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corvettejoe · 05-15-2011, 08:39 PM

I received my Woot! PocketEdge last Thurs at work. Out of the box it was a pretty neat device, but boring without the Ermine (Android 2.2.1) update. As soon as I got home I used Obsessed's guide and got it updated without any hitch. It went straight to Ermine, no Dingo update needed.

While it is pretty slow compared to my phone (Evo w/CM7) it was still a pretty cool device, and I was happy it had at least the more recent Android OS on it and was up to date.

Then came the fun of trying to get apps installed on it that evening so I could show it off at work the next day. I didn't even bother with the Entourage store, I went straight for APK searching via Google. I got most of what I wanted, but was disappointed in the fact I didn't have the latest versions of the apps installed. I would find the latest version number from the Marketplace, google search for the APK, then dump it on my own file server and download it over the WiFi (too lazy to keep putting the PE in USB Storage mode on my desktop every time I found another app to install).

For the most part this went well.

Then the next day, my buddy and I started trying to MAKE the Android Marketplace work.

Once we got the device rooted, we started trying various versions of the google apps from other hacked ROMS for our phones, such as the marketplace, gmail, and all it's various connectors and data movers. We were trying to find out once and for all, since there just isn't a lot of information about this to the degree we were looking for, if we could force this to work somehow or not.

My buddy fared better than I did, he was able to get the gmail app to load, and the google accounts to show up in the accounts settings. It would never connect though. I tried a different approach and failed miserably.

I didn't do so good. I was moving some files with root explorer and using the terminal to run some other commands and thought I had it. After a quick reboot, I was stuck in a looped error I could not get out of, no matter what I did. The google setup wizard was trying to launch and was stuck in a Force Close loop. No button pushing, resets, NOTHING would get it out of this state.

Great, I just bricked my brand new toy, and I hadn't even had it 24 hours yet.

After a couple of hours of research and sweating bullets, I found the "downgrade" article in the Entourage FAQ. I downloaded the dingo update.zip and put it on a thumbdrive (I LOVE the USB port on this thing!!!) I ran through the reset and manual update button pressing procedure and held my breath as it went through the whole update process.

When it was done, I was in a weird state between Dingo and Ermine. The OS was all Android 1.6, yet I still had ALL my apps, settings, configs.... and broken attempts of making google work... still there. I had some weird crashing issues, but was able to stumble my way to the Factory Reset option.

After holding my breath for a while longer while it did it's wipe and restore, it came back up.... factory fresh out of the box condition! I was SO relieved!

So, we decided not to bother with the attempts again. My buddy downgraded/re-upgraded his as well to get it fresh out of the box working again.

Currently I have it re-upgraded to Ermine, all my apps loaded on it again, widgets, books, etc. I was still not happy with the fact I couldn't update the apps I had on there.

I ended up finding this one shady app, which I won't mention do to it's controversy of being a "warez downloader for android", but I will say this... it DOES work. I was able to have it scan my installed apps and it updated them ALL to the latest versions of everything automatically. I was pretty happy with this. I will say that this app has some SCARY permission requests (access to my accounts? really?) so as soon as I did the update, I changed all my google passwords to be safe and uninstalled the app when I was done. Again, I do NOT condone piracy, as the dev's deserve to get paid for their hard work, and c'mon, when most of these apps are $1-2 each...just PAY them!
For some of the apps even this method didn't find, I was able to use ES File Explorer to "backup" my APK files from my phone, copy them over to the PE and install them that way.

So as of now... I have a fully running tablet with Android 2.2.1, all the latest apps installed that I have on my phone for the most part and I am pretty happy with it.

I HIGHLY recommend installing the Amazon Appstore, you are able to grab the Free Paid App of the Day on the PE. There's a few alternative legit app stores out there too with things you can grab if you really miss the Android Marketplace.

Today I started reading a book on it. It's pretty heavy and thick (I have my folded back, with the tablet screen turned off) and while I like reading on it, its a little on the heavy side to hold up while laying down. Accessing the bookmark menu is a bit annoying too, since it's over on the Tablet side, and not too easy to find. You have to hit the little Info circle in the top of the eReader with the stylus (which is not easy to get to with it folded back) and then a menu pops up on the tablet side with more options about the book you are currently reading, such as book marks, easily scroll-able chapters, etc. Even with the heaviness and irritation of what I have to do to book mark it, I still enjoy it. This is my first eReader experience, I think I am going to like it!

