8 ms·

The Xteink X4 E-Ink Reader

• ApolloFortyNine 4mo ago
  I got one, it's pretty cool that it's small enough to just magnet to the back of your phone. If your someone who needs to use a large font on their ereader to read its certainly not for you, but the screen size is good enough for regular sized text. It's also cool that it's chip is just an ESP32.
  • WillAdams 4mo ago
    I would like to see a phone case which this inserts into --- bonus points if there's a way to use it as a status display for the phone for use in bright/direct sunlight.
    • naravara 4mo ago
      The obvious innovation is to just make the back of the phone case an eInk display. No need for all the bulk when you can merely have an app on your phone that controls the case-display and the phone can output whatever reader app you want to it like a companion/IoT device. Or it can be a little bit bulkier and just be a dedicated ereader that is shaped like a phone case. Either way works.
      • WillAdams 4mo ago
        The phone case idea would be nice, but then the device has to be replaced when the phone is replaced.
        • naravara 4mo ago
          Yeah but I’ve seen color e-ink fridge magnets that are like $30. I don’t think it ends up being more expensive or substantially worse for the environment than people buying cases made of fancy leather. Presumably the display module could also be cut out of it for DIY uses.
      • Carbon1603 4mo ago
        So, Yota phone?
    • MatthewPhillips 4mo ago
      Can someone explain the whole thing about wanting to attach it to your phone? Why? What does this provide over just putting it in your pocket?
      • square_usual 4mo ago
        I'll never forget it. It's always on the back of my phone, so even if I'm in a hurry and run out I can still read a book on the metro.
• NDlurker 4mo ago
  I've had the X3 for a month and I love it. It's so small I forget it's in my pocket and have almost washed it a couple times. I'm working on custom firmware for it, so I ordered an X4 when they had the 20% off sale to test on there too.
  • automathematics 4mo ago
    link the custom firmware!
    • NDlurker 4mo ago
      I'm a noob so I haven't got very far yet. Currently working on a bootloader then going to do flashcards and a very basic word processor. I'd like to be able to switch firmwares almost like switching applications. I'll share everything on GitHub once I'm sure it won't brick people's devices, but right now the code is just sitting on my PC.
  • timw4mail 4mo ago
    As a crazy person with both, I have mixed feelings between them. In favor of the X3: - Crisper text - Whiter display - Slightly better battery life - Top-mounted power button (subjective) In favor of the X4: - Larger display - Plain USB-C charging - Slightly better custom firmware support - Backward and forward button on the same side (subjective)
• somesortofthing 4mo ago
  I got the X4 and liked it enough that I used it a ton even though it turned out to be too big to Magsafe onto my phone. In fact, I liked it enough that I also got the X3 on sale so I can use it the way I originally intended to use the X4.
• kandros 4mo ago
  been using on the back of my phone for a few months, my most satisfying hardware purchase in a long time
  • automathematics 4mo ago
    what phone does it fit on? I have the X3 coming today for this very reason. The x4 is just too big and the magnets misplaced to fit on any phone I own
    • kandros 4mo ago
      iPhone pro max, fits nicely even with a cover, i also have a x3 but slightly prefer the bigger screen of x4’s but portability on is the read deal Just seeing it act as a trigger to read for me, especially when book cover as standby background
• dinkleberg 4mo ago
  I got the X4 a few weeks back and installed https://github.com/uxjulia/CrossInk https://github.com/uxjulia/CrossInk and it has been a dream.
• miohtama 4mo ago
  For those who can afford it, I can recommend the Boox Note for the ebook reader. It comes with full Android, so you are not limited to books but can read news, Hacker News, and other doomscrolling that fills the Internet. In a pinch, you can also connect it to a Bluetooth keyboard and use it as a development terminal. SSH terminal looks gorgeous on e-ink.
  • dewey 4mo ago
    Sounds like the opposite of what I want for my ebook reader.
  • koziserek 4mo ago
    the point of having an e-ink reader (at least for me and anybody I know who actively use such device), is to read things, so keeping doomscrolling options is *not* an advantage..
    • t-3 4mo ago
      Android is nice because it expands the reading options somewhat with the existing app ecosystem. A browser with reader-friendly features like einkBro is something that other devices don't have, but is available easily with no cross-compiling or other tedious activities on android. Reading articles and blog posts page-by-page without the visual interrupt of scrolling is a much better experience for me. Doing everything on-device saves me from having to run various daemons and webservers and browser plugins and constantly switch between machines to keep things in sync.
