I tinkered with my micro e-reader and made it higher than a Kindle

I’ve loved utilizing the Xteink X4 since I wrote about it in January, however I will be the primary to confess it has issues. You do not have to carry the tiny magnetic e-reader for lengthy to seek out them. It has a complicated variety of buttons, and it is arduous to foretell what they will do. It could actually’t really persist with the again of most telephones until you are keen to connect an extra magnetic ring or take care of it protruding out of the aspect of your cellphone. And it isn’t all the time the most effective to make use of, or notably good at displaying EPUBs.

Regardless of these points, folks love the X4’s {hardware}, which stays comparatively low cost and uniquely sized among the many e-readers out there from North American corporations. It is also, because it seems, pretty simple to customise, too. You need not spend lengthy on the Xteink Reddit to seek out dozens of customized circumstances and mounts created for the X4. And people customizations lengthen to the system’s software program, too. Xteink has up to date the barebones firmware the X4 launched with to be a bit extra visually interesting and higher at dealing with EPUBs, however many of the system’s neighborhood seems much more serious about a bit of third-party firmware. It is known as CrossPoint, and it’d simply be the best instance of how open-source software program can seriously change the usefulness of your devices.

Fixing the X4’s software program

Xteink’s up to date firmware cleans up the house display

The unique Xteink X4 interface was barebones, to say the least. Exterior a easy residence display with shortcuts to the system’s settings, the latest e-book you learn, a rudimentary menu for wirelessly syncing information, and no matter content material is saved on the system’s microSD card, the remaining is cramped menus of textual content and the uncooked file system of the X4’s reminiscence. For what most individuals are utilizing the e-reader for, that is not likely an enormous deal, however as extra folks have purchased an X4, and curiosity has grown in Xteink making e-readers in different sizes, it is comprehensible the corporate would need to clear issues up.

As a part of updates which have rolled out in the previous couple of months, the Xteink X4 now appears much more pleasing to the attention and does a greater job of opening and displaying ebooks. Now once you first wake the X4 from sleep, you are greeted by no matter e-book you learn final, and a progress bar exhibiting off how far into the e-book you’re. The house display additionally has cleaned-up shortcuts for the e-readers varied options, and a significantly better workflow for wirelessly getting information on the X4 due to a brand new Xteink companion app. You do not have to dig too far to seek out the identical file system and cramped menus the X4 launched with, however no less than the e-reader makes a greater first impression now and is a little more user-friendly.

That is all advantageous and good as a primary move, however Xteink is creating software program and {hardware} on the similar time. There’s cause to count on extra significant software program modifications to take a very long time to reach. That is why loads of X4 house owners have turned to third-party, open-source software program to handle the issues they’ve now, and tweak the e-reader’s interface much more to their liking.

CrossPoint is straightforward firmware that matches the Xteink X4

Clear menus and the power to remain in sync with different third-party studying apps

You do not have to lurk within the Xteink subreddit lengthy to listen to about CrossPoint. The open-source different firmware is likely one of the hottest methods X4 house owners are opting to replace their e-reader, largely due to the options CrossPoint provides, and the way easy it’s to put in. CrossPoint is particularly designed for the X4 and its chip, and affords most of the core enhancements of Xteink’s newest official updates, together with a extra visually presentable residence display, and higher dealing with for EPUB information, notably relating to loading pictures embedded inside eBooks.

CrossPoint includes a easy residence display with the duvet of no matter e-book you open final on the prime, the e-book’s title, and the e-book’s creator. Choosing the duvet with one of many X4’s buttons drops you on no matter web page you have been studying final. Under that, there is a assortment of menu choices, together with a shortcut to your microSD card information, latest books you opened, a file switch choice for the a number of methods you may get information on the X4, and a shortcut to the settings menu.

The extra significant modifications could be the methods CrossPoint tweaks the X4’s interface, labeling the e-readers many buttons so you recognize which does what, permitting the duvet of no matter e-book you are studying to grow to be the lockscreen of the X4 when it is asleep or powered off, and including the power to sync your progress in books with KOReader, one of the crucial in style third-party studying apps (and one which’s frequently sideloaded onto Kindles and Kobos).

You do not have to be happy with the default options of CrossPoint, both. The open-source nature of the undertaking implies that anybody can modify CrossPoint and create their very own model. There are already tweaks on the market altering CrossPoint’s residence display and introducing totally new options like a Tamagotchi-inspired digital pet. After all, you do not have to develop your individual model to get quite a bit out of what is in CrossPoint by default, and putting in the firmware is comparatively easy:

1. Join your Xteink X4 to your laptop over USB-C and wake/unlock it.
2. Head to the Xteink Flash Tools website.
3. Underneath Full flash controls, click on on Save full flash, and wait round 25 minutes for a full copy of the system’s firmware to be created. Save that replicate (the file can be known as “flash.bin”) in a protected place.
4. Scroll right down to OTA quick flash controls and click on on Flash CrossPoint firmware.
5. Watch for the firmware to be written to your X4, then reboot your e-reader by urgent the Reset button on the bottom-right aspect of the system, after which urgent and holding the sleep/wake button.

Open-source software program can breathe life into devices

Save your low cost handheld emulator and janky e-reader

There are unavoidable safety dangers to including third-party software program to your gadget, however these downsides include positives, too. An open-source undertaking like CrossPoint might imply the X4 is supported with new options, or on the very least, bug fixes, properly after Xteink has moved on to different {hardware}. For a tool this straightforward, you actually do not want all that a lot to have a superb expertise, however open-source software program can usually save poorly optimized devices, too. There is a rising variety of low cost Linux or Android-based handheld game emulators which can be vastly improved utilizing third-party launchers or firmware than no matter they ship with. In the event you’re already saving some cash shopping for an affordable, bizarre gadget, why not make the leap and see if you may make it higher with software program somebody made simply because they beloved the system itself.

Decision

220ppi

Storage

32GB (from included microSD card)

Xteink’s X4 is a compact, 4.3-inch e-reader with bodily buttons that is designed for use by itself or whereas magnetically connected to the again of a smartphone.