SVARTLING NETWORK

https://reetle.ai/en/products/smartink-i

First look at the Reetle SmartInk I - a magnetic e-ink micro reader and AI Recorder for both reading and note taking

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 10:31:31 +0100

The Back of Your Phone Is Dead Space. Reetle’s SmartInk I Turns It Into an E-Reader

This 5.4-millimeter magnetic E Ink slab combines distraction-free reading, ambient to-do lists, and offline AI voice transcription without forcing audio into the cloud.

For years, the back of the modern smartphone has been little more than a mounting plate for wallets and charging coils. Reetle wants to turn that wasted space into a calm, secondary computing surface. Priced at $149, the Reetle SmartInk I (model ETS 1301) is a magnetic micro e-reader and AI voice recorder designed to live on the rear of your phone, offering a glare-free screen to read books, capture spoken thoughts, and track tasks without unlocking your main display.

Even the packaging signals Reetle’s literary ambitions. The hardware arrives in a box styled like a hardcover book, opening to a manifesto about quiet technology that "listens when you record, reads when you study, and remembers when you forget." Inside sits a remarkably slim device: at 5.4 millimeters thick and 65 grams, the SmartInk I snaps onto the back of an iPhone Air with strong magnets that feel immediately secure and pocket-ready.

Privacy-First AI Recording Without Cloud Lock-In

What separates the SmartInk I from the current wave of AI voice recorders is its refusal to hold your data—or your wallet—hostage to the cloud. With a tap on the 3.97-inch E Ink touchscreen, the built-in microphone captures meetings or voice memos directly onto the device’s 4 GB of local storage (about 3.6 GB user-accessible), no phone required.

Once paired via Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi to the companion iOS app, you get flexibility that most AI gadgets withhold. Activating the device grants 3,000 AI credits—plus a 100-credit welcome bonus—to generate cloud transcriptions across 100+ languages, structured summaries, action items, and visual mind maps.

Crucially, however, you never have to upload a single recording to remote servers. By downloading offline language packs and built-in speech models—supporting European languages like Swedish and German—you can run transcriptions and summaries completely on-device. Alternatively, you can disable auto-transcription to save credits, transfer raw audio files to your iPhone, and process them in your own Google Gemini subscription.

An Always-On Productivity Hub

Because E Ink consumes zero power to hold a static image, the SmartInk I doubles as an always-on task board. To-dos extracted from recordings or added in the app stay visible on the back of your phone all day, and native Apple Reminders integration keeps tasks synced across iOS. When idle, you can also run any phone photo through an in-app AI filter to create a custom e-paper sleep wallpaper.

An independent 1,100 mAh battery charged via USB-C powers the unit for up to eight hours of continuous recording or over a month of standby, never draining your phone’s battery.

How It Holds Up as a Micro E-Reader

For e-ink enthusiasts, the real hook is having a pocketable micro-reader always within reach. The 480 x 800 display delivers 235 PPI, rendering EPUB, PDF, and TXT files transferred in seconds over Wi-Fi from the Reetle app. With no frontlight, reading relies on ambient light just like real paper.

Still, first impressions reveal a few trade-offs. Unlike matte e-paper panels, the SmartInk I’s screen has a noticeably glossy finish that catches reflections more easily. Because the chassis only has a single power button, page turns require tapping or swiping the touchscreen rather than clicking physical buttons. And while basic font settings are included, dedicated readers will wish for CrossPoint Sync or KOReader Sync support to keep reading progress aligned across other devices.

Even with those caveats, the Reetle SmartInk I nails a clever hybrid formula. By merging a micro e-reader, an Apple Reminders task board, and an offline-capable AI recorder into one magnetic slab, it turns the back of your phone into the calmest screen you carry.

Website:

https://reetle.ai

Buy it here:

Watch video here:

A First Look of the Flowtica Verso - A Magnetic e-ink AI device for your daily productivity

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 12:55:58 +0100

The Flowtica Verso Wants to Put an E-Ink AI Brain on the Back of Your Phone

By pairing a glare-free e-paper touchscreen with a MagSafe voice recorder, Flowtica’s latest gadget turns the rear of your smartphone into a distraction-free second brain.

Inside the box of the Flowtica Verso sits a manifesto that sums up the central paradox of modern mobile computing: "More screens demand your attention. This one respects it." Over the past two years, the AI hardware gold rush has given us screenless lapel pins, pendant microphones, and credit-card-thin voice recorders. Yet almost all of them share the same fatal flaw: the moment you want to read a transcript or check an action item, they send you right back to your glowing smartphone screen.

The Flowtica Verso takes a decidedly different approach. Instead of banishing the display altogether, it snaps a matte, 259 PPI E-Ink touchscreen directly onto the back of your phone via MagSafe. Machined from a single-piece aluminum-magnesium alloy chassis that measures just 6.5 millimeters thin and weighs around 78 grams, the Verso feels less like a bulky battery pack and more like a natural architectural extension of the handset itself. In hands-on testing, the textured white rear casing sits flush against even the ultra-thin profile of an iPhone Air, and Flowtica includes adhesive magnetic rings in the box for phones without built-in magnets.

At its core, the Verso is an ambient AI capture device and a glanceable eNote dashboard rolled into one. Along its edge sits a minimal hardware control setup featuring a power and recording button alongside a dedicated "Ask AI" trigger. Four studio-grade MEMS microphones and a vibration-sensing contact mic work in tandem to capture everything from cellular phone calls to boardroom meetings up to five meters away, separating up to 15 speakers across 92 languages. Dictating a quick voice memo in Swedish—including a spoken command to schedule a task for 3:00 PM—translated into a structured to-do item on the screen in seconds.

What elevates the Verso for e-paper enthusiasts is how much happens on the device itself. Equipped with standalone Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C charging, and 64GB of internal storage, the unit lasts up to 72 hours per charge and doesn’t rely on your phone as a constant tether. Once paired and updated via a surprisingly responsive on-screen E-Ink keyboard, the glare-free panel defaults to a calm, always-on start page. Without ever waking your primary OLED screen, you can flip through full AI meeting summaries, bulleted takeaways, and a two-way synced Google or Outlook calendar. Tasks can be filtered between today’s priorities, scheduled commitments, and unscheduled brainstorms with zero notification clutter.

Just as compelling is how the Verso slots into a broader hardware ecosystem. Rather than walling off its software, Flowtica ties the Verso into the same cloud "second brain" used by its Flowtica Scribe smart pen and its Apple Watch companion app. A voice memo captured on your wrist during a morning walk, a handwritten note jotted with the Scribe pen, and a meeting recorded on the Verso all funnel into a unified timeline that automatically syncs across devices. Better still, a single account covers the entire hardware lineup, backed by a generous free tier offering 300 monthly AI processing minutes before paid plans are ever needed.