  • BeetleB 4mo ago
    > It comes with full Android, so you are not limited to books but can read news, Hacker News, and other doomscrolling that fills the Internet. That sounds like an anti-feature. When I first bought an ereader over 15 years ago, I intentionally chose one that didn't support Wifi for this very reason. I want it primarily for reading documents. But then again, I guess Boox is meant more to be a tablet than an ereader. Also, genuinely curious - does having Android reduce the time between recharges? As an example, I read a whole book over 7 days, and didn't need to charge my Kobo (and modern Kobo battery life is not great). I want Kobo to release an 8" color, but don't know if they ever will. I was considering Boox as an alternative, but I worry about battery life and Android. I wonder if my worry is misplaced.
• WithinReason 4mo ago
  CrossPoint 1.4.0 came out 2 hours ago: https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader/releases https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader/relea...
  • camel-cdr 4mo ago
    I skimmed over the project a bit. It seems quite ambitious to aim to reimplement epub, considering that means supporting HTML, CSS, SVG and JavaScript. Is there a ebook format that isn't just build arround the concept of a webbrowser?
    • sieve 4mo ago
      epub is overkill for a vast majority of books. A format that only supported - headings - paragraphs - emphasis (bold/italics) - bullets - inline images is good enough. A simple container with a TOC pointing to text blocks/files within it that can be processed very cheaply. Unfortunately, with something like epub, you lose all the simplicity because you want to support every single feature even if rarely used.
    • timw4mail 4mo ago
      While I agree in terms of modern browser expectations (and books absolutely should not need JavaScript), I think books in HTML makes a lot of sense. HTML was meant for sharing text documents, after all.
    • lisnake 4mo ago
      HTML and CSS is enough for 99% percent of epubs, and that's the only subset of epub standards that Crosspoint tries to support
      • camel-cdr 4mo ago
        Isn't HTML and CSS already a huge surface to support, unless you are happy with a subset?
• sieve 4mo ago
  Got the X4. Put CrossPoint on it. Works like a charm. The http server accessible over wifi makes transferring books extremely simple. (Shame on the Kindle for locking everything down.) This is proof-of-concept that a microcontroller is more than enough for something like an e-reader. I have a Kindle and a Kobo. They are sturdy devices. But the X4 is the one that is a genuine e-reader. Would not get it as my one and only e-reader though as you tend to miss the size and backlight of the larger ones. What would I want from future iterations? - backlight even if it compromises on battery a bit - a bit more DPI Everything else is good enough.
  • kstrauser 4mo ago
    I'm with you on every bit. I love my Kobo Libra 2 and it lives on my nightstand table. It's an excellent reader. The X4 with CrossPoint is an alright reader, but I've been chewing through books on my morning commute because it fits in my jacket pocket and I can have it out on the train without bumping into other people. It's not the best reader I own, but it's the best reader I have on me at any given moment when I'm not laying in bed.
    • criddell 4mo ago
      Does your reading position sync up between the two devices?
      • ihowlatthemoon 4mo ago
        Not the commenter you were replying to, but I have both a Kindle and a X4. No, it does not, but searching for a unique enough phrase (just two or three words) on the current page gets you there fast enough.
      • 0cf8612b2e1e 4mo ago
        As someone who also juggles multiple readers, I find it easier to have a different book per device. Otherwise I would waste too much time trying to sync between the two.
• dgrabla 4mo ago
  I love this thing and I use it a lot more than my kindle and my kobo (with koreader). I really like the form factor and the fact that goes out of sleep almost instantly and goes to sleep equally as fast. It seeps battery. It is perfect the way it is.
• galleywest200 4mo ago
  I love my X4. I throw it in my backpack or pocket when I take the dog to the park and read a few pages when we sit in the shade.
• shorsher 4mo ago
  As someone who has resisted buying an e-reader for years because I "prefer physical books", I finally purchased a Kobo Clara BW and love it. Even though I usually only read one book at a time, having my whole library in a small form factor is really wonderful.
• nosioptar 4mo ago
  The no USB flashing doesn't appear to be the case if you get it straight from OEM. It is a bit pricier than amazon. https://www.xteink.com/products/xteink-x4 https://www.xteink.com/products/xteink-x4
• thenthenthen 4mo ago
  Hijacking … i have some random e-ink displays (from a bought product)… there seem to be 6 lines to the mcu (or 7, havent measured). Any 2026 tips on approaches to reverse engineer this to run on an arbitrary hobby mcu like esp32? Oh the mcu seems to be a WinnerMicro W100 Series MCU (arm m3)
  • dmitrygr 4mo ago
    there are 4 or 5 command sets, you can safely try them all. for that few wires, it'll be spi
• crimsdings 4mo ago
  Have the X4, the size is perfect - I always have it in my pocket and can read a view pages whenever I am waiting for something. Reduced my phone usage / doom scrolling nonsense with it. Best 50€ spent in a long time.
