By Remember that rumor that the HTC Droid Eris would be getting its honorable discharge from “Big Red” in the beginning of April? Yea, that didn’t actually happen, but the rumor has made its way back under the microscope in a different form. According to BerryScoop – again – we should be seeing the Droid Eris dissolve into inventory nothingness come “Late May”.
Like Rob asserted to in reporting the original story, I don’t think this makes much sense at all for Verizon. Even with the strengthened rumors regarding the HTC Incredible, I find it odd that the Droid Eris is being “replaced” so soon. It would make more sense to allow these devices to co-exist and target them to different audiences: the Droid Eris seems like it’d appeal more to a younger crowd while the Incredible could be targeted at techies and business guys that need as much power out of their phone as they can get for demanding tasks.
The internal memo itself doesn’t do its job of convincing me any justice – which is why we’re still going to treat this as a rumor – so we hope Verizon will be able to shed some light on this very soon. Until then, what do you think about this move if it turns out to be true? Will any of you Droid Eris owners be afraid that HTC and Verizon will soon halt hardware and software support for the phone as soon as – and if – this move is made?
Were you guys sleeping all weekend? The last 3 stories are old news.
I bought the Eris in Dec because everyone thought it would be upgraded to 2.0 in 1Q10. Now I doubt that will happen – pisser!
Glad i have insurance on my phone if they do indeed discontinue the Eris i will just wait a month or so after and then get the incredible for the $90 or whatever it costs through insurance
well, it will make the decision to manually go to 2.1 easier…
Come on folks, “End of Life” means that there are limited or no SHIPMENTS remaining. That means that what Verizon has in inventory is all that will remain.
Also, be careful with destroying a perfectly good Eris thinking the insurance will replace it with an Incredible. Remember, Verizon uses a third party to insure their phones, and they will have access to the handset (for replacement purposes) well after it stops being sold in Verizon Stores.
That kind of sucks. My wife and I purchased our Eris’ in December. Reason was that our current contract was up and with the new every two and the buy one get one deal we were able to get two Eris’ for free and we wanted to finally have smart phones (briefly looked at Blackberry).
Now this. I’m not that worried. Up for new phones in 16 months and our Eris’ are great phones and working fantastically. I would like to see Android 2.0 or higher but if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen.
Being as this was a very cheaply priced phone ($99) I think it’s a poor move on Verizon’s part in discontinuing it, even if the HTC Incredible is also $99.
I’ve never had really any software or hardware issues with a phone I have purchased from Verizon (knock on wood) but I don’t think they would stop support for the phone in the short term, that’s just bad customer service.
@Jeff, agreed. If I’m not going to get the OTA upgrade I will manually upgrade my phone.
Why would they use them to sign people up for 2 year contracts and then drop support for the device? That doesn’t make sense.
It is such a crazy notion to think that a device can reach it’s end of life in only six months while still signing up the user for a 2-year contract. That being said, as long as they still give us the promised 2.1 upgrade I’ll be happy.
All need to relax! The Eris will be updated to 2.1 within a month or so. Also, even if Big Red does put it on end of life, that means that the shipments will slow to a halt, which also means it will be on VZW’s shelves for about 5 more months.
I have the Droid Eris and Moto Droid, tested and played with both, Guess what!?!? – I love this Eris all over the Droid by Moto. Personal choice.
I wouldn’t say that just because the Eris will no longer be sold that existing Eris customers won’t get 2.1. Verizon knows how many they’ve sold and I’m sure they want to keep those customers happy (I’m one of them). There are newer faster models that can be offered for the same price and so the market moves on. Retail is always just “selling shoes” and new styles prevail.
Most of the VZW rumors these guys bring out are fake.. Just like how there was a rumor on nexus one coming out for VZW by end of march. FAIL! so see folks.. dont get carried away by these rumors.. have some hope..
I just finished a training class with verizon. & yes the Eris is EOLed. However there is a beta 2.1fw that is out internally that some of the guys have (haven’t seen myself). So the eris should still get an update. I don’t know why they did this… pretty dumb as well, if you ask me.
HEY CHRIS YOUR WRONG THEY ALWAYS KEEP REFURBISH PHONES FOR INSURANCE REPLACEMENT SO IF YOU HAVE A ERIS YOU WILL GET A ERIS, THEY NEVER GIVE OUT A DIFFERENT PHONE.
Humm~~ Thought It was a pretty reliable site but who knows these days. It’s hard to keep up with all the rumors about Verizon Nexus One, EVO 4G Launch Date and Price etc, etc, etc.
Cant see them tossing the Eris so soon, but companies have done crazier things.
They dropped the Dare pretty fast and you can’t get a Voyager from them either. You can get them online and Best Buy but not Verizon.
berryscoop is one of the most reliable sources on information we have. By saying they “fail” because of the N1 release date in March, I think it is safe to say that every site (including engadget, BGR, gdgt) fail as well.
Jason and Josh have provided us with quite a bit of valuable information @androidforums. If you want a 100% success rate, then why don’t you just wait to read news after the even has already occurred?
Are you guys sure that is not the desire? Thats what it seems like.
I have emails promising updates to eris or adr6200 and denying the adr6300 or incredible existed now told if I wanted 2.1 need to buy to new incredibles or other out of contract because of buying 2 months ago but a large group is planning on filing complaints with FTC. And possible legal actions for misleadingpeople and saying to bu eris update would be out.
what language did you just speak in mike?
I bought the eris knowing that it would be upgraded, which I was told by a verizon representative. If they don’t follow thru then I will definitely switch to another carrier.
