Anyone seriosuly looking at the new DROID?

[spectrrr]

ahhh.... today was FUN. Sauntered over to the Verizon store and did the obligatory touch and feel on both the Moto Droid and the HTC Eris. I'm extremely picky about my phones, so here's my thoughts as an android newbie. Overall, I just wish the two of them would have a child....

Droid Pros:

• Hardware keyboard.
• Fast CPU
• Android 2.0
• Latest google maps.
• F*ING GORGEOUS 854×480 screen, amazingly crisp
• Screen supports multi-touch
• very "solid" feel.

Droid Cons:

• Hardware keyboard SUCKS. IMPOSSIBLE to tell the difference between keys.
• Android 2.0 is a "stock" android OS, needs a little refining.
• "touch" buttons below the screen would be a lot easier if they were actual hardware buttons.
• Default on screen portrait keyboard is useless. Other options exist on the marketplace however.
• No navigation d-pad or trackball on the outside of the phone to make one-handed operation easier.
• Heavy

Eris Pros:

• HTC proprietary "Sense" user interface is a beautiful modification to the stock Android OS.
• Smaller, more lightweight phone.
• Hardware buttons below the screen.
• Trackball below the screen. GREAT for one handed use.
• "stock" On screen keyboard in portrait mode is AWESOME for one AND two handed use. It's similar to the layout on the blackberry pearl, a qwerty keyboard with half the keys and software to guess what you meant (qw er ty ui op).

Eris Cons:

• No hardware keyboard.
• Outdated and slow hardware. When it gets the upgrade to Android 2.0 (word is that it will), it's gonna be a SLOOOOOOW phone.
• Screen res is "only" 320x480 (nice, but normal at this stage)

My final take?
Both are great phones for specific purposes. If speedy one handed navigation is what you want, the Eris kicks the Droid in the groin. But if a powerhouse of new features and do-all functionality is what you want, then the Droid wins out hands down. Major points would have gone to the Eris if it had come with better hardware that was not already outdated. Personally, I buy my phones to keep for a few years, so I will probably get the droid for two reasons:

1. My patience with windows mobile has worn out. I don't have a year to wait for something better, and I think Android is my next OS, hands down. All the customizing of WM, none of the suck.
2. I want my hardware to be FAST, so that it still is pleasurable to use a year from now.

For those two reasons, there's a damned good chance a Droid is in my future. But it's definitely not perfect, not by a long shot.



A few more resources for you guys:

Buying one of the new droids? It APPEARS that this will get you $50 off of it for the moment. (works for new AND existing VZW accounts)
http://phandroid.com/2009/11/06/buy-...nd-droid-eris/

New to the Android OS? Here's some great apps to get you started:
http://phandroid.com/2009/11/06/50-a...-droid-owners/

Originally Posted by spectrrr

[*]Screen supports multi-touch

are you sure about this? Technically yes, Android 2 supports multitouch, but as I understand the US version of the Droid doesn't have it.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/...OSKH4ATMY32JVN

I think this really impacts the Droid as far as any gaming is concerned, as most of the best games need some kind of multi touch support on a touch screen, at least as far as I understand multitouch is concerned.

[spectrrr]

Originally Posted by Resipsa

are you sure about this? Technically yes, Android 2 supports multitouch, but as I understand the US version of the Droid doesn't have it.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/...OSKH4ATMY32JVN

I think this really impacts the Droid as far as any gaming is concerned, as most of the best games need some kind of multi touch support on a touch screen, at least as far as I understand multitouch is concerned.

HMMMmmm

Well no, I'm NOT entirely sure anymore... BUT here's what I know:

This video here CLEARLY shows that the Droid has multi-touch AND pinch and zooming capabilities.
http://phandroid.com/2009/11/03/moto...d-multi-touch/

Even the G1 had multitouch capabilities, BUT that section of the operating system code was commented out.

Theories are quite plentiful as to why the droid would or would not have it.... sadly many of them do not make ANY sense when reading the Motorola article that you provided.

The reviewer in that video clearly demonstrated that the Droid does support multi-touch (he also made comments about that in relation to his Droid on screen keyboard review in a different article). HOWEVER, he is using a pre-release version of the phone. It stands to reason that only 1 week before the launch, Verizon would have given him a normal version of the phone to test out.... but the long and short of it is, we won't have a definitive answer until someone takes a post 11/6 Droid off the Verizon shelves and puts the Picsay imaging application on it to try it out!