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There are 10+ comments here praising a third-party firmware, so I think it deserves mention that this might (?) no longer be possible for new devices, https://
by peri-cl 1mo ago
There are 10+ comments here praising a third-party firmware, so I think it deserves mention that this might (?) no longer be possible for new devices,
https://www.theverge.com/tech/921552/xteink-x3-x4-e-reader-third-party-crosspoint-firmware-usb-blocked https://www.theverge.com/tech/921552/xteink-x3-x4-e-reader-t...
> "But now buyers report Xteink is blocking [CrossPoint Reader], which might depend on where you live and where you purchase its devices. [...] Instead of being offered a replacement, they received a statement they shared to Reddit explaining that recently shipped devices from Xteink now come with firmware flashing disabled."
- pyreko 1mo agoIIRC this is mainly ones sold by third-party vendors in China? Like if you buy from AliExpress. EDIT: if you look at the Reddit post the article references it even says: > !!!!!THIS ONLY APPLIES TO LATEST CHINESE STOCK AND NOT THOSE THAT ARE BOUGHT FROM XTEINK.COM!!!!! Also note that CrossPoint has a way to bypass said flash block if you look at their repo or website: - https://crosspointreader.com/unlock https://crosspointreader.com/unlock - https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader#usb-locked-devices-xteink-unlocker https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader#usb-l...
- pyreko 1mo agoI can also anecdotally say that the x3 I bought from Amazon in like June (seller was xteink official store) was flashable without any bypass needed.
- mendelmaleh 1mo agoSame for mine bought a week ago.
- mikestew 1mo agoThanks for the confirmation, you two. Amazon's dropping one off today with the rest of our order. I've been using a 2012 Kindle Paperwhite that is long past its expiration date, and I've little interest in continuing with Kindles, so this is a toe in the water of alternatives.
- snapplebobapple 1mo agoIts pretty good if you can get an opds server going or are ok with dropping bools directly on the sd card. Its small enough that it just stays in my pocket and i read when i have time instead of doom scrolling
- wolvoleo 1mo agoYeah but everyone buys from ali because it's much cheaper and you get more protection. The ones from Xteink are more expensive. It's sneaky that they're trying to cash in on the success of the custom firmware that they had nothing to do with creating.
- georgefrowny 26d agoWhy do the AliExpress ones lock the firmware? They have analytics in it or something?
- dnel 1mo agoI bought my X4 from Ali and usb flashing is disabled so I flashed crosspoint using the SD card method which wasn't difficult. It's not like I'm going to patch it often, it's just mildly less convenient when I do.
- nosrepa 1mo agoBut yet, xteink is a partner at https://freeink.org/ https://freeink.org/
- trueno 1mo agoyes for sure crosspoint made this thing the best bang for your buck purchase in the milky way
- burnte 1mo agoAgreed. The stock firmware is virtually unusable. Extremely clunky, nothing renders right, moving books is a PITA, etc. Crosspoint makes it worth the $70. Without crosspoint, just don't buy it.
- eli 1mo agoNah it’s fine. They committed to international devices being unlocked, and the firmware lock is trivial to bypass anyway.
- ndsipa_pomu 1mo agoI received my X4 Pro from Xteink themselves about a week ago and there was no problem installing CrossPoint. They do say that they have unlocked firmware, but I think the issue is if you buy them from AliExpress or similar as they seem to have locked firmwares. I think it's not too difficult to unlock the locked ones but haven't needed to try.
- TabTwo 1mo agoWhy does XTINK even bother with their own firmware. Let their developer work on Crosspoint and make great hardware.
- konaraddi 1mo agoThere’s an unlocked developer edition. Crosspoint links to it at https://crosspointreader.com/devices https://crosspointreader.com/devices