Review of Cybook Gen 3 e-reader

GH Institute

E-readers

Features

6in display. 512Mb memory holds up to 405 eBooks plus memory card slot. Battery lasts for 8000 page turns. 206MHz processor. 46 preloaded books (14 of these are in French). 12 x text magnification. USB cable. Weight 175g without cover. Supports: TXT, PDF, HTML, JPEG, PDB, PRC. Time to fully charge battery: 5 hours. Can also store music files from an MP3.PC and Mac compatible. Cover provided. Dimensions: H188mm x W118mm x D8mm.

Comments

Good points: Slim-line and nearly as small as the Sony, this reader has few controls making it really simple to operate. One main control on the front turns the pages and controls other options such as changing font size and page aspect making it easy to use. A protective cover is supplied which stays securely shut with a magnet. Really useful pre- loaded instruction manual.

Drawbacks: The side controls for other functions are too small to press easily, particularly with the cover in place. Page turning is slower than on the Sony and it takes a short while to show the main screen after switching on. As font size is increased, the spaces between the words increase which is annoying.

Rating: 60/100

Price Range: £180 - 280

Stockist: http://www.bookeen.com

GHI Test Report - March 2009

Back

Other products in E-readers

Review of BeBook Mini eBook Reader

Features
5 inch display (800x600 resolution), 512 Mb memory - 350 books. Optional SD card. 5 font sizes. Battery lasts 7000 page turns.150 preloaded books. Weight 160g.
Comments
Good points: good clear screen with useful numbered buttons to jump to menu items or pages. Intuitive nudge control on side for page turns. Drawbacks: Nudge control is uncomfortable on finger. Other buttons small and badly placed.

Rating: 72/100

Price: £179.99

Stockist: http://www.mybebook.com

GHI Test Report - November 2009
Review of BeBook eBook Reader

Features
6 inch display (800x600 resolution), 512 Mb memory - 350 books. Optional SD card. 5 font sizes. Battery lasts 7000 page turns.150 preloaded books. MP3 player. Weight 230g.
Comments
Good points: good clear screen with useful numbered buttons to jump to menu items or pages. Attractive leather case.
Drawbacks: Heavy, particularly in leather case (412g). Poor controls: page turn buttons are small and badly placed, making for a bad reading experience. MP3 player difficult to control.

Rating: 69/100

Price Range: £199 - 239.99

Stockist: http://www.mybebook.com

GHI Test Report - November 2009
Review of Elonex eBook Reader

Features
6 inch display (800x600 resolution), 512 Mb memory - 350 books. Optional SD card. 3 fonts in 8 sizes. Battery lasts 8000 page turns.100 preloaded books. Sudoku game. Weight 180g.
Comments
Good points: very light and pleasant looking. Easy to read from. Drawbacks: Feels rather plastic. The button to change page has an unpleasant feel/click. Menus and library navigation are tedious.

Rating: 61/100

Price: £169

Stockist: 0800 151 1577 - http://www.elonex.co.uk

GHI Test Report - November 2009
Review of Sony Reader (PRS-505) eBook Reader

Features
6 inch display (800x600 resolution), 256Mb memory - 160 books. Battery lasts 7500 page turns. Weight 260g.
Comments
Good points: slim and light e-reader. Very simple to operate with page turning controls on both sides to suit left and right handed readers. The menu is clear and easy to navigate using either the arrow or numbered keys. The text appeared instantly. Controls are instinctive so you don't need the CD format instructions provided. A smart protective cover is supplied. Zoom option has own key so is easy to find quickly. Pages are easily found by pressing a numbered key or using the bookmark facility.

Rating: 85/100

Price Range: £159.99 - 224.99

Stockist: 0207 365 2947 - http://www.sony.co.uk

GHI Test Report - November 2009
Review of Sony Reader, Touch Edition (PRS-600) eBook Reader

Features
6 inch display (800x600 resolution), 512 Mb memory - 350 books. Optional SD and Memory Stick cards. 5 font sizes. 10 preloaded sample books. Battery lasts 7500 page turns. Silver or black. Weight 286g. MP3 player. Notebook. Dictionary.
Comments
Good points: excellent finish and build quality. Good clear screen with touch screen that makes it natural to make a selection or flip pages (though default direction of flip needs reversing). Dedicated button to change font size. Excellent dictionary - tap any word in a book for a definition.
Drawbacks: touch screen needs heavy touch compared with iPhone. Not light weight.

