Bookeen Cybook Opus
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French company Bookeen introduces their fourth-generation electronic book reader, the Cybook Opus. It has a foot print of 4.2″ x 6″ x 0.4″ inches and weighs 5.3 oz (150g), which puts it 0.5 oz more than an iPhone 3GS. It features E Ink electronic ink with 12 font sizes, 4-level greyscale and a 200 dpi display. It has an accelerometer that allows it to switch from portrait to landscape mode automatically, which will appeal equally to left and right-handed readers. It ships with 75 classics free of charge; stores up to 1 000 titles in 1GB of built in flash memory, and 3 000 more on a microSD card. It can support HTML, PDF, EPUB or TXT formats without any conversions. It’s available now for $280.
This true concentrate of technology, a result of ten years’ innovation by French company Bookeen, boasts impressive features in terms of lightness, comfort and battery life, carrying up to 1 000 book titles in a featherweight 150g device.
Slimmer, lighter and faster than its competitors, Cybook Opus brings the best of technology to reading.
Cybook Opus is designed for readers eager to reconcile the freedom and wealth of the digital age with the feel of a printed page. Not only does its sleek look make it one of today’s most desirable cultural goods, but Cybook Opus has also been designed to address the needs of passionately mobile readers.
Handy: Cybook Opus, the world’s most portable electronic book, slips into a pocket and only weighs 5.3 oz (150g), battery included (just 0.5 oz more than an iPhone 3GS). Comfortable: Read in all conditions – indoors or outdoors, even in direct sunlight. Features the latest E Ink electronic ink technology. Even more comfortable: With its 12 font sizes and 4-level greyscale, Cybook Opus adjusts to anyone’s eyesight. Its accelerometer will appeal equally to left and right-handed readers. Rich: Ships with 75 great classics free of charge; stores up to 1 000 titles, and 3 000 more on a microSD card. Even richer: Compatible with all current download platforms, Cybook Opus offers access to over one million contemporary or public-domain digital books over the Internet. Battery life: Recharges every 8 000 pages viewed, i.e. several weeks of normal use (consumes no energy when displaying a page). Simple: Easily downloads titles by connecting to a computer’s USB port (PC or Mac).
Recommended retail price: 250 euros/299£/249 USD tax-inclusive (includes 75 free titles).
Available from: Fnac, Fnac.com, Virgin, Pixmania, Surcouf, Chapitre.com, Eyrolles, Gibert Joseph, WH Smith/Waterstone’s/WeltBild/MVB/Libri/MediaMarkt/…
Visuals: http://www.bookeen.com/gallery/ebook-pictures.aspx
More info: www.bookeen.com
An extensive choice of digital titles
Cybook Opus is fully compatible with all major online digital bookstores: FNAC.com, BooksOnBoard, WeltBild, MVB, Waterstone’s…Over 200 000 titles are commercially available to download, including back-catalogue works as well as many bestsellers and new releases. Every genre is represented – from thrillers to political pamphlets to non-fiction guides.
In addition, notably through Google Books, Cybook Opus offers access to more than one million public-domain classics in every language. They are available to download free of charge.
Electronic ink: technology dedicated to reading
Unlike regular display technologies, which require backlighting, electronic ink screens are purely reflective, using ambient light in the same way as ordinary paper does. Electronic ink can display text and images indefinitely, without consuming any energy whatsoever.
The Cybook Opus screen only consumes energy when the reader flips a page.
Bookeen: a French leader in consumer electronics
Bookeen was founded in France in 2003 by Laurent Picard and Michaël Dahan, and currently boasts more than 25% market share in Germany, Italy, France and Spain, Bookeen is the number two European player in electronic books, just behind Sony.
Thanks to many years of research and development based on the best screen technologies and ultra-optimised software interfaces, Bookeen creates reading devices recognized for their world-class quality.
A Forrester Research report (June 2009) estimates that there are almost one million users in 2009 and predicts this will grow to 13 million – a US$2bn business – by 2013. Digitimes (August 27, 2009) estimates the market will reach more than 77 million units by 2018. Many industries see the eBook as an emergent market with great potential, and Bookeen is one of its key players. 
After taking part – as early as 1998 – in the development of the first electronic book and associated services for Cytale, alongside Jacques Attali and Erik Orsenna, Laurent Picard and Michaël Dahan went on to found Bookeen in 2003. Since then, Bookeen has accumulated a unique experience on the eBook market and marketed the first multi-format reading support directly targeted to the eBook reader community.
