QR codes and BArcode shopping

I have more than one device with market and registered with the same Gmail account, no problem there. Google Sky program will run, but without GPS and an accelerometer it is not as functional.

Originally Posted by sarah11918

The edge doesn't have GPS built in . . .

The other Android tablet I have doesn't have GPS either, but some apps seem to "triangulate" from the various WiFi hotspots in order to determine my position for things like Google Sky, finding the least expensive gas nearby, and identifying local retailers who have good prices on products for which I'm shopping. I am hoping that the eDGE will do the same as my other $150 7-inch generic tablet can do -- but I probably won't know until the company makes Android 2.2 available to us as a upgrade.

I'm almost more excited to get the 2.2 upgrade as I was in getting my eDGe!

Thanks; very helpful leads for me to follow in the meantime!

I hope I'm not being verbose in stating that I really appreciate the help here. I've had many other products and their Forums were like ghost towns or graveyards. I rarely got any advice or information.

Thanks to you all -- I am thankful for your posts -- and I hope that I will be able to do more on the contributing side than the asking side in the near future.

Originally Posted by sarah11918

Interesting! Do you have an external bluetooth GPS? I'd never heard of such a thing. Or, are you referring to a kind of tethering with your phone's GPS?

(The reason I ask is that because we have data shut off on our phones, we can't use our phone's GPS. But a separate product not requiring a data plan could be interesting to us.)

Yes, I have the Holux M-1000C. On its own, it will log GPS traces, which you can then download via bluetooth-- it's nice for mapping, but it has no display. You can also use it as an external GPS receiver, which I've done with a linux laptop running gpsd and navit. I'd like to be able to use it with the edge, too, but that's not possible yet.

Originally Posted by sarah11918

Interesting! Do you have an external bluetooth GPS? I'd never heard of such a thing. Or, are you referring to a kind of tethering with your phone's GPS?

(The reason I ask is that because we have data shut off on our phones, we can't use our phone's GPS. But a separate product not requiring a data plan could be interesting to us.)

Before I had an android I used my net book with Delorme Maps, and the Earthmate GPS
http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELi...?section=10091
It works decently and no internet connection is required, but a stand alone GPS unit is more practical. I'm not sure if the Android apps could ever utilize external GPS but I still have the unit just in case.

JBrondos, thank you for asking your questions! I am learning so much from the answers.

Are you now leaning toward keeping your eDGe?

Originally Posted by cheyennedonna

Before I had an android I used my net book with Delorme Maps, and the Earthmate GPS

Me too. I wish I knew more about hardware. It would be fun to write an app which had drivers that could use the Earthmate GPS or the Eye-Fi geotagging SD card. I wonder if we could find some programmer somewhere who understood these things and could do it for fun.

Originally Posted by Filark

Are you now leaning toward keeping your eDGe?

I've had it for exactly one day. I really like the look and feel of the unit -- but until I see what's available once Android 2.2 comes out, I'm "iffy" about the functionality. I need something a little more substantial than a beautiful eReader and a mediocre color tablet which (a) has a mediocre camera, (b) no GPS/accelerator, (c) no Flash, etc. I'd hate to part with it, but if I'm going to sink that much money into it, I want something that can do everything.

If the upgrade makes things workable like WiFi Analyzer, Google Sky, Barcode Shopping, and the like, I'm going to sleep with it and you'll only be able to take it out of my cold dead hands!

WiFi Analyzer works, and Google Sky works in a limited way.
http://www.technama.com/2010/wifi-an...roid-download/
http://www.freewarelovers.com/androi...google-sky-map

Originally Posted by dcubed2

Google isn't letting tablets into their Market yet. They may with the latest version (Honeycomb?), but really want only cell phones to run Android and have Market access. I think Google wants tablets to run Chrome instead.

There are other places where you can get various Android applications, but not the official Google Market. Many work quite well on the eDGe, but you must search them out, and not all are on the other sites. If Google market is a must for your tablet, you'll have to wait for a while yet to find one. From what I've seen, the tablets that have promised/shown Google Market have done so with hacking into it, and then are slapped by Google and have to rescind the access.

But, I don't follow it closely at all. So, maybe I've missed something out there.

That is NOT TRUE! As another poster said, other tablets CURRENTLY have market access. I can name names if necessary, but just a few minutes searching will tell you. Entourage keeps spouting this misinformation, and for the most part users keep buying it. Well, if that is what you want to believe, so be it.

Originally Posted by VenturingSoul

That is NOT TRUE! As another poster said, other tablets CURRENTLY have market access.