Even running early beta firmware ahead of its $299 retail launch ($199 for early reservations), the Verso hints at a much larger ambition for pocketable e-paper. Flowtica plans to roll out upcoming firmware updates that will unlock native ebook reading and curated high-priority email views right on the rear display. For years, E-Ink fans have wished for a worthy spiritual successor to dual-screen phones like the YotaPhone. By turning the back of any smartphone into a calm, intelligent reading surface, the Flowtica Verso might finally deliver the next best thing.

Check out their early-bird reservation:

- Put down a $10 deposit today and pay the remaining $189 at launch, a flat $100 off the $299 retail price

- The reservation includes guaranteed priority shipping in Batch 1, a free Folio Lite notebook and 3 months of Flowtica Unlimited

- The $10 deposit is fully refundable anytime before launch, or within 30 days after ordering

- Reserve before November 16 to get the early-bird price

T&Cs apply and this offer is directly managed by Flowtica. Please check their website for more details.

Check this link and reserve it: https://bit.ly/4jTy00B

Their website:

https://www.flowtica.ai/

Watch video here:

https://www.eegoread.com/

First Look at the EEGOREAD A4 and A4 Lite micro e-Readers!

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Mon, 9 Nov 2026 18:41:05 +0100

The EEGOREAD A4 Micro E-Reader Trades Smartphone Proportions for a Pocket-Sized Paperback

With a wider 3.98-inch E Ink display, built-in MagSafe magnets, and support for CrossPoint custom firmware, EEGOREAD’s tiny new readers rethink ultra-portable digital reading.

The micro e-reader category has spent the past year converging on a familiar template: shrink an E Ink panel into the tall, narrow silhouette of a smartphone so it feels immediately natural to scrolling thumbs. With the new EEGOREAD A4 ($85.99) and EEGOREAD A4 Lite ($65.99), hardware maker EEGO takes a noticeably different tack. Instead of mimicking a miniature handset, the A4 series widens the frame into a squat, softly rounded rectangle that looks and feels far closer to an actual paperback book—just scaled down to fit in the palm of one hand.

Both models share the exact same physical footprint, measuring 99.2 × 68.1 × 7.9 mm and finished in an understated matte "Paper Gray" chassis. Around the edges, EEGO packs in tactile page-turn buttons, a dedicated power key, a lanyard loop, a USB-C port for charging and data transfer, and an exposed microSD slot with a pre-installed 16GB card (expandable up to 1TB), though notably no pinhole reset button. A capacitive home button sits below the display, while a 2,000 mAh battery inside promises weeks of casual reading between charges.

What separates the two siblings is lighting—and six grams of weight. The 78-gram A4 Lite is a purist’s reflective panel with no front light at all, relying entirely on ambient illumination. Step up $20 to the 84-gram EEGOREAD A4, and you get an adjustable front light complete with both cool and warm color temperature sliders, making it just as usable in a pitch-black bedroom as it is on a sunlit commute. Regardless of the tier, both feature a 3.98-inch capacitive touch E Ink display running at a 552 × 768 resolution (238 PPI). That wider aspect ratio immediately distinguishes the A4 from narrower micro-sized competitors like the XTEINK lineup, giving lines of EPUB and TXT prose a bit more horizontal breathing room.

Perhaps the cleverest part of the hardware design is its built-in magnetic back. Out of the box, EEGO includes adhesive magnetic ring stickers and a USB-C-to-USB-C cable, alongside an optional matching gray magnetic folio case. Better yet, the internal magnet array is MagSafe-compatible, allowing either reader to snap directly onto the rear of an iPhone. Even on the iPhone Air—where Apple’s specific MagSafe ring placement notoriously causes alignment headaches for third-party accessories—both the A4 and A4 Lite lock onto the back panel cleanly, essentially turning the phone’s reverse side into an always-available E Ink screen.

That magnetic engineering isn't without early quality-control hiccups, however. On our front-lit EEGOREAD A4 unit, the internal magnets arrived loose inside the shell, producing an audible rattle whenever the bare device was tilted or shaken. Curiously, the A4 Lite exhibited no such issue. While a loose internal magnet is a frustrating flaw on a brand-new device, it thankfully doesn't compromise functionality: the moment the A4 snaps into its magnetic protective case or onto the back of an iPhone Air, the magnetic tension pulls the internal components taut and silences the rattle completely.

On the software side, both devices boot in seconds into a clean, minimalist stock interface featuring quick toggles for 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB file transfer, Wi-Fi web transfer, and a local device hotspot, alongside sensible built-in typography controls. Still, for dedicated e-ink enthusiasts, the real headline lies beneath the stock OS. Both the EEGOREAD A4 and A4 Lite can be flashed with CrossPoint, the community-favorite open-source firmware for micro e-readers. Being able to load CrossPoint out of the gate transforms these pocketable slates from standalone novelties into synchronized companions that integrate seamlessly with a broader fleet of micro readers.

Aside from the A4’s rattling magnet, the EEGOREAD A4 and A4 Lite make a compelling first impression. By combining a book-like aspect ratio, effortless MagSafe attachment, and open-source firmware flexibility under $90, EEGO has carved out a distinct, deeply likable corner in the fast-growing micro e-reader space.

Website:

Watch video here:

https://sync.crosspointreader.com

How to use CrossPoint Sync on all your e-Readers instead of KOReader Sync!

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Thu, 5 Nov 2026 19:03:37 +0100

CrossPoint Sync Wants to Be the Universal Glue for Every E-Reader You Own

Built on top of the open KOReader protocol, CrossPoint Sync replaces bare-bones position tracking with cloud library connectors, unified reading analytics, and cross-device clipping management.

If you read across more than one e-ink device—say, a pocket-sized reader for the commute and a larger screen at home—leaving the walled gardens of Amazon or Kobo usually comes with a tax. For years, the open-source answer to keeping your place across independent hardware has been KOReader Sync. It works, and it is admirably lightweight, but it does essentially one thing: remember what page you stopped on.

CrossPoint Sync changes that equation. Built as part of the open-source CrossPoint Reader ecosystem, it is 100 percent compatible with the standard KOReader sync protocol while adding the cloud tissue that modern multi-device readers actually want. Instead of merely passing a page percentage back and forth, CrossPoint Sync acts as a central hub for your reading progress, bookmarks, highlights, clippings, document metadata, and reading statistics across hardware running CrossPoint, CrossInk, or stock KOReader.

