Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I chose the opus after weeks of looking around. I browsed mobile reading forums, read dozens of reviews (technical and user reviews), including here at the kindle page, weighing the pros and cons of many brands and models, and trying to figure out what are my own needs.
Why I chose the Cybook Opus then?
- I only want an ereader to read books. I don't fancy printer/fax/scanners, I don't like taking pictures with my mobile (the best mobile is substandard compared with even a cheap digital camera); I want each machine to do what it is meant to do and do it well. When a machine does many different things, it cannot do each of them excellently. We have a HP printer/scanner/fax at the office and the scanning quality is horrid, not to mention that as a printer it is very slow compared to our dedicated printer.
- The light weight is a big plus for me: not only for buses, subway and out-of town travel, but also at home, for armchair and bed reading with one hand. With print books, it sometimes happens, if they're big, that I have to position on a pillow, to avoid wrist strain. Not anymore! The weight wouldn't be as light if the ereader also had a keyboard, mp3 support, read to me and all those other features.
- I don't like devices which have wireless antennas in my hands for too long. I won't enter here into a discussion about electromagnetic fields and cancer: there are places where you can read more than you want to know, so look it up if you want. Suffice it to say that I'm trying to limit mobile phone use to a bare minimum, and neither my keyboard, mouse, home phone or router is wireless. So an ereader, which will be touching my hands for long periods of time, has to be without an antenna too. And, in case you don't know, antennae do function even when the device is off. Moreover, practically speaking, with hundreds of books in your ereaders memory, enough for a lifetime of reading, I don't see what spoiled brat would yell "I just NEED to have that other or newer book NOW, I cannot wait to get home to my PC". I can download all I want when I'm at the PC and then transfer them in a jiffy. So, for the sake of that very rarely useful thing, I should carry more weight and bulk, and risk my health? No thanks.
- I don't want to have to send all my (sometimes private) documents somewhere outside to be converted. I want to be able to read them as they are or convert them myself locally.
- I don't want to be tied up to proprietary formats.
- I don't want to have to send the battery to the store when it's spent, I want to be able to buy a battery and replace it myself with no hassle.
- I don't want a touchscreen because it has glare. e-ink is much much better, completely matte! Plus you don't have to wipe your screen because of greasy fingermarks!
- I want to be able to organize my books in folders according to my own liking. Folders, subfolders and child subfolders if needs be, so that I can find my stuff without too much scrolling.
- I want the possibility to extend the memory with extra cards
- I prefer to buy things from European companies and not huge multinationals. I am a loyal customer of amazon, mind you, and enthusiastic about their excellent service. But I'm a bit worried about monopolies. The pros:
- light weight (150 grams is lighter than most print books)
- wonderfully simple and convenient folder management and file transfer (your PC will see it as an external hard drive)
- user-replaceable battery. Charge it from the PC (USB cable included)or plug it in the electricity mains.
- very simple and efficient navigation: one four way navigation button with OK in the centre, a "back" (or, I should say, "up" in folder hierarchy) button and a "right click" button, for context menus (there you can do many different things). Then, two longish buttons at the side for page turning. That's all folks, and that's all you need, really!
- this G sensor really rocks. If you turn the ereader landscape-wise, it will reflow the text in that direction so that you can see bigger size and, not only, but the navigation buttons will also adapt themselves to the new position. For those that don't want the feature, it can be turned off from the menu.
- The display is very sharp, and the contrast becomes better the more light there is. Yes, it only has a few shades of grey, when some more advanced models have 16, but I assure you that what it has is perfectly OK for reading (although it probably would need more shades to see pictures or comics - but, again, I bought it to read text, not as a picture viewer - for this I have a good PC screen, thank you)
- You can choose from 12 font sizes, you can embolden the text if the lighting is not very good, so that it becomes more crisp, clear and visible. If you like, you can even add your own fonts. Just copy them into the fonts folder (can't get simpler than that, now, can it?)
- It has a slot which takes up to 16 MB mini SD card, in case you wish to expand the storage. Or you could choose to have many different cards, one your main backup, other small ones especially for this period, this trip, this user.
- The interface and menu can be in any of a wide choice of languages, including non-Latin scripts.
- The Opus reads metadata, therefore you can choose to name the files as you like.
- It's very chic and cozy, with its rounded corners. It comes in many colours but I chose the white, thought it would be less distracting.
- The company continuously releases new firmware which makes it better. The instructions booklet is very basic, but there's lots of info on the internet - and really, you don't really need to know much more than the basics.
- They give you a slipcase, so you don't have to spend more on a cover.
The cons:
Well, mostly the size. At 5 inches, the display IS small. I don't have good eyesight, so I have to use one of the biggest font sizes, with the result that I have to turn pages more often. But that's not entirely their fault, is it? And if it were larger, it would be heavier. You cannot have your pie and eat it too. On the other hand, I'm grateful to be able to have this bigger size and not strain my eyes.
Because of the size, reading .pdfs is not really recommended, as it can zoom but not reflow the text, so even if you put it on landscape mode, you have to scroll. I decided that I will not read .pdfs there. What I did is I eliminated all the .pdfs that came with it, and the ones I wanted to put in, I converted with the free programme, Calibre, into epub. Thereafter, no problem. Of course, if the .pdf has lots of pictures and graphics, there might be defects in the converted files, but mine didn't.
The second is the price. It's not competitive. I think that if they made it cheaper, it would have one of the top places in the market. Of course, the cheaper models are from companies who expect to make money from book sales. Just like printers, they come very cheap, but then see the cost for the ink replacement cartridges! Now Cybook has started an online bookstore (because of its other model, with wi-fi), so maybe this will make all the models cheaper. I hope, for you guys, because I already bought mine!
All in all, I warmly recommend it. Just think of how often you would need the features the Opus doesn't have. And what are your real needs, your lifestyle, habits and preferences. This is the only way to decide whether it's for you, and not the mentality "the more features, the better".
Click Here to see more reviews about: Bookeen Cybook Opus e-Book Reader
Paper books are gradually becoming obsolete. E-Book readers download books as files for display on a large LCD screen. Up to 1,000 novels can be stored in 1GB memory. That means you can carry a library of books in a device that weighs less than 6 ounces - about the weight of a paperback. E-books are often sold at lower prices than their paper editions. Furthermore, many are available at no cost from public domain websites off the Internet. So why use paperbooks. This is the environmentally correct and more convenient way to store and read books. The Cybook Opus Book Reader is your route to upgrading your literary lifestyle.The Cybook Opus is the newest ebook reading device from the company that has pioneered the ebook reader market since 1998 - Bookeen. This pocket sized reader can be held in one hand and fits perfectly in any purse, briefcase or pocket! With the Cybook Opus, you can access more than 200,000 digital contemporary books from hundreds of publisher sources like Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Harlequin, and more. These digital books are in Adobe secured format (EPUB or PDF), the available catalog increases very quickly and gains several hundreds titles per month. Available digital books are available at a substantial discount when compared to paper books. Cybook Opus can also read free classical books in HTML, PDF, EPUB or TXT file formats. Cybook supports all these document formats directly and without any conversion. To transfer your documents to the Cybook, you just need to connect your Cybook to a PC with your USB cable and copy your data in the Cybook memory. You can also use a microSD card and copy your data in it. Many public libraries have e-books available at no cost. Check your local library's website. Rechargeable and replaceable Internal Battery LI-Polymer (1000mAh), 8 000 page flips - 2 weeks battery life average per full charge Micro SD slot for adding optional Micro
Click here for more information about Bookeen Cybook Opus e-Book Reader
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