Verizon’s Android 2.1 update for the HTC Drois Eris: Epic Fail!

The ability to update your Android OS to the latest version is, without a doubt, one of the aces Google holds up its sleeve in the iPhone vs Android battle. But so far, it seems that the Nexus One is the only Android smartphone that handles Android updates the way it is supposed to. Other than that, Verizon, Sprint and HTC were all unable to provide a timely update for their phones. Worst of all, the Verizon HTC Droid Eris to Android 2.1 was a complete fiasco.

But what I don’t understand is how come a very capable smartphone such as the HTC Droid Eris is unable to cope with the Android 2.1 update. Some might argue that the word fiasco is a little to rough for the situation, but I beg to disagree: just take a quick look at the comments on our Verizon HTC Droid Eris Android 2.1 Manual Update Guide. Almost every single user that performed the upgrade and left a comment was unsatisfied with the update.

Here are some of the problems Verizon HTC Droid Eris customers are reporting once they performed the Android 2.1 update:

• A lot of people complained about dealing with huge problems when dealing with text entry.
• Most of the people that commented our update guide found that the Droid Eris now runs much slower and is less responsive once they performed the Android 2.1 update.
• Contacts lost if not backed up. Speed dial, ringtones and homescreens reseted.
• Reports of the browser crashing frequently.
• The weather app crashed a lot.

And what does Verizon do when its customers started complaining about how they managed to transform a decent smartphone into nothing more than a shiny brick (at least for some users) ? It seems Android Authority has the answer: Verizon is planning a way to solve the weather app widget problems. Now, how does that help when the phone is unresponsive to begin with.

Now here is where I start to wonder (I know, I wonder too much). Does Verizon have anything to gain if they provide a flawless Android update experience ? Does HTC ? Does Sprint?

I’m guessing that if every Android phone could be updated to the latest version of the OS without any drawbacks, people would buy less new phones. Does Verizon have anything to gain ? Does HTC ? Does Sprint ?

My 4 words on the HTC Droid Eris Android 2.1 update: epic, EPIC, EPIC, FAIL.