The Tablet is sloowww compared to my phone, but I knew this going into it before I bought it, so I am not complaining. The screen itself looks MUCH better after the Ermine upgrade...not sure what changed other than the colors and overall look is much prettier.

I turned off a lot of the animations and stuff to make it run as fast as it could. I loaded all the widgets on it I have on my phone, everything works as it does on my phone. Pandora is fun to play while waking around the house on the WiFi. I copied some TV shows to it an watched them while in bed the other night, it ran smooth and looked GREAT in widescreen/landscape mode. The sound on this thing is actually pretty impressive. The stock tinny speakers in it are LOOUUDD. Full volume makes it distort, but clicking it back one notch makes it clear again. Hooking it up to headphones or external speakers (tried a 2.1 system on it too) sound EXCELLENT. I have to use a music player with an EQ on my phone, but on the PE it seems to sound pretty good on it's own. I'm impressed with it's sound. The camera works fine, and is fun to play with on the larger screen, it's mostly a novelty on this device, it functions the same as my phone, but just larger and more awkward holding the big tablet up to take a picture.

It's only downside, and I don't know if this is because it's CPU is slower, or if it's trying to render too much, perhaps its because it's trying to scale images too hard... is that a LOT of the newer/larger games just can't run on it. It either chokes or just doesn't load at all due to not enough ..something. I knew already that Angry Birds doesn't run on it from all the other forum posts, but some other games I wanted to try on a large screen didn't work either, games with higher graphics than the pokey casual games. Words with Friends looks AMAZING on this LOL. It's more fun to play on the PE than my phone, as silly as that sounds.

All in all, I am REALLY enjoying the experience of a tablet and an eReader. I more or less bought this because it was cheap on Woot, was able to put Android 2.2x on it, and was the best of both worlds (tablet and eReader). I wanted to get this to see how I liked each device, call it a Training Tablet/eReader if you will LOL.

It's a Win for me!

