Goodereader: The e-Reader Buyers Guide for 2011

By Michael Kozlowski

This guide is a compilation of reviews on more than fifty e-reader devices. While other forms of electronics are available on the market, such as smartphones and tablet PCs, digital reading technology still has a strong foothold in the world of ebooks. This title will help you weigh your needs versus the multitude of offerings on the market today.
Some of those needs focus around ease of use and price point. Other users will have needs that allow them to incorporate their own fonts. More advanced users may want an e-reader that allows them to upload their own digital content directly to the device. This buyers’ guide will assist the user in making a wise choice based on the expected outcome for the technology.
Many of the devices that have been reviewed for this guide have actually been tested by the staff of Good e-Reader, and in many instances videos of the products can be found on the Goodereader website. The popular Out-of-the-Box video feature actually demonstrates every aspect of key devices, from turning it on for the first time through downloading content to the machine.
Whichever device you may choose to purchase, we hope this guide gives you the necessary information to make a selection that you will be happy with for all your electronic reading needs

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Kozlowski
• Release date: Sep 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466024786

Michael Kozlowski

At Good E-Reader we have the latest news on E-Readers, Ebooks, Tablet and Slate PC's! We have the highest rated blog on the internet on E-Readers! Many major news agencies such as the Huffington Post, SlashGear and Engadget all pick up our stories. We also have a great E-Reader and Tablet PC Forum! Join in one of our ebook clubs, or download a user manual in PDF form! You can also download tutorials, firmware and upgrades for either your electronic reader, or say your iPad.

Book preview

The Good e-Reader Buyers Guide 2011

Michael Kozlowski

Copyright 2011 by Good e-Reader

Smashwords Edition

The Good e-Reader – eReader Buyers Guide for 2011 attempts to explore the myriad of e-readers in the market right now. Many devices have hit the market this year and it can be overwhelming to make the decision on what device is right for you. We explore over 25 e-readers that are widely available in the United States and Canada and give you a comprehensive review on each device.

The Holidays are quickly approaching and you might be keen on upgrading your own e-reader or maybe just buying one for the first time. You even might be considering a gift for that special someone and want to make sure you are buying the right e-reader for them.

We at Good e-Reader consider ourselves the definitive source on e-readers, digital publishing, ebooks and tablets. Our tech blog is visited by over 5 million people to get the latest industry news and look at all of the new releases. We extensively review every new e-reader that hits the market and often do a series of videos that give you tutorials on how to setup and manage your device. If you are the type of person that loves to load in their own ebooks or borrow them from the library, our videos also assist you in showing you how to do it, step by step.

If contests are your thing we do giveaways almost every few weeks for new e-readers and tablets that companies send us for reviews. Entry is free and it’s our way of saying thanks for stopping by our site.

During 2011 at Good e-Reader we started our eBook of the Week feature, so if you love to read, it’s worth checking out. We have been doing a series of author interviews, giving you an introspective on their writing process and give their book away for free, for one week. This is a great way to discover new authors and even speak with them, during one of our live chat events.

Finally at Good e-Reader we visit all of the key events that happen every year to provide the best news possible. We visit CES, Computex, the London Book Fair, Book Expo New York and many other industry events. When things happen in the industry we are there and we want to thank everyone for all of the love and support. You can visit our news site today and join in on the fun at http://goodereader.com/blog/

Table of Contents

Aluratek Libre Air

Aluaratek Libre Color

Amazon Kindle with Special Offers

Amazon Kindle DX

Barnes and Noble Nook Color

Barnes and Noble Simple Touch Reader

Jetbook Lite

Kobo Touch

iRiver Story HD

Pandigital Nova

Pocketbook 360 Plus

Pocketbook 902

Sharper Image Literati

Sony 350 Pocket Edition

Sony 650 Touch Edition

Sony PRS-T1 Reader WIFI

Skytex Primer

The Book by Augen

V.Tech V-Reader

Aluratek Libre Air

Aluratek showed off two new e-readers at CES this year; the Libre Touch and the Libre Air. The main question we are attempting to explore is whether or not the company is issuing relevant products in 2011 to compete with other popular e-readers such as the Kobo Touch or Nook Simple Touch?

The Hardware

The Aluratek Libre Air features a 5 inch reflective light LCD screen with a resolution of 640×480 pixels. It does not have a backlite screen like most LCD devices and feels like the full e-ink experience. One of the benefits of going for an LCD based e-reader is that you do not have the lingering flickering and refresh issues like you do on most entry level readers.

You have 200 MB of internal memory that will store your books, pictures, and music files. You can expand on this via the MicroSD card up to 32 GB to store tons more.

You connect up to the internet via the built in WIFI and you can enter password protected networks via the numbered keys on the side of the device. The numbered keys feel like a smartphone in the respect that you have to press the 2 button 3 times to get the letter C. This keyboard layout gets very tedious at times because any symbols involving periods or @ symbols for emails require you to hit extra keys to call up different symbol lists. One of the more unintuitive aspects of the keyboard layout on the side of the device is the unversial symbol key is the number 0. There are no visual cues letting the user know that the number key is what you need to press to call up symbols.

The Aluratek Libre Air has a Mini USB port in order to connect it up to your computer to copy ebooks, music, or pictures to your device. It also comes with a wall charger with a USB port on it, so you can use the cable that came with your device to also wall charge your unit. It seems also you can charge your device via the Micro USB cable as well.

Since this is a device does not feature a touchscreen, it has many buttons for different functions. On the left hand side of the unit it has a magnifying glass and page turn buttons. These buttons do different things depending on what application you are viewing. For example, when you are in the picture or music apps, they allow the user to perform different functions. On the bottom of the e-reader is a D-Pad that has 4 different directions to move around the various menus. It has has a mouse in the center which helps you scroll around the Kobo Book store. Underneath the DPAD is a HOME, Back, and Settings button. These quickly help you access advanced settings and feel like an Android device in terms of their overall functionality. There is also a power button on the top of the unit and a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the bottom.

There is an built in accelerometer with the Libre Air that gives you the ability to switch from landscape to portrait mode. It order to switch perspectives you have to activate the function in the settings menu.

This e-reader feels very light and you should get around 20 hours of use between charges or about 2 weeks in standby mode. The device is made of a durable plastic shell and feels flimsy, but the company does give you a carrying case to protect it.

Software

The Aluratek Libre Air is running a Linux based operating system and it really feels like there is only 128 MB of RAM on it. Navigating menus and settings feels clunky and slow and internet browsing is a harrowing experience.

There is an internet browser on the Libre Air, but you have no ability to visit various websites on the internet. When you load up the browser it defaults you the Kobo bookstore in order to buy books. The e-reader does not allow you to register your own Kobo account so you will need a PC to do one first before you can download books. You have a wide selection of books via Kobo and can buy books in EPUB format.

Navigating the Kobo store is intuitive, albeit very slow, menus and different pages take around 15 seconds. If you want