My new e-reader

Earlier this spring I bought a Letto aka Bookeen Cybook Odyssey. Because of issues with the battery I had to return it to the seller. When I contacted support someone there was very polite and suggested I return the Letto, so I did. After quite a long wait (because of Easter holiday) I received the Letto back, without any changes. There was just a condescending message about watching a video to learn how to use the device. Furious, I emailed them back and asked for my money back, then returned the Letto once again. In a curious twist that I still can’t explain, the Letto ended up with a different company than the one I’d bought it from. They, very decently, returned it to me with a friendly note and finally I sent it back to the seller. I think they must have received it, because I haven’t heard from them.

To cut to the chase, I have now bought a new ereader, the Cybook Odyssey HD Frontlight. Short and sweet. Not! LOL.

Anyway, the only thing I miss from the Letto is the brushed aluminium back. That was really pretty and pleasant to the touch. Not that the polished plastic back is any less pretty, not just quite as pleasant to the touch. There’s still a rubber frame that is nice to the touch and in most other ways this new Odyssey is identical to the Letto.

Just a little gripe about the name HD: I wouldn’t call this device HD. It’s alright, but there’s no real difference between this display and the other, except for the Frontlight. Despite a slightly higher price, I bought this one instead of the Cybook Odyssey 2013 (without a frontlight) because I tend to read at night. Bad habit, I know. So far I’ve only tried to use the light twice. I’m trying to cut back on these all night sessions. The light works great though.

So far the battery seems fine. I have only had this new Odyssey for just over a week, but already I’m loving it. *Keeping my fingers crossed* that the battery will hold a bit longer. It’s supposed to last ‘almost a month’ or ‘several weeks’. I’ll take that as ‘at least three weeks’. An otherwise rather negative French reviewer admitted that her device’s battery actually lasted longer than a month, so I’m hopeful.

Another thing wrong with the Letto that had nothing to do with a bad battery was the fact that AdLibris, the web bookstore that I bought the Letto from, had intentionally made it harder to transfer books from any other source than their store.They had actually changed a few things around so that people would get fed up with trying and only buy books from Adlibris. Not very nice, but understandable, I suppose.

As far as userfriendliness is concerned, I wouldn’t say that the Cybook is quite as fantastic as the site claims, but it’s quite alright. I have no complaints so far. It’s not as easy to use as my Kindle Touch or my iPod Touch, but that’s probably too much to ask anyway.

In conclusion I’ll just mention how beautiful this ereader is. The Kindle Touch is as pretty, but there are many other ereaders out there that are not. Some look very plastic and primitive and probably creak.