• hxii 4mo ago
  I’ve been looking at these for a while, hoping the custom firmwares for it will become more popular, as I was considering getting this for my six-year-old. The disabled usb is certainly a bummer. I wonder how they disabled it though – is there a hardware difference?
  • cbushko 4mo ago
    Crosspoint is very popular and very easy to flash onto the device. Locking and preventing flashing of firmware only happened in China.
    • crtasm 4mo ago
      This page mentions international models, but seems it's still possible to flash them in any case https://crosspointreader.com/#unlock-tool https://crosspointreader.com/#unlock-tool also: https://crosspointreader.com/unlocker https://crosspointreader.com/unlocker
  • nunobrito 4mo ago
    To flash a new firmware on those devices you just need to place the firmware image of crosspoint on the memory card and then press UP+POWER to reboot and install the new firmware. My device was the China edition that was locked (USB firmware upload disabled), the memory card method worked fast and easy.
• senorcrab 4mo ago
  I've been using it for about 6 months. Very, very good - especially paired with anna's archive. IT IS VERY FRAGILE! The eink screen on my first broke while in my backpack. The company is generous, I bought a new one and they gave 35% off and included all accessories (reading light, case, extra protectors). Highly recommend.
  • emme 4mo ago
    I've bought a X3 and I loved it (with crosspoint). However, the screen broke after just a week, even if I used the official cover all the time. It's a cute gadget but it's too fragile for the intended use: its strength is the form factor, you want to bring it with yourself to read a page in any mobility setting, but its fragility is a critical issue.
    • mrexroad 4mo ago
      [dead]
• zabi_rauf 4mo ago
  Love my X4. Shameless plug, I also built an iOS/Android app to manage books and also send web articles over to Crosspoint https://crosspointsync.com/ https://crosspointsync.com/
  • ihowlatthemoon 4mo ago
    Thank you. I'm not the biggest fan of the Crosspoint web interface, so I'll definitely give this a try.
• aanet 4mo ago
  I've been eyeing the Xteink Reader but cannot decide between the X4 (4.7" diag) and X3 (3.7" diag). FWIW, the X3 requires a pogo pin cable, while the X4 requires a standard USB-C. Anybody got any recommendations? Thanks!
  • cbushko 4mo ago
    I picked the X4 over X3 because the usb-c is convenient for charging (which you barely need to do) I love it and use it every day.
    • jerojero 4mo ago
      precisely, also, if you don't need to charge the device for weeks, months even, you're probably gonna lose the specialised cable. a usbc is so easy to come by, you're never going to have to wait for amazon to deliver the cable you need to charge this one device you own.
  • ihowlatthemoon 4mo ago
    Go for the X4. Neither supports USB file transfer, so having USB-C charging is convenient without additional things to worry about. Bigger screen is also better if you're a fast reader. The faster you read, the more your reading speed is limited by the page turn speed.
    • aanet 4mo ago
      Thanks, all for the reco. Looking fwd to my reader soon!
  • 5555624 4mo ago
    The X4. I always have a USB-C cable handy; so, i can charge it in the bedroom, at y desk, etc.
• dfee 4mo ago
  i bought a pocketbook era lite recently, and it's a bit too locked down for my tastes - though usable. i kinda just want a dumb appliance. actually, i want a linux appliance. this probably sounds very "not productized" to a PM, but 99% of what's on there i don't want: a book store, games, etc. i wish there was just an SDK for building apps (i'll vibe code towards a great epub experience, i'm fine with that). and, i'm fine plugging it in via USB or even SCPing files over wifi. but, it sends my reading progress to a server every time i use it which is highly annoying and concerning. however, the form factor is sufficient. i guess i was hoping it'd be more aligned with steam's direction with their steam machine.
  • camel-cdr 4mo ago
    > i wish there was just an SDK for building apps (i'll vibe code towards a great epub experience, i'm fine with that) That seems to be what crosspoint-reader is: https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader
• criddell 4mo ago
  I've looked at this device and I wonder how good the layout engine is. Screenshots never show text with any hyphenation going on which makes me wonder if it even supports hyphenation. One of the images on the Amazon page for the reader has somebody holding one beside their laptop and if you look at the screen, it looks terrible. There are even words jammed together ("would be most suitable forthe job"). I love that it has physical buttons though. My reader is the Kindle Oasis and the buttons are one of my favorite features of the device. The Oasis layout engine and typography are both pretty good and I wonder if the X4 would end up feeling like a big downgrade.
