Hands-on With The Entourage Edge
Today Ina Fried over at cnet posted a review of a prototype of the Entourage Edge (or officially, the enTourage eDGe) – a dual screen e-reader looking to replace the 30 pounds of textbooks students currently carry around.
Head on over for the rest of the read but to give you a little taste, here is some of what she had to say:
“The Edge’s main selling point is, of course, the fact that it has two screens to do true work on. Unlike the Nook, which uses its color screen only for navigating the eBook and as an on-screen keyboard, the Edge’s LCD can be used to run a variety of Android applications or to browse the Web.
The electronic ink side, meanwhile, can be used not only for reading books, but also for taking notes, using a stylus.
One of the Edge’s many neat tricks is letting you go back and forth between the two screens. In particular, one can draw a line over a diagram in an electronic-book and–assuming the graphics are actually stored in color–see the same image in full color on the LCD screen.
The Edge also lets users highlight or annotate text and then navigate between highlights by touching on the color screen, using automatically created bookmarks. The device works with both EPUB and PDF files and has USB ports and SD cards for moving data back and forth, as well as a built-in Wi-Fi connection. It’s also one of the first devices to sport a new chip from Marvell.
In addition to its book display abilities, the Edge also has two microphones for recording a lecture and blocking out background sounds with noise-cancellation (It doesn’t have is the ability to synchronize one’s class notes with the audio, a la Livescribe, but Atkinson said that is something that might be considered for future versions).”
“The enTourage eDGe™ is the world’s first dualbook, combining the functions of an e-reader, netbook, notepad, and audio/video recorder and player in one. It’s a comprehensive device that lets you read e-books, surf the Internet, take digital notes, send emails and instant messages, watch movies and listen to music anywhere, at any time. This is nothing you’ve ever seen before!
Get books wirelessly, move files onto your enTourage eDGe™ using an SD card or a USB flash drive. Use the mini-USB port to move files back and forth from a Windows, MAC, or Linux-based PC. And with a netbook built in, you can forget the limitations of other e-readers, the enTourage eDGe™ does it all!”
Specifications:
Dimensions: 8.25″ x 10.75″ by 1.0″ (closed)
Weight: approx. 2.75 lbs.
Internal Memory: 4 GB (3 GB for user) up to 3000 books
E-reader File Formats: ePub, PDF
LCD Touchscreen Display Size: 1024 x 600 (10.1″)
E-paper Display Size: 9.7″ e-Ink®(1200 x 825), 16 shades of gray
E-paper Input: Wacom® Penabled®
Operating System: Linux with Google® Android®
Screen Rotation: 90 and 180 degrees
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth capability, 3G (future availability)
Battery Life: 16+ hours utilizing the e-reader screen / up to 6 hours running the LCD screen
Battery Type: Lithium-ion polymer
Mobile Modem (optional): EVDO or HSDPA
External Memory: SD card slot, 2 USB ports
Audio and Microphone Jack: 3.5 mm each. Includes internal microphone and speakers.
Audio playback: MP3, WAV, 3GPP, MP4, AMR, AAC, OGG, M4A
Video playback: 3GP, MP4, Adobe Flash Lite (H.264)
Input: Stylus input on e-paper and touchscreen. Virtual keyboard. Bluetooth and USB keyboard (optional)
The device is up for pre-order on their site and is offered in a variety of colors.
[ engadget | cnet | enTourage eDGe ]