We’ve already had a chance to play with the HTC Droid Eris from Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless, but there’s nothing like a retail package unboxing ceremony to really get up close and personal with a new handset. As the “ying” to the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid’s “yang,” the HTC Droid Eris offers Verizon customers a fully capable Android smartphone at half the price of Moto’s headlining Droid, and it deserves some of our undivided attention.

The HTC Droid Eris is a lot like the HTC Hero from Sprint. Just like the Hero, the Droid Eris packs a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel auto-focusing camera, 3G data, WiFi, GPS and a microSD card slot. It also runs the Sense UI, HTC’s custom Android homescreen skin, which gives the Droid Eris a bunch of extra HTC widgets to play with – and it doesn’t hurt that Sense UI looks way prettier than the vanilla Android homescreen.

Surprisingly, the HTC Droid Eris isn’t much thinner than the Motorola Droid, which sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. That’s not to say that the Droid Eris is a brick, it actually sits really comfortably in the hand. Still, the Eris could stand to lose a couple millimeters around its waist.

The Droid Eris’s 5-megapixel camera is faster and less laggy than the Motorola Droid. It also supports touch-focusing, which gives it a another small but significant leg-up on the Droid. The 3.2-inch display is smaller than would be ideal, but it’s plenty big for day-to-day use. Above all, there’s no sliding mechanism on the Droid Eris, so build quality is top-notch – no jiggling or creaking here.

The Droid Eris is available from Verizon Wireless for $99.99 with new 2-year contract. Or, you might be able to find a better deal here.

Unfortunately, the Eris runs Android 1.5 OS. The Motorola Droid features Android 2.0 OS, which has the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps Navigation app pre-installed. Android 1.5 isn’t bad, especially with HTC’s Sense UI riding on top, but it’s no Android 2.0.

Anyway, acquaint yourself with the Droid Eris below!

If you’ve had your eye on the Android-powered HTC Hero and its customized Sense UI, but just couldn’t bear to leave Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s warm embrace for Sprint (NYSE: S)’s network, you’re in luck! Verizon went official this morning with the Hero-esque HTC Droid Eris. The Eris is a lot like the Hero, just for the Verizon Wireless network. And, at just $99, the Droid Eris is the more affordable alternative to both the upcoming Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid and the Sprint HTC Hero. The Eris even sports the same Sense UI that we’ve come to love on the HTC Hero.

The Motorola Droid might be hogging all the hype this week, but the Eris deserves some time in the limelight. So, without further ado, here’s a hands-on look at HTC Droid Eris for Verizon Wireless.

Here’s a quick spec-sheet rundown on the HTC Droid Eris:

• 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen (320×480)
• 5-megapixel camera (with autofocus)
• Android 1.5 OS
• 3G data
• WiFi
• GPS
• 3.5mm headphone jack

The T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) (NYSE: DT) BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9700 isn’t quite launched just yet, but we’ve already gotten friendly with RIM’s newest hardware. The Bold 9700 looks and feels a lot like the original BlackBerry Bold 9000, with some significant under-the-hood upgrades. Cosmetically, the biggest difference is the missing trackball; in it’s place is a new optical trackpad. It’s a subtle design update that makes a lot of sense – the Bold 9000 was a big hit for RIM, of course they’re going to stick with a recipe that everyone loves.

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Collecting business cards can be a good thing – expanding your professional network usually is. It can also suck. If you ever have the chance to wade through a stack of business cards and add those contacts by hand, give it a try, you’ll see what we mean. For those of you that share our pain, check out SHAPE Services’ Business Card Reader for iPhone. With a simple snap of your iPhone 3GS’s auto-focus camera, Business Card Reader injects contact information directly into your iPhone’s address book. It’s not free, but at $5.99, it’ll easily pay for itself after your next new business card.

The new app basically scans your business cards and analyzes the text using character recognition technology. But, the really nifty thing is the way Business Card Reader integrates with LinkedIn and your iPhone. It’ll automatically distinguish between home and mobile phone numbers, office address, website URL, job title, company and, of course, the first and last name. Once scanned, you’ll have the option of automatically adding a new contact, merging the data with an existing contact, or look up the information on LinkedIn.

Of course, the app is bound to make some mistakes. After testing five business cards, we had to specify one company name and break up a couple long first names into their respective first and last names. You’re also going to want to use this app on an iPhone 3GS. The auto-focus camera makes all the difference. The app isn’t perfect, but it’s way (way) better than the alternative.

Wanna see the app in action? Check out our demo video!

BC Reader [iTunes link]

It seems a plethora of music-creation Apps have crashed on to the iPhone of late – and I’ve had the opportunity to play with quite a few of them! My stand-out favourite to-date has been Groovemaker, which I think is a genius bit of coding.

So it was with great interest that I received an emailing suggesting I try out Tunemaker, from Makayama. I’ve already posted up some info on its release, so it is nice to get a hands-on and see how the App performs!

Read more after the jump…..

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Whilst TomTom is often considered to be the leading brand for standalone Sat Nav systems, the situation on Mobile devices is quite radically different.

TomTom actually missed a beat when it came to mobile devices (specifically the iPhone), because their software wasn’t first-to-market, and in fact the other contenders have produced some pretty good solutions! Case in point: the Mobile Maps application, from Sygic.

More after the jump!

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Anyone that regularly reads IntoMobile will know that I think the Groovemaker range of Apps are awesome – sitting in a perfect niche between recreational music, and professional music production – they are kinda like the guitar hero of mobile music production, but there’s real productivity in here too – it’s no game!

So just the other day, IK Multimedia, the creators of Groovemaker, released two new versions of the application – Electro and Drum n Bass (here). In this post, I’m writing down my thoughts on the Drum ‘n’ Bass (DnB) App, having used it quite extensively! More after the jump….

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For those of you that don’t know him (and there might be a lot, since he’s a UK chef) Jamie Oliver is a celebrity chef, in the same sort of mould as the likes of Gordon Ramsay – and by that, I mean he’s an export that has filmed his TV shows in the US, and a number of other countries I’m sure!

Anyhoo, the point of this quick hands-on is to find out if his new cooking App is any good (hint/spoiler: yes)!

Read more after the jump….

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HTC were kind enough to loan me their newest model, the Tattoo, the other day – and very nice it was too!

Like has been the case recently a few times, I am talking a look at the final “release candidate” – for those of your unfamiliar with the handset development process, there are typically a small series of ‘release candidate’ handsets, which are taken out for field testing, used as demo handsets etc – in other words, they are very close to the retail-quality device. My unit felt so polished, I’m pretty sure it was good to go in to shops!

Read on to see what I made of the device….

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