This tiny e-reader is so small it might get lost in your pocket

• The Xteink X4 is the size of a MagSafe wallet
• The Xteink X4 is an awkward device

The appeal of Amazon’s Kindle is that it’s a cheap way to read books, and for people who read at a voracious pace, a more portable way to do it, too. The success of the Kindle kicked off an explosion of E Ink devices that led to the landscape of e-readers and E Ink tablets we have today. And new devices spring up all the time, and plenty of them in far more adventurous shapes than what Amazon offers.

One such alternative is the Xteink X4, an e-reader that’s as cheap or cheaper than the Kindle, and radically smaller than the typical paperback-sized devices Amazon sells. In fact, the Xteink X4 is so small it can fit on the back of some smartphones. The e-reader is more than a little quirky, but it’s quickly become one of my favorite ways to read books, because it’s so small it’s hard to find excuses not to bring it with me.

The Xteink X4 is the size of a MagSafe wallet

And the X4 has physical page-turn buttons, too.

If the Xteink X4 hasn’t appeared in your social feeds or YouTube recommendations in its brief period of viral fame, here’s an introduction. The Xteink X4 features a 4.3-inch E Ink display with a resolution of 200ppi (notably lower resolution than the 300ppi of the Kindle Paperwhite). The device features one button on the front for going back or confirming menu items, and another for navigating the X4’s simple interface. On the side, there’s a button to power the device on and off, and another that turns pages. And along the bottom of the device, there’s a USB-C port for charging and a microSD card on the side for loading ebook files.

The thin, 5.9mm device e-reader includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas for wireless connectivity and comes with a 650mAh battery that lasts over a week on a charge, even with regular use. The rest of the X4 is decidedly barebones. When you first turn on the e-reader, you’re greeted with a simple interface with just four menu options: Read, which opens the last book you opened, Folder, which displays all the files you’ve added to the X4’s included microSD card, Settings, which lets you adjust what the X4’s buttons do and other options, and Sync, where you manage the device’s internet connection and transfer content wirelessly. That’s it. No store for downloading books, and no recommendations for what you should read next. If your main experience with e-readers is dealing with advertisements, this is already a pretty big change.

Xteink is developing a way to wirelessly transfer books from your phone to the X4. Until then, using the microSD card is the fastest option.

The other learning curve to deal with is navigating the X4 itself. The compact e-reader doesn’t feature a touchscreen, so any input you want to make has to happen with the X4’s thin buttons. That can take some getting used to, but once you do, reading books with the little thing is a joy. The screen has a lower resolution than the Kindle Paperwhite, but is good enough for reading. Pages refresh fairly quickly, and better yet, the X4’s buttons are delightfully clicky, which makes the experience even more tactile. You don’t get the fancy formatting options of other e-readers, but if all you care about is content, this is a great delivery vehicle.

The Xteink X4 is an awkward device

This e-reader’s one trick doesn’t quite work.

A big selling point of the Xteink X4 is the fact it can magnetically attach to the back of a phone and act as a more “enriching” alternative to scrolling on your phone. Feeling distracted by whatever’s blaring at you from your pocket-sized OLED screen? Just flip your phone around and read from a pleasant E Ink screen for a spell. There are multiple problems with this idea as it’s currently executed, unfortunately.

At 4.3-inches, nestled below an iPhone’s camera plateau, the X4 is actually longer than most iPhones other than Apple’s largest Pro models. The same goes for some entry-level Android phones, too, like the Pixel 9 and Pixel 10. The alignment of the magnets in the X4 also means that, at least on my iPhone 16, it won’t attach to the back of my phone unless it’s horizontal, rather than vertical, which defeats the purpose of attaching it at all. Xteink includes adhesive magnetic rings that you can stick to the back of your phone or case to circumvent these issues, and plans to address magnet placement more permanently in the smaller X3 it’ll release at some point in the future. Still, the fact that the X4’s one special feature might not work on your phone is disappointing.

For $69, you’re paying for a novel experience, not necessarily a polished one.

Then there are the issues with ebook formatting. The way the e-reader displays EPUB files is rough around the edges without customization in an ebook management app like Calibre. Not unreadable by any means, but you’ll lose some of the custom chapter headings and other stylistic touches that are visible on a Kindle or Kobo. Add in the learning curve for actually using the X4, and the experience is definitely not as smooth as a Kindle. For $69, you’re paying for a novel experience, not necessarily a polished one.

Xteink’s device could be viral enough to last

Luckily, there’s already a small community of people trying to support the Xteink X4 that fill in the gaps where the device’s creator came up short. There are websites devoted to best practices for using the e-reader, custom tools for converting EPUBs into XTC files, a file type that seems to preserve more ebook formatting on the X4’s diminutive screen, and 3D-printable accessories.

The Xteink X4 is far from perfect, but these projects make it fun to tinker with. Beyond that, a small E Ink screen that easily slips in a pocket or a jacket is just fun to keep on your person. Anyone who has their own collection of ebooks will have a lot of fun trying it out.