More Than a Bookmark in the Cloud

The biggest limitation of standard KOReader servers is how little context they store. CrossPoint Sync upgrades the backend so that progress is tracked per device rather than blindly overwriting a single record, eliminating the frustrating sync "ping-pong" that happens when you switch hardware without closing a book. For devices running CrossPoint or CrossInk firmware, an extended API carries lossless position data—down to the exact spine, paragraph, and anchor—alongside full book metadata.

Once you create a free account on the CrossPoint Sync dashboard at sync.crosspointreader.com (or spin up your own self-hosted Docker instance), your reading life gets a visual web and mobile home. Opening the dashboard reveals the book you are currently reading, when it last synced, your completion percentage, how many printed pages you have covered, and how many days you have spent with the title. If testing multiple devices leaves you with duplicate entries for the same book, you can merge those statistics cleanly. You can also search through every clipping and highlight across your library, customize idle-book rules, or make your reading profile public.

Connecting Your Entire Reading Stack

Where CrossPoint Sync really pulls ahead of traditional sync servers is its server-side integrations. Rather than forcing your e-reader firmware to support a dozen third-party APIs, CrossPoint Sync links directly to the services you already use:

BookFusion: Connect your BookFusion account for two-way position syncing and highlight management. Combined with the BookFusion plugin on CrossPoint devices, you can browse your cloud shelves directly on an e-reader, download an EPUB to a local folder, and keep your reading position and clippings synchronized across e-ink readers and the BookFusion mobile app on iPhone or Android.
Audiobookshelf and Spotify: Switch between reading an ebook and listening to its audiobook counterpart without losing your place.
Readest, BookOrbit, Hardcover, and Readwise: Automatically push highlights, clippings, and shelf updates to your preferred tracking and note-taking tools every time your reader syncs.

How to Set It Up Across Your Fleet

Moving from standard KOReader Sync to CrossPoint Sync takes less than two minutes per device and requires no extra plugins for core syncing:

Create Your Account: Visit sync.crosspointreader.com in any desktop or mobile browser (or install the Android APK) and register a username and password on the Sync Dashboard.
Configure CrossPoint or CrossInk Devices: On hardware like the XTEINK X4 Classic or X4 Pro, open Settings, navigate to Connectivity, and select CrossPoint Sync. Set the server URL to sync.crosspointreader.com and the server type to CrossPoint. Enter your credentials, set document matching to Filename, and enable Send Document Metadata, Smart Sync, and Sync Clippings before tapping Authenticate.
Configure KOReader Devices: On a Kobo Clara or any other e-reader running KOReader, open the Custom Sync Server settings, enter sync.crosspointreader.com, log in with the same credentials, enable Send Document Metadata, and set the document matching method to Filename.

Once authenticated, an hour of reading on a pocket e-reader and an hour on a bedside Kobo flow into the exact same timeline—turning a collection of separate e-ink gadgets into a single, cohesive reading system.

Website in video:

Watch video here:

XTEINK X4C - A kind of a review and talk about the love for micro e-readers

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sun, 1 Nov 2026 12:23:36 +0100

Why the Best E-Reader Is the One That Disappears in Your Pocket

With the 4.9mm-thin XTEINK X4 Classic, the case for ultra-compact "micro" e-readers has never been sharper—or brighter.

For years, the e-reader industry has been locked in a quiet arms race of expansion. Screens have stretched from six inches to seven, then ten, and finally into tablet-sized digital notebooks complete with styluses, color filters, and heavyweight operating systems. Yet for anyone whose primary goal is simply to read more books every day, the most exciting hardware revolution is happening in the opposite direction. Welcome to the era of the micro e-reader—and right now, no device captures its appeal quite like the XTEINK X4 Classic.

To understand the micro e-reader, you have to look smaller than even palm-sized, smartphone-style E Ink devices. At just 4.9 millimeters thick and weighing a mere 68 grams, the 4.3-inch XTEINK X4 Classic is thinner than most phone cases and lighter than a minimalist wallet. Compared to the first-generation X4, XTEINK shaved off a full millimeter of thickness while somehow packing in a larger 920 mAh battery. The engineering payoff is immediately obvious in the hand: it boasts the sturdiest chassis and most tactile physical page-turn buttons the company has ever built, yet it vanishes into a shirt pocket and runs for weeks on a single charge.

The real magic of the X4 Classic, however, lies in what XTEINK left out. Unlike its sibling, the X4 Pro, the Classic skips both a capacitive touchscreen and a built-in front light. On paper, that sounds like a downgrade; in practice, it creates the sharpest, whitest, and highest-contrast display in the entire XTEINK lineup. Without two extra optical layers sitting on top of the 219 PPI E Ink panel, the raw electronic ink sits right at the surface. Pair that bright, paper-white background with a bold, 20-point Bitter typeface in the CrossPoint firmware, and the crisp black text practically leaps off the screen—making it effortless to read without reaching for reading glasses.

Of course, stripping away the front light and touchscreen introduces real-world trade-offs, especially during the dark Nordic autumn and winter months when daylight is scarce. While XTEINK sells a clever USB-C rechargeable magnetic clip-on reading lamp with stepless dimming, the X4 Classic is naturally at its best under office lamps or daylight. That makes it half of a two-device rhythm alongside the X4 Pro. Where the Classic reigns supreme from morning commute to afternoon coffee break, the X4 Pro steps in at bedtime—offering a warm front light for pitch-black rooms and touchscreen convenience for typing Wi-Fi passwords or long-pressing words to pull up an Oxford Dictionary definition, save clippings, and drop bookmarks.

What prevents this multi-device habit from feeling fragmented is the software tying it all together. Running the community-driven CrossPoint firmware with CrossPoint Reader Sync transforms these tiny, ESP32-powered gadgets into nodes of a unified reading ecosystem. Progress, book libraries, clippings, and granular reading statistics sync effortlessly to a central web dashboard. Even better, CrossPoint bridges the gap between micro readers and the rest of the E Ink world—linking with BookFusion, syncing via KOReader servers on Kobo and Kindle hardware, and connecting to an Android companion app that runs on larger E Ink phones. You can put down the X4 Classic at your desk and pick up right on the same page elsewhere.

There are still minor quirks to navigate. The X4 Classic relies on magnetic pogo pins rather than a direct USB-C port, though pairing it with XTEINK's weighted desktop charging stand turns that quirk into a clean, drop-and-charge desk setup. And while its repositioned rear magnets don't align as neatly on the back of every phone as the original X4 did, the broader takeaway remains undeniable: when an e-reader is small enough to go everywhere, every spare minute becomes reading time.