  • lisnake 4mo ago
    Custom firmwares support hyphenation
  • bouk 4mo ago
    The alternative firmwares give you a lot more options in this, stock is OK in layout
  • azertify 4mo ago
    The layout engine is limited. It does flow text quite well, but when I had mine (the screen broke a few months ago) I was working on adding more features to the rendering engine. It's easy to write a HTML & CSS layout engine to support most of the epub spec, but hard to do it well on such a constrained chip. Even things like nested lists and inline code snippets are a challenge.
    • criddell 4mo ago
      That must be why Amazon does a lot of pre-processing on their server. They know what device they are sending to and can tailor the file for that device. Maybe expecting the X4 to look great is asking too much. It took Amazon years to get it right on Kindle. Hyphenation is a difficult task.
    • mapontosevenths 4mo ago
      Flash Crosspoint. I reflows much better than stock. It also fixes the lack of space between paragraphs.
• broabprobe 4mo ago
  I love the X3, light enough I can carry it around without noticing it. Battery lasts forever. I don't feel the need for a backlight at all, I love how simple this is. I know people favor the X4 for the usb-c, and I'm all for universal charging cables. But in my experience the usb port is often the first component to fail in something like this. And that seems super annoying to replace. The pogo pins on the other hand are unlikely to fail. And the cable is not proprietary, you can get compatible cables on Amazon/etc.
• rcarmo 4mo ago
  I got one last April, and love it: https://taoofmac.com/space/reviews/2026/04/04/1800 https://taoofmac.com/space/reviews/2026/04/04/1800 I also built two quick hacks for it that people might like: - https://github.com/rcarmo/bun-readlater-epub https://github.com/rcarmo/bun-readlater-epub - https://github.com/rcarmo/bun-opds-server https://github.com/rcarmo/bun-opds-server
• my_throwaway23 4mo ago
  I've been eyeing the Xteink devices for a while now. They fit all the boxes - small, cheap, physical buttons - a basic reading utility. However, since there's no support for DRM, I'm worried either I won't be able to find books I want to read (what if I want the latest from my favourite author?), or I'll eventually run out. Might be a tiny tinsy bit of purchase-anxiety as well - it'll be my first e-ink device after all, but what do I know...
  • NDlurker 4mo ago
    You can get free ebooks from the same place Meta got them.
  • dnlzro 4mo ago
    Liberate your e-books, my friend: https://github.com/Satsuoni/DeDRM_tools/discussions https://github.com/Satsuoni/DeDRM_tools/discussions
• flowerbreeze 4mo ago
  Oh it comes with custom firmware? This is very interesting. I would love to be able to modify some UX and I am sorry, but I need to get the following out of my head. All the e-readers I have had have made it impossible to turn off features like: 1. Selection highlighting... I never use highlighting when reading fiction, but whenever I am not careful enough when turning a page, it'll go crazy with highlighting. Flashing screen, need to close the popup that has added the highlight, removing the highlight again etc. 2. Most of the time I don't want to click on a word to find out its meaning. It's sometimes useful, but I'd rather have it under menu to temporarily enable it. Same reason as before. My e-readers tend to prefer this often enough rather than taking the "next page" action. 3. Make "previous page" be small and not-under-my-finger. Ideally let me choose its position in a fairly precise way. 4. Easy access to accidental "scroll to page 900". I generally don't want it to happen and to be honest, I struggle to think of anybody who does. It can live in a single tiny faraway menu that is impossible to accidentally tap. 5. Swipe-left for previous page. It almost never happens when I want it to happen, so I'd rather turn it off. In fact, I would love my e-book reader to have no gestures at all. Pretty please let me turn them off! All I want is a tiny button top-right or top-left corner for "open menu", a "previous page" in the other corner and otherwise "tap anywhere" is "next page". Personal request to any e-book reader software engineers. Please save the position in the book to persistent storage on each page change or every few. At least if the e-reader has any chance of crashing at all, which has been the case with all the ones I have ever had. Yes, not all of them save it... That's not to say that all the above things are universally bad UX. I think many of these are very useful, if reading non-fiction or having a different goal when reading such as learning a new language. It's just that they are less than brilliant if the goal is to read a book for entertainment in the most comfortable way possible with the fewest things going wrong by accidental taps.
  • azertify 4mo ago
    The X4 doesn't have a touch screen, so you're safe on those points. The next iteration will do though, although I think you will be able to turn it off in the reader view.
