Xteink X4 eReader Review

niila.fi

Posted: 2026-07-22

Xteink X4 eReader Review

Price: Bought X4 + case for 69,68 € with shipping

Weight: 74g + 56g case

Review

It’s a really small ereader. It’s magnetic so you can attach it on the back of some phones, and when you stop reading, you could just leave it on your fridge. Beware though, I’ve heard that the screen is not that strong! I never really use this without the case.

Right now this device is going for 53 euros on Xteink’s website, and the case is around 8 euros. That’s the cheapest ereader I’ve heard of. My Kobo Clara 2E was around 130 euros and that was a really good price. Right now the newer Kobo Clara black and white is 170 euros, if you happen to find a discount you can get it for 140.

So even with the case and shipping costs, you have it at half the price of a regular ereader that’s on a discount. But yeah, it is a much smaller device, and I’ve seen people on Reddit having issues with durability. Some even arriving with a broken screen. If you want better warranty, you should probably order from a bigger store like Amazon.

Unboxing

So what comes in the box:

A MicroSD card reader, by the way the SD card in this device is 16 GB (some have arrived with 32 GB, such as mine)

A few things you can use to attach this device to anything, like a wallet

There’s also a plastic screen protector along with some alcohol wipes. I did not install that as I have the case

Case

The case seems good quality. The device attaches to it with the magnet. It doesn’t stay closed well, but that has not been an issue.

The case adds a noticeable amount of weight to the device. The X4 is 74 grams and the case is 56 grams. So the case almost doubles the weight. But the total 130 grams is not heavy by any means.

Display and buttons

The display is a 4,3 inch eink screen with a 480x800 resolution. 220 pixels per inch.

The PPI is good, but a tiny bit less than I expected. It’s not a touchscreen which I think is positive. The buttons are nice. I’ve had some annoyances with a Kobo touchscreen as tapping it is not always reliable and you can have accidental presses. All in all, I really prefer using the buttons as opposed to a touchscreen.

Keep in mind that it does not have a frontlight. So reading in bed with lights out is not possible.

Hardware

Xteink X4 internals. Image from github.com/sunwoods/Xteink-X4

The hardware is not strong, but it has WiFi and Bluetooth. The chip is an ESP32, meaning you can write your own firmware for it. If you know how to code... But that's not needed as Crosspoint exists, which I'll talk about in a second.

The exact chip is the ESP32-C3. It has around 400 kilobytes of RAM. I would say it’s just powerful enough for a simple ereader like the X4.

The Xteink store says the SD card is 16 GB, but they sent me a 32 GB. A positive surprise, but even 16 GB would be more than enough, as you probably won’t be reading any manga on a device this small. This is a SD card with their own logo, and it seems like a cheap card. So far it has worked without any problems, and if it breaks, getting a replacement card is like 15 euros.

The ESP32-C3 chip has the benefit that it is really power-efficient. The battery life is advertised for 14 days of reading. That really did not disappoint. I’ve been using this for two weeks and the battery is currently at 61 %. I have not plugged this thing in after getting the device and flashing Crosspoint.

Software (Crosspoint)

And talking about Crosspoint, what is it? Well… Crosspoint is a free community made firmware for this device. The source code is open at GitHub if you want to read it or contribute. Crosspoint adds a nicer user interface, more settings, and better text rendering. Honestly, I did not try out the stock firmware at all, I bought this device knowing that I was going to flash Crosspoint on this. I heard that the stock firmware is not very nice or capable.<br>Keep in mind that you need to buy the developer edition to be able to flash firmware through the USB-C port. I think the developer edition is sold at Xteink’s website and Amazon. The locked down version is sold on Aliexpress and other third-party stores. Remember to check that it is the developer edition before buying.

Beware though that Crosspoint and many of its forks, forks meaning derivative versions made by the community, are quite vibecoded. Please read about the firmware before installing it. I prefer Crosspoint and have not had any need to look at any of its forks. AI-assisted or even vibecoded projects are not inherently bad, but they can be more unstable and might be abandoned quickly.

Getting books

I’ve been uploading books with the file transfer web server. Sometimes it’s buggy and slow and I think it crashed a few times when I first used it. Currently I am facing an issue with the book I am reading that it crashes on open if I don’t have embedded styles disabled on settings. Reading without those is fine, but it’s missing styling...