Topic: Talk to me about the Storm

[hans]

... I think I'm going to wait until the end of the week and buy her the Droid.

Motorola or HTC?

[ober]

Motorola.  Does HTC have a Droid?

[ober]

Anyone know the difference between the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Eris from a specs point of view??  There's not a lot of information about the Eris but my wife seems to like that one more and it's $100 cheaper.

[Steve]

check out phonescoop.com. you should be able to compare them side by side, love that website

[hans]

Eris has no physical keyboard, runs android 1.5 out of the box and is really more like the Hero I believe for internals. I'd probably try both before picking one. Odd that the Eris isn't getting much hype though from Verizon. I think it might actually turn out to be the better choice for a lot of people. Especially if you can throw 2.0 on it, which I'm guessing is probably going to happen quickly.

Big gotcha with the Droid though is its lack of stock multi-touch.

http://www.engadget.com/photos/htcs-droid-eris-leaked-docs/

[ober]

That's what I don't get... Android can do it... I guess it's the phone hardware?

[ober]

check out phonescoop.com. you should be able to compare them side by side, love that website

Even that site doesn't have the Eris.

[Steve]

Phonescoop not having something is a shock. And yes it is just like a computer, where the operating system can support something but if the hardware does not then it can't function.

[hans]

I think the hardware actually can though, but for some reason they chose not to allow the feature. Go ahead and speculate as to why... More than likely it won't take long to add the feature in though.

Says multi-touch is supported for third party apps, just not the built in ones. Stupid, but probably due to legal issues no one wants to admit to.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/04/motorola-droids-built-in-apps-dont-have-multitouch-support-th/

[Steve]

wait are they both VZW? They have a BAD habit of restricting phone features for different versions, such as encouraging a more expensive purchase

[hans]

Yes, Verizon is putting out two Android phones this week. HTC Eris and Motorola Droid.

I don't see that as being as much of an issue with Android since people can actually update the phone now. But it's still silly they do this sort of thing.

I'm guessing the Eris will do multi-touch stock but sadly runs 1.5 so you don't get the cool 2.0 features that the Droid will have stock. But since Android is "open" I think a bunch of cool stuff will come quickly. And from the sounds of it, Verizon is planning on doing tethering with the Droid too (not right away of course).

[kermi3]

Engaget podcast did a pretty extensive talkup of the Droid too beyond that review.  Apparently Verizon surprised them by sending review models to all the editors, so I'd check it out to hear all the opinions.  It's right at the top of the show.

[KnuckleBuckett]

It actually extends throughout the whole show Benny.  If you want a real review, listen to that episode.  Long story short the Droid over the Storm 1 or 2 hands down.

[ober]

But WHICH droid is the question... did the mention the Eris or just the Droid?

[kermi3]

Just Droid - the one Verizon is pushing right now on TV so heavily - thus the sending of review units...