  • nosrepa 4mo ago
    It doesn't not come with custom firmware and xteink tried to block it citing hardware issues. Key word is tried and it's still very easy to install custom firmware.
• nickthegreek 4mo ago
  [dead]
• pwillia7 4mo ago
  I have one of these and they're great. If you get one though, you really do need to convert to XTC for not terribly jagged glyphs -- https://x4converter.rho.sh/ https://x4converter.rho.sh/
• enthdegree 4mo ago
  I love my X3. I glued its magnetic folio to the back of my Apple Wallet. It turned out perfectly, for me. Pictures below. I've read The Odyssey and several other shorter books on it and have yet to recharge it. - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HFaPCStWYAAOj6f?format=jpg&name=medium https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HFaPCStWYAAOj6f?format=jpg&name=... - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HFaPCO8WIAASMEn?format=jpg&name=medium https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HFaPCO8WIAASMEn?format=jpg&name=... - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HFaPCPEXgAE3O4z?format=jpg&name=medium https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HFaPCPEXgAE3O4z?format=jpg&name=...
• harrisonjackson 4mo ago
  I have the X4 and the X3 (newer smaller one). I will get whatever the next version is if it has a backlight or more DPI / support for smaller font. X4 is great - has usb-c charger and with the cover feels like an easy to pocket and bring everywhere reader. Does not fit on the back of an iphone. I assume the magnet layout works with popular android phones though. X3 is also great, actually fits on the back of the phone with the magsafe - magnet is a _bit_ too weak. It does fall off in my pocket frequently but I haven't lost it yet. Does not have usb-c - has weird little magnetic 4 pin charger. I will gift my X4 to my brother once I've loaded some more content to it. I recommend this for anyone that wants to save web novels for offline reading https://github.com/lncrawl/lightnovel-crawler https://github.com/lncrawl/lightnovel-crawler - Calibre will sync the epubs to the x4 and x3. Use the crosspoint OS https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader All that said... I do still use my kindle as default. More content accessible more easily, better syncing, backlight
  • functionmouse 4mo ago
    the next version will unfortunately be a generic Android reader. This device is good because, by chance, out of a thousand devices, one of them has to be better than all the rest. This product is not good by design or merit, but by chance. Same goes for lots of popular cheap Chinese tech, like the Miyoo Mini+ for example. Better than it has any right to be, and the people making it don't have a clue; every change to such a device can only be for the worse.
    • __float 4mo ago
      There will be an Android (11, unfortunately) reader, the S4. (This is already visible on xteink.cn and they've teased it in social media.) There's also going to be an X4 Pro, which is an ESP32 reader too, and this seems to be an X4 with backlight and touch screen.
      • functionmouse 4mo ago
        > There's also going to be an X4 Pro, which is an ESP32 reader too, and this seems to be an X4 with backlight and touch screen. mite b cute
• dv35z 4mo ago
  Does anyone know where you can buy an HDMI-compatible e-ink display, which is about the size of an A5 notebook? The idea is that you could have a screen, keyboard, and a small computer zippered up in a case, and could write/code outside in the sun.
  • recursive-call 4mo ago
    Pinenote? Probably have to add the HDMI port yourself though
    • dv35z 4mo ago
      That's a phone - I am looking for essentially an HDMI-compatible e-ink monitor, with a small enough size to fit within an A5 size (https://papersizes.io/a/a5 https://papersizes.io/a/a5)
• aftergibson 4mo ago
  I would love if a device like this, combined with the zines of old would produce some really creative and interesting shortform content to get folks off smartphones. I'm trying to think in terms of small wins more and 1 minute spent creating something dumb or doing something not on a phone is 1 less minute creepy, greedy tech bros can extract your data for profit.
• aftergibson 4mo ago
  I have a mudita kompact as my primary phone, is there any value in getting an additional device like this?
  • dredmorbius 4mo ago
    Separation of contexts. You can use or dedicated e-book reader, and/or leave your phone behind / disable it when you want to focus on reading specifically. If the Kompact works for you, no need. Different strokes and all that.
• Langley 4mo ago
  I got the X4 Reader recently as well. I really worried that it was going to be a gadget I used for a while then just toss into a drawer but it really has been a useful device. I liken it to the phrase "The best camera is the one that's with you.", having this attached to my phone, so I near always have it with me, just means when I have a tiny bit of downtime say waiting for the bus, or waiting for a food order, I just pull it out, read a few pages then carry on my day. Only challenges I have are, I wish the MagSafe was a little stronger, it does come off when I put my phone in my pocket which, 9 times out of 10, means I just have 2 separate devices in my pocket.
