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."
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://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader#usb-l...
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.
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.
Can you explain to me why one of these is better for this please?
And the phone's reader app?
But then I'm subject to the bright screen, all of the colors, all of the notifications, and everything else that the phone brings. The calm of the X4 is quite nice.
I first stared reading ebooks on my Palm Vx. I went on to a Nook, Nook Color, some no names, Kobo. Five years ago, I became disabled and no longer had a free hand to carry an ereader and did not want to carry a bag just to carry an ereader/book. I started reading on my phone.
Last April, after seeing a comment on the X4, here on HN, I decided to get one. I prefer the display and I can advance a page by pressing the button, rather than swiping the screen. It's always with me, in het same pocket as my phone/
Also e-readers have way less distractions than a phone.
Also notifications etc
The tiny ereader contains no secrets or valuables, so I feel fine pulling it out in an area where I might otherwise be reluctant to use my phone.
The font rendering in the official firmware isn't that great though, especially compared to even a old phone screen. I had much better text rendering with 3rd party firmware.
I don't have any social media apps on my phone anymore except "Hack" for HN... as you imply, too much temptation to distraction. I haven't missed them at all.
They have added backlight, but still left charging/connecting to proprietary magnetic adapter.
Yeah, the connector they've made is absolutely bananas, wonder what they were thinking? Was there a 3rd-party docking ecosystem they were expecting to be spawned by this, or something? The magnetic connector by itself makes no sense, unless I severely misunderstand how it's supposed to be used in practice.
Terrible trade-off. I do not want a marginally smaller book if it means I have to worry about losing a proprietary cable.
They're supposedly not proprietary but a standard size that's easily replaced.
I don’t want to looking where to order it when it’s lost or broken.
I wish they have a magsafe case with 1-2 card holder slots, then it would just be a perfect wallet replacement.
1. yes, it is small and wonderful to one-handed read with, but _everyone_ around you notices you have a unique, small ereader in your palm. granted, maybe just reflects my self-consciousness. but until these are more ubiquitous, you'll be getting looks on the train/plane.
2. the whole "stick it on the back of your phone" idea is super silly and a bit of a gimmick at least:
2a. I don't want to make my expensive phone larger by volume and weight
2b. I do struggle to not fool around with my phone, and simply using "the back of the phone" is about the equivalent of being given a cigarette upside down as if that will stop me from smoking it.
3. after 14 years of Kindles, it's obvious how much better the eink tech is in premium devices (not a game changer at all, at most a nitpick)
yeah it's a super great device. I got it when prices were a bit lower a few months ago and it was a no-brainer. if you're really into reading and being thrifty/resourceful to get your ebooks, I'd check it out.
This is a new complaint I haven't heard, might I ask where in the world this is? I use my X4 Pro out in cafes, beaches and general public in Spain, and I don't think a single person have glanced in my direction because of it. But I also see plenty of other people with their e-readers too, some larger and some smaller, but no one is giving them any looks or side-eyes, it's relatively common here at least.
to be clear, these are not "side eyes" in a negative sense. it's more just peoples' curiosity, which can be a bit uncomfortable if you notice that type of thing while you're trying to read.
I think speaks to the fact that we all expect some normalization around iphones/pixels/kindles/switches in terms of the "expected" devices people might have in-hand.
I’ve seen the Xteink devices mentioned here and am intrigued, but the screenshots turn me off instantly. The font rendering or hyphenation or kerning (not sure exactly what) looked terrible.
Fortunately, since these run open source software, this will likely eventually be fixed. The Kindles weren’t great at the start either, so I have a lot of hope for future versions of the Xteink devices.
I sideloaded the Amazon Kindle fonts (Bookerly and Ember) and a few others using the builder at https://crosspointreader.com/fonts obviously you need to be running CrossPoint to load the fonts so have that flashed on first.
You can download the Kindle fonts from https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/alexa/branding/echo-guide... if you don't already have them.
That said the Clara BW is still my preferred e-reader as I find the larger screen better for longer reading sessions however you really can't beat having a tiny 3.7" e-reader with you everywhere. All those "micro waits" at places and I can read a few pages or even a chapter of a book rather than using my phone for nonsense stuff.