Do you mean native access without a hack? I did a few minutes of searching, and I still mostly find things like this: (from http://www.androidhype.com/android-b...android-market)

Google's Android Marketplace Issue:

It would appear for the time being that the issue with getting approved by Google to pre-install the Android Marketplace app onto any of these Android tablet devices will not be resolved anytime soon. Much of this has to do with Google's position that the current versions of Android (currently 2.2, aka - "Froyo") do not support the tablet "form factor", and even their hardware compliance documentation specifies a screen size no MORE than 5.8" measured diagonally - which would theoretically disqualify all tablets of any usable size from receiving the license to pre-install the market app, though Google has shown that it is willing to grant exemptions on certain hardware items, at least to its friends in the Open Handset Alliance.

Google's hardware requirements for licensing the Marketplace app also dictatet that compliant devices must have among other required hardware; mobile carrier antannae, GPS, rear-facing cameras, accelerometer, Bluetooth, and a long list of hardware requirements that are not necessarily essential for creating an effective tablet with Android, and certainly not conducive to achieving the lowest price point possible.

From: http://www.intomobile.com/2010/09/09...arket-tablets/

Google has certain hardware requirements to allow a company to be able to use their Android Market and Google Applications. Some won’t make the cut (remember the Kogan or the Augen Tablet?) as they didn’t come with the hardware specifications that Google believes will ensure the best user experience. Some may argue that this is not being “open, as Google preaches so much about, but I’m rather glad they have these requirements, as it will let the true contenders jump ahead in the pack.

Hugo Barra, Google’s mobile product development director told PaidContent UK the following during a briefing today,

“It could be any number of things – form factor, the limited number of pixels, does it have a GPS on it?

“We’re concerned that users will get a good experience at the end of the day.

“You can have Android if it leads to a good implementation. We have to make sure that every device meets the criteria for a good experience for Android Market.

I was able to find a tablet that reported market access, but it has a GPS. In the Viewsonic forum at Androidtablets.net people seem to be installing a Gingerbread ROM in order to access the official market (It seems to come preinstalled with its own market, but not the official one from what I can tell).

Do any of the tablets you are thinking of not meet the hardware requirements, run only Froyo (or less) and not require some kind of rooting/install to access the market? Has Google's position on the market place changed? (Everything I found was from Sept/Oct, when Google came out as saying they wouldn't support access to devices that don't fit the criteria.)

Just to be clear, I'm not doubting you. I'm just having trouble finding the same info you have, and I'm interested in understanding the situation better. Thanks.

Originally Posted by sarah11918

Just to be clear, I'm not doubting you. I'm just having trouble finding the same info you have, and I'm interested in understanding the situation better. Thanks.

Well, here is one: http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/04/27...ets-paid-apps/

There are others with market access also, but not stock. Some (G-Tablet for instance....a darn nice tablet) require rooting and a new ROM. And let's clear something up right here...if you can follow a recipe well enough to bake a cake, you can root and install a new ROM these days. The developers have made it a snap for most devices. Other tablets (some of the other Archos tablets for instance) need to have a program installed - not a ROM from my understanding.

The whole point is....it isn't tablets cannot access the Market. More to the point, tablets that are "LOCKED DOWN" by the manufacturer cannot access the market because either: 1.) the manufacturer is unwilling to work with Google to get their devices approved, or 2.) the manufacturer is unwilling to allow the open source community to do what is necessary to bring us the market.

I believe that both points above apply to EE.

Oh, I forgot....the Viewsonic ViewPad 7 ships with the full Android Market.

Originally Posted by VenturingSoul

Oh, I forgot....the Viewsonic ViewPad 7 ships with the full Android Market.

I can see that at its Amazon link, but I also notice the specs are significantly different: front and rear facing camera, accelerometer, multi-touch, 3G/sim card, GPS .. the kind of stuff that Google said they wanted in order to approve a device. All of those are hardware-based features, aren't they? (Is multi-touch a hardware improvement, or just a software improvement?) This is much more like a phone at tablet size than the edge is. So, maybe it's not the most apt comparison.

1.) the manufacturer is unwilling to work with Google to get their devices approved

I'm not sure there's anything that can be done working with google, given the hardware that we have and google's stated hardware requirements. For newer devices, with a completely different set of hardware specs, yes. (Is that what you meant by "work with google?" -- design a new piece of hardware?)

2.) the manufacturer is unwilling to allow the open source community to do what is necessary to bring us the market.

The crunch gear link you provided to the Archos hack (not stock access) is probably the closest direct comparison to what we have. Is it your opinion that if developers had the edge's SDK that they could create something similar for the edge? Archos didn't provide that hack themselves to their community, right? It was the community that created it?