Website:

https://www.xteink.com/

Buy it here.

Accessories

Watch video here:

My First Look at the XTEINK X4 Classic, the XTEINK Charging Stand and XTEINK Reading Light!

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 18:51:18 +0100

The XTEINK X4 Classic Strips the Pocket E-Reader Down to Its Purest Form

At 4.9 millimeters thin with no touchscreen or frontlight, XTEINK’s refined micro reader—paired with a Pogo-pin dock and a magnetic book lamp—doubles down on tactile minimalism.

Printed inside the packaging of the new XTEINK X4 Classic is a simple, six-word manifesto: "Read more, scroll less, feel free." In an era of bloated smartphones and glowing tablets, micro e-readers have quietly carved out a devoted following by proving a counterintuitive point. Shrinking an E Ink screen down to the footprint of a credit card holder does not make reading harder; because the device disappears into a pocket and eliminates notifications, you actually finish more books than you ever would on a phone.

The XTEINK X4 Classic—essentially a second-generation refinement of the original X4—takes that minimalist philosophy and sharpens the hardware. Dressed in a stealthy Space Black finish, the difference in build quality is apparent the moment it comes out of the box. At just 4.9 millimeters thick and 68 grams, the Classic shaves a full millimeter off the original X4 and feels substantially lighter and sleeker in the hand than both its predecessor and the thicker, heavier X4 Pro. Yet inside that razor-thin chassis, XTEINK managed to upgrade the processor to an ESP32-S3 chip and boost the battery capacity from 650mAh to 920mAh, easily stretching endurance to weeks between charges.

That obsession with thinness comes with deliberate omissions. Unlike the X4 Pro, the X4 Classic has neither a touchscreen nor a built-in frontlight over its 4.3-inch, 219 PPI E Ink display. For e-paper purists, that is a feature rather than a compromise: with no extra optical layers dimming the panel, text renders with crisp, paper-like contrast—clarity best preserved by leaving the bundled screen protectors in the box. Navigation relies entirely on physical controls, which feel noticeably more solid this generation. Rather than the single-side rocker and front buttons of the original X4, the Classic adopts the clean side-button layout of the X3 and X4 Pro alongside a microSD slot.

Not every physical tweak is an unvarnished win, however. While XTEINK includes adhesive magnetic rings in the box and equipped the X4 Classic with noticeably stronger internal magnets, the repositioned magnetic array changes how the reader sits on a smartphone. Where the original X4 snapped cleanly onto the back of an ultra-thin phone like the iPhone Air without protruding, the X4 Classic—much like the X4 Pro—sits lower and overhangs the edge, even when inverted. The device also drops the original model's onboard USB-C port in favor of rear Pogo pins, bundling a tiny magnetic USB-C adapter dongle that unifies charging across the X3, X4 Classic, and X4 Pro.

That Pogo-pin transition makes much more sense once you pair the reader with XTEINK’s new companion accessories. The Space Black Base Stand has a reassuring, hefty weight that anchors any reader in the lineup on a desk, and slotting the magnetic Pogo-pin adapter into its base turns it into an effortless drop-in charging dock for the X3, X4 Classic, and X4 Pro. Meanwhile, the XTEINK Magnetic Reading Light solves the lack of a frontlight by snapping magnetically onto the top edge of the reader, cycling through three color temperatures including warm and cool light. Instead of feeling archaic, reading in bed under a tiny warm lamp makes the digital device feel remarkably like an old-fashioned paperback.

On the software front, XTEINK’s native Licorice firmware has matured into a clean, capable reader right out of the box. Still, for enthusiasts, the real magic of the X4 Classic’s open architecture is the ability to flash community-built firmware like CrossPoint within minutes. Thinner, lighter, and unapologetically tactile, the XTEINK X4 Classic proves that sometimes the best way to move reading tech forward is to strip almost everything else away.

Website:

https://www.xteink.com/

Buy it here

Accessories

Watch video here:

https://euroshop.bigme.vip/

The Review of Bigme B6 Pro Color - The fastest e-reader I have ever used

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:59:03 +0100

Bigme’s B6 Pro Color Is the Fastest E-Reader Ever Made—and That Might Be Its Biggest Problem

With a 75 frames-per-second refresh rate, 4G connectivity, and full Android 14, this pocket-sized Kaleido 3 device blurs the line between distraction-free reader and full-blown smartphone.

For years, the central promise of e-ink was friction. Slow refresh rates and monochrome screens weren’t just technical limitations; they were a moat against the algorithmic chaos of modern smartphones. Then along comes the Bigme B6 Pro Color, a 6-inch device that shatters the speed barrier so thoroughly that it forces an existential question: what happens when an e-reader becomes as fast as the phone you’re trying to escape?

Make no mistake—the B6 Pro Color is the fastest e-reader on the market right now. Powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of expandable storage running Android 14, it pushes its E Ink panel up to an astonishing 75 frames per second. Ghosting is virtually nonexistent. Menus snap open, web pages scroll with liquid fluidity, and apps launch without the characteristic e-paper stutter. Toss in a 4G SIM card slot, built-in microphones, and a speaker, and this 6-inch slate will happily handle phone calls, SMS, YouTube, and real-time voice sessions with Google Gemini Live. About the only smartphone task it can’t manage is photography, simply because there isn’t a camera on the back.

That raw capability is both a triumph of engineering and a genuine trap. When an e-ink screen can effortlessly run Reddit and social feeds at high frame rates, the temptation to doomscroll creeps right back in. If you buy e-ink for enforced digital minimalism, the B6 Pro Color requires real willpower.

Pocketable Hardware with Smart Ergonomics

As a pure reading machine, however, the hardware hits a sweet spot. The 6-inch form factor is featherlight and effortlessly portable. Its boxy, slab-sided white chassis has a clean, minimalist aesthetic, though the squared-off edges can feel slightly sharp during marathon reading sessions. Sliding it into the bundled magnetic faux-leather flip case solves that immediately, adding a supple grip without bogging down the device. The only conspicuous hardware oversight sits on the top edge: unlike Bigme’s HiBreak Pro, the red power button lacks an integrated fingerprint sensor, forcing you to punch in a PIN code every time you wake it up.

On the front, the 6-inch Kaleido 3 display (300 PPI for black-and-white text, 150 PPI for color) boasts some of the best factory calibration in its class. Book covers and illustrations render with natural, balanced tones rather than the garish oversaturation that plagues competing panels like the Viwoods AiPaper Reader Color. Pure monochrome e-ink still holds the crown for contrast and background brightness, as Kaleido 3’s color filter layer inevitably dims the canvas. Yet if you want color, this is as good as small-format e-paper gets.

