I made a mistake, time to move on......

Well, I have decided that I have purchased the wrong device. The concept of the edge was quite intriging when I first saw it, and I thought that it would be just the device I needed. However, after a couple of months of hands-on experience, I have slowly come to the realization that I mad a mistake. Don't get me wrong, the eDGe does what it is advertised to do. The problem is that I nearly never use the ereader. About once a month is all, when I use it during a monthly business meeting. I have played around with most of the functionality and think it's cool, but the facts are that I use it almost exclusively for browsing, email, and light office functionality.
So I guess I will be looking for a student/teacher/professional who has more of a need for this device and then purchase a higher end netbook. In my job as a Windows system admin, I need the integration and remote capabilities of a Windows OS. Hate to say it, but it's time to admit it.

I wish nothing but the best to Entourage and hope the eDGe becomes a big seller.

Edit: Please note that I am NOT offering my eDGe for sale here. Don't let this thread go that direction. All I'm doing is sharing my experience and reasoning. Period.

luckily we have PM's ;-)

I, for one, hope that the moderators don't delete this thread. I think that it's helpful to hear from people who have found the eDGe to not be an appropriate device for their purposes.

The eDGe is a niche device--but for users in that niche, it's an incredibly useful device (particularly considering the price point). But there are many people who would be better off with something else.

For example, within my immediate family:
- my mother has a Kindle and it's a better fit for her uses because she just wants an eReader and rarely surfs the internet.
- my father has an iPad and it's better suited for what he needs it for (mostly surfs the internet).
- my sister (also a doctoral student--with her own NIH grant that she can use for tech purchases) has an HP tablet that is better suited for her data collection needs (although she was very impressed with the eDGe and may purchase one in the fall, after her grant renews).

I think some prospective buyers think Kindle DX plus iPad for $500... and that's really not accurate. The eDGe has similar capabilities of the two devices (and a few key ones that neither offers), although a dedicated eReader or tablet outperforms the eDGe in a few areas (e.g., iPad has a better quality touchscreen and a more refined UI, Kindle has better battery life and faster page turns, etc). And the eDGe doesn't have the computing power of $2000 tablet. But for people within the intersection of eReader and tablet who can utilize the annotating capabilities and are constrained by a $500 budget (i.e., students and most academics), the eDGe is an excellent fit. Not perfect yet, although enTourage keeps improving the device with every update--resolving bugs, improving the UI, and adding functionality.

For certain people, the eDGe is a great device and a great value. But for others, not so much.

Originally Posted by borisb

I will caution fellow members that advertising an eDGe for sale on these forums is not allowed (see the Forum Rules, item #9).

So, if the moderators aren't deleting this thread at this point, I encourage fellow members to discuss only VenturingSoul's decision and comments only

Please notice that I did NOT offer the device for sale here. I know the rules. I only commented on my decision and reasoning as it may be a help to others.
Geez, can't we even do that? If the post offers a "negative" view (in the opinion of Entourage) does that mean it shouldn't be posted?

My edge will be sold but not through this forum.

sold for 245.00

@VenturingSoul
Sorry the eDGe did no work out. Mobileread.com has a very active for sale section where incidentially a couple of eDGe's have already found new homes.

Originally Posted by Gunnerp245

@VenturingSoul
Sorry the eDGe did no work out. Mobileread.com has a very active for sale section where incidentially a couple of eDGe's have already found new homes.

Mobileread is not a very friendly place in my opinion. I registered, listed my edge for sale there, and was promptly listed as a suspicious seller by a moderator since I didn't have a ton of previous posts. I explained who I am and even gave a link back to this thread so they could see that I'm not a scammer. Was then told that I should probably list it on ebay since no one there would be likely to trust me. Geez, guilty before I was even tried by a jury of my peers.....

There are many pros and cons to the Edge. I must admit, I am in the middle of the road on it. I am happy Boris finds it 100% to his satisfaction but I, unfortunately, don't.

Here are some of the negatives:
* It is somewhat slow and sluggish. Although the processor is 1.2 Ghz it is only running at 800 Mhz and it shows.
* The e-ink is quite "laggy" when using it for marking notes on ebook pages (sometimes, really bad) or even in the journal. I have grown somewhat accustomed to it on the journal side but I still find it annoying at times. I also find it difficult to be neat or precise when taking notes or wanting to mock something up. I am starting to revert back to paper.
* I am finding that although the e-ink screen is larger then the nook or smaller Kindle (which are meant more for novel reading) I find it still too small for my technical books. Unfortunately, the toolbars at the top and bottom take up space (I would love to be able to hide when not needed) and zooming only does so much because most of my books don't reflow.
* I find the 8 shades of grey limitation can make reading some colorized text (such as source code that has been colorized) difficult to read. The Documents to go was definitely meant for a phones and is really practically useless, IMHO, for a tablet. The color view for the page uses the current resolution of the e-ink making the images with text unreadable. I don't want to zoom in, view it and zoom back out (that's very slow on the Edge.)
* Android: it is so painfully obviously that it was meant for phones and not tablets. I have hopes that Android will be updated to take into consideration tablets (which I think Google has planned) but for now, it just comes across as silly half the time and the lack of access to the Market just plain old limits the tablet side even more. Sure there are some APK's people can link to and some 3rd party stores that can be used but I find they, for the most part, really have lousy apps.
* The camera first off is not really great quality but that's okay, since it's really meant for recording classes and perhaps seminars and not making home movies. But, how should that be done? Lift the tablet side up vertically and face it towards the speakers while recording all the while they see their mirror reflection? The Edge also becomes useless for note taking or ebook (textbook) reading during that time. It's best to buy a cheap digital camera on a small ipod that supports video. Move the video to the Edge when done (extra money and more to carry around.)
* SD cards are second class citizens. I really thought I could expand my library just be inserting an SD card. You can read from the there but they're not really part of the library.
* Lack of useful software (my opinion, others will most surely disagree).

