Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
About the Xteink X4 Pro
First impressions of the Xteink X4 Pro
Xteink is back with the second generation of its X4 e-reader. The X4 Pro is here and redesigned, but are there improvements?
Xteink's tiny e-readers, which are bigger than a credit card but smaller than a passport, get plenty of attention for their small size, which supposedly can fit on the back of a phone. The X4 has previously made our list of the best e-readers as the best mini e-reader, so we had to try out the second generation ourselves
About the Xteink X4 Pro
A little bigger than a credit card, the Xteink X4 Pro is perfectly pocket-sized.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable
The Xteink X4 Pro, the second generation of the X4, comes with a 4.26-inch display and 219 ppi resolution (Kindle and Kobo both have 300 ppi). It has 8MB RAM and 16MB of storage with up to 256GB of expandable space with a microSD card. It has a 10+ hour battery life, which is about one to two weeks of casual reading, and has a touchscreen with physical buttons on the side. Plus, there's a circular home button, reminiscent of the old iPhone button.
The touchscreen is new to the X4, which also has a frontlight. It has a magnetic back, which is compatible with MagSafe, so it can snap to the back of an iPhone. Rather than a USB-C port, it also comes with a magnetic charging port, which uses USB-C.
The Xteink X4 Pro charges through a magnetic pogo pin.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable
It connects to WiFi, and books are imported to the e-reader via the Xteink app, USB-C, or microSD card. It only supports DRM-free books in text-only PDF and MOBI format, in addition to JPG and BMP image files.
The new Xteink X4 is available from Xteink for $99.
First impressions of the Xteink X4 Pro
But how is the Xteink X4 Pro in action? It's not bad if you read DRM-free books.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable
Ahead of the Xteink X4 Pro's launch, I got to see the device and try it out myself. While the idea of a mini e-reader is fun, I'm not sold on the Xteink X4 Pro. It's a little bit glitchy, and a few times, it froze, and I had to restart it. The touchscreen and home button are improvements over the previous generation's front buttons, which I found confusing and unintuitive in use.
The magnetic charging port is a confusing upgrade. It requires a pogo pin extension, which is tiny, and immediately made me think it was just a matter of time before it was lost. The pogo pin port isn't very secure either and easily got knocked around when plugged into the USB-C cable.
Unless you exclusively read DRM-free books, the Xteink X4 Pro is not a great e-reader for most people. It only accepts e-books in the PDF and MOBI formats. Where I do think it works is for articles, which you can upload via a URL in the Xteink app, which then syncs to the e-reader. But is it really worth $99 for that alone? Probably not.