Ergonomics get a massive boost from the row of five capacitive touch icons beneath the display. Using the built-in SideKeys utility, you can assign global or per-app actions to every button. Mapping all five capacitive zones to turn pages forward on a single tap, backward on a double tap, and exit on a long press makes one-handed reading effortless in either hand across KOReader, BookFusion, or ElevenReader. It is also arguably the ultimate Storytel companion, smoothly handling synchronized audiobook narration and text highlighting through its surprisingly capable speaker.

A Lag-Free Stylus and a Predictable Battery Trade-Off

Bigme also bundles a compact active capacitive stylus that tucks into the case loop and charges via a chunky USB-C adapter cap. Thanks to the panel’s speed, jotting notes in the pre-installed xNote app feels instantaneous and lag-free. Still, it’s strictly for casual scratchpad duty—there is no searchable handwriting database, calendar syncing, or deep organizational workflow. Serious note-takers should stick to larger, dedicated monochrome eNote tablets.

All that smartphone-grade speed exacts a predictable toll on the 2,100 mAh battery. While specialized Android slates like the full-size Viwoods AiPaper and AiPaper Mini can stretch battery life impressively, the B6 Pro Color typically taps out after two days of mixed high-speed use, or three days of strict reading. At least the compact cell recharges quickly over USB-C.

If you want a locked-down, charge-it-once-a-month paperback replacement, look elsewhere. But if you want a pocketable color e-reader that refuses to lag—and can double as a full Android powerhouse when called upon—nothing else comes close.

Buy it here

There is also a euro store available:

Website:

https://store.bigme.vip/

Watch video here:

Installing KOReader on Bigme B6 Pro and copying all settings from another device

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:34:07 +0200

Clone Your Reading Brain: How to Migrate Your Entire KOReader Setup to the Bigme B6 Pro Color in Minutes

Switching to a new Android e-reader usually means hours of tedious reconfiguration. With a simple folder swap via Google Drive, you can port your fonts, dictionaries, and sync credentials instantly.

The Bigme B6 Pro Color has quietly become one of the most compelling pocket-sized devices in the e-ink space. Packing a 6-inch Kaleido 3 color display, an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 1080 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage into a frame that feels like a miniature notebook, it moves with the snappy responsiveness of a modern smartphone. Combined with customizable side keys and Android 14 under the hood, it is an easy pick as a daily driver.

For dedicated digital readers, however, great hardware is only half the equation. The default software on most Android e-readers rarely matches the granular control of KOReader—the open-source reading application revered for its deep customization, custom typography, and cross-device progress syncing.

The only downside to KOReader’s flexibility is setting it up from scratch on a new piece of hardware. Dialing in your exact status bar metrics, margins, custom fonts, dictionaries, and sync servers on a fresh device can take hours. Fortunately, because KOReader stores its entire configuration inside a single directory on Android, you don't have to rebuild your reading environment when upgrading from another device, such as a Bigme HiBreak Pro Color or a B7 Pro Color. You can simply clone it.

Getting the Right Build of KOReader

Because the Bigme B6 Pro Color runs full Android 14 on modern 64-bit architecture, the cleanest way to install KOReader is directly from the developer’s official GitHub repository rather than waiting on third-party app store updates.

Open Chrome on the B6 Pro Color, navigate to the official KOReader GitHub releases page, and scroll down to the asset list for the latest version. You will see several APK variants listed for Android. Because the B6 Pro Color is powered by a modern 64-bit chip, select and download the file labeled koreader-android-arm64.apk.

Once the download finishes, open your file manager—Google Files works particularly well here—and navigate to your Downloads folder. Tap the APK to begin the installation. Because this is the first time sideloading an app from the browser, Android will prompt you to grant install permissions and may flag the file with a standard security warning. Select "Install anyway" and authenticate with your PIN or biometrics.

Crucial rule: Once the installation completes and the KOReader icon appears on your home screen, do not open the app yet.

The Cloud-Based Brain Transplant

Instead of fussing with USB cables, desktop file transfers, or swapping microSD cards, the fastest way to migrate your setup between two Android e-ink devices is through Google Drive.

On your older, already-configured device, open your file manager and locate the main koreader folder in the root of your internal storage. Compress that entire directory into a single .zip archive (for example, koreader-backup.zip) and upload it to your Google Drive. This archive contains everything: your sideloaded library, custom fonts, installed dictionaries, gesture mappings, and even your progress-sync login credentials.

With the backup in the cloud, switch back to your new Bigme B6 Pro Color and follow this sequence:

Download the archive: Open the Google Drive app on the B6 Pro Color, locate your zipped KOReader folder, tap the three-dot menu, and hit Download. Depending on the size of your book library, this may take a minute or two.
Stage the file: Open Google Files and head to the Downloads directory. Select your newly downloaded .zip file, tap the three-dot menu, and move it directly to the root of your Internal Storage.
Clear any default folders: Navigate into your Internal Storage. If an empty or default koreader folder was generated during installation, select it and delete it completely so there are no file conflicts.
Extract and position: Tap your .zip archive in Internal Storage and select Extract. Once extraction finishes, delete the leftover .zip file. Check the extracted folder structure—if the extraction created a wrapper folder (such as koreader-backup/koreader), go inside, select the core koreader folder itself, and move it directly to the root of your Internal Storage, then delete the empty wrapper folder.

Fine-Tuning for the 6-Inch Canvas

Now it is time to tap the KOReader icon on your home screen. Instead of greeting you with a blank onboarding screen, the app will boot directly into your familiar home folder with your entire library intact. Your custom fonts (like Bitter), dictionaries, status bar layout, and sync credentials will already be active—meaning you can open a book, tap sync, and pick up on the exact page where you left off on your smartphone or tablet.

Because you are likely moving between devices with slightly different screen dimensions or pixel densities, you may need to make one or two minor visual adjustments. A font size configured for a high-density smartphone screen or a larger 7-inch display might look overly large on the B6 Pro Color's 6-inch 300 PPI panel. Simply open a book, dial the font size down to a comfortable level (around 34pt works well for many custom serif fonts on this screen), and long-press to set it as the new default. You may also want to nudge your bottom progress bar margins to match the B6 Pro's bezel proportions.

In less than ten minutes, you have bypassed hours of tedious menu-diving—turning a brand-new color e-reader into a seamless extension of your personal reading workflow.

