Digital Home Thoughts: Libre Means Low Cost Reading

"Because this device is so old I’m approaching this as a public service rather than a full review. Essentially, here’s what’s going on with this ereader: It costs $149 online at numerous outlets and has a 5-inch LCD screen. It lasts about 24 hours on one charge and supports a plethora of formats including ePub and PDF. In short, you can drag almost anything onto here and have it work."

As noted, the Libre has been around for a while, but with the release of the iPad, interest in slates and eReaders remains high. Unlike many other eReaders, the Libre uses an LCD display. Nice and pretty? Yes. Power sucking, charge-every-day device? Unfortunately, yes. With a specialized device like the Libre, I would expect an astoundingly long battery life. I can accept the iPad and HP Slate having a short battery life because of the trade off in flexibility. But for something that I want to kick back and read with needs charge times that are rated in multiple days or even weeks. Does anyone remember back in the day of the Palm Pilot, and the subsequent generations that would go for two weeks? Sure, there are power outlets everywhere, but I hate feeling tethered to them.