Review: a couple of months with an Xteink X4
I’m really very happy with my Onyx Boox Poke 3 e-reader, which I’ve had since 2021. It’s a nice, sharp-screened ebook reader, with a nice backlight and everything. Running Android, I’m using KOReader on it, and it works nicely.
So why buy another? Particularly, why the Xteink X4?
The Poke 3’s screen is 7", but the Xteink’s screen is only about 4" diagonal. It’s really very, very small - small enough to fit in your pocket.
And at US $69, it’s cheap enough to conduct a bit of an experiment: will it force me into a bit more reading?
Initial thoughts
The hardware is surprisingly nice. The screen is clear and behind glass: no nooks and crannies for dust to collect. It has a number of buttons on the front and side of the device. The corners of it are rounded, and it feels good in the hand - well built and not cheap at all. It has a (recessed) SD card for books. It uses a USB-C for charging. All is good.
The software is not. Some of the buttons on the front, which aren’t marked in any way, navigate around the screen (there’s no touchscreen on this device); some don’t. I’ve no idea which way the buttons work. The software is not a great experience. At all.
And this is what I expected. In many devices like these, the software is what lets it down. It’s very clearly not built by someone who uses English as their first language; it’s bewildering to control; it has two fonts (a bad serifed font, and a bad sans-serifed font).
And none of this worried me.
Step forward Crosspoint
This nice little ebook reader has an ESP32-C3 chip inside. ESP32 devices are essentially entire small computers, and since they’re fully documented - and since this device has a proper USB-C connector - it’s possible to reprogram it with different software.
And, that’s exactly what Dave Allie has done - building a piece of free software for it called Crosspoint. That replaces the default software on the ebook reader totally, replacing it with a piece of software that is excellent.
It turns the little Xteink into a capable ebook reader, with lots of decent settings to tweak. I’m one of those who believe that full justification is never a good idea for a book, and you can turn that off, which is good, as one example.
I knew all this before buying it; and have seen Crosspoint improve into the current v1.1.1 version, which is pretty good. The device itself is quite limited in terms of what it can do, and any book won’t ever look as good as it will on KOReader running on the Onyx Boox Poke 3; but it’s a pretty good experience, all things considered.
(Of course, you’ll need access to your books in epub format. That may be a blocker for those who are used to just using Kindle and/or Libby).
But… why?
The ebook reader has an inbuilt round magnet, similar to Apple’s MagSafe. This means you can use any MagSafe compatible thing to stick it to - or, indeed, a fridge or something like that - but it comes with two round metal stickers, so you can use those to fix them onto whatever you’d like.
So, I built a little case, out of an old notebook cover, and stuck one of the metal stickers to it. Hey presto: I now have a decent-ish, and free, case for it, so I can stuff this ebook reader into a pocket.
And now it’s always with me, it’s never easier to just pick up a book and read, since I’m always carrying one. When I remember to take it with me, it’s often being used: in the queue for school pickup, or while drinking a coffee.
Crosspoint includes a decent-ish KOReader sync tool, which would sync my reading position to my Boox if I wanted it to. (It seems to sync the chapter, rather than the exact place, but perhaps I’m not setting it properly). And it can also connect to Calibre if I want it to, as well.
If you’re handy with epubs books, then perhaps this is a device for you, too - not as friendly as a Kindle, but not as closed, either. And its size means it could always be with you. Most impressive.
What I’ve learned
For Xteink, the reason why this device is selling quite well at the moment isn’t due to their beautiful software. It’s due to the decent hardware: and to the fact that others have felt motivated enough to make a better user experience.
Perhaps this is something for all device manufacturers to consider: keep your devices open, and other people can make better software for your device. It’s not the first time I’ve seen this - the other time has been my Deepelec DP-666 radio. In every way, it’s made the product better.
I’ve donated to Dave Allie, the maker of Crosspoint.