If the future of e-readers is getting weird, I’m here for it

The Xteink X4 fits on the back of an iPhone Pro Max, but that’s all.

Late last year, a bunch of people, knowing that I love e-readers, asked me if I was going to try the Xteink X4, a $69 tiny, no-frills reader. Like, seriously tiny—so small that it comes with a stick-on magnet ring and will just snuggle into the MagSafe area on an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The moment I saw that the Xteink X4 didn’t have any lighting, I decided I wasn’t going to bother—I spent way too much time clipping book lights to Kindles so I could read in the dark. But in a moment of weakness (possibly fueled by several Hazy IPAs and high altitude) over Thanksgiving, I bought one. It was $69! Why not take a chance on a weird little e-reader?

Third-party firmware makes the Xteink X4 usable.

When the Xteink X4 arrived, I got my answer: I was deeply unimpressed with the hardware, which has two rocker switches on the front as well as a rocker on the side and a power button and a recessed reset button. Look, I love e-reader buttons, but eight is too many. Of course, there was the aforementioned lack of lighting, meaning you need to use it outside or in a well-lit room. Also, the whole premise of this thing seems to have been that it sticks on the back of your iPhone, but that’s not true unless you have absolutely the largest iPhone available.

But I’ll give it this: it was tiny.

The software was the real tragedy, though: It was really bad. Hard to navigate (so many buttons) and, tragically, just bad at being an e-reader. I couldn’t turn off forced justification, another deal-breaker for me. I tossed it on my desk and figured I wouldn’t write about it because why kick this little thing when it’s down? (I did say some unkind things about it on Upgrade, I’ll admit.)

And then a funny thing happened: Dan Moren sent me a message saying:

Finally got my Xteink ironically after hearing you slag it on Upgrade. So I flashed it with the community-made firmware, which by all accounts is better.

I had seen several people report that the Xteink worked better with some community-built firmware, but I hadn’t tried it—mostly because I firmly believe that suggesting that someone buy hardware only to immediately replace its firmware with someone else’s fix is not really the endorsement it sounds like.1

But Dan’s message intrigued me, moreso when he pointed out that I could install the new firmware directly from a web page using Chrome. Loading a web page and clicking a button seemed like a very low-effort way to see what all the fuss is about, so I went ahead and installed CrossPoint reader.

What a difference. The CrossPoint software draws labels next to the four rocker directions on the front of the Xteink x4, so you know what each button does. It parses ePub files properly, offers font and justification control, and will even display the cover art of the book you’re reading. There’s even support for uploading books via Wi-Fi!

Is it as sophisticated as other e-readers? Absolutely not. Most readers are either Android or Android-based; the Xteink X4 is an ESP32-based thing, so it’s incredibly bare bones. But it works.

Do I recommend that people rush out and get the Xteink X4? No, I don’t. It’s fun to mess around with, and if you’re looking for a super-tiny e-reader that you can keep in a pocket or bag and break out in well-lit spaces at the drop of a hat, it will suffice. It won’t sync with other readers or your phone, so consider it the digital equivalent of throwing a paperback in your purse or backpack.

What I am enthusiastic about is the potential for interesting e-readers. Amazon seems comfortable shipping Paperwhites that are boring and featureless, Kobo’s innovation seems to have slowed as well, and everyone seems distracted by the possibility of finding a new market with E Ink-based note-taking devices like the Kindle Scribe.

But there’s still room for weird. The Android-based Boox Palma is shaped like a phone, but it’s an e-reader. At $250, it’s not cheap, and it’s a bit too big, but who’s to say where experimentation with smartphone marks and E Ink screens might lead? And coming from the bottom up are devices like the Xteink X4, with basic software running on ESP32 hardware.

If I were Xteink or any similar hardware developer, I’d be looking hard at giving support to the CrossPoint project and then focusing my efforts on making a device with simpler controls (fewer buttons!). Adding lighting and potentially a touchscreen would make this interesting, too. There are a lot of directions this sort of product could go—so let’s get to experimenting.

In the meantime, I’ve loaded a bunch of DRM-free public domain books from Standard Ebooks on my Xteink X4 and am letting it just hang around the house. I can pick up an Agatha Christie on a sunny afternoon and just enjoy a little bit of reading time. There’s a lot of potential here.

To be fair, I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus retro game handheld and immediately installed Onion OS on it on Brendon Bigley’s recommendation, and that worked well. ↩