05-15-2011, 08:39 PM	#1
corvettejoe Edge User	PocketEdge Experience so far I received my Woot! PocketEdge last Thurs at work. Out of the box it was a pretty neat device, but boring without the Ermine (Android 2.2.1) update. As soon as I got home I used Obsessed's guide and got it updated without any hitch. It went straight to Ermine, no Dingo update needed. While it is pretty slow compared to my phone (Evo w/CM7) it was still a pretty cool device, and I was happy it had at least the more recent Android OS on it and was up to date. Then came the fun of trying to get apps installed on it that evening so I could show it off at work the next day. I didn't even bother with the Entourage store, I went straight for APK searching via Google. I got most of what I wanted, but was disappointed in the fact I didn't have the latest versions of the apps installed. I would find the latest version number from the Marketplace, google search for the APK, then dump it on my own file server and download it over the WiFi (too lazy to keep putting the PE in USB Storage mode on my desktop every time I found another app to install). For the most part this went well. Then the next day, my buddy and I started trying to MAKE the Android Marketplace work. Once we got the device rooted, we started trying various versions of the google apps from other hacked ROMS for our phones, such as the marketplace, gmail, and all it's various connectors and data movers. We were trying to find out once and for all, since there just isn't a lot of information about this to the degree we were looking for, if we could force this to work somehow or not. My buddy fared better than I did, he was able to get the gmail app to load, and the google accounts to show up in the accounts settings. It would never connect though. I tried a different approach and failed miserably. I didn't do so good. I was moving some files with root explorer and using the terminal to run some other commands and thought I had it. After a quick reboot, I was stuck in a looped error I could not get out of, no matter what I did. The google setup wizard was trying to launch and was stuck in a Force Close loop. No button pushing, resets, NOTHING would get it out of this state. Great, I just bricked my brand new toy, and I hadn't even had it 24 hours yet. After a couple of hours of research and sweating bullets, I found the "downgrade" article in the Entourage FAQ. I downloaded the dingo update.zip and put it on a thumbdrive (I LOVE the USB port on this thing!!!) I ran through the reset and manual update button pressing procedure and held my breath as it went through the whole update process. When it was done, I was in a weird state between Dingo and Ermine. The OS was all Android 1.6, yet I still had ALL my apps, settings, configs.... and broken attempts of making google work... still there. I had some weird crashing issues, but was able to stumble my way to the Factory Reset option. After holding my breath for a while longer while it did it's wipe and restore, it came back up.... factory fresh out of the box condition! I was SO relieved! So, we decided not to bother with the attempts again. My buddy downgraded/re-upgraded his as well to get it fresh out of the box working again. Currently I have it re-upgraded to Ermine, all my apps loaded on it again, widgets, books, etc. I was still not happy with the fact I couldn't update the apps I had on there. I ended up finding this one shady app, which I won't mention do to it's controversy of being a "warez downloader for android", but I will say this... it DOES work. I was able to have it scan my installed apps and it updated them ALL to the latest versions of everything automatically. I was pretty happy with this. I will say that this app has some SCARY permission requests (access to my accounts? really?) so as soon as I did the update, I changed all my google passwords to be safe and uninstalled the app when I was done. Again, I do NOT condone piracy, as the dev's deserve to get paid for their hard work, and c'mon, when most of these apps are $1-2 each...just PAY them! For some of the apps even this method didn't find, I was able to use ES File Explorer to "backup" my APK files from my phone, copy them over to the PE and install them that way. So as of now... I have a fully running tablet with Android 2.2.1, all the latest apps installed that I have on my phone for the most part and I am pretty happy with it. I HIGHLY recommend installing the Amazon Appstore, you are able to grab the Free Paid App of the Day on the PE. There's a few alternative legit app stores out there too with things you can grab if you really miss the Android Marketplace. Today I started reading a book on it. It's pretty heavy and thick (I have my folded back, with the tablet screen turned off) and while I like reading on it, its a little on the heavy side to hold up while laying down. Accessing the bookmark menu is a bit annoying too, since it's over on the Tablet side, and not too easy to find. You have to hit the little Info circle in the top of the eReader with the stylus (which is not easy to get to with it folded back) and then a menu pops up on the tablet side with more options about the book you are currently reading, such as book marks, easily scroll-able chapters, etc. Even with the heaviness and irritation of what I have to do to book mark it, I still enjoy it. This is my first eReader experience, I think I am going to like it! The Tablet is sloowww compared to my phone, but I knew this going into it before I bought it, so I am not complaining. The screen itself looks MUCH better after the Ermine upgrade...not sure what changed other than the colors and overall look is much prettier. I turned off a lot of the animations and stuff to make it run as fast as it could. I loaded all the widgets on it I have on my phone, everything works as it does on my phone. Pandora is fun to play while waking around the house on the WiFi. I copied some TV shows to it an watched them while in bed the other night, it ran smooth and looked GREAT in widescreen/landscape mode. The sound on this thing is actually pretty impressive. The stock tinny speakers in it are LOOUUDD. Full volume makes it distort, but clicking it back one notch makes it clear again. Hooking it up to headphones or external speakers (tried a 2.1 system on it too) sound EXCELLENT. I have to use a music player with an EQ on my phone, but on the PE it seems to sound pretty good on it's own. I'm impressed with it's sound. The camera works fine, and is fun to play with on the larger screen, it's mostly a novelty on this device, it functions the same as my phone, but just larger and more awkward holding the big tablet up to take a picture. It's only downside, and I don't know if this is because it's CPU is slower, or if it's trying to render too much, perhaps its because it's trying to scale images too hard... is that a LOT of the newer/larger games just can't run on it. It either chokes or just doesn't load at all due to not enough ..something. I knew already that Angry Birds doesn't run on it from all the other forum posts, but some other games I wanted to try on a large screen didn't work either, games with higher graphics than the pokey casual games. Words with Friends looks AMAZING on this LOL. It's more fun to play on the PE than my phone, as silly as that sounds. All in all, I am REALLY enjoying the experience of a tablet and an eReader. I more or less bought this because it was cheap on Woot, was able to put Android 2.2x on it, and was the best of both worlds (tablet and eReader). I wanted to get this to see how I liked each device, call it a Training Tablet/eReader if you will LOL. It's a Win for me! Last edited by corvettejoe; 05-15-2011 at 09:16 PM.