It’s easy to give eBooks a pasting. They’re expensive, especially when compared to their paper counterparts. They’re usually pretty heavy too. And the screen? Dowdy black and white with grainy graphics and slow response times. Eurgh. But the Cool-er eBook is different. Not perfect, but maybe good enough to change your preconceptions. Read our full review to see why the Cool-er eBook’s worthy of a second look.
For a start it’s light. Very light. Tipping the scales at 178g it really can be slung in a bag with barely any extra noticeable bulk. Secondly it’s cheap. At a pound under £190 it’s far from an impulse buy, but it’s also not going to break the bank.
And now for the weird bit. While the Cool-er eBook also feels cheap, with its plasticky, gawdy shell and clunk-o-rific buttons we still love it. It’s exactly what eBooks should be. Cheap, cheerful and able to take a bit of rough and tumble.
It’s a completely unpretentious device, just like the paper equivalent it’s designed to replace. Scratch the back of a Cool-er eBook, or smear sticky fingers over its shell and you’re unlikely to weep salty tears into its e-ink screen. You’ll shrug, sling it back in your bag and be on your way. It feels like a workhorse. A lurid, plasticky workhorse, but one that gets the job done all the same.
In use, it’s surprisingly capable. There’s 1GB of memory inside as standard, putting it head and shoulders above rival eBooks in the capacity stakes. The software too, while a little sluggish at times, performs well. It’ll even dish up PDF files, with full graphics. Sure, they’re presented in stunning grain-o-vision, but they’re there, and that’s to be applauded.
Read our Sony PRS–505 reader review
The Cool-er eBook also plays nicely with Macs, something which can’t be said for the majority of high profile alternatives, and gobbles up SD cards if you need even more storage.
That’s unlikely though. Out of the box the Cool-er eBook has enough room to pack over 300 books. And where do you get them? Anywhere you like. It’ll support all common formats, meaning titles from Amazon or Borders will work just fine. As will free downloads from Project Guttenberg. Cool-er even has its own online book store at CoolerBooks.com.
Is the Cool-er eBook the perfect mobile reading device? Not a chance. But it’s the most well thought out. There are no bells or whistles, just tons of capacity, an adequate screen and capable software, all at a fair price.
