In the hand, HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) feels like a solidly constructed phone. It measures 4.45 inches tall by 2.19 inches wide by 0.51 inch thick and weighs 4.23 ounces, so it's slim enough to slip into a pants pocket and feels comfortable to hold during phone calls. In addition, HTC added a proximity sensor, a feature that was missing on the Sprint HTC Hero, so now the screen will turn off when you're on a phone call to prevent any accidental misdials from a brush of your cheek.
Speaking of the screen, HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless)'s 3.2 inch HVGA capacitive touch screen is hard to ignore. With a 320x480 pixel resolution, the display is amazingly sharp and vibrant. Text is easy to read and the colors of images are vibrant and rich. The Android interface, with its icon based main menu, is familiar, but we're disappointed that HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) comes only with Android OS 1.5. That means you'll have to wait for OS 1.6 and 2.0. In addition to a light sensor, the screen has a built-in accelerometer so the screen orientation automatically changes from portrait to landscape mode when you rotate the phone.
Be aware that the feature only works in certain applications, such as photos, the Web browser, and e-mail. The onscreen keyboard also will change depending on the phone's position. Just like the Hero, HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) uses HTC's own virtual keyboard rather than the stock Android one. We find it to be a little easier to use with its bigger buttons, white background, and more spacing between the keys, particularly in landscape mode. Even with those refinements, it's slightly behind the iPhone's in terms of precision, but it's responsive and provides haptic feedback.
The capacitive touch screen generally is responsive, whether you're tapping an icon to open an app, scrolling through long lists, or swiping through the various home screens. We love that HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) offers full multi touch support in the Web browser and photo gallery. That means that you can zoom by pinching your fingers and by double tapping the screen. It's a big improvement over the first-gen Android phones and it removes one of the last remaining advantages of the iPhone's browser. On the bottom of the display are three touch controls for the main menu, a home screen customization menu, and the calling menu.
The latter opens the phone dialer and offers access to your recent calls and your contacts list. There are other ways to interact with your device. Below the display you get four navigation buttons : Home, Menu, Back, and Zoom. However, unlike the Sprint and GSM Hero, these four navigation controls are touch sensitive rather than physical buttons. Like the keyboard, they provide haptic feedback and we preferred them over the Sprint Hero's since they have a more spacious layout and are more responsive. We occasionally had to press the Menu button a couple of times for it to register, but it wasn't a big problem. You also get some physical controls, including a Talk and End or power keys and a trackball navigator.
Speaking of the screen, HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless)'s 3.2 inch HVGA capacitive touch screen is hard to ignore. With a 320x480 pixel resolution, the display is amazingly sharp and vibrant. Text is easy to read and the colors of images are vibrant and rich. The Android interface, with its icon based main menu, is familiar, but we're disappointed that HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) comes only with Android OS 1.5. That means you'll have to wait for OS 1.6 and 2.0. In addition to a light sensor, the screen has a built-in accelerometer so the screen orientation automatically changes from portrait to landscape mode when you rotate the phone.
Be aware that the feature only works in certain applications, such as photos, the Web browser, and e-mail. The onscreen keyboard also will change depending on the phone's position. Just like the Hero, HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) uses HTC's own virtual keyboard rather than the stock Android one. We find it to be a little easier to use with its bigger buttons, white background, and more spacing between the keys, particularly in landscape mode. Even with those refinements, it's slightly behind the iPhone's in terms of precision, but it's responsive and provides haptic feedback.The capacitive touch screen generally is responsive, whether you're tapping an icon to open an app, scrolling through long lists, or swiping through the various home screens. We love that HTC Droid Eris (Verizon Wireless) offers full multi touch support in the Web browser and photo gallery. That means that you can zoom by pinching your fingers and by double tapping the screen. It's a big improvement over the first-gen Android phones and it removes one of the last remaining advantages of the iPhone's browser. On the bottom of the display are three touch controls for the main menu, a home screen customization menu, and the calling menu.
The latter opens the phone dialer and offers access to your recent calls and your contacts list. There are other ways to interact with your device. Below the display you get four navigation buttons : Home, Menu, Back, and Zoom. However, unlike the Sprint and GSM Hero, these four navigation controls are touch sensitive rather than physical buttons. Like the keyboard, they provide haptic feedback and we preferred them over the Sprint Hero's since they have a more spacious layout and are more responsive. We occasionally had to press the Menu button a couple of times for it to register, but it wasn't a big problem. You also get some physical controls, including a Talk and End or power keys and a trackball navigator.