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Bookfusion Ink - A new interesting Firmware for XTEINK X4 X3 X4 Pro and X4C

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:52:42 +0200

BookFusion Ink Turns Tiny Pocket E-Readers Into Cloud-Synced Powerhouses

With a single browser-based flash, BookFusion’s new custom firmware transforms XTEINK’s minimalist hardware into a seamless extension of your digital library.

Micro e-readers have quietly carved out one of the most compelling niches in personal tech. Devices like the ultra-thin XTEINK X3 and the 4.3-inch X4 lineup—spanning the original X4, the button-driven X4 Classic, and the touchscreen-equipped, front-lit X4 Pro—offer something modern smartphones cannot: a featherweight, distraction-free E Ink screen that slips into a coin pocket or snaps magnetically onto the back of a phone. Yet for all their hardware charm, tiny e-readers have historically suffered from a glaring software limitation. Reading on a secondary pocket device meant living on a digital island, manually sideloading EPUB files and losing track of your reading position the moment you switched back to a tablet, desktop, or full-sized e-reader at home.

BookFusion Ink changes that equation entirely. Developed directly by the team behind the cross-platform BookFusion reading service, this new custom firmware replaces the stock operating system on XTEINK’s microcontroller-powered hardware and turns these minimalist gadgets into native, cloud-connected BookFusion terminals. Currently rolling out from public beta into general availability, the firmware supports the XTEINK X4, X4 Classic, X4 Pro, and the smaller 3.7-inch X3, with broader support planned for additional micro e-readers built on the same ESP32 chip architecture.

For avid readers who bounce between hardware ecosystems, the appeal is immediate. Once running BookFusion Ink, an XTEINK device automatically synchronizes your entire cloud library, custom bookshelves, series collections, and even saved web articles. More importantly, it keeps reading progress, bookmarks, and text highlights in lockstep across every screen you own. You can read a few pages on an XTEINK X4 Pro while waiting for a train, pick up the exact same paragraph on an iPhone, Android phone, or Android E Ink tablet, and even sync seamlessly with a Kobo or a jailbroken Kindle running KOReader via BookFusion’s plugin. For commuters who switch from text to audio, progress even bridges across to BookFusion’s Apple CarPlay integration.

Historically, installing alternative firmware on budget E Ink hardware required command-line utilities and a high tolerance for tinkering. BookFusion Ink adopts the frictionless, browser-based Web Serial approach popularized by open-source community projects like CrossPoint. With the e-reader powered on at its home screen and connected to a computer via its pogo-pin USB cable, the BookFusion web installer automatically detects the exact XTEINK model—eliminating the risk of flashing the wrong hardware profile. A single click writes the firmware to the device. After a quick reboot, connecting to a local Wi-Fi network, and typing a short verification code into BookFusion’s web portal, the reader immediately populates with your active books.

In day-to-day use on hardware like the XTEINK X4 Pro, the interface feels purposefully tailored to small-screen reading. Books download over Wi-Fi for offline access, the built-in front light works natively, and the X4 Pro’s capacitive touchscreen allows you to drag a finger across a sentence to save a highlight straight to the cloud. That said, the early firmware still shows a few beta rough edges in its typographic controls. While readers can switch to bookish typefaces like Literata, loosen line spacing, and tighten page margins, the maximum font size ceiling remains somewhat conservative—an area where future updates will need to deliver more granular customization.

Even with those early software quirks, BookFusion Ink represents a pivotal moment for the micro e-reader category. By pairing sub-$100, ultra-portable E Ink hardware with a mature, hardware-agnostic cloud backend, BookFusion has solved the biggest friction point of pocket reading: making sure the book in your pocket always knows exactly where you left off.

https://bookfusion.ink/

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Bigme B6 Pro Color - First Look and I can already feel that this device will be a favorite

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 18:50:35 +0200

The Bigme B6 Pro Color Is the Pocket-Sized Android E-Reader to Beat

With 8GB of RAM, 4G connectivity, and a classic 6-inch book aspect ratio, Bigme’s Kaleido 3 device blurs the line between paperback and smartphone.

For years, e-ink enthusiasts have been forced to choose between two imperfect form factors. On one side are e-ink smartphones like the Bigme HiBreak Pro Color, which pack serious silicon and cellular modems into a narrow, tall chassis that never quite feels like a book. On the other are ultra-minimalist pocket readers like the XTEINK X4, which nail portability by stripping away Android and third-party apps. The new Bigme B6 Pro Color bridges that divide, putting smartphone-grade internals and open Android 14 inside a classic 6-inch e-reader frame that feels like a miniature paperback.

Even the packaging hints at the ambition: the white retail box opens like a hardcover book to reveal the device nestled inside. Out of the wrapper, the matte white chassis makes an immediate impression. It is noticeably lighter and less chunky in the hand than the HiBreak Pro Color, despite offering a wider, more traditional reading canvas. Placed side by side with the 5.84-inch HiBreak, the B6 Pro Color shares nearly the same vertical footprint, and it is only marginally larger than the pocket-friendly XTEINK X4. Crucially, Bigme has kept the side bezels completely free of physical page-turn buttons, resulting in a clean, symmetrical grip that never digs into your palms.

Instead of side buttons, a row of five programmable capacitive touch keys sits along the bottom chin. Paired with a third-party remapping utility like SideKeys, those touch zones can be assigned to anything from system shortcuts to one-handed page turns. The box also includes a blue magnetic folio cover that snaps effortlessly onto the chassis for travel and detaches in a second when you want to read without extra bulk. Alongside a standard USB-A to USB-C cable, Bigme bundles its C8 stylus—a slim, S Pen-style active capacitive pen with an integrated charging module, complete with a spare nib and removal tool.

Under the hood, the B6 Pro Color reads more like a mid-range Android phone than a dedicated e-reader. Powered by an octa-core processor paired with a generous 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage—expandable up to 1TB via microSD—it breezes through multitasking without the sluggishness that plagues entry-level e-ink hardware. A built-in SIM tray adds 4G LTE cellular data and voice calling, backed by dual microphones and onboard speakers. If there is a hardware compromise, it is the absence of a fingerprint sensor on the red power button, leaving a standard PIN code as the only biometric-free way to lock the device.

The 6-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 panel renders monochrome text at a crisp 300 PPI and color elements at 150 PPI. Like every Kaleido 3 screen on the market, the color filter layer makes the unlit background noticeably darker than monochrome e-paper—roughly on par with the HiBreak Pro Color and a touch dimmer than the larger Bigme B7. Switching on the 36-level warm-and-cold frontlight immediately remedies the shadowy base tint. Through the control center, you can fine-tune the color temperature or toggle between customizable Daylight, Night, and Bedside lighting presets to match your environment.

