Entourage Edge DOA?

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by paulckennedy

Amazon blazed a trail with the Kindle. Now they need to innovate or simply get out of the way.

Agreed that Amazon must not sit on its laurels and stop all development of the Kindle. But then, there's no evidence they have, right? Since the summer they have: brought out the Kindle DX; brought out the Kindle 2 Global Edition; added pdf support for the Kindle 2; brought out the Kindle DX Global Edition; added support for other languages; created a new royalty model for authors. And delivered flawlessly over the critical Xmas season when its prime competitors floundered.

Originally Posted by paulckennedy

A software update that adds support for epub, a real folder system and better pdf support would be great. If Amazon was smart, they would jump on Android.

If Amazon was smart, they would be VERY cautious about "jumping" on Android. Amazon Kindle is a gateway into selling, seamlessly and easily, as much content as possible. The Android OS is about surfing the net and becoming a netbook or a gussied up smartphone. Amazon should focus on making the best dedicated reading device and focus enhancements on readers within niche markets -- like text-books, annotation, note-taking sharing, etc. It does not have to figure out a good way to add video pop-ups to Sherlock Holmes.

Amazon has the ability to drive the vision here and, so far, they are doing a pretty good job. There's no sign they are asleep or on vacation. But as tempting as slipping into glitz like adding a "touch screen strip" so they can say the device "has a colour screen", they need to make sure their device really delivers the best content and the best reading experience.

I admire Sony as a CE player but they really need to be taken to task for their silly claim of "1 million Google books". These are delivered as the OCR'd versions of Google scans -- which means they are virtually unreadable due to so many errors. It's shocking, actually.

It's far too early, in short, to "demand" Amazon "get out of the way" when it is Amazon that is actively seeking better ways to access for more content, for more people in more countries. Amazon's agreement with AT&T to deliver seamless wireless 3G in 100 countries, free, is pretty astonishing.

[zetareticuli]

I agree that Amazon is definitely not asleep. For sure they are delivering. The thing is that we would like to see support for other formats as well as better support for PDFs. I am pretty confident that they will at least deliver on the better PDF support including zooming by the end of winter.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by paulckennedy

Sorry. One SD Slot. Two USB Ports.

Oops, you are right. Well one of the USB Ports could hold a memory hub if more memory is needed. They can be faster than SD cards anyway.

[paulckennedy]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Agreed that Amazon must not sit on its laurels and stop all development of the Kindle. But then, there's no evidence they have, right? Since the summer they have: brought out the Kindle DX; brought out the Kindle 2 Global Edition; added pdf support for the Kindle 2; brought out the Kindle DX Global Edition; added support for other languages; created a new royalty model for authors. And delivered flawlessly over the critical Xmas season when its prime competitors floundered.

I will give it to Amazon about getting the Global Editions out to market. They have been able to get an established product in the US to the World. They should make a ton of money.

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

If Amazon was smart, they would be VERY cautious about "jumping" on Android. Amazon Kindle is a gateway into selling, seamlessly and easily, as much content as possible. The Android OS is about surfing the net and becoming a netbook or a gussied up smartphone. Amazon should focus on making the best dedicated reading device and focus enhancements on readers within niche markets -- like text-books, annotation, note-taking sharing, etc. It does not have to figure out a good way to add video pop-ups to Sherlock Holmes.

The problem is that the software which drives the Kindle is getting aged. It was Amazon who insisted that they would never enable foldering. Amazon nows seems ready to update its organization scheme. It just took years of harassing from their install base to get them to see how important it is.

They don't need to find a way to make video pop-ups work in their readers. They just don't need to get behind the development curve and frankly, they are.

