This tiny magnetic e-reader sticks to the back of your iPhone

The champion e-reader is the 1 you person with you. | Image: Xteink

A Chinese institution named Xteink has announced the X4, a compact e-reader with a 4.3-inch E Ink surface that’s much pocketable than the smallest Kindle oregon Kobo. Like a wireless powerfulness bank, the e-reader tin magnetically connect to the backmost of an iPhone, Pixel 10, oregon immoderate instrumentality that supports Qi2 oregon Apple’s MagSafe. If your telephone doesn’t, the institution includes a mates of magnetic stick-on rings.

At $69 from Xteink’s online store, the X4 is besides cheaper than Kindles and Kobos, but determination are much than a fewer trade-offs erstwhile it comes to features and functionality. The X4’s E Ink screen’s solution is constricted to 220ppi, portion astir modern e-readers connection 300ppi, which means substance won’t look arsenic sharp. You’ll request a adjacent lamp if you program to work astatine night, since the surface doesn’t person its ain light. But that means the X4 tin compression up to 14 days of usage (while speechmaking 1-3 hours each day) from its 650mAh battery.

The biggest downside to buying e-readers from smaller brands similar Xteink is that they deficiency entree to the ebook stores Amazon and Kobo connection if they’re not moving Android with the Google Play store installed. The X4 tin lone work DRM-free books and documents successful EPUB and TXT formats, and they request to beryllium sideloaded onto the instrumentality either done a microSD paper (up to 512GB supported) with ebooks oregon by connecting to the X4 implicit Wi-Fi and sending them wirelessly.

There’s nary touchscreen. The X4 has dedicated leafage crook buttons, a diagnostic each e-reader should offer. You tin besides instal your ain fonts if you don’t similar the 2 preinstalled options.