Rating: 88/100

Price Range: £249.99 - 268

Stockist: 08705 111 999 - http://www.sony.co.uk

GHI Test Report - November 2009
Review of Sony Reader, Pocket Edition (PRS-300) eBook Reader

Features
5 inch display (800x600 resolution), 512 Mb memory - 350 books. 3 font sizes. 10 preloaded sample books. Battery lasts 7500 page turns. Silver or pink. Weight 220g.
Comments
Good points: excellent finish and build quality. Good clear screen with controls that are easy and quick to use, including numbered keys to jump to menu items or pages. Only a light press is required for page turn. Dedicated button to change font size.
Drawbacks: screen a little smaller than competitors, but not small enough for pocket. Slight flicker on page turn.

Rating: 86/100

Price Range: £169.99 - 179.99

Stockist: 08705 111 999 - http://www.sony.co.uk

GHI Test Report - November 2009
Review of iPhone or iPod Touch Stanza eBook Reader

Features
3.5 inch display (480x320 resolution), 8 Gb+ memory - 5,000 books. 12+ fonts, 15 sizes. 1 preloaded book but 1,000s for immediate download. Weight 135g.
Comments
Dowload from Apple iTunes Store
Good points: combination of anytime availability and excellent interface make this much better to read on than small screen suggests. Very natural page turn action. Can spend money on ebooks.
Drawbacks: small backlit screen may eventually tire the eyes.

Rating: 79/100

Stockist: http://www.apple.com

GHI Test Report - November 2009
Review of Sony Reader PRS-505 e-reader

Good Housekeeping Top Scorer
Features
6in display. 256Mb memory holds up to 160 eBooks plus memory card option. Battery lasts for 7500 page turns. 800MHz processor. Three preloaded books. 3 x text magnification. USB cable. Weight: 260g without cover. Supports: ePUB, PDF, TXT, MS Word, JPEG. Time to fully charge battery: 4 hours. Can store pictures and music. Cover provided, waterproof cover optionalPC and Mac compatible. Dimensions: H172mm x W120mm x D70mm.
Comments
Good points: The slimmest and lightest e-reader tested. Very simple to operate with page turning controls on both sides to suit left and right handers. The menu is clear and easy to navigate, using either the arrow or numbered keys. The text appears instantly and page turning is slightly quicker than on the others tested. Controls are instinctive so instructions are not necessary so you don't need to use the CD format instructions supplied.. A smart protective cover is supplied. Zoom option has its own key so is easy to find quickly. You can find pages by pressing a numbered key or using the bookmark facility.

Rating: 85

Price: £199

Stockist: 0207 365 2947 - http://www.sonystyle.co.uk

GHI Test Report - March 2009
iRex Iliad Book Edition e-reader

Features
8.1in display. 128Mb memory holds up to 128 eBooks plus memory card slot. Battery lasts for 15 hours. 400MHz processor. Touch sensor input using stylus. 50 preloaded books. 15 x text magnification. USB cable. Weight: 420g. Supports: PDF, XHTML, TXT, JPEG, PNG and BMG and MOBI. Time to fully charge battery: 3 hours. Cover cost: £22.50 - £39.99. PC and Mac compatible. Dimensions: H216mm x W115mm x D16mm.
Comments
Good points: Ideal for professionals such as lawyers who could use it to reduce their book-load. It differs from the others by enabling you to use the stylus to annotate the screen and touch on other functions. Its larger dimensions make it less portable, but it is still slim-line and the screen shows more text. It is easy to find the book library using the dedicated Book control. Wide choice of text sizes. The page turn control runs the length of the reader so is easy to find and use. The memory can be increased substantially using a memory card.
Drawbacks: The controls are not always obvious to use without the instructions, particularly the touch screen controls. The initial price is high but a protective cover costs extra. Both paper and pre-loaded instructions could be clearer. There is a really good choice of text sizes but this function doesn't seem to be available for all books.

Rating: 80/100

Price: £399

Stockist: 0845 130 5883 - http://www.libresco.com

GHI Test Report - March 2009