How much battery life are you getting, and under what conditions?

You can improve battery life by setting the screen timeout, locking the LCD when you don't need the LCD side, and by closing up the Pocket eDGe when you put it aside (which puts it into "sleep"). See http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/...use-the-reader for details.

The reader side has no adjustments for brightness or contrast. I, too, found it somewhat dark when I first got my (full sized) eDGe, but I think it will improve slightly as the eInk gets exercised and as you get used to it. eInk is quite different from the bright LCDs we're used to, but after using it for a couple of days, you may find reading a book on an LCD screen downright painful