Because it ships with Google Play pre-installed, setting up a personalized reading and research ecosystem takes minutes. Once you disable Bigme’s intrusive floating navigation ball, the device easily handles heavy-hitting apps like Storytel, ElevenReader, BookFusion, Readest, and Google Gemini, as well as sideloaded builds of KOReader from GitHub. Bigme’s E Ink Center ties the experience together with per-app refresh profiles—ranging from artifact-free HD 256 and Regal modes for static text to Normal, Extreme, and Hyper modes that push refresh rates fast enough for fluid scrolling. As a first impression, the Bigme B6 Pro Color feels dangerously close to the ultimate pocket e-reader.

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Flowtica Scribe is brilliant - It's my second brain now

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 15:11:50 +0200

Why the Flowtica Scribe AI Pen Just Became My Ultimate 'Second Brain'

In a world saturated with note-taking apps, digital planners, and productivity hacks, the quest for the perfect "second brain" often leads to a messy web of disconnected tools. We type on laptops, jot on sticky notes, and voice-record on our phones—rarely do these mediums communicate with one another. But after spending a week testing the Flowtica Scribe, an AI-powered smart pen paired with a robust companion app, I’m convinced this system is the missing link between analog thinking and digital organization.

At first glance, the Flowtica Scribe looks and feels like a premium writing pen, resting comfortably in the hand. But underneath its sleek exterior is a formidable recording device boasting an impressive 30 hours of continuous audio recording. The real hardware genius, however, lies in its charging ecosystem. The smart pen comes with a gorgeous, real-leather charging case that smells as good as it looks. Slipping the pen into the case boosts the total battery life to a staggering 100 hours. You can charge the case via a standard USB-C cable, while the pen itself can also be charged directly using a pogo pin connector—the exact same cable you might already use for dedicated e-ink devices like the XTEINK.

The system also includes a beautifully crafted leather folio notebook. It’s spacious enough to carry an e-ink reader—making it a perfect all-in-one everyday carry—but if you prefer thinner, standard paper notebooks for your daily office work, the Scribe doesn't miss a beat. You simply swap in your preferred paper and get to work.

The Flowtica Scribe’s core strength is its ability to harmonize handwritten notes with ambient audio recording. The premise is brilliantly simple: you let the pen record a meeting, a lecture, or simply your own spoken thoughts, while you jot down bullet points of the most crucial information. A long press on the pen's button triggers a red LED indicator and a subtle vibration, confirming that the microphones are picking up every word.

But the magic truly happens when you bring the Flowtica app into the equation. By snapping a quick photo of your handwritten pages with your smartphone, the app instantly merges your analog scribbles with the transcribed audio. It’s a seamless capture of both what was said and what was written.

The Flowtica app—available on both iOS and Android, and running flawlessly on e-ink devices like my Viwoods AiPaper reader—is where this system evolves into a legitimate second brain. For iPhone Air users, the transfer speed is nothing short of instant. Apple's smart transfer mode utilizes a clever combination of Bluetooth for secure identification and Wi-Fi Direct for rapid data offloading. The moment you stop recording, the audio is already in the app, transcribing in the background.

Once your data is in the app, Flowtica’s onboard AI takes over the heavy lifting. It automatically extracts action items and to-dos from your recordings and handwritten notes. With a single tap, these tasks are pushed directly to Apple Reminders and your calendar. No manual data entry is required. Furthermore, you can easily pull in outside thoughts. Have a quick idea while on a walk? Record a voice memo on your Apple Watch Ultra, share it directly to the Flowtica app via the iOS share sheet, and let the software transcribe and summarize it alongside your other notes.

What good is a second brain if you can’t find anything? That’s where the “Ask Flowtica” feature elevates the entire experience. Because every recording, snapshot of a whiteboard, and handwritten note is transcribed and stored, your entire personal ecosystem becomes endlessly searchable. You can prompt the AI just like you would ChatGPT, asking it to "summarize everything I've talked about regarding e-readers," and it will generate a comprehensive document complete with graphical data based entirely on your own notes.

The Flowtica Scribe isn’t just a fun gadget; it’s a robust, intelligent system that bridges the gap between the tactile satisfaction of pen and paper and the searchable convenience of a digital database. By building an ecosystem where analog thoughts automatically synthesize into actionable, organized tasks across all devices, Flowtica has created something genuinely brilliant. If this AI pen is just the foundation of their connected hardware lineup, the future of personal knowledge management looks remarkably bright.

Buy it here: https://bit.ly/3TDgZNl

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About mini e-Readers and the smallest that runs KOReader

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 16:53:00 +0200

Pocket-Sized Pages: The Rise of the Micro E-Reader

From smartphone-sized E-Ink devices to screens small enough to attach to your phone, the e-reader market is shrinking in the best way possible.

The e-reader market has long been dominated by the 6-inch to 10-inch slabs—devices perfectly sized for a backpack or a bedside table, but just a bit too cumbersome for your pocket. But a new wave of devices is quietly revolutionizing how we read on the go. Enter the micro e-reader: a category of ultra-portable, minimalist E-Ink screens designed to slip into the tightest spaces and integrate seamlessly into our daily lives. From full-fledged Android smartphones with E-Ink displays to tiny, credit-card-sized reading companions, the miniaturization of the e-reader is here.

The Smartphone Form Factor

If you're looking for the sweet spot between a traditional phone and a dedicated reading device, the smartphone form factor is where the action is. The original Bigme HiBreak stands out as the smallest e-reader capable of running KOReader—a beloved, highly customizable document viewer for E-Ink devices. With a 5.84-inch Kaleido color display and Android under the hood, it’s a compact powerhouse. Despite not having the absolute latest screen technology, text remains incredibly sharp, and physical volume buttons double delightfully as page-turners.

When compared to alternatives like the Viwoods AiPaper Reader (which sports a slightly larger 6.14-inch screen), the HiBreak feels noticeably smaller and shorter in the hand. But what if you want to replace your OLED smartphone entirely? The Bigme HiBreak Pro Color steps up as the most "phone-like" option. While it’s notably wider and thicker, it packs a microphone, speaker, and SIM card support, making it a true smartphone alternative for those seeking to reduce screen fatigue.

Then there's the Onyx Boox Palma, a device that initially showed immense promise with its sleek, lightweight design. Unfortunately, long-term use reveals some critical flaws: severe ghosting and a yellowish discoloration on the display after an hour or two of reading. Despite its great in-hand feel, these technical hiccups make it hard to recommend for marathon sessions.

