Just when things were looking good, someone thought it would be a smart idea to start blocking Xteink ereaders from installing custom software, according to reports on reddit, and the reasons they give for doing so are pretty questionable.
Here’s a quote:
Previously, we noticed that some users who tried using third-party firmware encountered problems such as poor optimization, frequent crashes, and even screen damage. Some users who later reverted to the official firmware experienced issues like being unable to access reading records, Wi-Fi records not opening, and the book transfer page failing to launch, and subsequently applied for official repairs.
We are very concerned that this may affect your user experience and device safety. At the same time, flashing firmware on your own will void the official warranty, making future repairs more troublesome. Therefore, for recently shipped new devices, we have cautiously added restrictions to the flashing function.
So far nobody really knows exactly what this means, and I’ve yet to see a direct response from Xteink after this matter has blown up online. Is Xteink blocking custom firmware on all units, or just ones sold in China? Are international versions that are being sold on Amazon affected by this?
Update: Xteink posted a message clarifying some things, and it sounds like this isn’t going to affect any international units sold by Xteink directly or from their Amazon store. Those should still work fine for installing custom software. Don’t buy Xteink ereaders from websites like AliExpress or Taobao if you want to be able to flash custom firmware on them.
Companies lockdown their hardware all the time for a number of reasons, but saying that custom software causes screen damage is laughable. Saying something like that makes it hard to believe they have the slightest idea what they’re talking about.
It might be different if the stock software on Xteink ereaders wasn’t completely broken when it comes to displaying English-language ebooks, but forcing people to use software that doesn’t even work properly when open-source custom software exists is a bad move, and a really bad look.
It’s also kind of funny how they think they can block custom software in the first place. Someone smart will figure out a workaround. People have been hacking Kindles for the past decade and a half, despite Amazon’s constant efforts to try and stop them from doing so.
I was late to jump on the Xteink bandwagon, but after reviewing the X4 I can understand the hype, but only because the custom Crosspoint software makes the device display EPUB ebooks properly. Xteink better think twice about this lockdown idea because something like this could totally kill their company’s reputation, not to mention the appeal of their unique reading devices.
In case it’s useful information:
I received my XTEINK X4 two days ago. I updated to the latest firmware and then installed CrossPoint. No problems, either installing or using it.
I have never installed custom firmware on an e-reader, but I have on other electronic devices. Sometimes it can be a process because the installation didn’t take the first time, so complaints of “poor optimization” and “frequent crashes” are valid. Any “screen damage” is the user getting frustrated and smacking the device around.
I can’t blame the company for voiding your warranty if you install custom firmware, but attempting to lock it down is a bad move.
“saying that custom software causes screen damage is laughable”
Hey Nathan, while it’s possible they just received a unit back with both screen damage and custom software or made this out whole cloth. I’m curious to know what is the source of your confidence? Is it that this is an e-ink screen or something else?
We’ve seen incidents of software causing hardware damage through the years and this is the first screen I’ve heard of that needs to be out of direct sunlight to load correctly.
“Software causing hardware damage”
Could you list some examples?
not of the top of my head but you can find some here for example
https://superuser.com/questions/313850/can-some-software-physically-damage-hardware
It’s just that a number of people have posted about cracked screens—some arrived that way—and it just seems like a lame excuse to blame that on custom firmware when that’s clearly a weakness with E Ink screens in general.
Thank you so much for posting an update about this. I agree with your statement here: “…saying that custom software causes screen damage is laughable. Saying something like that makes it hard to believe they have the slightest idea what they’re talking about.” Some have wondered if a user had issues with their device, and it had third-party firmware on it, sent it back without being able to take it off & it arrived at the warehouse with a cracked screen. Maybe they’re blaming it on the firmware? But that is clearly a packaging issue… no way software is going to do that to cause screen damage, especially all the cracked screens I’ve been seeing shared. It’s mind-boggling that they still haven’t improved how these are being shipped by now. I feel like I am always seeing people getting them after weeks of waiting, only for it to arrive with a damaged screen.
I’ve decided to still go ahead and order 1 (or 2 & hope I get 1 or both w/o damage) to use it as my ‘on the go’ ereader. The form factor of these little things is just too awesome & I, for one, absolutely love that they don’t have a touchscreen on the x3 or x4 models. Feels like going back to the basics, which is something I really liked about these when I first came across them.
They certainly stirred the pot yesterday with that statement that was shared on Reddit! I guess we’ll see if they learned their lesson. Time will tell, of course. Even though their initial clarification update didn’t address all of the concerns, I am happy to learn that international sales for them will be unaffected (at least for the time being)…
A most interesting series of posts. Yes, software can cause hardware issues.
https://www.reddit.com/r/xteinkereader/comments/1t3arzh/im_not_happy_with_how_the_company_is_dealing_with/