Bookeen Cybook Gen3 review

The Cybook Gen3 looks like a stripped-down version of the BeBook, with a similar matt black finish.

The edges are more rounded, though, and the controls are simpler: four buttons on the left edge, volume controls on the right edge, and a simple navigation control on the right below the display. The 6in screen is great, while the battery is claimed to last for an impressive 8,000 page turns.

Thanks to its rounded edges, the Cybook is more comfortable to hold than the BeBook, and it's lighter than any of the other eBook readers we've seen. It doesn't come with a cover, though, which will cost you an extra £25 and double the weight. As a result of the weight, the buttons along the edge are easy to press by mistake when picking up the unit. The controls are better suited to those who hold books in their right hand, unlike Sony's Reader, which has navigation buttons placed on both sides.

The Cybook takes around 20 seconds to boot up, and a few seconds more to load up a book. The side buttons are marked with icons, but until you get to know which is which, you must tilt the unit to find out. You can choose how many items to view in the Library screen and filter by file type, but the interface feels clunky compared to that of the Reader, which has short cuts to Bookmarks, Images and Music.

Music playback on the Cybook could be better. Once you select a track, it takes too long to navigate back to the book you were reading, whereas on the Reader this takes only two key presses. The headphone socket is recessed, and is of the more unusual 2.5mm variety. This means that you'll have to buy a separate adaptor to use standard headphones.

The Cybook uses a pop-up menu system to add functions such as page or font selection and bookmarking, although neither works on PDF files. This is annoying, as a lot of free eBooks from Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) are PDFs. These functions work with the PRC format, however, which is used by bookshops that support the Mobipocket software. An internal memory of 512MB should be plenty for books, but you'll want to add an SD card for storing music.

The Cybook isn't good value compared to other eBook readers, especially as you have to pay extra for the cover. The internal memory and font support are good, and the reader is the lightest we've tested. However, it doesn't have the wide format support of the BeBook, or the build quality and interface of Sony's Reader.