Another tweak I do is use the ePub optimiser at https://inky.crossink.dev to give me more "friendly" ePub files for the X3. I didn't have any issue with my regular ePubs but this optimised ones open faster and do look a bit nicer overall so it is worth the few minutes it takes to optimise all your books IMHO.
Kerning and hyphenation is also better than the stock firmware
I heavily customized the source code with llm so I can use emacs style keybindings and search.
There are some cons:
- some users report text gets blurred out if used under direct sunlight for a long time. I don't use it outside so I'm not affected
- sometimes the BLE connection is sketchy. I'm not sure if it's hardware or software problem
- the editor features are very barebone so you may want to customize your own version
- beware there are unflashable edition of this device
I used to read books on my phone (Moon Reader), but it wasn't as compelling. I think it was a combination of the screen and the fact that I'm used to using the phone for other things. But I can't really pin it down more than that.
Things I like:
Flashable firmware. If they disable this capability, I wouldn't buy it. I'm using Crosspoint Reader ATM.
Lightweight.
Good battery life. You can get through a novel on a charge.
USB-C. They sell models with a proprietary connector, best avoided. If they drop USB-C, I wouldn't buy it. I'm not carrying another stupid proprietary charger on trips where I could lose it and render my device useless, and one that's certainly not cheap and trivial to replace.
uSD slot. Plenty of room.
Crosspoint integration with Calibre. Crosspoint lots of features. They just added offline dictionary support but I haven't tried it.
Narrow screen. It's like a newspaper column. Somehow I enjoy this more than a wide screen.
Lanyard attachment point. I don't use this, but it's a neat detail they added to the case.
Magnetic phone attachment. Sticks to the back of my pixel 9 case, or whatever metal you have handy.
Things I'm neutral about:
My model doesn't have a backlight. I make up for it with a front light. :) Sometimes I miss it, but other times I feel like books were meant to be read without a backlight.
Low resolution screen. It's visibly lower than my other e-readers, for sure. Get it under a loupe and... wow. But I don't mind it.
No keyboard. There is a software keyboard, but lack of touch makes it clunky to use. Luckily my needs are rare.
Only DRM-free EPUB support (and TXT). This is HackerNews; you know what you're doing.
Things I don't like:
There's a weird quirk where a screen that's exposed to direct sunlight won't render correctly after a page turn. It fades. I have to turn the screen into shadow before turning the page.
The case is weak. I don't want a cover for it because I stick it to my phone, but dropping the device will result in divots on the case edges.
It generally feels plastic. The buttons (which haven't failed me) don't have a solid feel to their action.
Xteink folks, if you're listening:
Allow firmware flashing, or I won't recommend it.
Keep USB-C, or I won't recommend it.
These are two of your killer features for a device that is a little bit overpriced.
this is an ode to me in second grade thinking calculator watches were the pinnacle of human achievement.
I LIKE SMOL AND FUNCTIONAL THINGS!
I wanted it mostly due to this: https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader
Has anyone tried it out?
Interesting, as a new owner (CrossPoint user though) who loves my X4 Pro so far, it makes me wonder what the X3 is better at for you?
Five weeks later, I'd finished it, all 360 chapters, 1400 pages.
Apart from finding War and Peace a totally engrossing read, one of my favourite books of all time, I give the credit to the X4... I'd never have finished it if reading the physical book (too large to carry around) nor if reading on my phone (too many distractions).
So thank you xteink!
I have no current need for one as I am happy with my cheap second hand Kobo but it's great that they exist, especially with the open source alternative firmware. Hopefully they don't clamp down on that in future.
Kindle books have become impossible to download, but other online bookstores aren't as restrictive.
Illegitimately, there are tons of options
So far, my impression:
- it’s a fun piece of tech, but it’s also a super simple one. Idk the price of a eink screen like that, but it’s basically a screen + esp32 + battery, so $70 might be a bit too much, and just includes all the ads budget, which is clearly huge
- CrossPoint firmware is neat and OSS, so you can for and DIY whatever you can imagine
- it’s still so much more convenient to read on a bit bigger reader. Even my Kobo Clara BW with Koreader, which is still quite portable, has way better UX. And it’s just about x2 more expensive
- magnet is not strong enough to sit firmly on my phone
- I got a epub rendering issue with one of my books
- I don’t read a lot on it and still prefer my Kobo, so it failed the main objective for me personally
- it’s still fun how much esp32 in such a tiny enclosure can do :)
https://www.xteink.com/products/xteink-x4-classic-pocket-ere...
