Overview
Bookeen sets the pace for the eReaders market with the 4th generation Bookeen Opus. With the combination of style and technology, can we expect an eReader that lives up to this name?
The Opus is so good you won’t believe it’s not real ink. The French company, Booken, released the 1st generation of Cybook in 2007. Similar to this incarnation, Opus is provided with a screen that is easy on the eyes. Without the flicker and screen glare, you’ll really enjoy reading off a non-LCD screen.
It looks like a paper book, as well. However, the best thing is that the Bookeen Cybook Opus turns pages quickly, just like flicking a paper page. Aside from that, the user interface is extremely responsive. It allows users to store books in a folder, look up the word definitions, open books, and more with very few clicks of the control buttons.
This power-saving reader offers users a workhorse virtual library. You can get through 8000 turns of the page with a single full charge. If you average 80 pages a day, that’s about 2 full months of reading. You can get twice the number of digital books with this e Reader as with the original Cybook. In fact, you can get as many as a thousand books. If you still want more, you can use the micro SD slot.
The Bookeen Cybook Opus is quite light; it’s just over 5 ounces. Nevertheless, users are sure to be more excited by the fact that the Cybook Opus supports different formats (e.g. PDF, Mobipocket, and HTML) natively. It is not necessary to perform a file conversion and synchronization process. This is a capability that even the very popular Kindle does not possess.
Positives
– On the upside, you have access to lots of great titles with the eReader, so you won’t have to go to the bookstore and wait in line to pay.
– If you want to browse or buy books, connect your device to the computer.
– Cybook’s online store, BooksOnBoard.com provides the Opus with over 55,000 book titles from literally dozens of great publishers.
– And let’s not forget that the Booken Cybook Opus comes preloaded with over seventy books.
Negatives
-On the downside, similar to Sony 505, there is no touch screen interface with Cybook Opus. Nor is there 3G connectivity, so if you like technical gadgets, you will not be happy with this eReader.
– There are just four gray-scale levels, so it doesn’t really compare with the sixteen gray-scales of Kindle 2 or the eight gray-scales of Sony 707 when it comes to clarity and crispness of images.
– If you want to read for a long time, this may not be the device for you, since the 5″ screen would make extended reading tedious.
– If the Bookeen Cybook Opus had more experimental features integrated, it would broaden possibilities for the company and its customers.
Bottom Line
So does it keep you going? Naturally, Cybook Gen3 has its good points and its bad points, as with any other gadget reviewed by Pocket-lint. We will say that we are impressed that this eReader can carry around 10,000 books. Be that as it may, you are not likely to dip in and out of books as you probably do music.
One really great thing is the fact that this device is very light. This makes it a lot easier to read books by Stephen King!
It won’t replace your paperback for the time being because you can’t read it during take-off and landing while flying, it has no page numbers, and it just doesn’t feel like a book.
Hardware:
The Bookeen Cybook Opus boasts a 5″ E-ink screen. You will find the control buttons arrayed like this: d-pad and 2 control buttons under the screen and double page turn buttons on the right hand side. You will find a power button plus microSDHC card slot at the top and a USB port at the bottom.
I found the Bookeen Cybook Opus to be too small. I did eventually get accustomed to holding it, but it still feels way too thin and way too tiny in my hands. A lot of people I know feel differently, so I might not represent the majority.
Software:
With the Bookeen Cybook Opus, you can choose one of two different firmware choices. The first one works with Adobe DE DRM, the other works with Mobipocket DRM. Mobipocket firmware was repeatedly delayed. Consequently, I had a lot more time to spend on Adobe firmware.
Even though I’m a long time user of Mobipocket, I don’t miss it. However, the Adobe firmware was obviously superior. I only tried the Mobipocket firmware long enough to jot a few notes about what it can do.
You’ll find the same options with both firmwares. You can choose to display 5-20 items on each page. You can look at your entire e-Book collection as a single level collection, or you can look at them by folder. Here are the five sort options available with OPUS: path, name, date, size, and file title.
On Adobe DE firmware, you can read an e-Book using 3 font choices and 12 font sizes. You can also BOLD or justify text. However, you aren’t using a dictionary or bookmark.
Here are some of the features of Mobipocket firmware: bookmarks, dictionary support, three font choices, twelve font sizes. You have no choice in justification with Mobipocket firmware. You must accept the full justification and very wide, empty margins.