Product Name: Cybook Opus
Manufacturer: Bookeen
Where to Buy: Bookeen website (or Amazon or try eBay?)
Current Price: $199.99 on Bookeen; $170.94 on Amazon; or find it used for less- not recommended- (my 'good deal' was $79 with free shipping)
Photo of Product:
Specifications:
Comes with/in the box:
12 month warranty
USB cable
Quick Start Guide
Black PU leather protective sleeve
Power:
Rechargeable, replaceable internal battery (LI-Polymer-1000mAh)
Up to 2 week battery life
Display:
E-Ink 5" screen
600x800 (200 dpi) resolution
B&W, 4 level gray-scale
Portrait and landscape
Motion detection 'automatically' switches view when ereader is moved
Dimensions:
6"Hx4.2"Lx0.4"W- 5.3oz
Memory:
RAM: 32MB; Storage: 1GB (internal)
Micro SD card slot
Alright- so now let's get down to the review!
Loved that it came with a case! I have had to make a case for other things I've purchased and just really liked that this came with one already :)
The exact ereader I purchased was only available in the color white, however, it is available from Bookeen in various colors. There are a minimum of 5 'buttons' on the front of the ereader, not including the power button that is located at the top, over the edge, of the ereader. Very simple.
Let's turn on the Opus:
It looks like any other ereader screen: gray scale colors, no backlighting. Good so far.
This ereader comes with about 178 books already loaded. These are in English, French, Spanish and Italian. Nice.
When you first start the Opus, it will come up with a box that asks what language you prefer. I scrolled down, with the middle circular button on the front of the ereader, to English and pressed the center button. I expected the Cybook Opus User's Manual to be in English since that is what I designated as my primary language...but no, it was in French. I had to search for the English version.
The ereader comes with a Quick Guide but that is all that it is: Quick. It tells you how to turn it on, what the buttons are on the side, how to turn pages. It does not tell you how to find books that are on the ereader. Nor does it tell you what the light means when it flashes from red to purple (or is that pink?) but blue means your good to go :).
Alright, still okay. I'm just starting, it takes time to figure things out. The ereader also comes with a sheet of paper that says "Purchasing and downloading books" but this piece of paper is misleading...very much so. It gives the impression that the only way to get ebooks onto your ereader is by going through BooksOnBoard.com/opus, which does not offer any free books and a very limited selection of books otherwise. Okay, not a good 'feature' there. I think it would be much better to direct people to other sources of getting ebooks- ones that are free and otherwise- since there is such a small selection. I understand that it is a business- they want business- but I have found I respect and like places that recommend other places when they do not carry what I am looking for.
Okay, moving on: The motion detection for switching views. Great feature to have in an ereader, I think. It supposedly 'automatically' detects when you move the ereader from portrait to landscape. Unfortunately, unless you are okay with being rough with electronics (or anything in general I suppose) you won't get this ereader to 'automatically' detect the movement. I teach my kids to be gentle with things and have respect for them. Well, this you have to be a bit rough to get it to know you've moved it. Still I like that it does switch.
Display of words/pictures:
The very first picture that comes up is of the Bookeen Cybook Opus itself and a thousand little books in the background. Nice and clear, really. But sometimes the next image pieces of the previous image still on the page. I'm not sure why it doesn't refresh with some pages but others, especially when there is not a picture displayed, the page is clear of previous bits. The contrast seems a little off even with the word pages from the books. I feel as if I need to have a very bright light on in order to read it clearly. Although if I change the font size a bit, it is easier to see. The font size is easy to change, using the button that looks like a list, and scrolling down to the Font Size... selection. From here you can go up or down 12 sizes. Unfortunately, it does not give you a preview of your size as it would appear on the actual page; you have to select it to see the actual affect and if you don't like it (too large, too small) you have to go through the simple process again. It doesn't take much, really.
Okay, so the quality of the ebooks (that I have seen so far of the ones already loaded) are well enough for the 'good deal' I got for the ereader. But how about putting books onto the ereader?
Purchasing and/or downloading onto the ereader:
Okay, I think I mentioned the piece of paper that comes with the ereader for purchasing/downloading books. I actually thought I would not be able to put other books on this thing without going through the steps that they detail on that page! That alone was a bit to make me not happy with this 'good deal'. Fortunately I discovered that yes, this ereader can be downloaded to by other means.
How easy is it? It's fairly simple: hook up the USB cable to the computer and drop books into the "Digital Content" folder for the ereader. I notice there are various formats of books already on the Cybook Opus, but as far as I have been able to ascertain, this ereader does not have the capability to work with audiobooks. There are a few 'media' files on the ereader...what are they for? Got me...
I think with a micro SD card (which I do not have yet- this wasn't such a 'good deal' that I could grab one on the side!- although the micro SDs are not too expensive).
Here is what I wrote about it in one of the Yahoo! Groups where I was alerted to the 'good deal':
I got this today and....well, it is worth maybe $50 in my humble opinion. If you are wanting to buy a 'good' ereader, go with one of the more expensive ones.
However, if you want one that is 'cheap' this will work. Just my opinion. The screen is small (about 5") but not that big of a deal. The page takes a while to load, it also doesn't refresh well (leaves bits of the previous page). It has the function to switch views depending on how you hold it but it is slow and I find I have to actually give the reader a bit of a 'shake' for it to register that I have turned it. It's for my kids and they just think it is cool that they have one of their own ereaders. But they really like my Kindle better. The bookeen has 178 books on it already in English, Spanish, French, Italian and although we selected English as our set language it still came up with the French version. It took a bit to figure out how to find the English. The physical 'book' that comes with the ereader is only a Quick Start guide and it is very simple. If not for the fact I have had some experience with another ereader, I'd be somewhat lost! Personally, I went in and deleted the French and Italian books but kept the English and Spanish ones.
