As a long-time BlackBerry user (and WinMo before that), I’m definitely one of those people who would have a hard time making it through the day without a smartphone. I thrive on instant access to email, Twitter, Facebook, and the web, both for business and leisure. When I’m out at the store, for example, and want to know what happened to musician Seal’s face, I just bring up Google search and satiate my craving for knowledge.

That said, the Verizon Droid Eris has done a good job of keeping me connected so far. The integrations with Facebook and Twitter built into HTC’s Sense UI provide subtle but useful functionality missing from the BlackBerry experience. In Android, viewing a phone book contact shows you not only their personal details, but their most recent social updates and communications logs including call, email, and SMS history. Another useful feature is HTC’s People widget, which adds a new dimension to speed dial by allowing you to call, text, or email a contact by tapping the according photo in a grid display.

When it comes to email, though, Android is forced to bow to RIM’s expertise. Push email works for GMail, but is limited to one account on Android 1.5. All other accounts must be refreshed at set intervals to pull emails. Not only does this slow down delivery, but it saps the Eris of already-precious battery life. I’ve found myself disabling the mail auto-refresh and manually checking my secondary accounts instead.

While I certainly miss the push email perfection of my ‘Berry, Android wins heartily in pretty much every other category. UI polish on Android blows BlackBerry out of the water both in form and function. Response time is quick, even on the Eris, one of the less impressively specced Droid handsets. On the Storm, one-handed typing was virtually impossible; the Eris generates best-perfect results in portrait mode even for the far-fingered like myself (not to mention the best autocorrect I’ve seen anywhere).

Shots from the built-in camera are crisp, thanks to the 5-megapixel resolution, but I do occasionally miss the Storm’s LED flash. Video isn’t quite as impressive, but is still solid by phone standards.

For me, the biggest concerns about the Eris particularly are battery life and processing power. So far, I’ve been seeing noticeably shorter battery life than with my Berry. The likely culprits? The social integrations, GPS, and “pull” email. With a few adjustments to settings and my charging patterns, though, I can easily make it through a busy day with a little juice to spare.

As for processing power, the Eris performs quite snappily on 1.5, even with multiple apps installed and running. But what about Android 2.0 or higher? Verizon’s promised an upgrade soon – here’s to hoping the Eris can fully utilize its potential.

So what’s the verdict?

Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a phone 10 days into ownership. With the Android update (and Google Maps Navigation!) just around the corner, I believe I’ll be an Android user for years to come. And it’s likely a safe bet I’ll be in good company.