Xteink is back with a new generation of its tiny X4 e-reader — but it wont be for everyone

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.

Opens in a new window Credit: Xteink Xteink X4 Pro $99 at Xteink
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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.