Business Trips with the eDGe (long post)

I've been an eDGe owner since April and have now taken it on a number of business trips (almost all outside the US), so I thought I would share my experiences with anyone interested. Overall, I find the eDGe has allowed me to leave my laptop at home on most trips, and has made my iPhone much less essential when traveling. The post below is long and is divided in 3 parts: I - accessories, II - positive aspects, and III - difficulties

I. Accessories.
I've experimented with a variety of accessories and here's what I have found to be most useful to bring along:

1. Wenger 10.2 inch netbook case - This case is soft, light and tiny, has two zipped pockets (one of them lined with soft material), each of which fits the eDGe like a glove. There are also two additional side pockets for smaller items, a shoulder strap and handles. I can fit all accessories into it easily (I pack power cord separately), plus miscellaneous items like phone, passport and wallet. It looks presentable enough to take to business meetings. The only drawback is that in order to fit a letter-size sheet of paper into the case you have to fold it in half. Otherwise simply perfect and way better than the Cocoon case, which was a total disaster for me.

2. Spare eDGe battery - the eDGe battery is surprisingly light, so packing an extra one to double working time is worth the trouble, even if I only rarely need it (esp with the latest firmware - the battery lasts a really long time). I do find it useful to have in case I accidentally forget to power off the eDGe and find that it's drained by the time I need to use it.

3. Three Mifi - I bought this beauty on a recent trip to London and could not be more happy with the ease of use, battery life and dimensions. It gives the eDGe internet access wherever there is a cell data signal and can be made to work with any sim card (buying local sims is cheap in most countries, compared to data roaming fees)

4. Tuff-n-Tiny 8gb flash drive - for work documents, music, movies. This flash drive is so tiny you have to see it to believe it! I also have a class 10 32gb sdhc card for larger content and a USB SDHC card reader in case I need to load content onto the SDHC card from a PC.

5. Alternate stylus - a more comfortable stylus for taking lots of notes and as a backup for the built-in pen.

6. USB to Ethernet plug - for the odd hotel that has wired rather than wi-fi connections.

Note: You'll notice that a portable keyboard is conspicuously missing from the above list of accessories. While I actually bought a couple of different ones for the eDGe I am still looking for something that is small enough yet usable enough to take along with me. In the meantime, the virtual keyboard in the latest firmware is infinitely more usable than in previous versions and I also use add-on keyboard apps for typing in languages other than English, which is apparently still impossible with a physical keyboard.

UPDATE (9/25): On a tip from one of the posts below, I just got the Super Slim USB 2.0 keyboard, which is super-slim and light, fits (just barely) into the case I described above, is easy to type on, and matches the eDGe's silver inside color perfectly. This keyboard is miles beyond the foldable Targus in my view and is significantly cheaper as well. It looks very much like the portable keyboard they have for iPad, except that one is bluetooth and this one is USB. The keyboard is a "chiclet" style and it is pretty amusing that the manufacturer calls it "chocolate" since it's obviously just a mistake - nothing chocolate about this keyboard!

II. Positive aspects.
There are quite a few things I simply love about business travel with the eDGe.

-Even in a crammed economy plane seat, where using a regular laptop is impossible, the eDGe is comfortable to use. I love the versatility: open as a book (when using both sides), folded backwards (for using either side as a slate) or sitting on the tray table in landscape mode (for watching a movie on the LCD)

-I can whip out the eDGe and use it in places I would never dream of using a laptop: standing in line for check-in, walking in the street (e.g. looking up maps, directions or contact info).

-relatively fast boot-up and shutdown at the touch of a button is a big advantage and also makes the eDGe much more useable on the road.

-With Touchdown, access to my corporate email, calendar and contacts is a lot easier than on a Windows laptop (which requires several applications and multiple user interactions to get me where Touchdown gets me with a couple of quick clicks).

-Marking up PDFs or ePubs is a snap and would be impossible with a laptop unless it's also a tablet. I love the ability to edit or even sign documents without having to print them out.

-The e-reader side is a joy to read on and I find myself reading a LOT more on trips than I used to. Not only is it infinitely superior to the LCD in daylight, the ability to reflow and enlarge the text in most PDFs is simply invaluable.

-The two-screen interactions, especially the table of contents for annotations and headings is incredibly useful and makes it easy to navigate and organize things while traveling.

-I read a lot more newspapers now because of the way PressDisplay works with the eDGe. I simply download a few papers before my trip and read them on long flights, in taxis, etc.


III. Difficulties.
The eDGe is still a ways from becoming a perfect laptop substitute and when traveling with the eDGe I find myself postponing many tasks until I am in front of a regular PC. These tasks include using Windows-specific applications, heavy web browsing, serious document editing and lengthy typing tasks.

-Android is a decent OS, but I need to use a couple of applications that require the use of a mouse or a Windows PC, so for those I am just out of luck

-strangely, the eDGe cannot seem to connect to some wifi networks (especially in airline lounges for some reason)

-absence of full flash support makes many websites impossible to navigate. I've noticed the eDGe even has serious difficulties with google maps (not sure why), so I tend to use alternative mapping sites.

