Bookeen Cybook Muse FrontLight review

Small size, small price, big benfits

Bookeen Cybook Muse FrontLight e-reader review

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Amazon Kindle Voyage

The latest model from Amazon is superior to the Cybook Muse, but at £169 (US$219, about AU$250), it's much more expensive. Unlike the Cybook Muse, it supports the MOBI ebook format, though mostly deals in its own proprietary format based on MOBI, called AZW.

Bookeen Cybook Muse FrontLight e-reader review

The massive resolution of 1430 x 1080 achieves a mighty 300PPI, which dwarfs the Cybook Muse's 213 DPI. However, the Voyage's neat edge-to-edge glass look, and its backlight, are both equalled by the far cheaper Cybook Muse. At 7.6 mm, the Voyage is ever so slightly slimmer, but it does weigh a touch more.

Read our Amazon Kindle Voyage review

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

The ereader that started the craze for backlit e-ink screens is easy meat for the Cybook Muse. At 212 PPI, the Paperwhite has an almost identical resolution, and at £109 (US$119, about £181) for the Wi-Fi-only version, it's closer to the Cybook Muse's low price.

Bookeen Cybook Muse FrontLight e-reader review

However, it's only got 2GB of storage compared to the Cybook Muse's 4GB, and at 206g and 9.1mm, it's heaver and fatter, too (partly because of it's twice-as-big battery). Overall, the Cybook Muse has the Paperwhite beat, apart from actually getting books.

Read our Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

Kobo Aura H2O

At 9.7 mm and weighing 233g, the Kobo Aura H2O, the only fully waterproof ereader on sale, is substantially thicker and heavier than the Cybook Muse.

Bookeen Cybook Muse FrontLight e-reader review

However, its much more detailed screen achieves 265 DPI while it also supports unprotected MOBI files, which puts it a notch ahead of the Cybook Muse. But do remember that this is a more expensive £139.99 (about US$244, AU$255) device.

Read our Kobo Aura H2O review

Jamie Carter

Jamie is a freelance tech, travel and space journalist based in the UK. He’s been writing regularly for Techradar since it was launched in 2008 and also writes regularly for Forbes, The Telegraph, the South China Morning Post, Sky & Telescope and the Sky At Night magazine as well as other Future titles T3, Digital Camera World, All About Space and Space.com. He also edits two of his own websites, TravGear.com and WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com that reflect his obsession with travel gear and solar eclipse travel. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners (Springer, 2015),