[pricecw]

Chris,

If your intention is to read fiction, then I agree, this is not the device for you (although a dual e-ink or mirasol display may be great for that).

I am a heavy tech user of documents, I use datasheets, programming manuals, technical reference manuals, schematics, etc extensively day to day. Generally, I am referencing a few thousand pages at any one time in different documents. This device has shown to fit the niche I am in extremely well, and also works OK for fiction (not tremendous, but not horrible).

Some of the best things, the note taking and export to PDF is extremely useful. The note taking on a book (or marking) and having it show in the table of contents is a life saver (my paper books have book darts to show important, re-used sections). One of my biggest wants/requirements in an e-reader was the Wacom panel.

Two things on the Wacom that I wish was improved, the glass is too slick, I wish it had some texture. I used to use a screen protector with bite on PDAs (from MessagePad on), and am looking for one for this. This turned the experience from like writing on glass to like writing on paper. The other one I really want is the eraser enabled pens to be supported. I use a Wacom tablet for art on my PC at home, and love that you can just flip it over and have a different function. Minor picks on the eDGe, especially since the competition aren't any better.

Now, the edge shines for with dual display. I can have two different docs open on the screens at once, which sometimes is very useful (think schematic and datasheet). I can be reading an article, use the picture tool to grab a section from the pdf/epub (say a table from a magazine article) and it shows up on the LCD. I can then continue the article, and the image stays on the LCD. This is very nice in a lot of articles I read where the tables and figures are on different pages from the text referencing them.

As for the screens, I can read on an LCD, and do frequently, but if I get a choice, I will normally print it. I like the experience better, and a lot of what I read, I like to put notes on as I understand the tech. Further, if I have a choice, LCD or e-ink to read on, I would choose the e-ink 95% of the time (color needs being the other 5%). It really is more comfortable to read off of the e-ink for me.

Funny thing is, I bought this for my personal projects, and it is helping enormously there, but it is also great for work. I was at a Design review the other day, needed an answer from one of my user guides (950+ pages), I don't normally carry those to reviews, but had them all in my eDGe. Did a quick search on the PDF, found what I wanted, and answered the question quickly. It could have been done on my laptop, but I actually hate carrying it to meetings, to big, and to little use normally.

Now for some personal use, I play around with different microcontrollers and use them to teach my boys physics, etc. Currently I have in use boards with ARM Cortex-M0, Cortex-M3, and Cortex-A8, and TI MSP430 (couple of flavors). These are found on a number of different boards, some my custom boards, some bought off the shelf. However, each of the micro controllers have around 2000 pages of frequently accessed and noted documents, usually with graphs, tables, and other data. I am finding the eDGe is better at using these documents than paper or laptop. The ability for notes to show up in the table of contents is a game changer. This device actually changes the use model.

Again, I am a tech user, with a very different reading need than most recreational readers (although I do a lot of recreational reading too). In my opinion, entourage did a great job on this one. A few more improvements, and they will have an excellent platform. I think when the SDK hits, it will grow to be even better.

--Carl