Technical fact-sheet: Cybook Opus by Bookeen
Format Tablet
Screen B&W
Resolution 800 x 600 pixels
Processor / Speed Samsung ARM / 400 MHz
Memory 1 GB
Maximum memory 1 microSD memory card slot (4 GB max; up to approx 4 000 titles)
Sync with a PC computer Yes
Sync with a Mac computer Yes
Audio / video features Text formats supported: Adobe ePub / PDF (native or DRM-protected), TXT and HTML files; photo (black and white): JPEG, GIF and PNG
Connectivity Mini USB
Additional contents 75 books included – see list on following page
Power Rechargeable Lithium-Polymer battery
Battery life Up to 8 000 consecutive pages or 2 weeks
Additional features Accelerometer (automatically switches from portrait to landscape reading mode), left and right-handed, E Ink (electronic ink) technology, 4-level greyscale display without backlighting (prevents eye fatigue), 12 font sizes, can be read even in bright sunlight, “Reset” button, battery rechargeable through USB cable
Dimensions (l x d x h) Height 151 mm – 6″
Length 108 mm – 4.2″
Width 10mm – 0.4″
Net weight 150 g/5.3 oz
Author: James Johnson
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Do you have any experiences with the CyBook Opus? We would love to hear from you and get your opinion! Please see rating section below!
Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) PostsRelated Reviews:
Reviews (3)
Paul
November 6th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
My first thought was Kindle, then Sony b/c more places to buy ebooks, then I saw this. One key concept I was annoyed at with the others was serious lack of style as this was gift for my wife. Was hoping Apple would enter the arena. Opus solved that problem, they’re french so its expected! No big bells and whistles, touchscreen would be nice (who cares about wireless!) – I read somewhere my battery life is cut down with touchscreen. This is a cool looking, very very light, sleek device. She said she gets alot of questions about it on the train to work. Great screen detail, large internal storage, stylish amd drops in her purse without being large clunky and annoying. When the boss is happy – I’m happy. I would recommend.
Helen Humbert
November 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
It is small but sufficiently sized and makes a good portable. It came with a protective pocket like case.
I loaded it with a lot of files to test it out, and after second session of uploading files to the device, some files became unreadable. Then it just got worse and it would not display any files (no upload this time, I am guessign the device corrupted the fs even more by writing its own files to the flash).
After both uploads I did safely remove hardware on a vista 64 pc, so why did I get file system corruption?
Then it got even more fun. I backed up what I could and reformatted the device. First format took around an hour, reported a lot of bad blocks, and failed. So I tried quick format and that made the flash on device accessible, but windows was still reporting a problem with the fs.
Next, I used an usb cable that I know is good, instead of the one that comes with the opus, and also pulls power from 2 usb slots instead of one (not that I should have needed that, because I charged the device up before using it). Not sure if that had a bearing on things, but after that I formatted it once more, using fat32 this time, and there were no bad blocks. So maybe the cable that came with the opus was shaky, or maybe opus switches to usb power when connected and one usb port just was not giving it enough power.
Sadly, I do not know if the internal memory is fully functional now, because I took an 2 gig msd card I had collecting dust, and so far nothing got corrupted again. All I have in internal flash for now are a bunch of fonts. (it supports different fonts, they just need to be be placed into the fonts folder).
If you get this : back up the contents of the device before you do anything else. The device will however restore what it needs onto it should it get wiped, you will just lose the free books it comes with.
Other than that the device is nice, it supports quite a few formats (which is the reason why I selected it), works well with a 2 gig msd card. (I will load up the built in flash when I feel lucky and bored).
Only improvement I would make is to add an wrist strap of some sort, because I am afraid that I will drop it.
Overall a good compact device, hopefully my fs corruption event was just either a bad usb cable that came with the device or just a fluke.
merlin
September 11th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Booken (Cybook Gen3) do not complying with warranty
If you plan to buy one of the BOOKEN ebook readers be careful!
They do not complying with warranty.
After few months of use of Booken Cybook Gen 3 (Gold) the screen remained blocked and it was not possible more to use.
Asking to Booken for the reparation in warranty, they say that screen damage is not covered. Even demonstrating that it was due to an intrinsic defect and not to damage caused for example by a fall or an impacted by sharp object as keys, screwdriver, etc (the ebook reader was on the table in a safe place and I simply open again after some days) they will no comply with warranty and asked for the reparation a cost which makes more convenient to buy a new (different) ebook reader.
Note that the warranty do not indicates that screen is not covered by warranty.
NOTE also that the screen was NOT broken by a physical impact, because was just on the table and with its hard cover protection. I demonstrated to them that there is no sign at all which indicate a physical impact, but still they refuse the reparation.
Therefore, if you plan to buy one of the BOOKEN ebook readers be extremely carefull. They do not comply with warranty and will charge yo you the cost of reparation.
For the reparation, it is necessary to send in France, with also the additional cost of international mail, and thus it is more convenient to buy a new apparatus that repair, if the cost of screen should be charged. On the other hand, they know that make an international legal opposition (because technical assistance is made only at the company headquarter in France) is to complex and at the end more costly that buy a new one.
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