The Xteink X3 is now available to purchase from Xteink’s official Amazon store, and it’s the Developer’s Edition so it’s open to installing custom software. There are two color choices, space black and mist gray, and they’re both selling for $79 with free shipping.
I recently reviewed the Xteink X4 and was really impressed with it as a portable, basic ereader. The X3 is a lot like the X4, except it has an even smaller screen (3.7″ instead of 4.3″ with 259 ppi instead of 219 ppi) and there are some hardware differences. The side buttons are positioned differently, and it adds a sensor that allows you to turn pages by shaking the device.
The X3 also adds NFC support, and the back magnet is designed to be compatible with more phones. The weirdest thing about the X3 is it doesn’t have a USB port; it uses a magnetic pogo pin charger instead.
Like the X4, the X3 does not have a frontlight. If that’s a dealbreaker for you, there’s a version with a frontlight getting released soon call the Xteink S4. But I’m skeptical about it since touchscreen and frontlight layers make E Ink screens look worse. Plus the S4 runs Android and that’s almost certainly going to result in worse battery life, but being able to install Android apps will add a lot of extra functionality.
The X3 runs Linux like the X4, and the last CrossPoint update added support for the X3 so it’s easy to install custom software on it. That’s important because the stock software doesn’t display English-language ebooks properly—the formatting is not good.
The Xteink X3 has a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 256GB, and it comes with a 16GB card.
After reviewing the X4, which is the smallest E Ink ereader I’ve ever seen, it’s hard to believe the X3 is even smaller. Frankly, it might be too small for me, but I ordered one to try out since I ended up liking the X4 more than I thought I would, and I’d like to compare the two. These devices aren’t for everyone, especially considering they don’t support ebooks with DRM, but they’re great for sideloading.
Apparently the gray X4 has a glass back while the black X4 has a metal back. Does the X3 have similar configurations?
The lack of a touchscreen doesn’t bother me as long as the gyroscope works to turn pages; sadly unavailable on the X4.
The only other feature I miss is a front light.
I tried this flip case https://a.co/d/0g2FHQaR but it is going back—no way to keep it closed!!! Trying this one next https://www.etsy.com/listing/4450032557/xteink-x4-flippable-screen-protector but I’ll miss the prop up feature of the other one.
I don’t see how the back could be glass, especially since it’s magnetic—that sounds like an AI hallucination or something, like it confused that with the back of E Ink screens being glass. I thought about getting the official case for the X4 now that it’s on Amazon, but I like using it without a case so much I don’t know if I’d actually use it.
Apparently even the black one can suffer the same fate per the last post on the thread https://www.reddit.com/r/xteinkereader/comments/1t585j0/back_of_x4_broke_after_a_minor_drop/
Odd because it doesn’t feel or look like glass/plastic.
Thinking about it, perhaps that’s why there are no scratches on the “metal” back…