My Digital Life

Android 2.1 Finally Makes It to My Droid Eris (update)

Back in February rumors about the coming Android 2.1 update for the Verizon Droid Eris by HTC were fairly rampant, however after weeks of checking my upgrade status page, I got tired of looking and set my Eris aside. Let's face it Android 1.5 was not very exciting and the responsiveness touch was frustrating and just led me back to my iPhone.

Last week I decided to check once more and I was happy to see that the update was available for my device. The upgrade experience was excellent and fairly seamless. There was no need to connect the Eris to a PC, the process was performed over the air and I used Verizon's 3G network. It took two steps, download, and then confirm reboot/upgrade. I did lose my Exchange ActiveSync settings and icon/page customizations.

I am now using the Verizon Eris again and love the integration between the calendar, Google maps on the PC and Android's Google Maps/Navigation. The navigation works very well. I would say that it is one of the killer out of the box functions in Android. No wonder rumors that Jobs and Ballmer may announce Bing as the default search/map engine for the iPhone at WWDC may actually be true. Update: The rumor that Ballmer would be showing up at WWDC seem to be false, however the switch from Google to Bing still has legs (Gizmodo).

It is too bad that this is probably the end of the road for updates on the Eris.

Back After a Two Week Hiatus

I am back at work after a two week whirlwind vacation around Greek, Egyptian, and Roman sites in the Mediterranean. I am still getting over jet lag and a cold I must have caught on the flight back. I have a lot of material to write about international digital roaming, how Verizon makes it work well with its dual standard (CDMA/GSM) Worldphones (I used an HTC Ozone), and managing the high cost of being connected.

The Pyramid of Khafre. It is too bad about the parking lot, but tourism is Egypt's second largest source of foreign income after the Suez Canal fees (according to our guide).

HTC goes for US brand name recognition

As  Windows Mobile geeks, we all know the HTC brand name. However, the average consumer in the US is clueless that Hi Tech Computers (HTC) is the world's largest maker of Windows Mobile phones. HTC is about to try to change this in the US with a multi million dollar advertising campaign dubbed "Set Your Fingers Free" which will be running in print, outdoor, online and on cable TV channels. The TV spot can be seen on HTC's US web site. It looks like the ad campaign is an admission that people want to use their fingers rather than a stylus, and of course an ode to the iPhone..

In an attempt to develop more brand awareness in the US, a year ago HTC placed it's logo on the back of each phone.

The back of my AT&T Tilt.

US residents can now also sign up for HTC's e-Club which includes hot fixes and ROM upgrades, however it is not much good unless you own an HTC branded device (no carrier devices can be registered). When I tried to register my unlocked AT&T Tilt which is an HTC Kaiser, I received this message: "Unable to register your serial number. The serial number you entered is not for an HTC branded product".