Libre Air: Tiny, Cool, Affordable Ebook Reader

PC World - E-readers don't get much smaller than the 6-ounce Aluratek Libre Air, which measures 6.0 by 4.1 by 0.4 inches. But this tiny package holds a lot of useful technology, including Wi-Fi integration with an online bookstore offering both commercial and free content.

Successor to the Aluratek Libre Pro, which did not support Wi-Fi, the Air ($130 as of July 27, 2011) immediately distinguishes itself from the pack with its unusual display. The Libre Air has a 5-inch, 480-by-640-pixel reflective-light LCD that does not depend on backlighting and is therefore readable in bright sunlight. And because it’s an LCD, it’s more responsive (no wait or flicker between page turns) than the E Ink screens found in most e-readers.

The Libre Air does not have a touchscreen, though. You navigate through a combination of buttons, including a four-way pad on the center of the front bezel, plus menu, home, and return/back buttons at the center bottom. The pad moves you through menus or lists of items, while the context-sensitive menu button brings up options relative to the current display.

For data entry, you get a vertical row of buttons on the right side of the device labeled the same way as the alphanumeric keys on most phones (that is, 0 through 9, with letters on the 2 through 9 keys). On the left edge are the page-turn controls (forward and back) and a button with a search icon on it. At the bottom edge sits a Mini-USB port for charging the device and for transferring data between the Libre Air and a PC.

Although you get no touch support on the display itself, you can opt to activate touch sensitivity on the navigational pad, which lets you move between items or turn pages by swiping the pad. In my tests, the feature worked well--too well, perhaps, since I wound up unintentionally turning pages or moving through menus.

The e-reader’s internal 500MB memory will support a slew of books, but it’s one-quarter of the on-board storage of Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Kobo’s eReader Touch Edition. Aluratek takes up some of that space, too, preloading the Libre Air with 100 free books in text format, but you can expand the capacity by inserting a MicroSD card (the slot is located on the top-right edge, next to the power button).

The interface is generally simple, but not always intuitive. Powering on the Libre Air brings up seven numbered boxes: the ebook library, the current item you're reading, a recent-items list, music, photos, settings, and an Others button to summon additional options (including access to the Kobo Books store). Sometimes, however, you have to use the menu button in ways that aren't immediately obvious.