MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Impressions and a couple ??s from a new droid user

MasterTec · 07-10-2011, 02:25 PM

Hey guys! I'm new here and I'm sure there will be many others hopping in after Woot's sale!

While I know PC's like the back of my hand Droids are a completely different story. I've been considering a Droid device but being extremely CHEAP I couldn't justify spending several hundreds of dollars on one. When I saw the PE on Woot for $125 I couldn't pass it up (even with the company having gone under).

Obviously for the price I wasn't expecting it to compete with $500+ tablets that are out there but I'm quite surprised with how capable it is!

I do have to admit though.. the first thing I noticed is how 'cheap' the casing feels. It seems solid enough and looks just fine but it has a kind of 'thin' feel to it. It's hard to knock a product for that these days (ESPECIALLY at this price) because for the most part they all feel like that. I can see how a person who was used to the aluminum housing on more expensive products could quickly dismiss this as being a cheap hunk of junk - regardless as to how much less expensive it is!

As far as functionality goes.. it seems to just work. It's suffered heavy use for four days now and aside from freezing up for about two minutes once after a webpage displayed a pop-up it's worked just fine. Yes the eInk side does get just a little bit warm (not hot by any means maybe BARELY luke warm) it's nothing unusual and to be expected with a computer device like this.

As far as ease of use... well I suppose if the enTourage store still worked it would be a lot easier. If it supported droid market it would be easier still but we're left to look around for apps that we may need. No it's not that difficult and luckily I'm experienced enough to figure this out. I just worry that many people will give up and 'throw in the towel'. Don't be surprised to see a whole bunch of these show up on Ebay dirt cheap!

Battery life.. well it's kind of 'blah'. I may have made a discovery that may improve its life drastically. More about that below.

I'm especially surprised by its performance with videos. I was watching youtube videos and they were nearly as smooth as on my PC.

OK now some quick questions. These may be more of "Droid" questions than eDGe questions but here goes:

1> How do you QUIT applications? The only way I know how is to go in and manually force them to close. For example... lets say I'm playing ANGRY BIRDS. There is no option to quit. All you can do is click the HOME button and select another app. Does this mean that it is still running in the background using resources, or does it go into a 'holding' kind of mode where it goes in a hibernation kind of state and uses no resources until I go back to it?

2> Does the PE have bluetooth? The option to enable it is grayed out. The first thing I did was upgrade it to 2.2 and I don't know if it worked before or not.

3> Does it support 3G? That option is not grayed out and I actually have the option to add a mobile broadband network. Or is this option for installing an external 3G modem?

4> Can I get some help with the battery usage statistics? After having it powered off and charged up and turning it on a short while ago it says this:

39m 57s since unplugged

(signal strength bar image) eDGe idle 85%
Battery used by cell radio
Use details
Time on 39m 54s
Time without a signal 100%
Adjust power use
Switch to airplane mode to save power in areas with no cell coverage

(half sun image) Display 13%
Battery used by the display and backlight
Use details
Time on 32m 18s
Adjust power use
Reduce the screen brightness and/or screen timeout

(power button image) eDGe idle 3%
Battery used when phone is idle
Use details
Time on 7m 38s

So does this mean that 85% of my battery is being used trying to detect a 3g signal? Or does this include the wifi too?

What I did was I enabled AIRPLANE MODE which then shut off my WiFi but then I was able to manually reactivate WiFi and it remains in AIRPLANE MODE as well. The battery seems to last drastically longer since doing this but I'll have to play with it for some more time to be sure. Any theories or information as to why this might be?

07-10-2011, 02:25 PM	#1
MasterTec Connoisseur Posts: 98 Karma: 14416 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: enTourage eDGe Pocket	Impressions and a couple ??s from a new droid user Hey guys! I'm new here and I'm sure there will be many others hopping in after Woot's sale! While I know PC's like the back of my hand Droids are a completely different story. I've been considering a Droid device but being extremely CHEAP I couldn't justify spending several hundreds of dollars on one. When I saw the PE on Woot for $125 I couldn't pass it up (even with the company having gone under). Obviously for the price I wasn't expecting it to compete with $500+ tablets that are out there but I'm quite surprised with how capable it is! I do have to admit though.. the first thing I noticed is how 'cheap' the casing feels. It seems solid enough and looks just fine but it has a kind of 'thin' feel to it. It's hard to knock a product for that these days (ESPECIALLY at this price) because for the most part they all feel like that. I can see how a person who was used to the aluminum housing on more expensive products could quickly dismiss this as being a cheap hunk of junk - regardless as to how much less expensive it is! As far as functionality goes.. it seems to just work. It's suffered heavy use for four days now and aside from freezing up for about two minutes once after a webpage displayed a pop-up it's worked just fine. Yes the eInk side does get just a little bit warm (not hot by any means maybe BARELY luke warm) it's nothing unusual and to be expected with a computer device like this. As far as ease of use... well I suppose if the enTourage store still worked it would be a lot easier. If it supported droid market it would be easier still but we're left to look around for apps that we may need. No it's not that difficult and luckily I'm experienced enough to figure this out. I just worry that many people will give up and 'throw in the towel'. Don't be surprised to see a whole bunch of these show up on Ebay dirt cheap! Battery life.. well it's kind of 'blah'. I may have made a discovery that may improve its life drastically. More about that below. I'm especially surprised by its performance with videos. I was watching youtube videos and they were nearly as smooth as on my PC. OK now some quick questions. These may be more of "Droid" questions than eDGe questions but here goes: 1> How do you QUIT applications? The only way I know how is to go in and manually force them to close. For example... lets say I'm playing ANGRY BIRDS. There is no option to quit. All you can do is click the HOME button and select another app. Does this mean that it is still running in the background using resources, or does it go into a 'holding' kind of mode where it goes in a hibernation kind of state and uses no resources until I go back to it? 2> Does the PE have bluetooth? The option to enable it is grayed out. The first thing I did was upgrade it to 2.2 and I don't know if it worked before or not. 3> Does it support 3G? That option is not grayed out and I actually have the option to add a mobile broadband network. Or is this option for installing an external 3G modem? 4> Can I get some help with the battery usage statistics? After having it powered off and charged up and turning it on a short while ago it says this: 39m 57s since unplugged (signal strength bar image) eDGe idle 85% Battery used by cell radio Use details Time on 39m 54s Time without a signal 100% Adjust power use Switch to airplane mode to save power in areas with no cell coverage (half sun image) Display 13% Battery used by the display and backlight Use details Time on 32m 18s Adjust power use Reduce the screen brightness and/or screen timeout (power button image) eDGe idle 3% Battery used when phone is idle Use details Time on 7m 38s So does this mean that 85% of my battery is being used trying to detect a 3g signal? Or does this include the wifi too? What I did was I enabled AIRPLANE MODE which then shut off my WiFi but then I was able to manually reactivate WiFi and it remains in AIRPLANE MODE as well. The battery seems to last drastically longer since doing this but I'll have to play with it for some more time to be sure. Any theories or information as to why this might be?