in 2.0, but it does provide support for Exchange accounts. It was easy to set up my exchange mail account. It allows you sync your Mail, Contacts and Calendar. There is also the option to sync to your PC (just your contact and calendar) in case your Outlook mail is not on an exchange server, or you cannot access your exchange server.

He mentioned to me at lunch that, unlike the Droid, the Eris calendar displays his Google calendar and his Outlook/Exchange calendar all in one view, which I consider a plus.

Instead of the standard Android pop-up menu of apps on the screen, there is an arc that also has a touch Phone button, an easy way to add shortcuts and widgets, and access to the pop-up. It actually looks nicer than the standard Android wrapper, and that’s a lot of what the Sense UI has done. It has prettied up Android. I have lovely widgets for email, Google search, my calendar, music, and even the built-in Twitter app.

Yep, the Eris comes with Peep, a built-in app just for Twitter. It only manages one account, but I already like it better than Twidroid. It has a clean interface, is very easy to use, and was obviously built with the lovely Sense UI in mind. I love that the app has an included widget.

The Eris automatically links up with your Facebook and Flickr accounts, which is a very nice feature. I love that they included Flickr, acknowledging that not all my photos are local. For Facebook, it identified 65 of my contacts that are also Facebook friends and asked if I wanted to link them. When that happened, those 65 photos updated, birthdays were added, and any new and additional contact information was added. In my Favorites list, if the contact is available in Facebook as well, a small “F” logo displays. Your Favorites list (of contacts) is also a widget that displays almost like a 9-pane photo gallery. To call someone, you tap their photo. It’s fun. I probably need to go into my Google Contacts and set a preferred primary number for each one though, as it chooses the “primary” number to call when you tap the photo.

I haven’t had a chance yet to play with the 5 mp camera/camcorder or a lot of the other features. I have read that (are you ready for this?) there is pinch-to-zoom in the photo viewer. Multi-touch! I’ve loaded my standard apps on the Eris (Evernote, Remember the Milk, Where, and several others). I also loaded Google Voice but I haven’t set it up yet to work with this phone. I was disappointed in the Google Voice SMS integration on the Droid, so I’m curious to see how it works with the Eris.

Thoughts

This is just my first look. So far I think the Eris is an oddly named but very elegant phone. I highly recommend it to someone who is not on AT&T but wants an iPhone-like device, someone who does not want a physical keyboard or wants a compact phone, or someone who is tied to Verizon (or appreciates their network) but wants an iPhone. This will fill that void for you.

Is it an iPhone killer? I hate that term. Nothing is. To me, the iPhone started the revolution of smartphones. Without the iPhone, we might not have the Droid or Eris. Nothing needs to be an iPhone killer. But it is nice to provide alternatives, right? And this is a definite viable alternative.

After 24 hours, I’d say the Droid and the Eris both rock. The Droid, with its “industrial” shape and size is a bit geekier and the Eris is slimmer and streamlined in form, less geeky. As much as I was convinced I’d buy the Droid, I’m no longer 100% on that, even with the virtual keyboard. Check back with me in a week or so for a more detailed review and maybe I’ll have made up my mind. As with the Droid, the honeymoon will end and I’ll find the not-so-great features of the phone. It happens – which is why I again emphasize – this post is only first impressions.

Droid Eris by HTC will be available tomorrow through Verizon for $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year agreement on a voice plan with an e-mail feature or e-mail plan.

Once again, screenshots are shamelessly borrowed from
Bryan at the Gadgeteer. Thanks Bryan!

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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.