MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Cybook Opus -- First impressions

bobnelsonfr · 09-26-2009, 04:35 AM

I received my new Opus last Tuesday. It had a pretty good charge, so I could start playing right away.

It recognized a 4 Go microSDHC card with no problem, but all the doc says not to try any bigger than that. (Anybody who needs more than 5 Go of ebooks on-hand is just plain crazy!) The Opus came with 75 freebie books, and swallowed my roughly 550 others, without needing to start on the expansion card. I went through a long moment of panic, while the device digested all those new additions. It just sat there, apparently doing nothing. A "working" signal would be reassuring...

The first reaction to the Opus is, "Jeez! It doesn't weigh anything at all!" My wife's Sony 505 feels like a brick next to the Opus. This, of course, is a very positive thing... ...

... that leads to a somewhat negative thing... The ergonomics are dumb. Not "bad", just "dumb". A device this light cries out to be used one-handed. But... The Opus's layout is clearly of aesthetic origin, not usability origin. With a bit of effort, the Opus can be used one-handed, left hand or right... but the user must overcome the device's layout, rather than be encouraged by it. "Dumb."

The Opus can handle several formats, but I have only loaded epub for the moment. One consequence is that I do not know how the device handles signets. Since I never use signets anyway, I don't care that epub doesn't manage them.

The Opus is pretty simple. No underscoring, no... nothing. Just read the books! That's fine with me, but could be a deal-breaker for some people.

The Library is lousy. It is nothing more than a file-browser. It places titles beginning with "The" under "T", for example. When there are a thousand books on-board, this could get really unpleasant! I suppose I'll have to create a title/author index in epub format...

Once, the Opus locked up for no apparent reason. Since the printed documentation is almost inexistent, and the internal epub doc was obviously inaccessible... I was not happy! I opened the battery cover, thinking to disconnect... and Eureka! A reset button. Problem solved.

Once, the device did not open to the "last page read"... but that incident may have been due to my pushing buttons a bit too quickly...

Reading on the Opus is quite nice. The eInk screen is as always, crisp and stable. There's a very noticeable white-black-white flash at each page change. It goes by just about as quickly as my eyes rise to the top of the next page, so I'm not bothered. There's an option to eliminate this flash, but there would then be a bit of after-image from one page to the next.

There's no margin at all around the text. I suppose that this is because the screen is only 5", and Bookeen wanted to use that real estate to the maximum. I was bothered by the lack of margins... for about fifteen minutes.

It is still early days, but so far the Opus corresponds exactly to what I wanted: a light, pocketable, go-everywhere device that just reads books!

Oh, and... the sleeve that comes with the Opus seems to have been thought out as "in-pocket-protection". Its reassuringly thick front and rear covers make the device quite a bit thicker, but the sleeve doesn't add much in any other direction. Opus and sleeve fit comfortably in a jeans's hip pocket, about the size of a paperback.

If anyone has a specific question, I'd be glad to (try to) answer...

09-26-2009, 04:35 AM	#1
bobnelsonfr Newbie Posts: 33 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Calais, France & Yuma, AZ Device: Samsung Galaxy S8+ with several apps	Cybook Opus -- First impressions I received my new Opus last Tuesday. It had a pretty good charge, so I could start playing right away. It recognized a 4 Go microSDHC card with no problem, but all the doc says not to try any bigger than that. (Anybody who needs more than 5 Go of ebooks on-hand is just plain crazy!) The Opus came with 75 freebie books, and swallowed my roughly 550 others, without needing to start on the expansion card. I went through a long moment of panic, while the device digested all those new additions. It just sat there, apparently doing nothing. A "working" signal would be reassuring... The first reaction to the Opus is, "Jeez! It doesn't weigh anything at all!" My wife's Sony 505 feels like a brick next to the Opus. This, of course, is a very positive thing... ... ... that leads to a somewhat negative thing... The ergonomics are dumb. Not "bad", just "dumb". A device this light cries out to be used one-handed. But... The Opus's layout is clearly of aesthetic origin, not usability origin. With a bit of effort, the Opus can be used one-handed, left hand or right... but the user must overcome the device's layout, rather than be encouraged by it. "Dumb." The Opus can handle several formats, but I have only loaded epub for the moment. One consequence is that I do not know how the device handles signets. Since I never use signets anyway, I don't care that epub doesn't manage them. The Opus is pretty simple. No underscoring, no... nothing. Just read the books! That's fine with me, but could be a deal-breaker for some people. The Library is lousy. It is nothing more than a file-browser. It places titles beginning with "The" under "T", for example. When there are a thousand books on-board, this could get really unpleasant! I suppose I'll have to create a title/author index in epub format... Once, the Opus locked up for no apparent reason. Since the printed documentation is almost inexistent, and the internal epub doc was obviously inaccessible... I was not happy! I opened the battery cover, thinking to disconnect... and Eureka! A reset button. Problem solved. Once, the device did not open to the "last page read"... but that incident may have been due to my pushing buttons a bit too quickly... Reading on the Opus is quite nice. The eInk screen is as always, crisp and stable. There's a very noticeable white-black-white flash at each page change. It goes by just about as quickly as my eyes rise to the top of the next page, so I'm not bothered. There's an option to eliminate this flash, but there would then be a bit of after-image from one page to the next. There's no margin at all around the text. I suppose that this is because the screen is only 5", and Bookeen wanted to use that real estate to the maximum. I was bothered by the lack of margins... for about fifteen minutes. It is still early days, but so far the Opus corresponds exactly to what I wanted: a light, pocketable, go-everywhere device that just reads books! Oh, and... the sleeve that comes with the Opus seems to have been thought out as "in-pocket-protection". Its reassuringly thick front and rear covers make the device quite a bit thicker, but the sleeve doesn't add much in any other direction. Opus and sleeve fit comfortably in a jeans's hip pocket, about the size of a paperback. If anyone has a specific question, I'd be glad to (try to) answer...