why did you pick an Eris?

[cheesecake]

I was pondering this question last night. I did a ton of research on smart phones before purchasing the Eris.

My Phone prior was an AT&T quikfire, touch screen, slide out keyboard, multimedia phone. This thing was a freaking pile of smelly crap! Touch screen was horrible, froze up, internet service was a joke, the only thing it could do well was text and make calls. It was stolen out of my car a few months ago, and with the experience I had with it I didn't want another cell phone. But I got tired of not being able to text my wife, or call her to let her know I was going to be home late, ect ect. So I started a month long research project to buy a phone.

I wanted, Internet, a decent camera, maps of a sort just in case, a good display, facebook access, and just something cool to play with. I searched and search, playing with my friends blackberrys. None of them impressed me, small screens, tiny keyboards....I did like the blackberry storm, but watching my buddy having to take his battery out two times a day to fix a lock up didn't appeal to me. Plus the iPhone, well I'm not a mac fan boy, and I certainly am not an AT&T fan at all, they suck in many ways. At my work place with an AT&T phone, I can stand next to someone with a Verizon phone and have no service, when they have full service.

Then one day a guy came into work with a Motorola droid. I hated the look of the phone, it was square and bulky looking, didn't care for the pull out keyboard, but the Operating system and internet was amazing. So that started my research into droid phones.

I stumbled upon the Eris on Verizons webpage and went over to the store to check it out. They had a little kiosk set up with the phones there so you could check out the features. I sat down and started messing with it, found the 7 home screens, the huge list of apps in the market, the internet was amazing, google maps built in(and voice nav with my 2.1 update) and all the ways you can customize your screens, I fell in love. 79.99 buy one get one. Plus the price of 79.99 buy one get one was a huge point over anything else in the store. I ended up buying two, one for me and one for my wife, and canceled her AT&T phone.

She loves the phone, but she can't get used to the touch screen keyboard. I downloaded the better keyboard for her. The buttons are bigger and that seems to help her some, but she still complains about that.

[divalibra]

I would say that my reasons for purchasing the eris are in line with yours....also the idea of customizing it to my own preferences was a huge plus...i joined this forum about a month before i was due to upgrade my phone and it helped me out tremendously as far as what to do and look for once i actually got the phone in hand...I'm now running 2.1 and while I've experienced a few hiccups I'm still just as impressed as I was on day one.

[iMpathetic]

Interestig thoughts. I was about to get the Eris but ended up going with the Droid. It was very close though... Sometimes I wish I had an eris as a backup phone

[unix.punkx]

Sense UI alone is what sells a lot of people. It is a very sweet UI and very intuitive. If you like Android by itself even a little bit, you will love Sense. I personally like the physical keyboard on the Droid better, but Sense is still very slick.

[LoneWolfArcher]

My reasons were very similar to yours.I did a lot of research over the course of about 3 weeks. Fluctuated between BBs, Moto Droid and the Eris. Finally went into the store and tried all of the competing devices. I liked the Eris best.

It was light, it was powerful, it had the best UI on the best O/S (all be it an older version of Android). I went home thinking I'd like the MotoDroid best of all the devices, and really liking the Eris best. (I had read that most Droid users end up using touchscreen keyboard over the slide out.)

Then that weekend I saw a Verizon ad. Buy one Eris at $99.99, get one free. Since we were eligible for the New Every 2 Year discount ($50), it meant two Eris' for $49.99.

SOLD!!!

[hlaalu]

I sort of knew about the eris before, but in the store my choices were pretty much the blackberry storm and the eris. My gf hates the storm, and it really is a piece of junk imo. So I picked the eris which was buy one get one free and my mom was able to get one as well.


Which reminds me, I bought mine in California and still had to pay sales tax on the full retail price of the phone, is this in every state?

[socialistpete]

Just got my Eris today! A lot of my decision was based on price and what other owners of the Eris and the Motorola had to say. Only heard one complaint from someone about the Eris and that was some girl I met saying she couldn't figure out how to use it because it didn't come with a instruction manual. Everyone I know that had the Moto said to get the Eris instead. Being on unemployment helped me decide about the pricing factor!

[lowtech]

I wanted to move from Palm to Android. I tried the Droid, but I didn't like the size and the boxy style with sharp corners, and I disliked the slide-out keyboard. I traded for an Eris after about a week and love it! The size, shape, Sense U and overall performance are great. I would like a stronger signal, living in a rather remote area, but otherwise I feel I made the perfect choice. (That said, keeping an eye on the Nexus One... )

[GreenAcid]

I got an eris because it was free when my brother got his droid. but I didn't do any research, and after having it for 4 days, I Ditched it and got a Droid and never looked back. lol. In my opinion the Eris is holding a LOT of people back from getting the Nexus One because of the poor reviews on the Eris.

[Garemlin]

Well I had the Eris and switched to the Droid. But originally I got the Eris because we were thinking about switching to Verizon and I wanted an Android phone. Looked at the Droid but hated the physical keyboard. I was coming from a physical and wanted another. Checked out the Eris and liked the fell and Sense. Figured I could get used to no keyboard. Got it. After about a week I realized the screen was too small for me to use the virtual keyboard. Decided to switch to the Droid because of the bigger screen size. Still really like the Eris though. In fact if this had been the Desire which has the bigger screen and AMOLED I would have kept it.