Dingo 1.10 Upgrade on full-sized eDGe

Wow, thank goodness for this update. I was totally lost without being able to see a book cover as the icon of my PDFs. I mean, how was I supposed to know which book I'm reading when the book cover isn't in the icon? Read the file name or something?

Good to see that the manufacturer is working hard to make significant improvements that make the Edge more powerful and easy to use.

I just updated and something weird is going on with the writing aspect of the reader side. I am trying to grade papers submitted online and they send them in PDF format. I had them change the font this time around to Arial instead of Times New Roman, which shouldn't change anything but the ability to read it. Anyway there is a massive delay with the pen. I write and it starts part of a line if I am underlining and then stops. Then catches up. When I am writing words, it freezes halfway through and then the screen flashed like you are turning the page or saving it even though I am doing nothing and then finally completes the word. I can't grade the papers like this. I looked through the settings but am at a loss. Anyone else seeing this with the new update? Or is there some setting I am missing?

Something strange happened today. I switched off the wifi using the switch next to the mini-usb. The airplane-icon appeared, but the wifi-icon stayed! And the wifi stayed active. Only after about 10 minutes the wifi-icon disappeared and there was no connection annymore.

Writing in the journal is very fast now. Quite an improvement.

Originally Posted by sjarrel

Something strange happened today. I switched off the wifi using the switch next to the mini-usb. The airplane-icon appeared, but the wifi-icon stayed! And the wifi stayed active. Only after about 10 minutes the wifi-icon disappeared and there was no connection annymore.

Hm, the same thing happened to me once some weeks ago, way before this update. I guess there must be another reason for this.

On my PE I think I'm seeing the same - but more like the cover is squeezed to the left side, taking up about 1/4 of the icon width.

Same here on the 10'' eDGe, with some ePubs, and not with pdf.

I checked the Journal, and writing is practically instantaneous now on the lined background. This gives me hope for the PE where it lags noticeably.

I also checked a PDF ebook, and generally the ink flowed as I drew the line, but sometimes would pause for a second and then fill in that portion of the line before continuing. This behaviour suggests the CPU is busy and the ink has to catch up once the CPU is available again. This could be a background task, or it could be the reader app itself doing some processing of the ink.

I have seen a similar phenomenon while annotating PDFs. It seems to happen right at first, when I begin on a new page or new document. This seems to agree with Boris's interpretation.

I should mention,too, that I haven't upgraded yet, so this behavior is based on the previous Dingo release.

In some ways I'm surprised that Android seems to demonstrate the same sort of issues as Windows. Things like needing to reboot occasionally because the system has become unstable and/or bogged down. Mysterious processes in the background that are chewing up CPU time and you have no idea what. And a boot up process that gives you a home screen fairly quickly but still needs another couple of minutes for all the various startup processes and apps to settle down.

If background activity is the cause for the pen "stuttering", then a reboot and/or waiting a few minutes should restore the pen to full responsiveness.

But I literally cannot write anymore on the student papers. It is that bad. I can't get a word or two out before it is freezing up and I have to wait. Then I try again and it does the same thing. It flashes like the page is turning each time it does this. I had absolutely no problems grading the papers or this issue at all before the update. I checked the journal and there is no issue, it is only on the PDF and Epub side. It sucks as I am supposed to be grading these today and tomorrow. I am going to have to use the computer to type comments if I can't get it to work soon.

Have you contacted technical support? They may be able to provide a helpful suggestion or fix.

Already did that. The guy knew nothing and now I have to wait for tech support to call back in the next 24 hours. It is just frustrating when you are depending on it to use for work.

Have you installed any apps beyond what is available on the eDGe or available through the app store? Do you have quick draw checked in the settings? And, when you say it is so bad that you cannot even grade student papers, what do you mean? Is the lag several seconds? Sorry for the inquisition... just trying to get a better idea of the situation.

You can call them again and ask if you could downgrade to Dingo 1.6 since that version worked.

I just upgraded and am having the same issues as eberhardt is describing. With constant writing, the screen flashes every 3-4 seconds. I can now see why he couldn't grade with it

Having experienced it myself now, it doesn't seem to me (as uneducated about this stuff as I am) to be a CPU issue. It seems to be a regular occurrence that happens as you write. The page refreshes, with the annotations changing from the dark black that it normally is immediately after writing to the lighter gray representing, on my device, red lines. While refreshing, it no longer displays what I am writing, though the writing does (mostly) pop up after the refresh.

Interestingly, during the refresh, if you keep writing, the lines do not appear. However, when you go to rewrite that section, they suddenly pop up. I've tried restarting, and that doesn't help the overall issue. Quick draw is on (with it off, the writing is painfully slow). I don't know what else to try... I agree with eberhardt, though... the device just got much less useful.

Originally Posted by Dr. T

The page refreshes, with the annotations changing from the dark black that it normally is immediately after writing to the lighter gray representing, on my device, red lines

There may be a clue here as to how to improve performance.

Press "Menu", "Settings", "eDGe Settings", "Reader Preferences"/"Journal Preferences". Make sure "Quick Draw" has a green checkmark.

This means your annotations will stay dark black until you hit the Refresh icon or change a page, etc. This should significantly speed up annotating. This optimization allows the software to quickly draw what you're writing, without being fancy about antialiasing or rendering the proper colour. However, the software is tracking the colour, and reflects it when you refresh.

I'm sorry, Boris, I must not have been clear. Quick draw is checked. Unchecking it only made the problem worse.

I'd be interested if anyone else is having the problem. If I open a PDF and begin annotating, the page refreshes every 5.5-6 seconds or so (I actually timed it this time). I see the same thing whether I'm writing or just drawing a continuous line. This does not happen in the journal.

I called tech support and left a message. Should I email also? Any other thoughts?

Thanks!