For those of you that find the the Sony Reader too clunky, or the Amazon Kindle DX too large and cumbersome, this may just be the ideal portable ebook reader for you.  Its very affordable price tag is bound to attract a lot of customers too.

The Interead Cool-er (yes, the name of the device is actually hyphenated) is small, light, and has the look and feel of an Apple iPod.  It even has a circular navigation button that’s similar to the one on an iPod.  I guess it’s always a safe bet to mimic a company that is well known for their trendy and eye-catching product design.

Specs

• Weight - 6.3 oz
• Thickness - 0.4″
• Size – 7″ x 5″
• Screen Size - 6″
• Battery Life - 8000 page turns
• Storage – 1 GB internal + SD external slot
• Price - $250

The E Ink Vizplex screen mimics a matte book page and many owners have said they can read for hours without feeling any eye strain.  A side button also lets you flick between portrait and landscape to suit your reading style or if the document your viewing requires a different layout.

With its 6″ screen size, this means you need to turn the page twice as often as you would with a typical paperback but most people find that easy to adapt to.

The Cool-er can hold around 300 books (that’s approximate based on the 1 GB internal storage).  While this is far less than the Amazon Kindle 2 and DX, do most people even read that many books in their lifetime?

You can use the Cool-er to play audiobooks or music in MP3 format off the SD card.  The eReader also lacks wireless connectivity which means all downloads have to be done via a USB connection.  You download books onto your computer before moving them to the Cool-er. There is no automatic syncing like with the iPod.

Here’s a funny quote…Neil Jones the founder of Interread said,  “Cool-er is designed – and priced – for people who love to read and share books.  ‘This is the first ereader that people won’t be embarrassed to be seen with in public.”  You know what, I can definitely see his point!  I have noticed people staring when I’ve pulled out my Kindle DX on the subway.

Books can be bought from Interead’s own online bookshop (coolerbooks.com), or from other sites that sell ebooks.

Summary

While the Cool-er isn’t the most feature-packed electronic reading device, that’s not its purpose.  It’s supposed to be an ebook reader for the masses.  And it does that well.  It’s quite affordable, well designed, and includes enough hardware and features for the average person.  Heck, it even comes in 8 cool colors!

Keep in mind though, if you’re looking for something to read larger media like newspapers and magazines, or if you simply must have the latest technology like a touchscreen or WiFi, perhaps the Cool-er isn’t for you.

If you’d like to read more or buy a Cool-er you can here.

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The Cybook by Bookeen is an eBook reader that is big on portability and long on battery life.  Today we’re going to review the 3rd generation device, appropriately called the Gen3.

It uses power from its battery only when changing pages, which is consistent with all devises using an EInk screen, like the Amazon Kindle 2.

Bookeen states that the built-in battery can handle up to 8000 page turns on one charge, which is difficult to even comprehend – that’s like 20 novels!   The Cybook is also one of the lightest portable ebook readers available as it weighs only 174 grams (6.13 ounces).

This is an eBook reader in its purest form.  It doesn’t have a digitizer stylus like other more expensive devices, so you are unable to make your own notes.  Nor does it have Wi-Fi or a web browser.

What the Cybook Gen3 excells in is its portability.   It measures 188mm tall and 118mm wide and is 8.5mm thick.

For the money ($350) ($219 – update Feb 17, 2010) it’s not a bad deal, but there’s still cheaper units out there with better features.

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Out of seemingly nowhere emerges a UK company called Interead, with the launch of:

• The COOL-ER – a small, light, electronic book reader available in 8 colors and at a very affordable price of $249
• CoolerBooks.com – an e-boostore with over 750,000 titles available for instant download

This is huge news for the ebook reader industry!  For us users, this can only be a positive thing, as competition breeds better technology and more affordable devices.  Many sources are calling the COOL-ER the “iPod of ebook readers”.  Wow, that’s quite the complement …and time will tell if it’s true.

Here’s some quick specs on the COOL-ER:

• Size - 7.2″ x 4.6″ x 0.4″
• Weight - 4.1 ounces
• Internal storage - 1 GB
• External storage – SD (up to 4 GB)
• Processor - 400 Mhz
• Battery - Li-Polymer; 8000 page turns per charge
• File formats – JPG, PDF, EPUB, TXT
• Interface - USB

Once we get our hands on one of these trendy reader’s, we’ll provide a detailed review, but for now we’re just going to marvel at what may prove to be a very successful future for Interead. If you’d like to be a trend setter and pre-order a COOL-ER, you can do so here, but it won’t be delivered until early June 2009.

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