Okay I currently have all three and I put them through their paces for a week. They all have the same account information on them, including sms. On the Androids I am using Handcent instead of the stock sms messenger. This is my assessment after having the phones for the last 7 days.
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Battery life: All phones were charged, turned off, overnight and taken off the charger at 5:30 am MST.
Right now with light usage (32 emails, 2 phone calls, 1 sms message, 46 twitter updates) The Android phones are set to pull email from 4 different accounts every 5 minutes.
6 hours uptime
Storm2 - 80% remaining
Droid - 80% remaining
Eris - 70% remaining
Battery update
10 hours uptime
Storm2 - 70% remaining
Droid - 80% remaing (this is odd must be wrong) ??
Eris - 40% remaiing (really wtf)
Battery update
14 hours uptime
Storm2 - 50% remaining
Droid - 40% remaining
Eris - Had to be put on charger (warning came on)
So far for me the Eris is pulling up last in the battery test. I am really concernced about this because today is a light usage day and what would happen on a heavy usage day. The Storm2 and Droid are both performing very well in the battery department.
__________________________________________________ ___________
Size: I will admit that I like a phone with some body on it. Having said that.
Storm2 - feels great in hand, nice design plus good weight
Droid - feels good in hand, takes some getting used to the keyboard, and great weight.
Eris - feels too light, and the narrow design caused me to drop it once.
Pocket Test: I normally will carry my phone in my front pocket so this is important to me. (I carried each of these phones in my pocket for 2 hours)
Storm2: A bit bulky and on the heavy side, you know its there but it is not a problem.
Droid: Its a brick in the pocket, you will know where it is at all times because it is just heavy in the pocket.
Eris: You will not even know its there, this is the best feeling smartphone that I have ever carried around in my pocket, it may be the best phone of all time.
If I were buying a phone simply on the pocketability factor the Eris would win hands down, then the Storm2, and last the Droid.
__________________________________________________ ___________
Operating Systems: I have used every single smartphone (O.S.) and and owned most of the devices put out in the past two years, not tested but owned for an extended period of time.
Storm2: Familiar, Slow, and Clunky. Those are the three words I would use to describe this OS. Yeah it looks like and acts like a blackberry, all blackberrys for that matter.
But I find the OS to be a bit slow and clunky in doing things. I did not feel this way when I moved over from WinMo 6.0/6.5 but now I feel that it needs an upgrade/change of direction.
The media/video players are bad to terrible, they lack functionality and design elements are missing. Its just bare bones.
Personalization, not easy to do it yourself for most this means finding or purchasing a theme to do this for you.
Browser is just pathetic, really it is unusable now that I have tried the other two phones.
The upside for the Storm is email, enough said. But also Blackberry Messenger. There is nothing else out there like BBM.
Applications are lacking and the app world is just a real pain in the ____ to use. Not to mention the constant need to reboot when installing or uninstalling apps is a big drawback for the Storm2.
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Droid: The operating system is new and fresh to me. I think that the basic screen is easy to navigate but the many different options makes it a little difficult and as my wife said intimidating. I personally like this and am looking forward to the challenge of setting up my phone the way I like it.
The operating system is just plain fast, transitions are instantaneous, landscape to portait and back is instant as well. Of the three phones this is the fastest I have seen a phone move. I had the iphone and thought it was fast but this is faster than that phone as well.
The stock media player is usable but nothing to write home about. Luckily there are many free options in the marketplace to replace the stock players.
Email intergration is just so/so on this device. I am not sure why but I was able to set up only 2 out of my four accounts automatically, the other two imap accounts I had to manually set up because they would not take. ??? (WTH droid)
The most striking feature of this phone is its screen, it makes viewing the full webpages a joy. It is the best I have ever seen. I watched Matrix 2 on all three devices and it was simply amazing on this phone, nothing compares to it right now.
The marketplace is a joy to use and is loaded with useful free apps, and prices are low for paid apps, cheaper than the appworld. And some paid apps on the blackberry are free in the marketplace. (WTF RIM)
Now the Bad news: the on screen portriat keyboard is difficult to use due to its size, the slide out keyboard is usable but after 5 days of use, I prefer the onscreen landscape keyboard. The email functions are limited, mine keeps loading old emails that I have read, and batch deleting is tiring.
_____________
Eris: Here I will start with the Sense UI, because this is the first thing you see on the phone. Sense UI works great on the homescreens, you get 7 vs. 3 for the Droid. You get more widget options than the Droid and the homescreens scream - modern device.
The operating System is 1.5 not 2.0 and it is a bit slower than the Droid, it is on par with the Storm2 but faster than the Storm1. Rotation between landscape and portrait sometimes seem to hang but for the most part it rotates quickly. I have one annoying problem with this O.S. and that is I don't like having to hit the little button to bring up the applications.
