Buttons and scroll wheels cost more than touchscreens at this point… 90s me wanted touchscreens on everything, and me since maybe 2015? has been firmly “bring back buttons”

…whenever they started replacing useful things that SHOILD be buttons always (car) with touch things. Absolutely not bueno.

My Kobo only has a power button and it’s perfect for my needs.

I read on a kindle on my bed before going to sleep, and everytime I stretch or turn over the font size changes or it advances a couple of pages. It's slowly driving me insane.

I recently picked up an Xteink X4 for $55. Flashed the Crosspoint firmware on it. Crosspoint just works and has no bloat. I love being able to set the device and send books via the self-hosted web interface. Sending books via wifi from Calibre works too.

Buttons on the reader are nice. I actually prefer not having a touchscreen for something so small. I do wish it had a front light though. This turned out to be the less-expensive-non-Android-just-an-ereader alternative to Boox that I was searching for. Loving it so far.

And you have open firmware for it: https://hackaday.com/2026/04/05/pocket-sized-e-ink-gets-a-firmware-upgrade/

Front light

I'd be inclined to get the cheaper one and port the firmware if the new one is better, or someone else will almost certainly make a new one that takes the best features of both.

You can find a comparison on the CrowdSupply page. Xteink X4 does not let you easily replace the battery, for example.

I actually just got one of these things (https://www.xteink.com/products/xteink-x4) that has a 4" screen (WITH BUTTONS) for $55 on Amazon and I kinda love it. I think my perfect phone would be something this size with GrapheneOS support and a headphone jack.

Yeah that seems like a really uncomfortably small screen to read on.

I wouldn't mind if my phone was 4,2" but I want a bigger screen for reading books. Like the size of A5 or even A4 paper.

I guess there is a decent market for small readers, but man I’ve gotten so used to reading on my 10" boox tablet that reading on a standard 6" kindle makes my brain hurt, probably couldn’t manage on a 4".

brushes against the screen "What the hell did I just hit? Where is my screen?"

taps against the spot 50 times "Respond!!"

I've had a Kobo Clara BW for about 2 years. I use it almost every day and I love it. I think it was about $140 when I bought it. They go for $160 now, but I think the bigger screen makes it a better buy than this e-reader. I love crowd-funded projects, but Kobo is a better option, imho.

What did you flash on your Kobo?

It’s a fact? It has no buttons. God or bad

yeah I like buttons and connectors. You can put plenty without making a chunky device.

Because buttons take space, reducing space available for the screen that has, well, the book.

The good sensor is the answer, IMO. I only wonder how should it turn on and off, then.

But XTEINK is actively working to combat the flashing of open source software. It seems they had a spike in sales and interest due to their affordable hardware, but if they continue to lock aftermaket software out tech savvy people will be looking for different options.

Update: I just saw that CrossPoint has has an affiliate link, and that if you buy the reader direct from the manufacture you can still get unlocked USB devices. It's only on the international stores like AliExpress that you may get a crippled version. https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader

Exactly, I just got a 4" model and it was 1/3 this price and has buttons and also had better open source firmware I could load on it.

They aren't even doing better than the current generation. Their version is more than double the price of the X4 and has the same screen and SoC.

1 cm seems pretty thick for something you'll spend a lot of time holding, too.

I have the xteink X4, and I adore it. Open source firmware you flash onto it yourself (crosspoint), based on esp32, much cheaper than this thing. Tiny device fitting easily into your pocket and so it goes with me everywhere and I use it all the time. Big recommend.

One never knows. Better to have alternatives today than to hope nothing goes downhill in the future.

Nothing. I love my Kobo, I take it everywhere and it has a literal zero amount of enshittification. You can set it to sideloaded mode by connecting it to your PC which totally hides the store and Kobo's online features. I manage my books in Calibre.

If you're honestly asking, one thing I just read is that you need an account to use it. Not sure if that is a downside for many.