Update the Android OS
This is key. The 1.6 version of Android isn't nearly as nice, and you'll need to update to 2.2 to get access to apps and things. It's a fairly easy update though.
- Download the Android 2.2 software for the Pocket Edge (do this on your PC, not the Edge)
http://www.entourageedge.com/updates/permine/update.zip.ermine-0.9
(Alternatively you can get it via torrent: http://www.rehorst.com/mrehorst/PocketEdge_updates.zip.torrent) - Get a USB thumbdrive and format it with FAT32
They usually are FAT or FAT32 anyway, and might work without this step. But the Edge is really picky about USB drives when it's in update mode.
On Windows, you can do this by going to Computer and right-clicking on the thumbdrive - you should get a "Format" option. Un-check "quick format" just to make sure. - Copy the 2.2 update to the thumbdrive
I recommend doing this from a command prompt to make sure the filename is correct. It must be copied to [drive]:\update.zip - and windows explorer tries to hide file extensions so that lots of folks have inadvertently made a file called update.zip.zip - With the Edge off, plug in the thumbdrive
- Hold down the Menu and Rotate buttons together and keep holding them
- Power on the Edge and keep holding those buttons!
- You should see four dots on the screen, with the first one glowing. The screen might go blank for a sec, then you should see the second dot start glowing - and hopefully a blinking cursor appears in the upper right hand corner of the screen. You can let go of the buttons at this point.
- Now you should see the thumbdrive light blinking like crazy for a while, and then the screen change to "Updating software"
- If you don't, here are a couple of things to try:
- Try a different thumbdrive. I know this sounds fishy, but it happened to me - the Edge just didn't like the first one I tried (and I tried it about 10 times at least). Also try an older thumbdrive if you have one, so long as it's at least 256MB - a couple of folks (like me) had luck with older models.
- Try updating the 1.6 software first - I did that, and some say it's required but I'm not really sure. Anyway, go into Settings->Entourage Edge->Device and click on Update. It should download an update file (takes a while) - see if there's an Arrow with a number in the upper left corner of the screen - the number is the % complete. When done, click and hold by the arrow and drag down the status window to reveal the downloaded file. Click and hold in it - you should get an option to run it.
- Make double extra sure the file is really called "update.zip" and is in the root of the thumbdrive.
So apparently there's a way to get the Google Android Market working on a Pocket Edge, but I haven't got that far and I'm not sure it's really worth it anyway.
Why? Because there are other app stores out there now that are easy to use.
Most notably, the Amazon app store. You can get their app at http://amzn.to/getamazonappstore (or something like that).
The selection of apps isn't as good, but it's a place to start anyway. If you really want an app, and it's a free app, you can search for the .apk file and usually find it (although they seem to be hosted on annoying file sharing sites that try their best to extract a subscription fee from you).
Get some books
There's a Kindle app that's actually quite nice, but then you do have to read the book on the LCD side since the Kindle app doesn't know about the other screen. Downloading Kindle books on your computer and converting them to epub seems like a better route to go - there's a program called Calibre ( http://calibre-ebook.com) that will convert them to epub if you:
- Install an older version of the Kindle for PC app, like 1.4:
http://www.monova.org/torrent/4165310/KINDLE_FOR_PC_1.4.0.31482.html - Install the clibre drm removal plugin - info available here:
http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/
I tried downloading some PDFs on my laptop to read later on the Edge, but PDF viewing seems less than optimal.
Have fun!
