Classics

If, like me, you like to read but find having to carry around a book or two puts you off so you don't read as much as you would like, then chances are you've looked at e-books.

The idea of e-books are nice but as with most ideas they are rarely carried off nicely. E-books' biggest problem is the reader and the fact a lot is left out of them. Pictures seem to disappear when going to e-book so you lose some of what makes a book so nice.

Then of course there's the interface. Most of the readers are horrible and usually require buttons to navigate around which gets distracting.

So what if there was a reader that addressed these concerns and aimed at being a book away from a book?

Welcome Classics. Classics is more than just an e-book reader, it gives us the one thing other readers don't... the feel of a book.

The first screen you will see is a Delicious Library inspired bookshelf. On that bookshelf is a number of books including Time Machine, Alice In Wonderland, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and others giving a total of 13 books. Try taking 13 books with you this holiday and see how you get on.

Once you're in the book of your choice you see a reader like no other. The pages have the colour of a weathered book which makes it feel like you've got real print and paper in your hands.

The font is slightly off black which makes it easy to read and with the aliasing isn't hard on your eyes like the solid LED text of dedicated e-book readers. The font is big enough so that it doesn't become tiring to read but small enough so that you're not constantly turning pages all the time.

Then comes the piece de resistance. To turn the page you press no button. You drag your thumb or finger over the screen and the page turns... literally. An animation of a page turning is played adding to the illusion that you are reading a physical book.

When you decide to leave the story a red bookmark is placed on your page just like you would a real book adding still more to the illusion that you are reading a physical book.

The sound of the pages turning adds even more to the illusion but I personally turn that off because it gets distracting after a while.

All that is needed is a Dock adapter that produces a slight hint of old paper and you'll forget you're using a 3.5" LCD screen instead of a real book.

Get it NOW. It's on sale for $1.29 but it mostly sells for around $7. It is well worth the money, in fact even at full price it feels like you're ripping off the authors not that it matters because the authors of the books included are all dead by some rather large time frames. This will be the most rewarding purchase you will have made if you are into classic books.