• yapyap 4mo ago
  I have an X4, though its not small enough to stick onto a phone (or my phone is not gigantic enough), I do love it, simplistic and purposeful
• jauntywundrkind 4mo ago
  I do wish I'd gotten the X4 not the X3. I was very scared off by the magnetic charger (which is apparently quasi standard?). I kind of want to muck with using the gyrometer (only on the x4) as an input device though. Allegedly the magnetic charger is somewhat common/interoperable, which de-risks the situation a lot.
  • iammjm 4mo ago
    I think you’ve got it backwards - confusingly enough, x3 is the newer, smaller one with magnetic charger and the gyro
• ggm 4mo ago
  Put two in a printed case, crosslink to make page turn work and it's a book reading experience.
• miloignis 4mo ago
  I recently bought an X4, put crosspoint on it, and have been loving it. I've been reading so much more than before, just because it's always available on the back of my phone.
• npunt 4mo ago
  Was just looking at this. What keeps me from buying is the screen is just too small. I'd love to slap this magnetically on the back of my iPhone and have it on the go as a focused reading device but eyes after 40 aren't so happy about reading super tiny characters. My two wishes are: to size it up so it is roughly the width of a modern smartphone (2.72" -> 2.8") and decrease bezel size. At these small sizes, even 1/2 to 3/4" screen size increase is a big deal in area gained, which leads to more comfort reading and less line scanning. Hope they'll ship one with the size up 4.7" ED047TC1 display [1] instead. [1] https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/LilyGo-EPD47/blob/esp32s3/datasheet/ED047TC1.pdf https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/LilyGo-EPD47/blob/esp32s3/...
  • alias_neo 4mo ago
    The screen size isn't really an issue for font sizes. Just put fewer words on the screen. There are e-readers that put a single word on the screen, this can fit plenty in a decent font size, you'll have to switch pages more often, but I haven't found that to be an issue, the button is very light to press and the page transition (with Crosspoint) is fast.
    • MDib 4mo ago
      Agree, for me less words on screen is a feature not a bug. At least for the shape of my brain, it stops me from getting lost in the text or skipping up/down the page accidentally. The side/front page turn button redundancy means the act of page turning just fades into reflexiveness and I end up reading faster and retaining more
  • fg137 4mo ago
    I mean, people read HN articles and discuss them on phones all the time.
    • npunt 4mo ago
      Phone screens are larger, higher res, pinch zoomable, and have backlighting that creates uniform contrast and readability in nearly all lighting conditions.
• zarify 4mo ago
  I bought one of these and I quite like it. Form factor is nice, transfer is a bit rough around the edges but serviceable. Pretty sure my credit card got harvested from either them or the website purchase though
• daemonologist 4mo ago
  Proof of what is possible with stripped down/optimized software. Imagine the battery life if they built one of these around something with better sleep power (e.g. an nrf52).
• mrexroad 4mo ago
  Just picked up an x3 from prime day sale (yeah, Amazon, sigh, I know). Super stoked to see how it is in practice. I’ve always espoused to my kids to be mindful about what they do during the “between” moments, but I increasingly find myself defaulting to HN/reddit for those little 5-10min chunks of waiting and I dislike that reflex. Looking forward to trying to build a habit around a pocketable e-reader. If nothing else, looking forward to attaching to a pocket notebook when traveling.
• WalterBright 4mo ago
  > This thing actually fits in a trouser pocket and disappears. I miss reading books on my ipod. I love the form factor of it.
• utopiah 4mo ago
  Damned... I already have few e-readers, some e-ink screens (for IoT), some reMarkables and a PineNote. When I saw the new reMarkable Pro Move I was very tempted by the form factor. Now that I see the X3 and X4 with unlocked firmware it's very VERY tempting. Before I do buy it, did anybody manage to use it for phone mirroring? Get input e.g. BT keyboard? Does it fit and snap on the back on a Pixel 8?
• justnoice 4mo ago
  The brand recently got caught up in controversy over falsely advertising the RAM it used. Soon after, people found out that although the founder claimed to be a self-made entrepreneur, he was actually behind several companies and had previously refused to return a large deposit.
• jacek 4mo ago
  I got it last week and I absolutely love it. There are just a two devices I've got in my life that I think are perfect. This is one of them, other being my Steam Deck. It is so small that I can actually carry it in my pocket all the time and read a few paragraphs whenever I have a minute or two. My scrolling time went down dramatically.
