this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2026
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So I bought one of these for my wife a couple months ago and she loves it. She likes that the eink screen is easier on her eyes and that it removes the temptation to open up social media and doom scroll. I do however have a few gripes about the X3.
First, the biggest issue for me is the device isn't backlit. For my usage pattern that's a deal breaker. The upside is that the company just released the X4 Pro and that is backlit, although it's also a bit pricier (not by a ton, it's still just barely sub-$100, but it's noticeable). My wife has a rechargeable light that attaches to the X3 magnetically which she's happy with, but that's not for me.
Second rather than using something sensible like USB-C it uses a semi-proprietary magnetic charger with pogo pins. Not only is that another annoying cord to keep track of, but it's unacceptably easy to short the charging cable and start a fire. I really hope they see reason and release a later revision of the device that uses USB-C (the slightly larger X4 does include USB-C charging, but that model is discontinued).
Third the buttons are kind of hard to press at times. This is more of a nitpick but I've got larger hands/fingers and it ruins the ergonomics of the device for me.
Fourth, these devices have an incredibly small quantity of RAM and as such they have to get clever just to open and display ebooks. They heavily cache indexes to the SD card to speed up access and those indexes take time to generate. When you first open a book and periodically while navigating you'll be subjected to very long pauses while the firmware generates and saves that books index files.
Overall the devices are interesting, and I can see how some people could find them useful/enjoyable, but they're also far from perfect and there's a lot of room to improve.
Really appreciate your detailed write up. I mentioned elsewhere that some of these comments were swaying me towards trying one out, certainly more convincing than the article in my opinion. I appreciate the fact you outlined some pros and cons. I always have my phone, and anywhere I go for more than a quick chore I generally throw my ereader in a bag, so I understand I'm likely not the target audience, but I guess having more ways to read can't be a bad thing. The lack of backlight and proprietary charger are giving me pause for sure. I might still give it a week to mull it over, but your comment was super helpful and saved me a cursory search before really diving into comparison shopping. Glad to hear they are helping some people read more. Fingers crossed they keep improving them, even if they're not quite right for me.
For what it's worth I'm considering getting the X4 Pro for myself. I do like that they added a backlight even if it comes at the cost of the USB-C port, and even with the extra cost it's still cheaper than something like a Kobo (although also significantly less capable). For something quick and easy you can chuck in a pocket or a bag and make part of your EDC in a way that a Kobo or Kindle is too large and pricey for it sits in an interesting niche.
Look into the m5stack papermono lite. It has a back light.
There is also the seeed reterminal sticky without back light. Cheaper than xteink and usb c. I got one of those. But i do miss the back light.
Papermono Lite looks interesting. Really good price point. The only things I'm seeing I wish it had are physical face buttons and bluetooth support (for a page turn remote). Aside from that it looks like it has everything I could want, or is at least as good as the X4 Pro.