I very tired of waiting for 2.1. It is really pissing me off. I am finding too many apps that don’t run on 1.5. What especially bothers me, is they are selling phones with 2.1, but won’t put it out for existing customers. Maybe Verizon thinks it’s customers are stupid. I am feeling like am for signing a two year contract with them.
i say someone needs to file a complaint or do petitions or something. I think almost everyone who bought this phone was lied to by the salesman saying that we would be getting 2.1 first quarter of 2010.
My wife and I purchased the Eris in March and were assured by Verizon’s rep that the upgrade to 2.1 would be available shortly. If Verizon stops supporting the Eris and the upgrade does not become a reality, I think we should all join a class action suit against Verizon.
My wife and I were due for an upgrade just before then end of the year. The rep in the store showed us both the HTC Droid Eris and the Motorola Droid. We spent a bit looking at both phones. The whole time we were playing with the phones we were told that the Eris was the same phone and would have an update to the software making the OS identical to the Motorola Droid within a month. My hesitation in choosing the Droid Eris was primarily due to the lack of Google Navigation. This app is of real use to me and was the main reason we decided to use our upgrade and according to our Verizon Wireless sales representative as well as several other reps in the store, it would have it by the end of January 2010 if not sooner. From reading this site I also had heard of the new Snapdragon CPU and asked if there were any plans to put out a phone with it embedded. I got the typical ‘uh..well…um…maybe…but I can’t say….but if it does in the next 30 days….bring yours back in and we will swap it out for you’. The Eris was lighter and “it would have the same OS as the Motorola within a month”. In the store I did not see a lot of difference in the two. The Sense UI was nicer looking but they seemed about the same as far as speed etc. My wife chose the Motorola Droid. They rang up our purchases and that was that. The cost was 250$ US for each phone. 2 weeks later Wal-Mart is selling them for 30$ with a 2 year contract, which we ALSO had to renew to get the “discounted pricing”. Another two weeks go by and what do I see? VZW is doing “Buy one get one” for both the Eris and the Motorola. I call VZW to complain about this succession of BS and basically I am told to piss off. After spending some time really working both phones over I could see how much faster the Motorola was than the Eris. NOW it is almost 5 months later. Still no update to 2.1. EOL on the Eris is marked and VZW has started selling the Incredible as a “replacement” for the Eris. My guess is that they are sitting on the upgrade for the Eris to see how many of us dissatisfied Eris owners will say screw it and pony up the “out of contract” purchase price for the Incredible to get what we were promised by VZW sales reps in the first place. This is nothing more than underhanded unethical sales tactics by Verizon Wireless and people representing the company. Thanks Verizon. Way to treat customers that were with you for the last 8 or 10 years.
Love the ERIS, but if I don’t get the upgrade, I will never purchase another HTC product. I will revert to strings and cups before that happens.
Typical. I’ve had the phone less than a month – guess I’m stopping by the Verizon store to see how much money they’ll screw me out of to exchange it.
I see a disconnect charge in my future and will also never own a HTC product or use Verizon again. In fact, I might just delete everyone I know who uses Verizon. Haha…
Tired of waiting? Just upgrade Eris yourself. I have 5 Eris’s upgraded, and they all work great, including Google Nav.
Count me in on someone who was suckered by Verizon with the promise of upgrade to 2.1. It seems as every month goes by, the promise changes to “next month”. This is my first huge complaint with Verizon in 8 years being with them, and it is big. It’s not that I absolutely need 2.1, its the principle of the issue. They continue to lie, pure and simple. They said 1Q 2010, that didn’t happen. This issue, especially if it does not get resolved, might mean AT&T and the iPhone are in my families future.
I have had my Droid Eris since december and i must say i am very happy with it. The only downfall of the phone is the fact that it doesnt have droid 2.0. i have been getting told by verizon representatives that it will be coming “soon” since january. if it does not happen in the coming months i just might “have a glitch” in my phone and gt a different one. Verizon needs to get its stuff together and stop focusing on brand new and flashy phones when so many eris’s have been sold to customers who are beginning to call blasphemy.
I just recieved the 2.1 update for the ERIS. I went in to the Verizon store and the guy told me that the stores have recieved the upgrade/release to 2.1. He loaded it on the SIM card placed the card in the phone and a self loading program updated the phone in 5 minutes or so. I did lose all my apps and emails. But anybody using google with the address books will not lose any of their contacts. Overall in 1 day of use I’m very impressed. 2.1 seems more responsive and I like the layout of the screens better. Also I had a chance to play around with the incredible. It is a “beast” of a device. It’s speed is mind boggling and the 8mp camera will blow you away. But for now I’m happy with my ERIS. Remember 6 months from now they are going to come out with a phone better than the incredible.
Build #2.26.605.2 CL134869 release-keys
software number 2.26.605.2
Jim, you are such a liar. There are no sim cards in Verizon phones.
The made it official that the OTA upgrade began yesterday (May 11) and will continue over the next two weeks. Even without it, wouldn’t trade my Eris for anything.
I received the 2.1 update for Eris about a week ago. I didn’t loose anything, but did have to re-sync address book and other apps. I didn’t loose the apps I had downloaded. Overall, 2.1 is awesome … it is faster and the layouts are a lot nicer and user friendly. Some of the phone settings have more options making it better. I love it … pretty much the ideal phone! PS – it does come with the voice, turn by turn Google navigation.
The Eris was updated in May. I received my screw up May 10th or 11th and the update came May 18th for me. The phone was poorly made. The charger port causes the trackball to go out. They found that out and refused to let us know ahead of time. They canceled the phone and left us to figure out our phone was purely a piece of crap. I always get suckered in. My previous phone The LG Dare was discontinued as well.