• nymalt 4mo ago
  I've got the X3 (not having a usb-c hasn't been a problem at all for me). And I'll probably buy whatever they release next if the price keeps being in that range. The only thing I want is probably a better display (as in whiter, more DPI, colors), yeah and the battery life is awesome, I barely have to charge it at all, I don't want this to change! I really wish they just keep improving on quality of what's already there and not add new things like touch screen, android and whatnot.
• ludvigcosma 4mo ago
  I've had an x3 with crosspoint for a couple of months. Overall I love the device, it's making it easy to pull up the phone and read a couple of pages instead of doom scrolling. But a huge drawback is that it's unusable in direct sunlight since the screen fades away. Here is how it looks: https://www.reddit.com/r/xteinkereader/comments/1q5fhwf/direct_sunlight_issue/ https://www.reddit.com/r/xteinkereader/comments/1q5fhwf/dire... I contacted support and they answered "We would like to clarify that on e ink displays, text may appear lighter under very strong direct sunlight. Once the screen refreshes or you return to normal lighting conditions and turn a few pages, the text will fully recover. This behavior is related to the low power design of the display and does not cause any damage to the screen."
  • kilian 4mo ago
    Apparently the cable to the screen is to blame and the workaround is a piece of tape to block UV light reaching that component: https://www.reddit.com/r/xteinkereader/comments/1qlyq3s/this_user_found_an_actual_fix_for_fading_issue/ https://www.reddit.com/r/xteinkereader/comments/1qlyq3s/this... Personally, I've found that just moving the screen out of the sun (for example by turning it upside-down, or holding my hand in front of it) when refreshing a page is enough to prevent it.
  • utopiah 4mo ago
    Oof... I just ordered the x3 and plan to add CrossPoint on it. If hesitating to cancel my ordered as it didn't ship yet. I have plenty of other e-ink screens and it has never happened. I specifically enjoy e-ink in directly sunlight or at least outdoors ... so I'm not sure if that's still a good usecase for me anymore. Thanks for for sharing.
  • jeromechoo 4mo ago
    Crosspoint has a software fix for this in settings. It’s not 100% but it does work. It’s called the Sunlight Fading Fix under Display settings. https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader/blob/master/USER_GUIDE.md#:~:text=additional%20visual%20styling-,Sunlight%20Fading%20Fix,-:%20Configure%20whether%20to https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader/blob/...
• ryzvonusef 4mo ago
  I have been trying to move away from doom scrolling, and the vice I've replaced it with is online webnovels and webcomics. Reading from RoyalRoad or WebToons is hardly mentally stimulating, but I feel it's at least better than random tweets or vertical short form content. There are quite a few stories that I've come to really enjoy and look forward to reading when the new chapter comes out. It's not like I've stopped reading books, but there is a lot of time between releases of a book series and each book requires quite a lot of time commitment, whereas a single web chapter require much less time to read. Also, kinda sad but... tbh as I get older I've gotten a bit calcified in my literary habits; I'm now a bit reticent and less eager to discover new book series and have decided to stick to a few authors I'm more comfortable with (time requirement to discover if I like a new one is just too much). With web stories, just a few chapters let me know if I like the vibe, and picking/dropping stories has much less friction. A device like the X4 would be ok for epubs downloaded from the internet, but for stuff like what I read now, due to its lack of internet connectivity [1] would mean I'd be reading LESS. I'm not saying it SHOULD have internet... its purpose as a doomscroll-killer makes it obvious why it won't... just that these things have unintended consequences. [1]: afaik, it has wifi but not an internet browser or app support that would allow constant linking/updating from such web sources.
  • ThatPlayer 4mo ago
    My reading habits are similar, and yeah I fell out of using my einks for similar reasons. Even with a web browser, einkbro for Android eink devices, it just never felt as good as epubs or just my phone somehow. Well ordered the X4 to try anyways.
    • ryzvonusef 4mo ago
      Please share your review of the device and how you read on it when you get the device. It will be interesting to see how your reading habits change.
• mellosouls 4mo ago
  Would like to get it if I knew where he'd got it for £40! Its twice that including delivery to UK from the maker. I'm guessing Ali-Express with the hope you get a genuine one.
  • ljf 4mo ago
    eBay seems to have the X4 new and delivered for around £52 here in the UK - and AliExpress is a little cheaper - but I was put of AE by the warnings that the firmware could not be updated... Not sure if that is true, I've resisted looking into it too much. I already have a standard and a backlit Nook Simple touch, so I really should just use them more before I buy another device
• raffael_de 4mo ago
  let's put a SIM card in there and use it as a smartphone ... I'd love that
• ChrisRR 4mo ago
  I've seen multiple people talking about it, but personally I can't see the appeal beyond novelty. I can't imagine wanting to read a book on a device this small Edit: I'm also always sceptical of when so many people post "I Just bought <x>, and I love it". It makes me wonder what they'll think after the honeymoon period is over
  • jeromechoo 4mo ago
    I’ve had mine for months and I still use it far more than my kindle for the sole reason that it fits in my pocket. It’s still a conscious choice to pull it out over doomscrolling TikTok on my phone though.
