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the Familiar story with Xteink mini e-readers It’s up and running again with the new X4 Pro: upgraded hardware is held back by frustrating software. The company’s latest small e-reader adds a touchscreen and lighting, so choosing it over a Kindle or Kobo doesn’t feel like a compromise — until you use it. New touch controls and some welcome software updates make the X4 Pro easier to use, but frustrations still abound. There is a happier ending to the story this time around, as the team behind the excellent one Crosspoint Reader It plans to have its replacement firmware ready for the new device when it launches. If you’re considering one of Xteink’s e-readers, the X4 Pro is the one to get, even if it’s the most expensive one yet.
The X4 Pro is available for purchase today Through Xteink online store For $99, which makes it a bit more expensive than the company $79 x 3 and X4 models $69. This also brings the X4 Pro closer to the price Entry-level Kindle, $110 It features Amazon’s polished e-reader experience and cross-device access to a well-stocked digital library. The X4 Pro lacks both of those things, but with a 4.26-inch ink display and 800 x 480 resolution, it’s another pocketable device from Xteink that’s a little smaller and thinner than the company’s first e-reader, and much smaller than Amazon’s 6-inch Kindle.
This thin profile means you’ll need to be prepared for a big compromise: there’s no longer a physical USB-C port. You can still take advantage of the USB-C functionality but you’ll need an adapter to handle the awkward magnetic pogo-pin connection. The adapter is included, but I’d still opt for a slightly thicker device with a physical USB-C port.
Once again on the back of the X4 Pro you’ll find built-in magnets so you can connect it to compatible smartphones like a wireless battery pack. The magnet seems stronger, but it’s still not strong enough to make me confident that the e-reader will stay stuck to my phone while it’s scrambling around in my pocket. The size of the X4 Pro also makes the tiny e-reader awkwardly extend beyond the bottom of the iPhone 16 Pro when plugged in, and at this point I think Xteink should give up promoting this function. Their e-readers are best as standalone devices.
The added touchscreen allows for a much simpler button layout on the X4 Pro, and I’m glad the company still includes dedicated page-turn buttons on each side as well as the ability to tap on the edges of the screen. There’s also a power/wake button and, for the first time, a touch button on the front of the e-reader below its screen to navigate back to the e-reader’s main screen.
There have been some Debate about whether or not These little e-readers actually need a touchscreen, but after testing the X4 Pro for over a week, I think it’s a welcome upgrade for these devices. Even after months of use, navigating the company’s other e-readers using just the buttons was never intuitive or easy, and that kept me from wanting to carry it wherever I went. Navigating the X4 Pro using screen taps (as we do with the rest of our mobile devices) makes me finally feel like I’m not fighting the e-reader to get it to do what I want.
But the X4 Pro’s touchscreen doesn’t feel as sensitive or responsive as the Kindle or Kobo when I tap the screen, and half the time it feels like I have to repeat the tap with more pressure until my finger is detected. I hope this is something that can be improved with future software updates.
The added screen light is an excellent upgrade, and although it’s a bit uneven and definitely brighter at the top of the screen, you can adjust its intensity and color temperature using the sliders that appear when you swipe down from the top of the screen. There are no automatic adjustments or scheduling available yet, but being able to use this e-reader in bed without having to turn on the lamp is a game-changer, and I can’t see myself going back to the old, lighting-lacking Xteink devices.
Xteink has made a lot of improvements to the bundled software and its user interface to accommodate the X4 Pro’s touchscreen. Menus have been simplified and easier to navigate by touch, and reading settings by tapping anywhere on the page are now easier to access. There’s also more flexibility in adjusting text spacing and layout, but out of the box, you’re again limited to just one font in two different sizes unless you want to jump through hoops to install your own font. But you don’t have to suffer with Xteink’s unpolished software.
Of all the X4 Pro’s improvements, the most compelling reason to get Xteink’s latest e-reader is that CrossPoint Reader is easy to install It will be available at launch. It is a free firmware replacement that dramatically improves the user interface and reading experience of Xteink devices. When I tested the last Xteink e-reader The team behind CrossPoint Reader wasn’t sure when support for the X3 would be released, but Justin Mitchell has since taken over as primary maintainer of the program and told Edge That support for the X4 Pro will be available “before any customer can request and receive its support in the US.” CrossPoint Reader is now also part of Mitchell’s New free ink project Of which Xteink is a hardware partner, the firmware should be compatible with all of the company’s future devices at launch.
If you’ve been on the fence about getting one of Xteink’s e-readers, even with a proprietary USB-C connector and a $99 price tag, the X4 Pro is the one to get if you prioritize portability. It won’t match the Kindle or Kobo experience even after installing the CrossPoint Reader, but even with its limitations, it’s still the best little e-reader you can buy and a device I really won’t leave home without.
Photography by Andrew Leszewski/The Verge
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