Bookeen Cybook Gen3 e-book reader Will this replace your paperback?

Reviewer: Stuart Miles
Review Date: 21 July 2008
Manufacturer: Bookeen
Price as reviewed: £269
Latest price: compare

Our score

7/10

See more with this score

Reader score

?/10

Rate this product

Full review

21 July 2008 - The Amazon Kindle might be the e-book reader that everyone knows, but as it is not available to anyone outside the US, readers in the UK have got to use something else. Is the Booken Cybook Gen3 the answer? We get reading to find out.

Roughly the size of a piece of A5 paper (118 x 188 x 8.5mm), the Cybook Gen3 is light and small and easily portable. The e-book reader comes with a 6-inch E Ink display that offers a resolution of 600 x 800 pixels meaning that it is fine for print, but images look like something out of a newspaper 30 years ago.

That screen dominates the proceedings. It's clear, grey and not backlit. Navigation controls are via a d-pad on the front underneath the screen or a series of buttons hidden on the side out of sight.

There is an SD card slot so you can expand on the 512MB of in-built memory included and to get books to and from the device it is merely a case of connecting it to a PC or Mac via a USB cable and dragging them across.

There is MP3 support for audio books or music while you read, although the Cybook Gen3 uses a 2.5mm, rather than 3.5mm, socket. It's annoying as chances are you don't have a 2.5mm jack floating around your house and this means another trip to the shops as there isn't one in the box.

MP3 playback is simple but ample - when was the last time a book, that wasn't aimed at under-5s, played you music?

So there are the tech specs, what of the experience?

Not wanting to come at this completely from a gadget side of things we hunted out an expert, a rare book dealer, to ask him what he thought of the e-book reader.

His opinion? Mixed.

While he liked the ability to change the font size and typeface to suit your reading style (handy if you've lost/forgotten your glasses) the non-tactile approach left him disappointed.

"At the end of the day, the device is simply feeding you text - albeit in a friendly way - and provides little of the 'touchy-feely' experience you get from a book - dog-eared pages, colourful artwork and that cream background."

In our tests we would have to agree. The Cybook Gen3 lacks basic elements that make a book a book. Due to the ability to resize and choose your font (you can add more beyond the three that come as standard) you don't get page numbers unless it's a PDF file, but instead a bar at the bottom suggesting where you are. For us this meant you lose any sense of progression through the book, or any real understanding of where you were.

Then there is the grey uninspiring display, no fault of the Cybook but it’s not really that compelling making everything, well, grey. You get used to it of course just like any new technology but it’s not the same.

Verdict

So is it a page turner? Well the Cybook Gen3 has its pros and cons just like any other gadget we review here at Pocket-lint, although it has the ability to carry around 10,000 books, you're unlikely to dip in and out of books the same way you do music.

What we did like was the fact that it is incredibly light and so carrying around a book like War and Peace or Lord of the Rings doesn't have to be a heavy-handed affair.

However the lack of page numbers, the lack of a tactile experience and the fact you can't use it on a plane during take off and landing means that for now the e-book isn't about to replace your paperback.

It will eventually, and as e-books go this isn't a bad effort, however the rare book dealer (perhaps he is just trying to protect his job) and I aren't ready to go digital just yet.

This product was kindly loaned to us by Pixmania.com

Comments

"The Cybook Gen3 lacks basic elements that make a book a book." No kidding! And a car lacks the basic elements that make a horse a horse, so what? Cars can do things horses can't and e-readers can do things that books can't, like weighing 6.7 ounces, dictionary look up, page numbering (the Sony reader has this and the Cybook could with a software upgrade). Asking a reare book dealer what he thinks of an e-book reader is like asking the blacksmith what he thinks of a car - any surprise at the answer? The biggest thing thatis preventing wide adoption of e-readers is the use of DRM copyright protection on e-books and the cost. If the hadware manufacters could get the publishing industry to subsidize the cost just as the phone company does cell phone, you would see wide adoption. e-reader software for the iPhone casused 10,000 book downloads the first day, so there is a market for e-books, despite the limitations of the iPhone as an e-reader. However, the hardware either has to be muiltifunctional, or much cheaper for the user. Color e-ink and faster refresh rates are currently in development too, so look at this as a first generation e-ink device, not a mature product. Posted by TheRealBillC, USA
Review? I hope this is the first attempt from the office junior.

I'll check back in a week and see if you have a proper review of the tech. Posted by midger, uk
This is one of the most misguided reviews of a product I have ever read.

Comparing an e-book to a regular book is not entirely the right way to approach the gadget. It's sorta like comparing a car and a bike.

With this metaphor, you guys just asked a car-dealer to review a mountainbike. That approach is never gonna be neutral, and the result is that you guys are misinforming your readers.

Better luck next time. For people interested in ebook readers - better go read here:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/
Posted by Kim, Denmark
Errr... are we talking about the same delightful, featherlight Cybook that I read an average of three books a week on? The one with the luxurious creamy tone to the paper and finely detailed fonts which make it like reading a luxury edition? The one which, like any good reading device (including a book) disappears as I read? Oh yes, and the one for which the whole of literature up to 1938 is available free?

Take Kim's suggestion above and look at Mobileread if you want some views and critiques worth reading. Posted by Argel, UK
The cybook looks ok to me, but I read on another forum that after one broke down after only a short time, they would not repair it.
Errr is this an add for cybook. almost all book reader can read the free books. Posted by TonyC, UK
It would be hard to choose a more inappropriate person than a book dealer to review an e-book. There is a reason why Amazon named their ebook the Kindle: it's a reference to burning books. E-books offer a way for publishers to escape the stranglehold that is distribution. That means less popular works can be profitable, and is ultimately very good news for all of us. The sooner we get rid of people in charge of stacking shelves with "block-busters", the better. Posted by Jonathan, Britain

Compare prices

Apple iPod nano Third Gen. Silver (8 GB, MA247LL/A) Digital Media Player
(8 GB (Built-in Memory), 2000 Songs, 1.74 oz., Audio Files: MP3, WAV, AAC, MP3 VBR, AIFF. Video Files: MPEG-4. Display Size: 2 inch)