• aa-jv 4mo ago
  "X"-"tee"-"ink" .. ex-tea-ink .. extinct? BRB, off to set up a "naming things as a service" startup.
• Kaibeezy 4mo ago
  OMG, e-ink = FRONTlight, not backlight. /pedantry They have an S4 coming out with frontlight and Android. Would be great if it supports scrolling like a Boox Palma but at 1/6 the price.
• beowulfey 4mo ago
  I would love something as responsive as the Remarkable tablet in this form factor
• jurgemaister 4mo ago
  Does anyone know if reading PDFs are supported on this device? I'd love to try it out for reading music while marching.
  • koziserek 4mo ago
    Och, if it supports LaTeX, we can also use it for memorizing math formulas while piloting a helicopter!
• jordanscales 4mo ago
  Picked one up a few weeks ago, I read blog posts on my commute now that an automation downloads at 5:30am every morning and uploads them to my OPDS server. The form factor really shapes how I use it. I put it in the pocket where I used to keep my thin wallet (wallet now stays in my bag if anyone here wants to rob me)
  • suprjami 4mo ago
    Thin wallet gang. I carry four cards in a 3D printed sleeve which is two walls (0.8mm) thick. When my state implements digital drivers licence I can take that down to three cards. I just realised an elastic "card sock" would be even easier.
• lobo_tuerto 4mo ago
  Way to talk about e-ink readers, various models and not mention screen sizes?
• manjalyc 4mo ago
  I'm curious if there's a market for an ultra-small, credit-card sized ereader that can fit in a wallet
• JosNun 4mo ago
  My question is, where do people buy epubs for these? Are you buying them off of Kindle or similar and stripping the DRM? My biggest withholding is that I can get used paper books for quite cheep (ie, from thriftbooks or similar), but there's not really a similar marketplace for digital versions (understandably so). Maybe I'm just cheap, but I have a hard time justifying near-full-price for books that I can get the physical version for much cheaper, or I already have sitting on my shelf at home. Any thoughts?
  • thatmiddleway 4mo ago
    https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/ https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/ Is an option
  • ptaffs 4mo ago
    That eBooks don't need printing, warehousing, distribution and retail shelving, it's quite galling that the price isn't favorably differentiated. And I don't think the author gets to keep the difference.
    • presbyterian 4mo ago
      > eBooks don't need printing, warehousing, distribution and retail shelving But they do need editing, layout, design, marketing, etc, which are a significant part of the cost of a book. A book is never a solo endeavor by an author.
      • JosNun 4mo ago
        Presumably, though, those are also things that you'd need for a physical print book, and you could share some of that effort / cost between the two? Maybe this is a naive assumption, but I would assume that the total cost per unit of ebook is still a decent amount less than a print book, even when factoring for the publishing costs, purely due to the fact that you are dealing with a digital version compared with a print version that needs real materials and labor.
        • 4mo ago
• hecifato 4mo ago
  I ordered the X4 this past Christmas and received it sometime in January. I have it running Crosspoint. I like it a lot but I do wish it was a bit larger, like a 7-8" display so more text could fit on the screen. The thing I love about the X4 is that I can flash different firmware on it and it's dead simple. It's not an Android tablet with an e-ink screen, it doesn't download ads from Amazon servers, it's just an e-reader.
• Tepix 4mo ago
  I think the rumors about a X4 Pro v2 with frontlight being released in June or July have been confirmed.
• aidenn0 4mo ago
  I don't understand why I would read on this instead of my phone. I use an e-reader for a larger screen.
• cbfrench 4mo ago
  I got mine a month ago, and I’ve read 13 books on it so far. Its chief advantage is its size: the ability to carry it with me all the time and to pull it out whenever I have a free moment is great. (And also, although I have no evidence to support this, I think the smaller format helps me to read better, as I am able to focus on a small block of text rather than letting my eyes wander all over the page, as they are wont to do.) This little device may be the best $60 I’ve ever spent. I loaded mine with cpr-vCodex. It has some useful features, and it gets updated almost daily. I find the “reading achievements” a bit gimmicky, but it’s otherwise a solid firmware option.