eReader-ReviewsOn.com

Aluratek showed off a couple of new e-readers at the last CES showcase. Libre Touch and Libre Air models are finally going to the market, and the question is whether it is competitive enough to become popular among customers alongside with such successive models of the same class as Nook Simple Touch or Kobo Touch. This review is dedicated to Libre Air e-reader from Aluratek, it reveals design, hardware and software peculiarities of this e-reader.

Design

What really interesting is that Libre Air is very similar to a remote control in look. It has the same design as those all-purpose remote controls that are very difficult to use due to lots of options. Many hardware buttons located in the right side of the front panel make that resemblance together with size – 4 inches in width and 7 inches in length. It is rather compact side compared with the majority of modern e-readers offered on the market.

The design itself is far from beautiful or elegant. It is very plain, has no decorative details or some special style. Ordinary look is how it can be characterized. The body is made of plastic, not looking durable. The back panel is covered with rubber layer very comfortable for hands. It prevents the gadget from slipping and provides firm fixing on any surface.

Hardware controls include buttons for turning pages that are placed on the left side of the front panel. 4-directions controller is located below the screen. In its center there is a navigation joystick sensor that also serves as Enter button. Below the controller there are buttons for Options menu, Home and Back. In general these controls provide easy navigation and handing commands. You will appraise simplicity and easiness of using them from the first minutes of use.

Hardware

Aluratek Libre Air has 5 in LCD screen with reflective light technology. The resolution is 640480 px. As opposite to the majority of LCD gadgets, Libre Air has no backlite screen, thanks to this it is very similar to E-Ink screen. The advantage of LCD screen is that it works much faster when turning pages and updating the image on display. ‘Paper’ screens are much slower in this aspect. Also LCD is good due to the ability to read text on them in the darkness, while E-Ink are useless without lighting.

There are 200 MB of built-in memory for storing books, images and music. MicroSD card slot gives ability to extend the memory space up to 32 GB.

There is Wi-Fi module for connecting to the Internet. Numeric keyboard is made mostly for entering password when connecting to a secured network. Numeric keys are similar to mobile phones, when you need to press a button for a few times in order to write some letter. This is not the smartest solution for a keyboard, but it is much better than full QWERTY keyboard in such compact body size.

It is possible to connect Aluratek Libre Air to a PC with the help of mini USB port. In such a way you can upload new content to the e-reader’s memory. Micro USB is also supported and is used for charging the device.

Having no touch screen, Libre Air features a lot of hardware controls. Magnifying glass button together with page turn controls is located on the left side of the front panel. Also these controls can do other different things depending on the application and viewing mode. 4-directional D-pad below the display is used for navigation through the menus. The joystick in the centre serves as a mouse, using it is convenient to scroll Kobo Book catalogues. The top side of the body features 3.5 mm audio jack and a Power button. Integrated accelerometer provides automatic change of display viewing mode.

In general Libre Air looks and feels very lightweight. Its charge is enough for 20 hours of continuous working or two weeks of being in standby mode.
In the package you will find protective case that can be used for safe carriage. This accessory helps to extend the life of e-reader in heavy use.

Software

Aluratek Libre Air runs on Linux based OS with only 128 MB RAM. Due to such poor RAM memory, menus and different commands work slowly, sometimes users need to wait for seconds until the command will be done.

The e-reader features a web browser, but user is unable to browse different websites using it. When you access a web browser, you are directed at Kobo store where you can buy books. Before going there from the e-reader, user needs to register his personal account on Kobo from the PC. After this you will be able to access catalogues and buy books at Kobo. Books there are sold in ePUB format. There are also free Kobo books offered in catalogues. To use them, user needs to get Adobe registration to make an account.

It is not convenient to work with the browser, to surf through the Kobo catalogues, as the browsing is too slow on this e-reader. Moreover, using a numeric keyboard is also not comfortable, it takes long time to type search request or simple password. This part of device functionality requires serious improvements.
Due to Wi-Fi and Internet support the device is able to get regular firmware updates. Hopefully the manufacturer will take care about optimizing the working experience, making Libre Air ‘speedier’.

The advantage of this electronic book reader is its support of numerous book formats, such as TXT, PDF, RTF, ePUB, FB2, MOB and PRC. There are adjustable settings for each format. For instance, you can set specific font size and margins for a TXT book. In ePUB there is no ability to change font size, instead of this there is a ZOOM feature that allows making characters bigger or smaller. Also in ePUB user has no ability to switch to portrait viewing mode, while TXT provides this option.

The latest books user reads appear in Recent Reading app that features a list of the latest 9 books user used. When accessing books from there, you will be put right to the place where you stopped. You can access either of 9 books pressing a numeric key from 1 to 9.

There are also music player and picture drawing applications. Libre Air supports MP3, WMA and WAV audio formats and GIF, BMP and PNG images.