Much of this can be fixed via software updates but I am not sure I am willing to wait months with the hope that it'll be updated to meet my needs. At this point I am really beginning to doubt whether the Edge is what I had hoped and whether it fits my needs.

You can easily designate your device storage to be a larger SD slot rather than the internal 4GB card.

Applications > Settings > Device Storage > Data Storage Device > SD Card

See page 29 of the latest eDGe User Manual (epub version).

Originally Posted by walt526

You can easily designate your device storage to be a larger SD slot rather than the internal 4GB card.

Applications > Settings > Device Storage > Data Storage Device > SD Card

See page 29 of the latest eDGe User Manual (epub version).

Thanks for pointing that out but unfortunately that was a small limitation I could have lived with anyways compared to all the rest but it is something I will look into.

Originally Posted by StevenP

* It is somewhat slow and sluggish. Although the processor is 1.2 Ghz it is only running at 800 Mhz and it shows.

I find it about the same speed as my iRex Iliad. A little slower than newer, dedicated readers which to me is expected given the work it has to do with two screens.

Originally Posted by StevenP

* The e-ink is quite "laggy" when using it for marking notes on ebook pages (sometimes, really bad)

The default color when annotating documents is red which requires two refreshes of the eInk pixels ( due to the current driver?) to get clean lines in the corresponding shade of grey. Switch to black and the update is much faster. Here I see it noticeably faster than my iRex Iliad.

Originally Posted by StevenP

* I am finding that although the e-ink screen is larger then the nook or smaller Kindle (which are meant more for novel reading) I find it still too small for my technical books. Unfortunately, the toolbars at the top and bottom take up space (I would love to be able to hide when not needed) and zooming only does so much because most of my books don't reflow.

Yes, I agree the reader needs help. Support landscape, and better zoom, pan, and scroll.

Originally Posted by StevenP

* I find the 8 shades of grey limitation can make reading some colorized text (such as source code that has been colorized) difficult to read.

This is an inherent problem with any grey-scale display. 16 grey scale shades on the Iliad do not improve the situation. It just is not meant for viewing multi-color displays. It is intended for plain text and line art (photos intended for grey scale viewing also look good.) When used as intended it is much nicer than viewing the same content on an LCD.

Originally Posted by StevenP

* The camera first off is not really great quality but that's okay, since it's really meant for recording classes and perhaps seminars and not making home movies. But, how should that be done? Lift the tablet side up vertically and face it towards the speakers while recording all the while they see their mirror reflection?

I agree. The camera should have been on the back of the LCD lid (as it is in most phones). Or there should be a second camera -- the current camera and one on the lid to allow recording video as you explained, and allow video conferencing with the correct orientation of the edge for both. Perhaps eDGe Model 3.0.

Originally Posted by StevenP

* SD cards are second class citizens. I really thought I could expand my library just be inserting an SD card. You can read from the there but they're not really part of the library.

?? The current software allows you to transfer the library to the external sd card.

Originally Posted by kenjennings

I find it about the same speed as my iRex Iliad. A little slower than newer, dedicated readers which to me is expected given the work it has to do with two screens.



The default color when annotating documents is red which requires two refreshes of the eInk pixels ( due to the current driver?) to get clean lines in the corresponding shade of grey. Switch to black and the update is much faster. Here I see it noticeably faster than my iRex Iliad.



Yes, I agree the reader needs help. Support landscape, and better zoom, pan, and scroll.



This is an inherent problem with any grey-scale display. 16 grey scale shades on the Iliad doesn't improve the situation. It just is not meant for viewing multi-color displays. It is intended plain text. When used as intended it is much nicer than viewing the same text on an LCD.



I agree. The camera should have been on the back of the LCD lid (as it is in most phones).



?? The current software allows you to transfer the library to the external sd card.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.

And to be fair, I did say I am border line. I really like the Edge but there are some issues (as I've stated) that I feel warrant mention. The positive note is that many of these can be fixed via software updates and eventually Google Android updates (which I am confident will come.) What could help people like me keep motivated with the Edge is to see a road map of future updates. I realize hitting deadlines can be difficult but a general road map would be encouraging. What I don't want to see is for Entourage to decide to create a new version with many of these issue fixed but leave the original adopters out in the cold.

Also, I have read a couple novels on the Edge and I found it a real joy. I also like the Dolphin browser and I find the email client quite adequate for my needs. There are many other positives which I didn't list.

1. The problem with e-ink still small for technical book have 2 reasons: bed reflow+zooming and missed landscape mode. 'cos of second one I can read book on 6inch ereader which looks bigger than on EE 10inch. The reason -- lhorisontal mode on 6inch vs vertical mode on EE. Most technical books were optimised for horisontal displays.

2. Afraid that camera in EE is just a marketing trick: "$500 seems expensive.., hey but there's a cam, and it's only $499 ". The cost of the cam like this is less than $5 with installation in to device. EE must used swirl cams with good optic and chip, but thay cost more than $15...

3. As for general, I was wery frustrated by sofware part of the EE (i tald about this in eDGe potencial thread). But probably I can rewrite needed software by myself especially if source codes will be published.