Category: HTC Droid Eris

Categories
General HTC Droid Eris

Chimpie’s review of HTC Droid Eris 2.1 firmware upgrade

I purchase my HTC Droid Eris back in March (2010) and have been running the stock version firware (1.5) since then.  This morning I received an alert in my notification bar that a system upgrade was available.  The long awaited 2.1 version was ready to be downloaded.  I noticed that my battery life was at 60% and figured that should be enough to get me through it.  I was also fairly close to a Verizon tower so I knew my phone wouldn’t be struggling to find a signal.  Time to start the process.

The download only took about twenty minutes and the install took about fifteen.

As soon as you click install the phone goes black, and then an icon and status bar appears.  Once the first phase of the install is complete, a new icon appears showing that the new upgrade is installing into the phone.  After the second part of the install is complete, the Eris reboots.  This reboot takes about three minutes to completely load.  I guess it’s testing out all of the installed apps to see what is up to date and what is not.

ICONS CHANGED, MISSING

The first thing I noticed after the phone finished rebooting is that all of my homepage screens had gone back to default.  This bummed me out a little, but it also gave me the opportunity to start all over.  I was very eager to jump in there and start adding things, but decided to take this opportunity to blog about my experiences.

PEOPLE (CONTACTS)

When I purchased my phone back in March, I had all my contacts from my LG Venus transferred to the Eris.  I didn’t think this was even possible so when the sales rep completed this for me I was thrilled.  While using 1.5 I synced my contacts with Gmail.  After the firmware upgrade all of my previous contacts were gone except ones I manually entered after purchasing my phone.

Attempting to sync contacts with Gmail

I had some trouble syncing my contacts with Gmail.  I will not fault HTC, Verizon or Google for this as this is the first time I’ve had this problem and it may be caused by the mass amount of people attempting to sync after the upgrade.

Once I chose to sync manually the phone began syncing with both Gmail and Facebook right away.  This process took about 15 minutes which was very surprising, but, again, I chalked this up to everyone receiving the upgrade.  If you have to sync manually follow these steps:

Settings > Accounts & sync > Sync now

You can click on a particular account (Facebook, Google, Twitter) to fine tune any settings.

Now it’s time to start updating my homescreens.

FACEBOOK

My next step was to add the Facebook icon back to my homescreen and start it up.  After about five seconds everything was updated and good to go.

TWIDROID

I use Twidroid to access my Twitter information.  Just like Facebook, I added the icon back to my homescreen and launched the app.  Again, after about five seconds everything was updated and good to go.

INTERNET

I launched the Internet app for the first time (since the upgrade) and it asked me, “www.google.com wants to know your location”  I chose ‘Share My Location’ and since I don’t have the GPS turned on it picked the cell tower closes to me.  Good enough.

Now it was time to see if my bookmarks were still in place.  WOW…. HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT… at first.  There’s a new option on how to view your bookmarks.  Before it was just thumbnails and list views.  Now there’s a grid option.  I found it very ugly and decided it had to go… AT ONCE.  To get back to my thumbnails, click Menu > Thumbnails

Okay, Internet is good to go (yeah, I say that a lot) so let’s dive back into the Android Market to see what’s new.

APPS & ANDROID MARKET

It was at this point I decided to check out Android Market to see what apps needed updating.  The list included:

Google Maps > 4.2.0
Advanced Task Killer (ATK) > 1.7.9
Facebook for Android > 1.2

After the installs were complete, the first app I went to was the Facebook app, since I’m on that several times a day.  After accepting the new install I opened the app.  I couldn’t find anything new.  It must be just new coding.

ATK – same thing.

Google Maps – I turned the GPS setting on and it found me very quickly.  It even displayed where I was in the house.  I turned off the app, and then the GPS settings, then restarted it.  Instead of the familiar blue dot showing my location, it was now an arrow which seemed to keep changing which direction it was pointing in.  I’m not sure what is going on, but I’m going to do some more research and write a more detailed review later.

TIME FOR A REBOOT

Okay, enough playing around.  Let’s do the first reboot since the upgrade.

The familiar three droids on skateboards appear, but no more driods popping up.  While this saves time, I’m going to miss the little guys.  After the three disappear, an HTC splash screen appears: “htc – quietly brilliant”  The Verizon Wirelss logo appears next.  The nice animation is gone and the logo sticks around for a few more seconds than before.

I will note that the startup time is much quicker with 2.1 than 1.5.  I’m very impressed with that.  In fact, the phone including apps all started very quickly.

Well, that’s going to do it for this blog entry.  As I dive into the phone more I will post additional updates.

Thanks for reading!

———-

Are you following Chimpie on Twitter and Facebook?
www.twitter.com/chimpie76
www.facebook.com/chimpie

Categories
Game Reviews General HTC Droid Eris Product Reviews

Othello for the Android Eris

Okay, this might be a simple game but it’s still addicting.