E: also waiting for this formfactor to get optimaxxed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL05zoHBGwA
Little eink dogtag that flips through one sentence at time.
[1] I read more with a 7" than a 6" and even more with an 8".
1. Yes, the size. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about "do I really want to bother with this in my pocket, I'm just going to the store."
2. The ecosystem. There's a lot of different firmware forks, people tinker and optimize. Which is important, because that helps with..
3. The UI. There's only a few buttons, no touch screen, so the power on experience sends you straight into the last page you were reading, and there's not a lot of farkles trying to drive engagement.
4. No touch screen. The buttons aren't very soft, and there's no touch screen, so you can just toss it back in your pocket, without turning it off, and pick it back up.
5. It's cheap, and it is not linked to my accounts. I'm not terribly worried about theft or someone accidentally knocking it out of my hand.
All that comes down to just.. no ceremony. No unlock the screen, push past the notifications, find the app, wait for Kindle to pass some advertising back and forth with Amazon. Nothing. Pick up the book, read the next page while you are waiting for coffee to steep.
That said, there's some suck to be had:
6. No frontlight. You can't read in the dark without a separate light.
7. No, the font rendering is not perfect, the DPI is pretty low. This is not the most beautiful screen. But it's pretty readable. I got over it.
8. It's a pretty small screen. If you have awful eyesight, you're going to go through a lot of page turns. But if you are prone to skipping ahead and scanning, you might actually read more of the book this way.
9. It is not fast. The firmwares I have used all do some indexing at the start of each chapter, and it can take a few seconds.
10. The vendor either doesn't quite understand its customers (it seems like xteink got lucky sometimes) or is scrabbling through parts bins and unable to communicate with its customers. The X4 Pro really confused its fans.
I think it really just comes down to "this thing is too simple to become more fucking adtech pretending to be useful."
I'm wondering what other uses this could have other than reading books.
As an example, it would be great if I'm reading an article that I could just send a screen reader version of the article to this. Not sure how easy it is.
(There is some benefit to having having a "shape" of the page, in terms of remembering where you were at a given point in the story sometimes, but that fades fast.)
- the price
- the custom firmwares
Once they kinda dropped the ball by making it harder to flash if bought elsewhere than their store, I started looking elsewhere. If I had to buy a similar device right now, I'd choose the reTerminal Sticky since it starts with customizability in mind.
I guess West Coast shipping from China is much cheaper
I would suspect the majority comes from higher (VAT) tax level; possibly also some indirect overhead because Europe is a more segmented market, and needs a bunch of localization at the very least.
GP says its $105 in the EU. I do not think VAT is high enough to explain that anywhere in the EU?
It's not? Maybe there is some dynamic pricing going on, but it's 79 Euro (~91.75 USD). Which would be close to the US price with Hungary's VAT (27%, which is I think the highest). Then add stuff like copying levy onto it and you'll land on roughly the same price, even with a lower average VAT. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy
Maybe they compared the model with the base to the one without? The one with base is more expensive in the US too though.
Carrying my regular 6" ereader around feels like I'm taking something with me, it feels like extra weight. I have to either carry it in my hand which is inconvenient or take a rucksack with me when I go for a walk. X3 is so small that it doesn't feel like I'm carrying anything, but it's always there. So when I go for a long walk and decide to take a short break I take it out and read for 10-20min. Same on my commute, I replaced reading the news on my phone with reading for 25-30min on the train.
First think I did was flash Crosspoint on it, because it's lightweight and preserves the battery much like original OS. Battery feels great, I love that it's not touchscreen. Buttons take getting used to, but overall I'm impressed!
I've been having mine in a beach bag I'm not too careful with, for about two months, which goes out with me when I swim in the sea, without using the included screen protector, and still no scratches or cracks in mine.
