HTC Droid Eris (Verizon)

Droid Eris Review, by Robert S. Anthony, PC World November 5, 2009

The HTC Droid Eris marks the second in Verizon Wireless's parade of the Droids. Also due this week from Verizon, the Droid Eris ($100 with a two-year contract, price as of 11/5/2009) shares the Droid moniker and many features of competing Android phones, but it also adds some touches that improve the experience for business users.

The Droid Eris touchscreen handset (a CDMA version of the HTC Hero) has dimensions similar to, and much of the same functionality as, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G GSM unit, also made by HTC. Side by side, the first thing that jumps out is the Eris's brighter, sharper-looking display. While both handsets have a 3.2-inch, 480-by-320 pixel screen, the Droid Eris supports 262,000 colors while the myTouch 3G has just 65,000 colors.

Unlike the myTouch 3G, which has six hardware keys on the front plus a roller mouse button, the Eris replaces the top four buttons (Home, Menu, Back, and Search) with embedded softkeys. In practice, the four software keys were usable, but not as easy to activate as their hardware counterparts. I've found the myTouch 3G's real Send and End buttons and roller mouse (which glows if you have an incoming text message or other notification) more useful than the Droid Eris's softkeys when fumbling around in the dark. (The Motorola Droid lacks any front-panel hardware buttons.)