Bestest Birthday Present EVAR!!!

[captain_slinky]

For the longest time I've been back-and-forth on the whole issue of if I even really wanted some sort of hand held "Smart" device. Phones seemed to tiny and the touch screens never worked properly for me. Tablets seemed nifty but expensive. E-Readers seemed close to what I wanted, but to get one in color cost WAY more than I'm willing to pay for any one device.

So a day or two before my birthday, Woot.com was selling the Pocket Edge Entourage (seen above). IT IS AWESOME!

In short, it's an e-reader stapled to an Android tablet!

You can fold it over to use either the reader OR the tablet, or you can leave it open-face to use the two screens in conjunction. The interaction between the two screens is awe-inspiring. Come to a bit of text you want to know more about? Highlight it and search - the results come up over on the tablet. Is there a picture in the .pdf you're looking at that you wish you could see bigger/better/in color? Highlight it and move it over to the tablet. Want to make notes, take notes, annotate, doodle, see video, listen to music WHATEVER while reading? YOU CAN DO THAT!!!

This is quite possibly the greatest thing I've ever owned :)

Comments

[saintsalike.livejournal.com]

That looks amazing. /I want one now.

Happy Birthday! :D

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

Its almost like you're TAUNTING me....

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

JOOOOINNNNN USSSSSSSS....

[lynna12000.livejournal.com]

It does look nice. And eReaders are great. All those books, and so little space used.

[thehobbit.livejournal.com]

I am nosy enough to want to know the price point on that. I know you said it was on sale so really it's just to taunt me more and make me cry since my kindle was $114 US (basic, boring, not special edition).

That's...such a thing of beauty.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I am so, so sorry to have to tell you this... the Pocket Edge Entourage was $150, plus $5 for shipping. So yeah... for $35 more I was able to get my Kindle with an entire Android Tablet attached to it. Please try not to look upon your Kindle too harshly... I'm just an excellent bargain shopper! These suckers sold for a retail price of $400-$500 when they first came out a few months ago, cheapest you can find them for right now is around $200 on-line.

[thehobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm not too, too upset. I did cringe and groan a little but really, what do I need a tablet for? It's not like the iPad ever goes on vacation so if I need, and I mean NEED, a tablet it's right there.

THOUGH with the theft of my laptop it would have been handy, but eh. EH. I have 68 books in my back pocket. That's enough bragging rights for me.

[xerhino.livejournal.com]

It is a pretty cool device. I think you get some ultra nerd points for having one (though I'm not being entirely altruistic by saying so). We'll have to compare notes next time we see each other.

[jocosa]

Where do you get the books from? I adore my Kindle but this seems like a nifty upgrade. What can you do with it beyond reading and music/video playing? Sell me on it! :)

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Sell you on the Entourage Pocket Edge? Folks, I don't have to do a single bit of selling because the Entourage Pocket Edge sells itself :)

Books have been plentiful and cheap via the built-in Entourage Marketplace, Google Marketplace and a few other non-built-in-but-easily-accessible Android marketplaces. The e-Reader reads .pdf like a pro, so as a comic book collector that's awesome; you can still get those CD-ROM collector editions that Marvel did a few years back which collected every issue of a title from the 60's on up through the 90'sb in .pdf for like $10, but most shops sel them these days for $5 (only titles they did, if I remember correctly, were Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, X-Men, Fantastic Four and The Avengers). Combined with the Android tablet, getting stuff on there has been a breeze. Download the file. "Download Complete, would you like to add this to your library?" Yes. That easy.

Productivity-wise, it's got Microsfot Word, Excel and Power Point built in on the tablet, as well as a "Journal" over on the e-Reader side for just jotting down hand-written notes. Very nice to keep the screens open and be able to transfer notes I jotted down in to an excel spreadsheet if need be :)

Y'know what? It would be easier to list the things I *don't* like about it than listing all the things I DO like.

It has a 2.0MP camera built in that is great to use on the fly or as a bar code scanner, but I haven't found a way to use Skype on it yet :(

Access to the actual Android Marketplace is denied, although there are about a gazillion other places to get your Android apps (all linked to off of the official Entourage website forums at http://www.entourageedge.com).

Not all Android apps work on it, even though it's running Android 2.2 (Angry Birds does not work on this tablet), which is probably why access to the Android Marketplace is denied :(

The AC adapter plug fits in to the headphone jack very easily and the two are opposirte of each other on the device, so it is very easy to NOT charge the device when you think that you are charging it.

Wow... that's it? That's all I can think of???

It really is just a perfect little device, and came in real handy when I was inventorying my Dad;s shop for an insurance claim (real world value) as well as being an inexhaustible source of constant free reading material :)