-virtual keyboard is no match for full keyboard, and using a physical USB or wireless keyboard with the eDGe isn't always possible or convenient.

-docs to go is a decent mobile app (esp for viewing documents), but creating and editing documents in it can be a struggle.

-Speed and stability could still use improvement - e.g. applications crash regularly when flipping orientations and web browsing is considerably slower than on a PC

-Lack of ability to tether to a cell phone is frustrating for a device lacking its own 3g antenna

A fascinating read!

Given the promise of improved speed and Flash (and who knows what else) in the upcoming Android 2.2 update this Fall, I expect your experience to continue to improve.

Nice post.

Very interesting. I have to say that the latest update has also opened up a world of new free pdfs, too. Please post if you find a great external keyboard. I also see some other tiny usb drives, with up to 32GB, they are new to me, I only have big old kind. Thanks!

Thank you for this very nice, complete and clear review. Very helpfull.

Thanks a lot for your valuable insights!

+++

Thanks

Originally Posted by devseev

. . . -strangely, the eDGe cannot seem to connect to some wifi networks (especially in airline lounges for some reason) . . .

I found the similar thing in a hotel. They clearly offered free (lower speed) wifi for anyone. (Higher speed for paying customers.) The edge could navigate through their front end site, but would never get through the Connect page. It might be that it had some kind of flash voodoo on it. Or too many moochers like me sponging off their free service.

McDonald's uses a similar setup. One page provides the acknowledgment for terms of service for free Wifi, and then it redirects to another URL for access. However, the edge ordinarily handles the McDonald's network more or less just fine. (Or about 3 out of 4 restaurants.)

Awesome post!

Strange, I've had no problems yet at a handful of airports (neither free wifi ones nor Boingo hotspot ones) and I'm at a Hilton property now that requires you to hit a particular website first then click OK, and that's fine too. Mind you, it took a few minutes to get the Hilton welcome page to show up, but so far I haven't had any problems on the road.

And I had the same frustrations with Google maps, but today I noticed that if I just type a location into Google as a regular search (e.g. "Trader Joe's downtown Chicago") then Google gives me its own generic info about it, and one of the options is to click on Map. I didn't have any high hopes, but I clicked and I actually got a real, readable map! Of course, it did crash when I then clicked on "Directions", but it's a start.

I'm very interested to hear your successes with the Mifi. We're going to be all over the globe in the next few months, and I should seriously think about that as a solution.

Thanks again!

Just ordered and received the "Mini Slim Chocolate Keyboard" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product from Amazon.com. It's PERFECT for the eDGe and also fits inside the M-Edge Case too! (Just make sure you place the keyboard in first, THEN place the eDGe on top of it for a snug fit)

Thanks for the tip, ShiningT1g3R! I just got this keyboard from Amazon for the eDGe and couldn't agree more. The keyboard is super-light and compact, fits (just barely) into the case I described above, is easy to type on, and matches the eDGe's silver inside color perfectly. This keyboard is miles beyond the foldable Targus in my view and is significantly cheaper as well. It looks very much like the portable keyboard they have for iPad, except that one is bluetooth and this one is USB. The keyboard is a "chiclet" style and it is pretty amusing that the manufacturer calls it "chocolate" since it's obviously just a mistake - nothing chocolate about this keyboard!

@devseev: thanks for your review - very informative.

Dare I say it, I had play with the ipad, and the virtual keyboard was far more usable than I thought, especially in landscape mode (I could use two hands). I'm wondering how you've found the Edge's virtual keyboard - is it ok to say type a short set of comments, a couple of paragraphs?

And is the edge virtual kb usable in landscape mode - how would you place the machine? In particular, if you were to use the virtual kb to make comments in a pdf (e-ink side), would this be awkward, as it would have to be done in portrait and the edge would have to be opened out flat on a hard surface?

I may have mentioned this in another thread, but re: business trips: if you have a separate stylus, send it through airport security in the same bin as the laptop, or at least somewhat separate away from your regular pens/pencils. I was stopped and had my purse searched twice, but didn't realize until the second guy told me it was the thing that looked like a pen but was full of circuitry that looked suspicious. (They even tested all my regular pens to make sure they would write.) Yesterday, I put the pen with the edge in a bin and no problems.

Do any of you have the info to give me a comparison between the usb chiclet keyboard mentioned here and the microsoft arc wireless keyboard? In terms of size and useability I mean?

The amazon link does post the dimensions of the chicklet keyboard. It's 1.2 cm longer than the edge. I didn't pay attention to the width, since I just wanted to know the length of the keyboard compared to the edge. But you can check the link for the dimensions. Sorry, can't help you with usability comparisons. I did just order the chicklet keyboard today to replace the huge Acer one I'm currently traveling with. (Whatever was lying around the house.). I'm looking forward to one that will fit in the Case Logic case I just ordered.