Email intergration is done better here than on the Droid but again not as good as the Storm2. I was able to quickly add 3 of my 4 email addresses, the fourth only loads on the Storm2. (cmon)
The media player is much better on the Eris than the other two devices, easy to navigate and add things, the homescreen widget works well and I liked having my album art on the homescreen.
I am not sure why you would need to add a theme to this, the sense ui is fabulous but incase you get board you can change the basic layout of the homescreen with the scenes option. I am sticking with the standard HTC layout.
Again as an Android device the marketplace is easy to use and navigate through, it has plenty of free and paid apps.
Now the bad: I find the Sense UI on the homescreen to be easy to use but I don't like the up arrow to pull up the applications (I prefer the droids method). I don't like the settings menu (compared to the storm2), and I find the placement of the off endcall/standby button to be poor. I have put my phone into standby on more than one occassion when hanging up the phone. I also have to say that I don't like using the trackball to take pictures, it doesn't seem natural to me. At times the lag bothers me but that is only after using the Droid.
_____________________
This has been both a tough and easy decision for me. Let me explain. I am very tired of the old, played out stale UI of the Blackberry platform. I find it uninteresting and lacking (for some reason which I can't name). The Droid handsets perk my interest because they are new and I like new things.
The Droid I would rate a 9/10 (for what I need & the apps I have added really completed the Droid for me)
The Eris I would rate a 9/10 (I would rate it higher but the form factor is actually too small for me, I dropped the phone 6 times in 2 days because it is so slim.) I really love the sense UI, who wouldn't.
The Storm2 I would rate a 8.5/10 (Overall it is not a bad device, it makes phone calls well, retrives and pushes emails great, but the feel is off (old).
Which phone should you get, well that depends on your needs, wants, and personal taste. After a week with all three, yep I carried around 3 cell phones everyday for a week, phones I have come to a conclusion. We are not dealing with vast differences in phones but more like shades of grey. If I need the best on device email experience I would go with a Storm2, if I wanted the sleekest phone out in a sexy small footprint then I would chose the Eris. If I want the best web experience with the largest screen plus the newest O.S. then I would chose the Droid.
_____________
Grand Finale: As it stands I have them all and one is going bye-bye and I'm keeping the other two.
________________
Update
So far I have decided to keep the Droid, it just fits me best of the three. Now I have to decide which of the two remaing phones will join the party. I will let you know.
http://www.purina.com/downloads/ForPhones/RingtonesPreview.aspx?rt=GoldenRetriever
__________________________________________________ __________
Battery life: All phones were charged, turned off, overnight and taken off the charger at 5:30 am MST.
Right now with light usage (32 emails, 2 phone calls, 1 sms message, 46 twitter updates) The Android phones are set to pull email from 4 different accounts every 5 minutes.
6 hours uptime
Storm2 - 80% remaining
Droid - 80% remaining
Eris - 70% remaining
Battery update
10 hours uptime
Storm2 - 70% remaining
Droid - 80% remaing (this is odd must be wrong) ??
Eris - 40% remaiing (really wtf)
Battery update
14 hours uptime
Storm2 - 50% remaining
Droid - 40% remaining
Eris - Had to be put on charger (warning came on)
So far for me the Eris is pulling up last in the battery test. I am really concernced about this because today is a light usage day and what would happen on a heavy usage day. The Storm2 and Droid are both performing very well in the battery department.
__________________________________________________ ___________
Size: I will admit that I like a phone with some body on it. Having said that.
Storm2 - feels great in hand, nice design plus good weight
Droid - feels good in hand, takes some getting used to the keyboard, and great weight.
Eris - feels too light, and the narrow design caused me to drop it once.
Pocket Test: I normally will carry my phone in my front pocket so this is important to me. (I carried each of these phones in my pocket for 2 hours)
Storm2: A bit bulky and on the heavy side, you know its there but it is not a problem.
Droid: Its a brick in the pocket, you will know where it is at all times because it is just heavy in the pocket.
Eris: You will not even know its there, this is the best feeling smartphone that I have ever carried around in my pocket, it may be the best phone of all time.
If I were buying a phone simply on the pocketability factor the Eris would win hands down, then the Storm2, and last the Droid.
__________________________________________________ ___________
Operating Systems: I have used every single smartphone (O.S.) and and owned most of the devices put out in the past two years, not tested but owned for an extended period of time.
Storm2: Familiar, Slow, and Clunky. Those are the three words I would use to describe this OS. Yeah it looks like and acts like a blackberry, all blackberrys for that matter.
But I find the OS to be a bit slow and clunky in doing things. I did not feel this way when I moved over from WinMo 6.0/6.5 but now I feel that it needs an upgrade/change of direction.
The media/video players are bad to terrible, they lack functionality and design elements are missing. Its just bare bones.
