Dingo - First Impressions

I'm very happy with the new look and the speed increase. Altough sometimes I'm a little confused where I can find something which is not there where it used to be. But I'll manage it and a thumbs up for Dingo.

On a scale of 1-10 I give this update a 9.
I am really enjoying the ease of using the library now and the calendar is great, and customizing the icons on the android menu bar is fun. Overall I am in favor of this update.

The only part of the update that is making me want to rip my hair out is the journal layout changes. I saw from the release notes that I was not going to like it and using it in class today proved that I do not like this new menu for the journal. Previously everything was just 1 quick tap away from use, now I have to tap menu .....wait....tap <tool><color><etc> ....wait.....tap what I want. Today's notes made me realize just how much I like to modify pen thickness and color while taking notes.

I do not understand why the entire journal was redesigned.
1)It does not seem to provide any addictional screen estate.

Top was 2 lines now 1 line, bottom was 1 line now 2 lines.

2) All of the functionality of the journal is now hidden way in the easy to not notice menu text.

Originally Posted by ChrisF

On a scale of 1-10 I give this update a 9.

My grade is 8, maybe 8.5. I'm still waiting feverishly for full Flash support (pardon the alliteration). But this upgrade is, IMHO, a huge improvement in terms of usability, namely the improved use of space in the design of the interface (the browser and library in particular) and more intuitive organizational elements and apps (journal and home apps in particular).

Originally Posted by ChrisF

The only part of the update that is making me want to rip my hair out is the journal layout changes.

I actually really like the new journal. I may be an old duck, but the menu is much improved for how I use the journal, though I concede that its placement at the bottom of the page threw me a bit--until I realized that's where I rest my hand when reading and writing. It may take getting used to, but it seems more ergonomic, at least for me.

Originally Posted by NiaTrue

I actually really like the new journal. I may be an old duck, but the menu is much improved for how I use the journal, though I concede that its placement at the bottom of the page threw me a bit--until I realized that's where I rest my hand when reading and writing. It may take getting used to, but it seems more ergonomic, at least for me.

Might I ask how you use your journal? It is always helpful to have more than one perspective. I'm coming from an engineering student's perspective where I tend to draw several diagrams on each page or graph functions. When I am graphing or drawing I like to change color and thickness alot and thus this new menu bar is a handicap. I can not keep pace with the professor and make my notes look how I like.

On the ergonomic side, having the menus allows each item to have more screen space and a full text description of that item next to it. To a new user this would be great (it took me many hours playing with the journal to understand what every button did), but once you know what each icon is the full text is no longer required.

I guess it is time to put in a feature request to allow the top journal toolbar to be customized like they just did for the android toolbar.

Ok, a very serious problem. Since installing dingo, I can no longer open any of my lecture pdfs on the reader. Any thoughts?

Edit: they all have a % in the file name.

Renchy, Contact customer support with the issue. In the mean time can you at least open them (with no annotations) in DocsToGo? My banner does not state it yet but I am an employee of the company (open disclosure).

Originally Posted by borisb

After every big release, there tends to be a followup maintenance release, so the more they know about the more they can fix sooner rather than later.

Really? I must have missed that maintenance release following up on the June update's issues.

Thanks for the reply Euforikus. I have logged a new ticket and for the time being I am opening lecture slide in pdf2go, and taking notes in the journal app.

Originally Posted by Chubulor

Really? I must have missed that maintenance release following up on the June update's issues.

I upgraded yesterday afternoon and got one this afternoon. Not sure what got fixed though.

I have the problem with opening pdfs with%% on ereader as well. Otherwise very happy with the changes, esp the faster speed!

I think I dicovered another bug. Before the update, when I had a graphic or an image of a book in the e-reader displayed on the lcd screen (using the camera tool), I could display another graphic or image (or text) without hitting the back button of the lcd screen first. That's not possible any more. I first have to hit the back button before I can display something else on the lcd screen out of the book on the e-reader.

I've noticed this, too. It doesn't quite irk me as much as some of the reader's other peccadilloes, such as the screen not refreshing and clearing selecting command from the new menu, leaving the selected command faintly printed on the display until you manually refresh the screen. Worst of all is, too often, there is no response to the command selection, i.e., I have to select undo several times before it executes the command, if it does at all.

I'm also a bit annoyed with the highlight logic's unpredictability. I can never be sure what will be highlighted after I've run the pen over the target area. I had hoped Dingo would have corrected this.

Outside of these issues, I'm fairly happy!

Originally Posted by Chubulor

Really? I must have missed that maintenance release following up on the June update's issues.

Coyote-0.6 was actually the big release (I think near the end of May?), as you can see from the Release Notes. The second release in June, Coyote-1.0, was actually more of a maintenance release, as you can see from its Release Notes.

As is the nature of all software, generally a bug fix release introduces at least one new bug It keeps us software developers well employed, lol.

Is there a place where all bugs are collected or should be reported? Or do the staff members of Entourage Edge collect them from our posts?

I've noticed enTourage staff responding to posts on this thread, so they seem to be watching closely. However, I'll start a new thread specifically for this that others might notice and report there, too.

If there's a particularly severe bug that is really interfering with your use of the eDGe, you can email techsupport@entourageedge.com. You may get more immediate feedback about a possible fix and timeline, but not always (especially if they're swamped).