The Kindle is a Linux OS the same as Android. With all of the devices coming to the market with Android and with the wealth of developers who will be schooled on how to develop for Android, it would seem prudent for Amazon to consider converting the OS over to Android. They can still limit how the interface is handled which in turn limits the Apps which will be placed on it by the End User. By making a key move to Android, they would virtually mega-jump their ability to support the Kindle. They could still implement a proprietary model for selling Apps for use on the Kindle. They could still have a licence model like Apple has with Iphone App Development. They would just empower the developers who want to develop for the device.

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Amazon has the ability to drive the vision here and, so far, they are doing a pretty good job. There's no sign they are asleep or on vacation. But as tempting as slipping into glitz like adding a "touch screen strip" so they can say the device "has a colour screen", they need to make sure their device really delivers the best content and the best reading experience.

The only effective use of an added LCD panel has been with the Entourage design in my opinion. Amazon should keep the design of the Kindle simple but still groundbreaking. Their focus should be on being the best Book Store model out there.

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I admire Sony as a CE player but they really need to be taken to task for their silly claim of "1 million Google books". These are delivered as the OCR'd versions of Google scans -- which means they are virtually unreadable due to so many errors. It's shocking, actually.

The Google books thing is pretty lame. One quick thing they should definately do though is standardize on EPub. The Mobi format will be their downfall do to its inability languagewise. Now that they have went Globally, they should want the whole world to want one.

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

It's far too early, in short, to "demand" Amazon "get out of the way" when it is Amazon that is actively seeking better ways to access for more content, for more people in more countries. Amazon's agreement with AT&T to deliver seamless wireless 3G in 100 countries, free, is pretty astonishing.

I stand by my statements. Amazon is a great company and I enjoyed my Kindles immensely. Amazon just needs to maintain their sharpness on the cutting edge or just get out of the way for those they inspired.

[lorenzoens]

Originally Posted by paulckennedy

http://gizmodo.com/5445603/the-ultim...-we-care-about

In the attached link, Gizmodo gave the Entourage Edge a 0% chance of survival and essentially deemed it dead on arrival. What are they thinking about?

Reading this now after two years seems quite funny.

LOL, when it comes to big/advanced readers, seems like the authors weren't that much informed.

Both QUE and Skiff never entered the market. The Edge, which they gave 0% of surviving, lasted 14 months and after 2 YEARS, now, in 2012, it's still the most advanced ereader available. The only one which allows you to WORK over a text.

The only E-READER for academics and for education.

After the company ran out of business, it's been acquired by russians and it's bein used in schools. In Europe you can still buy it from Holland at a discounted price, and it's absolutely worth it.

Other 9,7" ereaders currently selling: the Kindle DXG is prehistoric compared to it (only it has a better readibility thanks to the Pearl screen). The Pocketbooks cannot annotate like the Edge. The new Boox M92 may compete with it, if only it had a decent firmware.

Edit: I've just seen a new video review of the 9,7" Jetbook "Color". Gosh, for 500 bucks it's terrible. Isnt' the edge still better?

[Filark]

Thanks, Lor (may I call you that??) for resurrecting this thread! Pretty funny how much things have changed, and how they've stayed the same!

I agree with you that nothing truly "better" has emerged.

If only enTourage had been a bigger company, or sold to a bigger international (not just Russian) company, and been able to continue evolving their 2 product lines. I would so love to see a trimmer, lighter, faster version of the big eDGe with a Pearl eink screen, and the same for the Pocket eDGe, which could include cell phone capabilities.

People still ask for a good, large pdf reader in the "Which one should I buy?" forum, and the answers are unsatisfactory.

Sad. A year later for me and I'm still glad I decided to buy!

[MasterTec]

Don't know if you guys are familiar with computer joysticks but this reminds me of the Logitech G940.

It could have been great! But decisions to skimp on quality, R&D and support plagued the product to the point of death.

Sad really. It had sooo much potential. Now everyone is afraid to try anything even remotely similar.

[lorenzoens]

But if you read this:
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/arch...sruptor?page=1

you see that someone still has the guts to bring forward the idea.

By my opinion, the dualbook format is unmatched for working on texts.