A couple of days ago I downloaded Othello Reversi for my HTC Android Eris from the Android Marketplace.  A quick install and I was ready to play a childhood favorite.

When you start the game you’re taken to a control panel.  It’s a little simple looking but you really don’t need a fancy screen to choose which color you want to be right?  You also have the option to play against someone else, watch a demo or exit the game.

Once you select a color the game starts.  Along the bottom are the scores and whose turn it is.  You can also replay a move if you missed what just happened.

Game play is just like the board game.  I’ve only played a few games but they seem to last a little less than five minutes.

Overall, a good time killer that’s simple to play.  I give three and a half bananas.

Three and a half bananas

Categories
General HTC Droid Eris Product Reviews

Cool Android Game – Robo Defense

I just wanted to take a moment and talk about a game I downloaded for my HTC Droid Eris.  It’s called Robo Defense.

I found the free version of this game while scrolling through the Android Marketplace Games.  It had a high review rating so I thought heck, it’s free, why not give it a shot.  It quickly became a very addicting game.

The goal of the game is to prevent enemy robots, tanks and aircraft from getting into your base.  You build up a defense of cannons, road blocks, surface to air missiles to prohibit them from reaching your base’s main door.

Once you learn the basics of the game you’ll be able to start planning strategies to complicate their movements.

On the third or fourth try I was able to successfully beat the game.  However, just because you beat it once doesn’t mean you can’t play it again.  You can try different methods of blocking the enemy and watch them be annihilated.

Overall the game is simple yet fun to play.  And being free is a bonus.

I give it four bananas.

four bananas

Categories
General HTC Droid Eris Product Reviews

Review of the HTC Droid Eris

On Sunday, March 14, 2010 I decided to step outside my comfort zone and purchase a new phone.  This might not seem like a big deal to most of you, but I like to keep things simple.  It takes me a few moments to deal with change.  Changing my phone, especially to something like the one I bought, was a huge step.   I decided it was time to upgrade to a smartphone.

Why a smartphone?

There have been several times where I was out for a walk or waiting for an appointment and I either get an idea, had a question about something, or was just bored, and sending a text email to remind myself to look something up later wasn’t cutting it anymore.  I wanted to jot down the idea or find the answer to my question right then.

Also, I often hang out at my local Starbucks on my days off to read or brainstorm.  Having a laptop with me would be nice but not always convenient.  I also didn’t want to spend $600+ on something I would rarely use.  So I decided that a smartphone was the correct choice for me.

I tried to be as smart (no pun intended) as I could be with making this purchase.  I first went to the store and played touchy-feely with several of the phones.  I wanted to see how they worked, which type of keyboard was easier to use and how fast really was the internet browser.  If it was going to take a few minutes for a page to load, forget about it.

After visiting the store I did some research online.  I looked at many reviews and in the end decided to purchase the HTC Droid Eris.

HTC Droid ErisI have to start out by saying this phone is sexy.  I mean, just look at it.

As for functionality, I’m going to give a quick one week review.

Verizon’s 3G network rocks.  No complaints.  Granted, I haven’t tried any of the other carriers’ service, but when you click a link and a new page opens, what else do you need.

I currently have three email accounts connected to my phone, including my Gmail account.  A Gmail account is an absolute must to get the most use out of your phone.  If you don’t have a Gmail account, you can set one up when you make your purchase.

Having a Gmail account allows you to tie in your contacts and calendar to your phone.  (There are also some other features but I haven’t figured them all out just yet.)  When you update your contacts or calendar online at home, your phone is automatically updated.  And vice-versa , if you update them on your phone, they also get updated online, almost instantly.  Cool huh?

Just like other smartphones, the Droid Eris can have apps, or small programs/tools that you can add to your phone.  There are hundreds of apps available to download.  Most are free while some cost a buck or two.  I will talk about two apps today.  The Facebook and Twitroid apps, and both are free.

The Facebook app connects directly with your Facebook account.  It allows you to read and comment on your friends’ statuses, upload photos directly your albums, view and edit your profile and view your notifications.  I use this one several times a day and find it very easy to use.

The Twitroid App connects to your Twitter account and allows you to read and send tweets, read your direct messages and do searches for both people and comments.  It’s easy to use and takes up very little resources.  I highly recommend it.

One week later I’m very happy with my purchase.  No buyer’s remorse here.  If you’re looking for a powerful smartphone please consider the HTC Droid Eris.  As this is my first smartphone, I can’t compare it to others.  I will say that it’s been a little challenging learning all the features, but HTC has made the Droid Eris easy to go through and get set up.  The online manual is also very thorough.

Overall, after only a week of use, I’d give this phone 3 1/2 bananas.

Three and a half bananas

Thanks for reading my review!