View Single Post
Old 04-17-2011, 12:39 PM   #1
obsessed2
Edge User
 
How to Upgrade the Pocket Edge from Dingo to Ermine

I am aware that posts should not be repeated within this forum but I feel this bears starting a new thread. Reason being is before I actually received my Pocket Edge I searched this website for a one stop solution to upgrade the PE to Ermine. Nothing I am saying here is new, but a consolidation of the corporate knowledge I learned from this forum. I hope it will be useful for Pocket Edge owners who are wondering exactly how to upgrade their device which is hassle free. I completed the upgrade on two separate PEs with absolutely no problems.


After you complete the upgrade, I recommend you take a look at the resource guide I put together which will help you get the most out of your Pocket Edge in the least amount of time. It has some of the best threads I found from this forum as well as Apps that can be accessed directly with and downloaded to your Pocket Edge.

http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/...et-Edge-Owners



New Users Start Here:

1. During the registration process the PE will probably force you to download the Dingo update. It can installed manually be pressing, holding, and pulling down the Download notification in the top left corner and pressing the Update.

2. After the Dingo update you can finish the registration process.


After you have a Registered and Dingo Upgraded system please BACK UP YOUR FILES and proceed as follows:

READ AND HEED THIS BEFORE proceeding with the Ermine beta upgrade: Make sure you have the Dingo files in case you need to or want to revert back to Dingo.
https://www.entourageedge.com/suppor...leid=263&nav=0

3. Disable the Screen Timeout. You can Enable it after the update downloads and installs. Here is a trick to set the screen to never timeout. Press and hold the color screen. (Touch in between icons. ) This brings up the desktop menu. Choose “Widgets from that menu. Choose “Power Control from the list of widgets. The power control widget will show up on your desktop. Touch the light bulb button to toggle the indicator to green. Your LCD screen will no longer time out. I actually tried to see what would happen if the Screen Timeout was set to 5 minutes on my second PE and here are my findings: The Screen WILL timeout during the upgrade download. DO NOT panic. Just press the Menu button to unlock the PE and the Downloading Update screen will reappear. For the faint at heart I recommend momentarily disabling the screen timeout.

4. Set the Wi-Fi to Never Turn Off. Again, you can reset this after the update downloads and installs. Open Settings and select Network Control. Select Wi-Fi Settings. Press the Menu button. While I only had to press this once during my PE setup but I had to do press it TWICE when setting up my son's PE. A two-button menu will pop-up. Press Advanced. Press Wi-Fi Sleep Policy. Select either Never or Never when plugged in.

5. Log In into the Entourage account by either launching the Store App (preferred) from the Home Screen. If you are having troubles with your store App you can log on by going to https://www.entourageedge.com/customer/account/

6. Once on the Entourage website select My Account and look for the Red message on the top of the page (ERMINE is here) to Opt into the beta. You will receive the following message: Your device has now been marked for upgrade. You can manually launch the "update" on your application device.

7. Return to the Home screen and select The App Launcher (Touch or Slide the BIG X) and choose Update.

Heed the Warning: *** PLEASE SAVE ALL WORK BEFORE PROCEEDING ***

8. The update will begin to download and takes roughly 12-13 minutes on DSL.

9. The update install takes approximately 5 minutes. BE PATIENT AND MONITOR THE ENTIRE PROCESS. You will see a tiny icon flashing in the right hand corner, the Updating software message will continue to count up from 0 to 3 dots, and you will see Progress bar movement (unfortunately it doesn't display a percentage). After the update I got the Pocket Edge load up screen.

10. Once the install completes you should be treated to the opening Unlock Screen, a Start Up sound, and the Time. Ermine installed for me TWICE without a hitch or single problem.

11. Once you Unlock the PE and go to the Desktop, go to Settings and select About Edge. You should see: Model number: edgejr; Android version: 2.2.1; Build number: ERMINE- 0.9

12. After the upgrade I returned my Screen Timeout to 2 minutes and the Wi-Fi to turn off with the Screen Timeout.


So now Ermine was installed and I setup E-mail (using the default K-9 E-mail program) on the PE using my son's Gmail account and it was absolutely painless. On my second PE I set up a link to my Verizon E-mail account and it was absolutely painless as well.

After that I wanted to download and try out a few Apps other than those already installed on the PE by default. First stop: Amazon App Store for Android. You DO NOT need an Amazon account to download the Android App however, you WILL need one to USE the Android store. Trust Me You Want To Setup an Account on Amazon. Free of charge, no strings attached, no SPAM. I have been doing business with Amazon for 3 years and they are OUTSANDING in every respect. The Android Store has many free Apps including a Free App of the Day which is normally a paid App. http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b?...ode=2350149011

On the right hand side of the page you will see Get Started. Enter you E-mail account (you should set this up on the PE before coming here). You will see A Quick start Guide which will help you with installing the App. You will receive an E-mail on the PE which you will contain a link to download the App and DETAILED installation instructions. Once you touch the download link you will receive a notification of the download in the top left corner of the PE. Drag the screen down and press the App to install it. I had no problem downloading (takes like 5 seconds) and installing the Store App and in minutes I was was able to download, install, and run a few free programs with no problem.

Many on this Forum have posted that certain Apps will not work with Android 2.2.1 and I have my own theory about these programs. I am a PC tech by trade (my first computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I which used a cassette player to save and retrieve data) and have several industry certifications including CompTIA A+. I have a couple of programs that I love that will run in Windows XP (yes I still own an XP machine) that flat out REFUSE to run in Windows Vista (yes I still own a Vista machine, and a Windows 7 machine) even in Compatibility Mode. The compatibility issues were recognized by Microsoft and they offer a Windows XP emulator for Windows 7 for that very reason. My theory is like Windows some Apps programmed in Android 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, or 2.1 MAY refuse to run in the latest version of Android (which for the for the PE is 2.2.1 or Froyo). Software developers have reported difficulty maintaining application compatibility across multiple versions of Android. This is the nature of EVERY evolving Operating Systems. If all the older programs worked with every OS version there would never be a need for new programs. This will NEVER happen.

NO problems with hibernation either. My son hibernated his PE at least four times (once for a couple of hours) and each and every time the e-Ink side displayed Press the Menu Button on to Resume operation and it worked fine every time.

I am not experiencing the green tint when taking pictures that others have reported. I do see two versions of the Camera App and Version 1 appears to be the one being used based on storage statistics. I'm assuming this is the original Camera App.

The default browser and E-mail work fantastic with NO lockups or crashes to report. Used the browser extensively after upgrading. The You Tube App works flawlessly.

I decided to install a 8GB microSDHC card ($20 at Walmart) and moved My Library to the SD card to save on system memory for Apps.

Overall the Ermine upgrade experience on a brand new PE with nothing else installed except Dingo 1.11 was very pleasant. The PE is extremely responsive on both the LCD and E-Ink sides. For those PE owners sitting on the fence on whether to upgrade or not to I say GO FOR IT. You WILL NOT be disappointed.

For those interested here is the Android 2.2.1 User Guide: http://static.googleusercontent.com/...UsersGuide.pdf



I want to personally thank each and every forum user for the wealth of knowledge they have provided on this Forum for myself and all new PE users. I value your feedback and advice and I know I will continue to learn from you each and every day.

Last edited by obsessed2; 05-22-2011 at 06:20 PM.