Great little device. There's a custom firmware that adds some nice to haves including the RSS reader. Downloads the linked HTML page for offline viewing and formats it nicely.
I’ll use a bigger e-reader at home, and carry it to continue reading my book on the go. I have it for close to two months and charged it only once.
My favorite thing is that simply having it nearby showing the book cover is an invitation to read.
And it's pretty hackable, with an open firmware, bunch of community involvement in developing third party alternatives for the default software.
I have even vibecoded random software to run on it.
Looking to pick one up, any recommendations on X4 Pro vs Classic?
I’m looking for something that pushes portability without compromising too much core usability.
For example I can live without a touch screen if it means high quality physical buttons.
Dual core Arm CPUs, Android etc used by mainstream readers are a serious waste of resources. A microcontroller paired with the SD card is more than enough. And CrossPoint is a gem! The list of pros is long and the device recommends itself. But there is one con that you must watch out for:
The screen is delicate.
I love cases but hate screen protectors, and tend to use my devices with care. So it has worked out fairly well for me the past few months. But you might have a different experience.
I think it's a great name. To me it reads like "extend e-ink", crazy how perception can be so different.
Neat little esp32 eReader with the standard bs around the company.
- There's KOReader sync in Crosspoint
But the biggest issue with Kindle is the vendor lock-in and the books don't even belong to you. There were many cases of Amazon deleting books with no refunds. That's why I am not getting any Kindle ever again.
Review (overly lengthy) from 2014: https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/technology/phones/yotaphone-...
Same, but now that it quickly looks like smartphone-sized e-ink readers are the 2026 hardware trend, I can see them making a comeback now. Or as an "outside" screen on foldable phones.
> In other words, we need more gadgets like the Xteink: cheap, simple, and customizable.
> The best thing about the Xteink is not any one feature. It’s that this tiny e-reader is fun in a way so few gadgets are anymore. Despite all our advances, the consumer-electronics landscape of 2026 is predictable and banal. Our laptops, smartphones, and tablets are thinner and more powerful than ever, but that feels like a weak substitute for innovation.
Especially in the LLM age, devices that define the experience totally are, imo, under massive threat. The innovation is us. The innovation is being allowed to have fun with your device. The innovation is a return to Right of First Sale principles, a vibrant modifiability, an enduring FAFO-ness. Humanity longs for a return to something that lets human spirit and ingenuity in, and we have all new super powerful agents to help us explore & make our own new outposts on the frontier with.
This article does a more direct job than I would expect to see in print talking to something at least a bit as such.
NOBODY asked for a proprietary pogo pin usb cable. shame on you!!!!
You can also find plenty of other discussions about the CEO himself and the company's products by searching on RedNote. In fact, RedNote users make up a major part of the brand's customer base in China.
After a competitor accused them of falsifying product specifications, the company publicly responded by claiming that it was merely a typo and stated that they would not provide compensation. Under Chinese law, however, this kind of false representation can require a refund plus compensation amounting to ten times the purchase price.
Their CEO had previously served as a founder or senior executive at several well-known Chinese companies, some of which later failed or suffered from major strategic mistakes. Yet during the early development of XTEINK, the founder concealed much of that problematic history. You can find reporting on it here: https://www.cqnews.net/1/detail/1346418331771338752/web/cont...
You say, "Not that I don't believe you," but at the same time you're treating what I said as though I simply made it up based on a few random comments I happened to see on social media.
Come on. The problem here is you, not me. If you are not even capable of searching Chinese websites yourself, then you are in no position to question me about what is being discussed in Chinese.
No, I was merely trying to clarify what the source(s) were.
> Yet during the early development of XTEINK, the founder concealed much of that problematic history. You can find reporting on it here:
Thanks :) And thanks also for the previous notes about RedNote, because I found a bunch of what you were talking about.
So yes, I didn't disbelieve you, nor tried to imply anything, I just wanted to get more pointers to where I could read more about it myself.
So yeah that’s the strategy
Is that actually a product intended for consumers though? Looks more like a development board than a product for "normies", like the Xteink stuff.
M5 device are cool but they do have that, as ugly as it is useful, functional diagram printed on the back...
Considering Kindle's Bezos who's had a pristine track record?