Personalization, not easy to do it yourself for most this means finding or purchasing a theme to do this for you.
Browser is just pathetic, really it is unusable now that I have tried the other two phones.
The upside for the Storm is email, enough said. But also Blackberry Messenger. There is nothing else out there like BBM.
Applications are lacking and the app world is just a real pain in the ____ to use. Not to mention the constant need to reboot when installing or uninstalling apps is a big drawback for the Storm2.
_____________
Droid: The operating system is new and fresh to me. I think that the basic screen is easy to navigate but the many different options makes it a little difficult and as my wife said intimidating. I personally like this and am looking forward to the challenge of setting up my phone the way I like it.
The operating system is just plain fast, transitions are instantaneous, landscape to portait and back is instant as well. Of the three phones this is the fastest I have seen a phone move. I had the iphone and thought it was fast but this is faster than that phone as well.
The stock media player is usable but nothing to write home about. Luckily there are many free options in the marketplace to replace the stock players.
Email intergration is just so/so on this device. I am not sure why but I was able to set up only 2 out of my four accounts automatically, the other two imap accounts I had to manually set up because they would not take. ??? (WTH droid)
The most striking feature of this phone is its screen, it makes viewing the full webpages a joy. It is the best I have ever seen. I watched Matrix 2 on all three devices and it was simply amazing on this phone, nothing compares to it right now.
The marketplace is a joy to use and is loaded with useful free apps, and prices are low for paid apps, cheaper than the appworld. And some paid apps on the blackberry are free in the marketplace. (WTF RIM)
Now the Bad news: the on screen portriat keyboard is difficult to use due to its size, the slide out keyboard is usable but after 5 days of use, I prefer the onscreen landscape keyboard. The email functions are limited, mine keeps loading old emails that I have read, and batch deleting is tiring.
_____________
Eris: Here I will start with the Sense UI, because this is the first thing you see on the phone. Sense UI works great on the homescreens, you get 7 vs. 3 for the Droid. You get more widget options than the Droid and the homescreens scream - modern device.
The operating System is 1.5 not 2.0 and it is a bit slower than the Droid, it is on par with the Storm2 but faster than the Storm1. Rotation between landscape and portrait sometimes seem to hang but for the most part it rotates quickly. I have one annoying problem with this O.S. and that is I don't like having to hit the little button to bring up the applications.
Email intergration is done better here than on the Droid but again not as good as the Storm2. I was able to quickly add 3 of my 4 email addresses, the fourth only loads on the Storm2. (cmon)
The media player is much better on the Eris than the other two devices, easy to navigate and add things, the homescreen widget works well and I liked having my album art on the homescreen.
I am not sure why you would need to add a theme to this, the sense ui is fabulous but incase you get board you can change the basic layout of the homescreen with the scenes option. I am sticking with the standard HTC layout.
Again as an Android device the marketplace is easy to use and navigate through, it has plenty of free and paid apps.
Now the bad: I find the Sense UI on the homescreen to be easy to use but I don't like the up arrow to pull up the applications (I prefer the droids method). I don't like the settings menu (compared to the storm2), and I find the placement of the off endcall/standby button to be poor. I have put my phone into standby on more than one occassion when hanging up the phone. I also have to say that I don't like using the trackball to take pictures, it doesn't seem natural to me. At times the lag bothers me but that is only after using the Droid.
_____________________
This has been both a tough and easy decision for me. Let me explain. I am very tired of the old, played out stale UI of the Blackberry platform. I find it uninteresting and lacking (for some reason which I can't name). The Droid handsets perk my interest because they are new and I like new things.
The Droid I would rate a 9/10 (for what I need & the apps I have added really completed the Droid for me)
The Eris I would rate a 9/10 (I would rate it higher but the form factor is actually too small for me, I dropped the phone 6 times in 2 days because it is so slim.) I really love the sense UI, who wouldn't.
The Storm2 I would rate a 8.5/10 (Overall it is not a bad device, it makes phone calls well, retrives and pushes emails great, but the feel is off (old).
Which phone should you get, well that depends on your needs, wants, and personal taste. After a week with all three, yep I carried around 3 cell phones everyday for a week, phones I have come to a conclusion. We are not dealing with vast differences in phones but more like shades of grey. If I need the best on device email experience I would go with a Storm2, if I wanted the sleekest phone out in a sexy small footprint then I would chose the Eris. If I want the best web experience with the largest screen plus the newest O.S. then I would chose the Droid.
_____________
Grand Finale: As it stands I have them all and one is going bye-bye and I'm keeping the other two.
________________
Update
So far I have decided to keep the Droid, it just fits me best of the three. Now I have to decide which of the two remaing phones will join the party. I will let you know.
http://www.purina.com/downloads/ForPhones/RingtonesPreview.aspx?rt=GoldenRetriever