This pocket-friendly e-reader is full of frustration and potential

I’ve used and reviewed dozens of e-readers over the years, however Kobo Mini 5 inch It remains my favorite for one simple reason: it was small. Although it lacked useful features like screen lighting and page-turn buttons, its size made it an e-reader I wanted to carry every day. $69 Xteink X4 e-reader Even smaller than Kobo Mini and E Ink smartphones Palma box. It’s satisfactorily pocket-friendly but also frustratingly unintuitive and functionally limited out of the box. This could have been a deal breaker otherwise A growing community of users Work to improve it.

like Kodak ChamiraI was pleasantly surprised by how small the X4 was in person. The 4.3-inch E Ink display is slightly smaller than the Kobo Mini’s 5-inch display, but the X4’s bezels are slimmer, making the e-reader feel much smaller. The fun of getting to grips with the X4’s size quickly disappeared when I experienced one of its most compelling features.

When the X4 was announced last December, Xteink shared photos of the e-reader stuck to the back of an iPhone with the MagSafe feature. It made the X4 look like a better alternative to E-reader cases For those who want a second screen on their phone, but the strange placement of its magnets makes it impossible to stick the e-reader to the back of the iPhone 16 Pro in any usable way.

It’s a matter of that Many X4 users complainedAnd in a statement sent via email to Edge“During the early development and testing phase, we worked with a limited set of iPhone models. As a result, on some newer models, the magnetic alignment may not appear perfectly centered,” the company explains. Alternatively, Xteink includes a pair of magnetic adhesive rings that can be stuck to devices to allow for correct alignment.

However, the At less than 6mm thick, the X4 takes up very little space A sling bag I carry every day It is protected using the included magnetic primary case.

The Xteink That’s less than the 300ppi e-paper displays found on the latest Kindle and Kobo e-readers. You’ll see rough edges on fine text if you look hard enough, but it’s fine enough for an enjoyable reading experience.

There’s also no screen lighting, so if you plan on reading before bed, you’ll need a lamp or flashlight. The lack of a touchscreen is even more frustrating. The X4 features several buttons on its right edge and below the screen. They are not categorized, and their functionality varies depending on where you are in the UI.

To complicate matters further, three of the buttons are reversible and do different things depending on which side you press. It’s frustrating trying to remember which side of the button you need to press to make a selection, return to the previous screen, or simply navigate the options menu. It’s not helped by the X4’s limited and confusing software.

while The smartphone-sized E Ink Palma from Boox An Android device that lets you do everything from watching videos to playing games, the X4 focuses solely on reading, with support limited to TXT and EPUB files, as well as images like JPG and BMP files, which I’ve had limited success loading. There’s no built-in library, so you’ll need to get your own DRM-free EPUB files. This is a little easier now, thanks Amazon recently expanded its support for EPUB booksbut just getting e-books on the X4 seems harder than it could be.

The e-reader can’t be mounted as a storage device when connected to a computer, and while you’re supposed to be able to upload files wirelessly from a browser over Wi-Fi or your phone, I haven’t had much success getting that to work. The easiest way is to copy files to a memory card using a USB reader, but it’s needlessly complicated by the X4’s microSD card slot, which makes inserting and removing a memory card difficult without long screws or a paper clip.

Reading e-books is a good experience, and I’m always a fan of dedicated page-turning buttons. But if you’re used to using a Kobo or Kindle, you’ll find that you’re sorely missing options to adjust text formatting. You only get two font size options, three line spacing options, and no way to increase the margins around text. Images and illustrations simply aren’t displayed in eBooks, most text formatting is ignored, and while you’re supposed to be able to upload and use your own font files, it’s another fiddly feature I haven’t had success with.

You can jump to different chapters, pages and bookmarks, or turn on features like automatic page switching at set intervals, but doing so requires opening a series of menus and navigating them using the X4 buttons. It feels unnecessarily complicated. It’s an experience you’ll eventually feel a little more comfortable with, but it’s not one you’ll enjoy at all.

Xteink has already released several software updates to improve the user interface and ease of use of the X4. Progress has been slow, but since the company hasn’t shut down the e-reader, the growing community has taken it upon itself to improve the X4. Installation Crosspoint reader On X4, an alternative open source firmware, it was a simple process that immediately resolved many of the vulnerabilities in the Xteink software. CrossPoint simplifies the X4’s user interface, expanding options for how eBooks appear, and adding on-screen labels for what each button does. It’s also easy to uninstall, but I don’t think I’ll ever do that.

The X4 will not replace Libra Kobo 2 I use it for most of my reading. The touchscreen, the lighting, access to a robust eBook store, and a user interface that doesn’t make me pull my hair are features I couldn’t live without. But for the past few weeks, I haven’t left the house without my little X4. It’s a welcome alternative to my phone (which always seems to be full of bad news) if I have a few minutes to spend away, despite the frustration it causes. I don’t like to recommend devices that require third-party upgrades to be “fixed,” but the work the X4 community is doing makes the e-reader worth considering if pocketability—and a little tinkering—is your priority.

Photos by Andrew Leszewski/The Verge