enTourage stalled?

I guess it's not much of a surprise that many of us early-adopting edge users also had iRivers, eh?

Glad to hear from dontpanic about the work on Froyo. That's pretty much what I expected a lack of announcements to mean: chugging away on software/OS issues. I know some of you here are developers, but I'm only married to one and honestly, I probably wouldn't get much out of technical updates. But I like to feel "in the know" so I do like knowing generally what the major focus of development is, and I'm perfectly content if it's in the software realm. But that's more me liking to know stuff than feeling I deserve to know stuff about the workings of a company to which I don't belong.

(Parenthetical Note: I'm still not entirely convinced that being a customer gives me a right to as much inside knowledge as some here believe we deserve, but that's just my own opinion. I ran my own business and while I didn't try to keep information secret from my clients, I'm not sure I really owed them anything more than the (pretty darn good) service they paid for, you know? We hear story after story of Entourage customer service going above and beyond to make sure people have functioning machines, in a timely fashion, and know how to use them. Also, I feel that system upgrades that cause problems are dealt with swiftly. In my mind, that's their business and that's what they owe their customers. Not trying to start anything, just stating that I'm conflicted on this issue that I perceive many others here see as more black and white.)

I still love my edge, just like I love and continue to use my Nokia N810 which ain't going nowhere as far as I can tell. Any machine that gives me a handwriting Journal application outside of a tablet PC is tops in my book! There are some features I'm hoping to eventually see, but even if they didn't materialize, I like the machine I have and it serves my purposes.

Please correct me if I'm misremembering, but weren't we all surprised by the Pocket Edge? Didn't that kind of come out of nowhere to us, who were all pretty regularly keeping up with this forum? I guess what I'm getting at is that we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, and just because there's not much public talk doesn't mean things aren't progressing.

Sure as gunner says, it would be nice to see some of these features completed, and I guess that's the only way for us customers to measure progress. And, though I didn't follow the whole SDK thread very closely, I agree it would be nice to allow others who wanted to try to build features/apps the information to do so (especially since it sounds like the SDK is supposed to be publicly available as a matter of etiquette at the least and a matter of contractual obligation/law at the most?) and would only make the edge's better for all.

But, comparing what's going on here to the **** that Macbook Air users suffered for almost 500 days between refreshes, wondering whether the air would be updated or discontinued entirely (of which I only had to endure a few months, and that was bad enough), it seems a little harsh to accuse enTourage of a lack of transparency regarding updates.

Entourage offers *one* product (in two sizes); unless they are planning on closing up shop entirely, how can they *not* be working on the edge? Certainly, the customer service success stories we're constantly hearing (one just posted this week, even) don't make it sound like they're angling to skip out on customers.

I guess I just can't convince myself to get caught up in the negativity, and I just wanted to make sure that that view was expressed.

Edited to add: Haha, forgot about the language filters! The asterisks make it look like I said something much worse than I did. Promise, I only said h-e-double hockey sticks!

Well said, Sarah.

And Boris, Vulcan Mind Meld, eh?

Check this out:
http://gizmodo.com/5733556/the-compl...froyo-upgrades

I guess we are not the only ones stuck waiting for Froyo.

Wow! That's telling. Thanks for posting it, fgruber.

I've got an iRiver music player, too. 40G internal hard drive. I got it because it 1) played ogg format which was rare at the time and 2) works like a regular USB hard drive without needing proprietary software to load files on it.

It doesn't get as much use as it used too. Now it is simply the backup storage for all the ripped music, since a number of other devices I carry around also conveniently play ogg. (Entourage Edge, GP2X Wiz, Zaurus SL-C860).

Originally Posted by borisb

In the "Development" forum, I've watched developer after developer being stymied in their attempts to even develop straight Android apps that might then show up in the App Store. The long promised SDK (required to make use of the eInk screen) is a distant memory at best. App development doesn't seem to be encouraged at all, with no resources offered to aspiring programmers....

This is my pet peeve, though my posts show I'm extremely patient and willing to cut them a lot of slack. I'm starting to run out of slack, though.

I have time for one non-office work project at a time and was hoping I could work on an app or two for the edge.

In light of all these comments, I, too, considered changing my avatar for the Forum:


However, my disappointment hasn't reached the same level as some of the others here. Plus, I like having a pic of my actual dog (sans costume) as my avatar.

That's just too cute! I can only imagine what the dog in that picure is thinking about his owner... "Oh, the humiliation of it all!"

Originally Posted by fgruber

Check this out:
http://gizmodo.com/5733556/the-compl...froyo-upgrades

I guess we are not the only ones stuck waiting for Froyo.

Mobile handset companies are notorious for abandoning their existing products as soon as it's been launched. They actually have no interest in maintaining their existing products (I have a Samsung Omnia II that never got a single update since it was released in late 2009 on Bell Mobility). Instead, they launch new handsets with the latest OS that you have to buy - after your existing 2-3 year contract runs out, of course. Hence the popularity of custom ROMs on handsets as that's their only option.

The eDGe is a different sort of beast as it's a mobile internet device as opposed to a mobile phone, and enTourage isn't an <insert expletive here> phone company.

Originally Posted by borisb

That's just too cute! I can only imagine what the dog in that picure is thinking about his owner... "Oh, the humiliation of it all!"

Did "he" acutally use the word "cute?" And now he's cursing!?&%^#*

To quote a line from one of my favorite cartoons, "Somethin' is wrong here, girlfriend!"

Though I agree with the point about the mobile handset manufacturers and phone companies.

I'm going to assume Dr T's picture is photoshopped so I don't have to report him to the authorities for animal cruelty.

Personally I think Marvin the Paranoid Android is a better mascot for Team Negativity than Vader, but he is a little more obscure...

...A brain the size of a planet and they have me parking cars...

Originally Posted by dontpanic

Wow. Happy New Year. We should have an announcement on Froyo soon. I think we are weeks and not months away, barring any show stopper bugs. We have not stopped working, but this one is a big one and we are trying to get it right. I realize that we have made some commitments that we have not met. Landscape on the Reader screen is one. I am hoping that we can give you some relief on that feature request soon.

We do try to be reasonably open and apologize if the perception is that we have fallen significantly behind on feature requests that are dear to you. I assure you that in the mean time we have satisfied many other feature requests.

TC

I wish DP (or some enTourager) would have commented on the lack of SDK access and developer access. 70 apps does seem pretty small...

Originally Posted by Dr. T

SDK access and developer access

Quite frankly, "Nyet" describes the position succintly at the moment. Perhaps that will change in the future.

It's hard to miss the correlation, too. eDGe - Closed - 70 apps (all of them pure Android for that matter, none use the eInk screen). RIM/Apple/Microsoft/Google - Open - thousands and thousands of apps.

Points, Counter-points, Comments, and 'Insights" posted by 'The Core'
are always appreciated.