Entourage eDGe Gets Reviewed: Double-Displays But Half-Baked?

As a distinctive dual-display device (running Android no less) there's been plenty of attention on the Entourage eDGe e-reader since it was announced late last year.  Packing a separate E Ink panel with an active digitizer and a touchscreen LCD with the Android UI, Entourage bill the eDGe as the ideal education, reading and research tool.  Over at LAPTOP, however, they're not so sure; they've been reviewing the eDGe, and the end result is a feeling that it's not quite market-ready.

The physical design has plenty of flexibility – you can use it like a book, or in landscape orientation, or even flip one display completely round to focus on the other – but is heavy to carry comfortably for extended periods.  As for the touchscreens, the LCD's resistive layer is only average and its viewing angles shallow, though the active digitizer (which requires a special stylus) on the E Ink screen performs better and, at 9.7-inches, it's a large display.  Unfortunately handwritten notes increase page-turn times, down to 4s each time.

Despite a 1.2GHz processor LAPTOP reckon the Android portion of the eDGe feels a little more sluggish than the Motorola DROID, and the on-screen keyboard is particularly laggy; boot time from cold is just over a minute.  There's also no Android Market and the webcam is currently unused in any of the apps, while battery management doesn't seem to be doing it's job, leaving the LCD on unduly.  In the end, the eDGe has promise to a perhaps niche market, but LAPTOP aren't quite convinced at this early stage.