>I really, REALLY believe that this phone is too good to discontinue this quickly (that coming from a recent iPhone user).

refer to my posts under HTC Eris My Estimates battery Life.....

"....I bought this as a possible iPhone "replacement" since I did not want to switch to AT&T.  I know someone that has an iPhone and he says he rearely if ever has connection issues, dropped calls and he gets at least 5-7 hrs (compared to the 3.5 hrs on this Eris, though I wouldn't call my usage "heavy" at only about 30%) of heavy use out of it over a typical 18 hr or so period between charges. Thoughts, commments?....Coming down to decision time and either going to stick with the Eris and its shortcomings or bite the bullet and switch to AT&T iPhone"

would be interested on your take - and have you tried playing music for extended period on Eris?  iPhone claims 30 hrs of music playing