Update about my Cybook Odyssey
I knew there was something seriously wrong with the Letto! I’ve just had to charge my new Cybook Odyssey for the first time. The manual says the Cybook lasts for about a month on a single charge (actually slightly less). I expected something like three or three and a half weeks at best. Guess what? Mine has gone seven weeks on a single charge. As you must have guessed by now, I’m really pleased with my new ereader. As far as battery time is concerned it’s the same as the Kindle Touch (or Kindle Keyboard). It’s official: I can definitely recommend this device to anyone looking for an ereader that handles epub books. The only thing I’m not that happy with is that it takes ages to fully charge. It says 3-5 hours on the site and it took 5 hours for mine.
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.
Update about the Letto
I’m giving up. After trying to get the Letto to charge, and ending up with a battery lasting about 24 hours instead of the 30 days I was promised, I’m going to return it and get another. Hopefully that will work better. At least the store was decent about it and didn’t try to put me off.
Letto (Bookeen Cybook Odyssey) review
Since it was on sale – at a very good price – I decided the time had come to get the ‘Letto’ or Bookeen Cybook Odyssey as the original device is called. For a while now, I’d been wanting an ereader that could display library ebooks.
The other day, the ereader arrived, in the mailbox outside. I’d been told I’d have to go and pick it up at a store in town, but apparently, it fitted into our mailbox and that was of course very convenient.
Expectantly, I unpacked it. It was actually in a nice looking box resembling a ‘physical’ book. An adapter for a wall outlet was included, which was – again – convenient. I wasn’t sure what I’d have to order extra. As it turns out, not a lot. Just some kind of cover and some vinyl screen protectors, just in case. I’ll get to that later.
It’s great to finally be able to read on something decent-sized. IOS devices are great – for talking, chatting and listening to music – but not so good for reading longer texts.
Unfortunately, here’s where I’m forced to get to the negative.
First of all, I have to say that I bought this ereader to read library books, and nothing else. I can’t stress that point enough. As it turns out, it’s extremely complicated to transfer the books to the right file on the device. In the end, I couldn’t manage it and I had to ask my tech savvy sister for help. Eventually, she managed to find out hot to do it, by trial and error.
I have read reviews that warned about this problem, but the thing is, I didn’t have much of a choice. It was basically either get the Letto or keep reading library books on the iPod Touch. So when the price dropped down about 50 US dollars, I felt I had to get it. The alternative would be to try and order a Kobo Touch imported from Germany, which would probably mean an older model, and not in the color I wanted, or get an iPad MIni, which I can’t afford at the moment, and probably never will. The fact is that a Kindle AND a Letto PLUS covers and screen protectors are still a bit less expensive than one iPad Mini WITHOUT a cover and screen protector! So I was still getting a bargain.
I just feel sorry for the people who can’t get help transferring their books to their devices. On the other hand, maybe those people aren’t getting theirs exclusively to read library books? Apparently, if you want to buy books from the bookstore that sells the Letto, it’s really easy to transfer the files. They pretty much transfer themselves, or so I’ve been told.
Another con is that while the original Cybook Odyssey comes with several free books, in more than one language, including dictionaries, if I’m not mistaken, the ‘Letto’ comes with one or two Swedish classics and a few modern ‘freebies’ (not any that I will want to read) and no dictionary, but a manual, that unfortunately didn’t help much. The stuff it dealt with was easy to figure out on my own.
To be fair, part of the trouble I had was getting my Adobe ID to work, but it’s still very complicated to download Adobe Digital Editions, then authorize both the device and the computer (just to remember the password is hard – we’d had this problem before with Adobe and apparently our way of solving that was to get a new ID…) Maybe it will get easier once I’m used to the Letto.
Anyway, now that I have the Letto and I’ve been able to transfer the book, I’m not too unhappy with it, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who wants to read library books on it (unless they’re as tech savvy as my sister).
Bottom line:
Pros:
Low price (at the moment anyway – but still quite a good price at any time)
Cute box
Cute ereader with a back that is nice to the touch
Easy to read fonts
Power adapter included
Device entirely adapted for Swedish conditions
Cons:
Difficult to transfer files (other than the books from the bookstore that sells it).
I had trouble with the touch screen and had to resort to using the physical buttons on the side to turn the pages.
Hard to get nice covers: you only have one type to choose between, in a range of not so dazzling colors. Of course, if you check out the measurements, you can always take a chance and buy a cover meant for another, slightly bigger, device.
Oops, it turns out I’m quite partial to the Letto, after all. 🙂 Oh, well, draw your own conclusions. If you live in Sweden, this is still a rather good choice. If you live in France (Belgium, Switzerland etc), the Cybook Odyssey might still be a good option, but you’ll have to decide that for yourself. As for others, maybe you should consider some other device.
Update:
I just thought I’d post a quick (and brief) update about the Letto’s screen in comparison with that of the Kindle Touch.
Kindle Touch:
The touch screen is quicker to respond. It looks a little different from the Letto’s too. I can’t say exactly how.
Letto:
This touch screen is slower and it’s a bit harder to turn the pages. On the side there are two pysical buttons that I’m not used to yet, and I keep pressing them and the pages turn quickly forwards or backwards. The text looks even more, if that is possible, like a regular printed page.
