It's official: $99 HTC Droid Eris coming to Verizon on Friday

Debating whether to snap up the red-hot, Android-powered Motorola Droid for Verizon Wireless tomorrow? Well, now you've got a new—and cheaper—Android phone to consider.

As was widely predicted, the HTC Droid Eris—a revamped version of the HTC Hero on Sprint—will arrive in Verizon stores on Friday, Nov. 6, same day as the impressive $199 Motorola Droid (check out my Droid review right here).

Like the Motorola Droid, the touchscreen HTC Droid Eris ($99 with a two-year contract and after a mail-in rebate) will run on Google's Android OS, although it reportedly won't have the latest 2.0 version—and that means (for now, anyway; HTC says an update is in the works) no Google Navigation for free turn-by-turn driving directions, among other improvements.

Another difference between the Droid and the Droid Eris concerns the QWERTY question: The Moto Droid comes with a slide-out QWERTY keypad, the Droid Eris doesn't. How you feel about that depends on how you feel about tapping messages exclusively on a touchscreen, although it's also worth considering that the QWERTY-less Droid Eris is thinner and lighter than the six-ounce, half-inch-thick Moto Droid.

Last but not least: The HTC Droid Eris comes with HTC's "Sense" UI, a sleek interface that sits on top of the Android OS and gives you quick, one-tap access to your latest e-mails, text messages, music, photos, and other personal info, as well as Facebook integration with your address book.

Moving on to the nuts and bolts: expect a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS, along with a five-megapixel camera, a 3.5mm headset jack, and microSD memory expansion (an 8GB memory card comes bundled in the box).

I'll be getting some hands-on time with the HTC Droid Eris later today, so stay tuned for more details. Update: Click here for my hands-on impressions.

So, what do you say: Who wants the Motorola Droid, and who's thinking about the Droid Eris? Anybody torn? Got more questions? Fire away.

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Press release