Need some advice about purchasing an Entourage

Originally Posted by borisb

Having both myself, I'm confident you'll find the Pocket eDGe a treat It's a remarkably convenient all-in-one gadget.

It wouldn't hurt to send enTourage a quick email about the details of your decision regarding the large eDGe. They do value customer feedback.

I sure hope so. I'm thinking it would be just the right size for my needs. Maybe in the future, they would be able to address the situation about zooming in, annotating, and panning. Even with the almost 10" screen of the reader, it wasn't enough space for me to complete my task in a very good way. I noticed that when you zoom and annotate, then zoom out, and then pan to another section, when you get ready to annotate, it goes back not only to the same zoom level, but same section of the document that you first annotated the document in. I sure hope they fix that; and if they do, then I may be able to use my Pocket Edge in the way I originally intended for the Entourage edge.

Annotation has always been the key differentiator of the eDGe from any other ereader (that and the dual screens of course). Clearly annotation has to work really well (for as many people as possible), so I look forward to enTourage refining it. They are somewhat hamstrung by the Adobe software they use for the Reader, but they've already resolved a couple of issues with the help of Adobe, and hopefully they'll be able to continue to do so.

Originally Posted by borisb

Annotation... but they've already resolved a couple of issues with the help of Adobe...

What issues are you referring to? And which update are they in?

what I don't get is that Entourage is selling the eDGe for $549 and with buy.com you buy it for$ 487.

Originally Posted by Gunnerp245

What issues are you referring to? And which update are they in?

The main one is the display of some PDFs containing just images, such as those downloaded from Google Books: http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/...ull=1#post3143 (which responds to the post above it). This post was from May. The fix was rolled out during the summer in a Coyote or Dingo release.

Another issue was the Reader freezing when reading a PDF book in reflow mode that had graphics. This was in the summer and was quickly fixed, too.

These are the two I'm aware of.

If you're patched to the latest version, then these are already on your eDGe.

Originally Posted by zed

I sure hope so. I'm thinking it would be just the right size for my needs. Maybe in the future, they would be able to address the situation about zooming in, annotating, and panning. Even with the almost 10" screen of the reader, it wasn't enough space for me to complete my task in a very good way. I noticed that when you zoom and annotate, then zoom out, and then pan to another section, when you get ready to annotate, it goes back not only to the same zoom level, but same section of the document that you first annotated the document in. I sure hope they fix that; and if they do, then I may be able to use my Pocket Edge in the way I originally intended for the Entourage edge.

Please do send Entourage an email as Boris suggested. I think it is important to keep this request active so that it doesn't get lost in the OS push.

Originally Posted by Gunnerp245

What issues are you referring to? And which update are they in?

Having the reader remember and go back to the zoom level used for annotations was a workaround that appeared in one of the updates. I realize it isn't enough, but it helped me out.

I find the best zoom level to display all the text and still allow me to make annotations and go from there.

In a couple of other cases I actually reformatted the page size and margins in the pdf to allow me to find an optimum 'annotating' situation. I have access to acrobat pro and publishing software. I also have the time if the book is important enough to me.

So, while a workaround, at best, it was still an improvement.

Clearly annotation has to work really well (for as many people as possible), so I look forward to enTourage refining it. They are somewhat hamstrung by the Adobe software they use for the Reader, but they've already resolved a couple of issues with the help of Adobe, and hopefully they'll be able to continue to do so.

There is an open source pdf editor called Skim (mac) that I've been following. When I first tried it, it also had the annotation/zoom problem. That gentleman did get it resolved, although, not immediately. So, I think this may be a common problem in working with the file format.

Originally Posted by aidren

Having the reader remember and go back to the zoom level used for annotations was a workaround that appeared in one of the updates. I realize it isn't enough, but it helped me out.

I find the best zoom level to display all the text and still allow me to make annotations and go from there.

In a couple of other cases I actually reformatted the page size and margins in the pdf to allow me to find an optimum 'annotating' situation. I have access to acrobat pro and publishing software. I also have the time if the book is important enough to me.

So, while a workaround, at best, it was still an improvement.

Great idea; thanks for the information. This is not a great solution for those of us reading technical documentation such as scientific PDFs, but it is a good start.

Originally Posted by aidren

There is an open source pdf editor called Skim (mac) that I've been following. When I first tried it, it also had the annotation/zoom problem. That gentleman did get it resolved, although, not immediately. So, I think this may be a common problem in working with the file format.

Good to hear!

Just a quick note re: annotation/zoom - the Nokia N810 internet tablet runs xournal (a linux program very similar to our Journal app on the e-ink side -- maybe even the program our app is based on? Didn't we discuss that before?) on an LCD screen and it is capable of zoom/pan annotate functions so you can zoom in, sign, then zoom back out. I've used it extensively for signing documents. So if our app is indeed related to xournal, maybe it's only a matter of time until it works on the edge, too.

Originally Posted by sarah11918

Just a quick note re: annotation/zoom - the Nokia N810 internet tablet runs xournal (a linux program very similar to our Journal app on the e-ink side -- maybe even the program our app is based on? Didn't we discuss that before?) on an LCD screen and it is capable of zoom/pan annotate functions so you can zoom in, sign, then zoom back out. I've used it extensively for signing documents. So if our app is indeed related to xournal, maybe it's only a matter of time until it works on the edge, too.

I certainly hope so! I cannot WAIT for this bug fix... it will dramatically increase the functionality of the EE... at least from my perspective!

Agreed, Dr. T.

I've only ever signed documents on the edge that don't require zooming, but I've found it absolutely necessary at times and am glad to have the N810 for that reason alone. We bought our house (in Canada) while in Istanbul, signing documents on the N810! It has more than paid for itself just with that feature.