enTourage eDGe: an e-reader and netbook rolled into one

Here's another e-reader that combines a traditional LCD screen with an e-ink display: the enTourage eDGe. Unlike the Barnes & Noble Nook or the Spring Designs Alex, the eDGe positions the screens side by side and opens like a book. You have a full e-ink screen (9.7 inches diagonally) on one side and a full LCD screen (10.1 inches diagonally) on the other. Like the Nook and Alex, the eDGe is running Android under the hood.

Netbook News' Nicole Scott got some hands-on time with a prototype at a recent trade show, and I'll embed that video below. She was obviously exploring the device with no help from a booth attendant so the video is a little rough, but towards the end you can get a look at a production candidate. The prototype she uses looks a little chunky but the production candidate is quite sleek.

enTourage is billing this as both a netbook (sans keyboard) and an e-reader. The hinge between the two screens lets you fold the device back on itself to offer a tablet-profile with just one screen showing (though I'd worry about scratching the screen I wasn't using if I had the device sitting on a desk; perhaps there's enough of a bevel that this won't be a concern). There's some interaction between the two screens. Entourage gives a couple of examples: clicking a link in a PDF on the e-ink side will open that link in a web browser on the LCD side. Ditto searching for a phrase on the e-ink side; again a browser opens on the other screen with your search results.

In some ways the eDGe is reminiscent of the Microsoft Courier, though the Courier has two LCD screens.

enTourage is taking pre-orders now, with a planned ship date of February 2010. The price? $490. That's high for an e-reader, even with a screen this big, but I suppose not a bad deal if you look at the device as both an e-reader and a netbook.

Update: Here's a second video, this one with someone who knows the product doing the demonstrating.