The people over at GrafiXpressions.com have graciously agreed to give away two (2) new Motorola Droid Screen Back Overlays exclusively on This Mobile Life!

Just comment below with what you think the next overlay should be that GrafiXpressions makes for the Droid and you’ll be entered into the drawing to win one of the Droid Screen Back Overlays that are already in production (on the left). The winning entry will be picked by our patented Winnerator Pickum-Outer Machine (patent pending).

So, get your ideas in now! The winners will be drawn midnight December 18th.

It looks like there is an unconfirmed Google Maps outage on Android devices. A few users from AndroidForums.com have reported that they are getting the error “Data connection lost, retrying…” when they open Google Maps. Whether this is just a problem for users who downloaded the updated app yesterday or not remains unknown. I will post more info as it become available.

UPDATE: Things look to be back up. I’m looking for any official word from Google.

Before I get to my first impressions review I want to say that this is not the same as the Motorola DROID. This has an older version of the Android OS (Android version 1.5, the DROID runs version 2.0) so some apps that have been advertised for the DROID will not work on the Eris, namely Google Navigation. Google Navigation is currently only available for Android 2.0 devices. The only reason I bring this up is because I’ve heard consumers complaining about this to Verizon and apparently they aren’t being told this by the company, they are just getting the answer, “I don’t know why it’s not working on your phone.” It’s not working on the phone because the phone doesn’t run the same OS as the DROID.

First, the phone is a little taller, thinner and heavier than the HTC Touch, the curves are curvy and it feels good in the hand.

The phone is fast and sliding between screens moves just as fast as you think it should. Apps pop up quickly and respond at lightning speeds, the browser is fast with 3G even though I enjoy the Android 2.0 browser more.

Unlike the Motorola DROID, the HTC Eris has HTC’s signature Micro USB adapter for charging so you’ll be able to use any Micro USB cable to charge or move data over.

So there’s a brief run down of my first impressions. Keep an eye out later this week for the full review with pictures and a video.

IntoMobile just released the news that Wirefly.com is selling the Moto DROID for $99.99 and the HTC Eris for FREE (after activating a new Verizon account, of course). Get ‘em while they are hot!

According to IntoMobile the DROID deal is just as it seems — only available on new accounts — but the Eris deal is for current subscribers who are willing to sign a new 2-year agreement and pay $59.99 or more on the accompanying plan. Shipping is free on both phones so if you want to save you’ll just have to wait a few more days for the phones to be shipped.

Wirefly DROID deal
FREE HTC Eris

[via IntoMobile]

A user at Androidforums.com, tankboyben, has modded his HTC G1 phone to make it more Steampunk. It was all done by hand and looks amazing! You can view the full gallery of pics at androidforums.com.

As I have used Android more and more my developer sense started to tingle and I wanted to create my own Android app. I looked at a couple of development books but they all just seemed to be the same: how to install the development environment and then all about how great the Android is to develop for. Nothing I could find actually moved past walking you through your first app on the code side. So when I was emailed about a new book by authors Shane Conder and Lauren Darcey all about Android Application Development I jumped at the chance to review it!

Android Wireless Application Development is a hefty book, weighing in at 573 pages with appendices and a CD, it is chock full of wonderful little tidbits of information that make Android so much fun to develop for. I was never a fan of Java in my programming classes but now that I see it in another light I’m slowly coming around to it. Of course the book starts you off by getting you to install Eclipse (Win/Mac/Linux) and all the tools necessary to create that app that’s going to make you rich in the end, then you are walked through how to write your first app, run it on the virtual Android phone, and then how to install it on a device to test. The book follows that with introductions in design, interface essentials, common Android APIs, 3D graphics, and finally how to deploy and sell your marvelous app through the Marketplace.

I found the book a marvellous teaching tool, it keeps your attention and has plenty of screenshots, images, and code snippets to satisfy even a beginner (like myself). I was so excited in the intro app when I was able to get my app to play a media file from the web with a small bit of code. The authors have the perfect balance of teaching and explaining that this is one book you will not get bored reading, you will definitely be ready to use what you’ve learned to make a new app as soon as you are done reading about it.

I’ll be looking for YOUR app in the marketplace soon!

Android Wireless Application Development was written by Shane Conder and Lauren Darcey and published by Pearson Education, Inc. It is available in paperback now on Amazon.com for $26.69, on Kindle for $23.75, and at your local bookstore.

Today, Meraki released a wireless census and found out what many in the tech sector already knew — the number of Apple wireless devices have increased in the past year. This is mainly due, of course, to the demand for the iPhone.

Another mobile charger review, these are getting to be fun! This time it’s a solar-powered charger that can be attached to pretty much anything with it’s velcro, fold-over strap. Unfortunately, because it is solar-powered, it takes a while to charge; according to the instructions that came with the SolarStrap (which you can download and read on their site), if it’s a sunny day it will take 12 hours to charge, if it’s partly cloudy you are looking at a full 24-hour charge time, or if it is completely cloudy it’s going to take 5 days of charging.

To speed up the process, though, (or if you just so happen to get it when the heavens decide to rain every day of the week) they include a handy AC charger and a USB charge cable. I let mine hang on the blinds in my office at home for a day and then plugged it up that night to top off the charge.

To show the charge status of the SolarStrap you are given two LEDs, one green and one red. The green one, when a device is plugged in, will flash according to the SolarStrap’s battery charge. Four green blinks is full, three green blinks is nearly full, and so on until you have no green blinks and only the red one blinks once, which means the battery is empty. When charging the battery with an AC adapter the red LED will continuously blink and it will cease blinking when the charge is complete.

I received a few adaptors with my review unit as well, along with a generic “charging” cable I received: USB-B, USB mini, USB mini 8-pin, USB-A female, Samsung D600/A300, Samsung G600, Nokia 2.1mm, Sony Ericsson, and iPhone/iPod adaptors. There are other target specific adaptors available as well as a cigarette lighter and AC adaptor. According to the instructions you only get the strap, the charging cable, and the user guide, so you will be able to buy adaptors to suit your needs when you get it.

The SolarStrap has kept a charge very well and is pretty flexible. It’s made of some kind of a foam exterior with the wiring, battery, and solar panel glued into place between the two pieces of foam. I was assured that this was not a production unit and it had been hand-glued, which is good because in one or two places around the solar panel the foam wasn’t glued down all the way.

As for the foam itself, I don’t know how well it will hold up, after unvelcroing and velcroing a few times I could see how it could start to break up if it was used regularly. Also, if it was left out in the sun (on your car’s dashboard or in a window sill) I’m not sure how the foam would hold up.

The only beef I have with the SolarStrap is that I don’t know what the charge amount on the battery is until I connect a device to it. I wish there were a button on the battery to show charge status of the battery, or something along those lines. But, overall, it’s a great charger if you are out and about a lot but if you are like me and stuck in a windowless office all day it may not be ideal for you.

The charger is scheduled for shipping this month (August ‘09) and currently there are only a few dealers listed on their site, with only one being in the USA. The SolarStrap is priced at 29.00€ (about USD$41), for more information visit the Suntrica website.

The wonderful people over at BillShrink.com, who want to help you save money, have put together a nice infographic that compares what they consider the top 3 current smartphones.

Not only does it compare the total price you would pay (including Phone price, Unlimited Usage Plan prices, Average Usage Plan prices, and total costs for Unlimited and Average Usage plans over 2 years) but it also compares 10 other points of interest.

There’s also a good comparison of just the iPhone 3G S and the myTouch side-by-side on the site.

Zenulator’s Hero build for Vogue.