Can you imagine that these will be $20 someday (soon!?). Amazing.
The exact ereader I purchased was only available in the color white, however, it is available from Bookeen in various colors. There are a minimum of 5 'buttons' on the front of the ereader, not including the power button that is located at the top, over the edge, of the ereader. Very simple.
Let's turn on the Opus:
It looks like any other ereader screen: gray scale colors, no backlighting. Good so far.
This ereader comes with about 178 books already loaded. These are in English, French, Spanish and Italian. Nice.
When you first start the Opus, it will come up with a box that asks what language you prefer. I scrolled down, with the middle circular button on the front of the ereader, to English and pressed the center button. I expected the Cybook Opus User's Manual to be in English since that is what I designated as my primary language...but no, it was in French. I had to search for the English version.
The ereader comes with a Quick Guide but that is all that it is: Quick. It tells you how to turn it on, what the buttons are on the side, how to turn pages. It does not tell you how to find books that are on the ereader. Nor does it tell you what the light means when it flashes from red to purple (or is that pink?) but blue means your good to go :).
Alright, still okay. I'm just starting, it takes time to figure things out. The ereader also comes with a sheet of paper that says "Purchasing and downloading books" but this piece of paper is misleading...very much so. It gives the impression that the only way to get ebooks onto your ereader is by going through BooksOnBoard.com/opus, which does not offer any free books and a very limited selection of books otherwise. Okay, not a good 'feature' there. I think it would be much better to direct people to other sources of getting ebooks- ones that are free and otherwise- since there is such a small selection. I understand that it is a business- they want business- but I have found I respect and like places that recommend other places when they do not carry what I am looking for.
Okay, moving on: The motion detection for switching views. Great feature to have in an ereader, I think. It supposedly 'automatically' detects when you move the ereader from portrait to landscape. Unfortunately, unless you are okay with being rough with electronics (or anything in general I suppose) you won't get this ereader to 'automatically' detect the movement. I teach my kids to be gentle with things and have respect for them. Well, this you have to be a bit rough to get it to know you've moved it. Still I like that it does switch.
Display of words/pictures:
The very first picture that comes up is of the Bookeen Cybook Opus itself and a thousand little books in the background. Nice and clear, really. But sometimes the next image pieces of the previous image still on the page. I'm not sure why it doesn't refresh with some pages but others, especially when there is not a picture displayed, the page is clear of previous bits. The contrast seems a little off even with the word pages from the books. I feel as if I need to have a very bright light on in order to read it clearly. Although if I change the font size a bit, it is easier to see. The font size is easy to change, using the button that looks like a list, and scrolling down to the Font Size... selection. From here you can go up or down 12 sizes. Unfortunately, it does not give you a preview of your size as it would appear on the actual page; you have to select it to see the actual affect and if you don't like it (too large, too small) you have to go through the simple process again. It doesn't take much, really.
Okay, so the quality of the ebooks (that I have seen so far of the ones already loaded) are well enough for the 'good deal' I got for the ereader. But how about putting books onto the ereader?
Purchasing and/or downloading onto the ereader:
Okay, I think I mentioned the piece of paper that comes with the ereader for purchasing/downloading books. I actually thought I would not be able to put other books on this thing without going through the steps that they detail on that page! That alone was a bit to make me not happy with this 'good deal'. Fortunately I discovered that yes, this ereader can be downloaded to by other means.
How easy is it? It's fairly simple: hook up the USB cable to the computer and drop books into the "Digital Content" folder for the ereader. I notice there are various formats of books already on the Cybook Opus, but as far as I have been able to ascertain, this ereader does not have the capability to work with audiobooks. There are a few 'media' files on the ereader...what are they for? Got me...
I think with a micro SD card (which I do not have yet- this wasn't such a 'good deal' that I could grab one on the side!- although the micro SDs are not too expensive).
The format files this ereader accepts are:
Adobe: PDF/ePUB
HTML/TXT
Mobipocket (it says DRM/non-DRM but I've no idea what that means)
JPG/PNG/GIF (nice..but they are in b&w or grayscale)
I like the HTML acceptance. I don't really like ePUB but mostly because I've not had much experience with it; I usually go with mobi.
**************************************************
Bottom Line:
Not worth $199.99; not worth $79; but good for a 'cheap' ereader. If not for the fact that I am spontaneous to a fault, I would not have bought this. I did get it for my kids and it will work just fine for that.
Okay, I think I am fairly done with my review- there are other things but I just cannot think of them right now... If you have any questions, just ask :)
Here is what I wrote about it in one of the Yahoo! Groups where I was alerted to the 'good deal':
I got this today and....well, it is worth maybe $50 in my humble opinion. If you are wanting to buy a 'good' ereader, go with one of the more expensive ones.
However, if you want one that is 'cheap' this will work. Just my opinion. The screen is small (about 5") but not that big of a deal. The page takes a while to load, it also doesn't refresh well (leaves bits of the previous page). It has the function to switch views depending on how you hold it but it is slow and I find I have to actually give the reader a bit of a 'shake' for it to register that I have turned it. It's for my kids and they just think it is cool that they have one of their own ereaders. But they really like my Kindle better. The bookeen has 178 books on it already in English, Spanish, French, Italian and although we selected English as our set language it still came up with the French version. It took a bit to figure out how to find the English. The physical 'book' that comes with the ereader is only a Quick Start guide and it is very simple. If not for the fact I have had some experience with another ereader, I'd be somewhat lost! Personally, I went in and deleted the French and Italian books but kept the English and Spanish ones.
Can you imagine that these will be $20 someday (soon!?). Amazing.
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