Camera and Battery Life
Email
Print
Camera
The Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Eris
both include 5-megapixel cameras with auto-focus capabilities. That in itself
is impressive, but each of the cameras had its own particular Achilles heel.
Indoor images or movies shot with the Motorola Droid were not particularly
crisp, and the lens gave lighting sources-such as lamps or computer screens-a
distracting halolike glow. However, the camera interface for the Droid is the
easier to use of the two, with features such as zoom that were easy to control
(if a little difficult to initially figure out without a manual).
By contrast, the HTC Droid Eris shot
amazingly clear images both indoors and out, in virtually all lighting
conditions (I took some night shots on the Williamsburg
Bridge that came out better than
those taken with my regular 4-megapixel digital camera). After snapping each
image, a number of easily interpretable icons would pop up, letting me
instantly trash or e-mail what I'd shot. My major issue with the camera,
however, is that you need to press down on the tracker-ball to actually snap
the image; frequently, my thumb would roll a little bit instead of pressing
down, zooming the lens instead of taking the shot. It was frustrating enough to
dissuade me from becoming more of a Droid shutterbug.
Battery Life
Every time I've ever tested a BlackBerry, the device could run for days
before needing a recharge. Other smartphones, notably the iPhone, need to be
charged more frequently. Powerwise, both Droid models seem to exist somewhere
in the middle range: After around a day and a half of use, the HTC
Droid Eris was in desperate need of plugging in, while the Motorola Droid went
for nearly two days before it was battery-recharging time.
Unlike with other smartphones, though, I never actively worried about
whether a charge would get me through the day, even with multiple applications
being run and calls made.
