Aaaaaah, the Xteink X3. The e-reader that has been shilled by everyone and their mom. Do they even pay the people who make this type of content? “How this little device saved me from scrolling” …yeah, right.

That’s what I thought at first when I got all these videos in my YouTube feed about the X4 and subsequently the X3. I had been in the market for an e-reader for quite a while. I wanted something simple, minimalist, and easy to carry around. First, I considered a jailbroken Kindle, but despite flashing the alternative firmware being extremely easy, finding a device that had the correct version that allowed flashing was not: the prices were either too high, or the model was simply too old to justify a purchase. Then came brands like BigME and Boox. These were the first “phone-sized” e-readers I saw that sparked my interest, but they had similar problems to the Kindles: THE PRICE WAS SO HIGH (and a lot of those models had all of those useless Android features I didn’t need nor want).

Enter Xteink. This chinese brand made exactly what I wanted: a device that was small, didn’t cost a fortune (lots of X4s can be found in the $40 to $50 range), and didn’t pack unnecessary features nobody asked for. Additionally, CrossPoint (bless the devs) solidified my choice, offering a robust, open-source alternative firmware for the device. So here I am, receiving the device in the mail, flashing CrossPoint on it, and loading a few books on, and… WOW! For the first time ever, those clickbait titles were actually right. It’s a device I always carry with me on the back of my phone that makes me want to read. Are you waiting for the bus? Read a few pages. Are you on the train? Read a few pages. Are you in the bathroom? Yeah, you get the point. Unfortunately, I had picked up the habit of reading only documentation or some weird bullshit online instead of actually picking up a good book that interested me and that I wanted to read; this little thing fixed it. Moral of the story: get yourself one of these if you wanna read books and want something that is always with you, and you’ll develop a positive habit for once.