I’ve been using my brand-new XTEINK X4 for a bit now.
I never would have thought to buy an e-reader this small until I started this community and began reading about the XTEINK line.
And wow, I’m glad I did. Holy crap!
This is the first e-reader I’ve bought in quite a while, and I’m loving this thing. The screen is super crisp, page turns are fast, and the size is perfect for carrying around.
The original operating system it comes with is pretty rough. But after reflashing it with CrossPoint, this is probably my favorite e-reader I’ve ever owned. It is perfect for just tossing in my pocket and taking everywhere.
I’ve been reading on it while waiting for my kids to come out of school, during PTA meetings, and even at a school volleyball game last night. Whenever there was a delay or nothing was happening, I just pulled it out and read for a few minutes.
I love this thing.
The company is XTEINK, based in Shenzhen, China. Its founder is Crusoe Hu. Hu described XTEINK as a “small team based in Shenzhen” working on compact E Ink devices.
He said the goal was simple: make a reader small enough that people would actually carry it everywhere instead of leaving it at home like a larger Kindle.
That is exactly why I like it so much. I don’t need a front light, touchscreen, or a bunch of extra features. I just want a tiny reader I can keep with me and actually use.
For this regular XTEINK X4, the specs are:
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Display: 4.3-inch black-and-white E Ink
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Resolution: about 220 ppi
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Touchscreen: No
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Front light: No
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Controls: Physical buttons only, including page-turn and navigation controls
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Processor: Espressif ESP32
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Storage: Ships with a 16 GB microSD card Maximum microSD capacity: Up to 256 GB
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Wi-Fi: 2.4 GHz
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Bluetooth: Yes
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USB: USB-C, mainly for charging and serial communication rather than normal USB mass storage
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Battery: 650 mAh
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Claimed battery life: Up to about 14 days, based on 1 to 3 hours of reading per day
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Dimensions: 114 × 69 × 5.9 mm, or about 4.49 × 2.72 × 0.23 inches
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Weight: Around 74 to 77 grams, or roughly 2.6 to 2.7 ounces
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Magnetic back: Yes
The key thing about the original X4 is how stripped down it is. It is basically a 4.3-inch E Ink screen, an ESP32 microcontroller, physical buttons, a microSD card, and a battery inside a very thin case.
CrossPoint takes that simple hardware and turns it into a much better reading device. Love it.
📢 Announcement: XTEINK X4 is Sold Out & Discontinued
Thank you so much for your support! XTEINK X4 is now officially sold out, and there are no plans for future production.
We invite you to explore our X3 or X4 Pro models for your reading needs. Stay tuned for the upcoming new X4 series.
Like fucking WHY?Wait, I is stupid, the X4 Pro is the same thing with a touch screen and backlight.
<3
The Pro has the touchscreen and light, which a lot of people prefer! I didn’t want to pay the higher cost for those though. Mine cost $55 USD.
And now they’ve stopped making it - just when I first learn about it.
Get the X3 or X4 Pro? Both are still available, the X4 Pro is only slightly more expensive.
I barely made it under the radar. I ordered it 10 days ago. I didn’t know it would be discontinued. The day after I bought it, it said out of stock. I wasn’t even sure I was gonna get it since the tracking never got updated. Tracking just kept saying 'Waiting to be shipped." Then here it was in my mailbox. Whew!
I also nabbed one of these shortly before they announced the new one. Very happy with it, and I now strongly suggest it to friends. Especially with the Biscuit firmware loaded up I recommend it to people in activist circles I run in for some of the comms and network tools. I’ve got a pretty extensive ebook collection that I loaded up into the SD card and I have probably years worth of books in a device that size. It feels like cheating almost.
That’s awesome. I’m not familiar with Biscuit firmware. What’s that used for?
I hate reading on my phone, and I always thought because it’s small, and it’s a bit that with the size of letters not the screen because that looks amazing. Like I want to read that. Background nice. Letters nice. Just nice!
I felt exactly the same way. After I bought it, but before I actually got it, I was having a little buyer’s remorse. But after reading on it, I love it.
The thing with phones, is they’re heaver, distractions, and most of all, they use backlight screen which flickers at a high rate you can’t see but that still causes eye fatigue for long viewing. On a phone, I can barely finish proofreading some of my longer texts before being annoyed! lol
This ebook reader, and others like it, are “e-ink,” so just static. Like paper because it has no flicker rate. So no eye fatigue. I’ve finished one book on it already, and have started another. Very easy to read. Plus it does just one thing. So no distractions, no looking online, no browswer, nothing. It doesn’t do anything but let ya read.
I can remember the days when I would be able to read text that small.
I was nervous about it. I had to wait 10 days for this thing to get to me and the whole time, I was thinking to myself, “What if I can’t read it?” lol
But no problems, the screen is crisp and the text dark enough that I’ve been reading on it non-stop since I got it!
Can you not change the text size?
Yes, you can. I was worried that I’d have to go comically big with the text though, and would have to be turning the page constantly because so few words on screen. Original OS it comes with only has 2 sizes: Big and Small.
But now with CrossPoint OS on it, it has a bunch of different text sizes, so works out for me fine. I read the text at the size you see it is in the picture.
There are several sizes even in both default software and CrossPoint.
It looks nice, but it’s so very small. I think I’d go crazy having to move to another page and completely reset my eyes every two sentences.
My current ebook reader is a 60" TV hooked up to my PC.
I was making fun of the smallness too. I was always going for the bigger ereaders. But I love this thing. And it’s made for reading one handed and to carry everywhere. For me, this is perfect size. The X3 is a little bit smaller still, so I’m sticking with this one.
That looks so cool!
Its a great little device!
A coworker of mine has one thqt attaches to his iphone. Its a good setup. Very pocketable
