Review of the Aluratek Libre eBook Reader Pro by the Gadgeteer

All this can be yours for under $150

The Aluratek Libre eBook Reader Pro perked a lot of eBook reader’s ears when it was announced due to its low price of $179 (currently $149 at Amazon). Basically a rebranded JetBook Lite with 100 free eBooks, the Aluratek Libre has the same reflective 5-inch LCD screen, SD card expandable slot, weight of 8 oz., replaceable AA battery power supply and supports ePub, PDF, TXT, FB2, MOBI, PRC and RTF eBook formats.

This new review of the Aluratek Libre eBook Reader Pro by The Gadgeteer does a great job of comparing the Libre against the Kindle in Nook and walks through the differences you’ll find with the cheaper eReader. They find the build quality very solid, like the plastic casing and the way that it feels in their hands. The Libre offers front-facing button sets: a dedicated page forward/back on the left, a menu system that includes menu, screen rotation, font resizing, selector and page turn, a spring-loaded slider that offers a third way for you to turn pages and finally 0-9 letter grouped keys along the right side for shortcut navigation.

The main question people have about the Aluratek Libre is how good the screen is. The reflective LCD reminded the reviewer of the older Palm PDAs — specifically the Palm V. There were no problems reading on it. In fact, it seems like a great alternative for those who hate the “E-Ink flash” as the LCD has no need to reset the screen before displaying the next page. The Libre also features the ability to bookmark pages, auto page turn and can play MP3’s through its headphone jack while you’re reading. The only real criticism came at the expense of Aluratek’s included software (although a firmware update seems to have fixed most of the issues).

Overall the review was favorable and recommended it as an affordable alternative to the mid-$200 eReaders. If having WiFi access isn’t a concern of yours, it could be the cheap eReader you’re looking for.

Source: The Gadgeteer via Teleread