Already a 4th generation ereader, the Cybook Opus sets new benchmarks in the e-reading world. Combining stylish design with the latest ebook reader technology, can we expect a device streamlined to perfection as its name suggests?  

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Features – Hardware and Software

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think the text on the Cybook Opus’ display is a real printed material. Like the first generation Cybook, which was released by the French company Booken in 2007, the Opus is rolled out with eye-friendly screen display. With no screen glare, no flicker effect, readers don’t suffer the eyestrain caused by LCDs. It has the looks of real paper, too, but the Opus takes verisimilitude to an even greater height: page turns near the speed of pages of real paper when flicked. In addition, user interface is highly responsive, allowing users to store books in a folder, look up the definition of a word, open a book, and more with a few clicks of control buttons.

Power-frugal machine gives readers one powerhouse of a virtual library. A single battery charge can get readers through 8000 page turns. For a casual reader who averages 80 pages a day, that’s roughly equal to 2 months of reading! With 1GB internal storage users can shelve up to 1000 books in their virtual library – 2 times more than the first generation Cybook – that can still be expanded via the micro SD slot. 

Weighing just a little more than 5 ounces, the Opus is a featherweight. But what will excite users even more is that the Cybook Opus natively supports different formats including PDF, Mobipocket, and HTML – no need to go through a file conversion and synchronization process, a capability that even the much hyped Kindle apparently lacks. 

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The Bottom Line

So no fancy features, no wireless connectivity, but if you’re looking for an e-reading device that has all the basic features of an ereader and can be nicely arranged in your bag, the Booken Cybook Opus certainly fits the bill. For an e-reader that is pre-loaded with books and that lets you access even more classical titles for free, the Cybook Opus is surprisingly cheap – just $250.