The Magic of the Micro E-Reader

While smartphone-sized readers are great, the true magic lies in the ultra-micro category—devices so small they change your fundamental reading habits. The XTEINK X4 is a prime example. This tiny device transforms idle moments into reading opportunities. The white model is particularly clever: because the physical bezels match the background color of the E-Ink screen, you can minimize the digital margins and maximize text space. It’s so compact that it comfortably snaps onto the back of a standard smartphone, like an iPhone Air, meaning your library is always exactly where you need it.

For those who want something even smaller, the XTEINK X3 shrinks the footprint further, easily attaching to the back of almost any phone on the market. It’s perfect for reading a few sentences while waiting in line.

Bridging the Gap: Light, Touch, and the Future

The one historical drawback to these tiny screens was the lack of built-in lighting. Enter the XTEINK X4 Pro. By adding a front light and a touch screen, XTEINK created what is essentially a pocket-sized, DRM-free Kindle alternative. You can load it up with EPUBs via web services like Crosspoint or Calibre, use the touch screen for easy navigation and password entry, and then completely disable the touch sensitivity while reading to prevent accidental page turns. The only downside? It no longer fits perfectly on the back of an iPhone Air.

Other manufacturers are also jumping into the micro space. The Seeed Sticky by Seeed Studio offers a polished, touch-enabled experience that sits nicely between the X3 and X4 in size. Though it has a glossier screen and a thicker profile, its excellent battery life and tactile side buttons make it a formidable pocket companion.

Conclusion

The trend is clear: reading doesn't require a tablet-sized commitment anymore. Whether you want an E-Ink smartphone to replace your daily driver or a micro screen strapped to the back of your current phone, these pocketable devices prove that when it comes to e-readers, thinking small can lead to a massive change in how much we read.

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ElevenReader from ElevenLabs has become an Awesome ebook reader for e-ink devices and more

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Wed, 7 Oct 2026 18:52:56 +0200

The New ElevenReader App Just Made Human Audiobook Narrators Obsolete

If you're anything like me, you’ve spent years trying to find the absolute perfect ecosystem for digital reading. You want something that works beautifully across all your devices, syncs effortlessly, and doesn't trap you in a walled garden. Enter ElevenReader by ElevenLabs—an app that has quietly evolved into one of the most powerful and versatile reading tools on the market today. It’s an absolute game-changer, especially if you're holding onto an Android-based e-ink device.

But let’s get right to the headline feature: the audio.

The V4 AI Voices: A New Standard for Narration

We need to talk about what ElevenLabs has done with their latest Version 4 (V4) voices. For a long time, text-to-speech has been the functional, robotic cousin of the premium audiobook experience. Not anymore. The V4 voices included in the latest ElevenReader update are staggering.

When you listen to these voices—like the standout voice named "Donovan"—you are hearing full-fledged performance art. The cadence, the emotion, the pauses; it's virtually indistinguishable from a real human narrator. Whether you are sinking into a dense fantasy novel or a gripping thriller, the emotional resonance is maintained. Audiobooks have historically been an expensive luxury to produce, but ElevenReader democratizes that premium feel for virtually any text you throw at it.

Immersive Reading: Have It Your Way

Where ElevenReader truly shines is in its flexibility. It doesn't just ask you to choose between reading a book or listening to one. It offers an immersive reading experience that combines both.

You can choose to sit down and just read the text, just listen to the narration, or do both simultaneously. The app highlights the text as it is spoken, keeping you perfectly synced. This multimodal approach is incredible for retention, accessibility, and simply staying engaged with a text when your eyes start to get tired.

The convenience doesn't stop when you leave your house, either. For commuters, ElevenReader boasts full support for Apple CarPlay. You can seamlessly switch from reading your book over morning coffee to having it read to you flawlessly on your drive to work.

A Dream Come True for E-Ink Enthusiasts

Perhaps the most exciting demographic for the ElevenReader app is the e-ink community. It works seamlessly across Android-based e-ink e-Readers. Devices like the Bigme HiBreak Pro, the viwoods AIpaper reader, and the Onyx Boox line have a powerful new companion.

ElevenReader includes a dedicated "Reading Mode" that seems tailor-made for e-ink screens. You can use page-turn tap zones, and critically, turn off page-turn animations to prevent that annoying ghosting effect that plagues standard apps on e-ink displays. You can tweak fonts—like switching to a classy Libre Baskerville—and adjust text sizes to your heart's content.

And the best part? It's completely cross-platform. ElevenReader supports iOS, Android, and the web, meaning you can jump from your Mac or Windows machine to your iPhone, and back to your Bigme reader. Your reading progress syncs flawlessly in the background, whether you were physically turning the pages or listening to the audio.

The Verdict

ElevenReader from ElevenLabs has transcended being just another "good" text-to-speech utility. With its jaw-dropping V4 voices, tailored e-ink settings, CarPlay integration, and flawless cross-platform syncing, it is now an essential download for any serious reader.

Whether you’re looking to squeeze more books into your daily commute or want a premium reading experience on your favorite e-ink tablet, ElevenReader is delivering the future of digital reading today. Best of all, they offer generous free reading and listening time every single day, so you can experience this revolution without immediately committing to a subscription. It’s an absolute must-try.

Check it out here:

https://elevenreader.io/

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A First Look at the Flowtica Scribe Recording & Note Taking Pen

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sun, 4 Oct 2026 14:33:54 +0200

The Flowtica Scribe Wants to Be the Ultimate AI Copilot for Your Handwritten Notes

In an increasingly digital world, the visceral satisfaction of putting pen to paper remains unmatched. But the analog format has one major flaw: it doesn't search, it doesn't sync, and it certainly doesn't summarize itself. Enter the Flowtica Scribe, a new hybrid device that bridges the gap between tactile note-taking and cutting-edge artificial intelligence.

At first glance, the Flowtica Scribe looks like a premium writing instrument, but packed inside its sleek chassis is a powerful audio recorder and Bluetooth transmitter. The premise is simple yet ambitious: record your meetings, lectures, or personal thoughts while writing normally on any piece of paper, and let a companion app instantly transcribe and summarize everything using AI.

Premium Hardware with a Clever Charging Solution

The unboxing experience of the Flowtica Scribe suggests a tool built for professionals. The packaging includes a generous supply of extra ink cartridges, ensuring the pen can remain your daily driver for a long time. But the standout hardware feature is the charging case. Wrapped in a satisfying, leather-like finish, the case uses USB-C to charge and allows the pen to capture up to 100 hours of recording on a single charge. The pen itself docks using a magnetic pogo-pin connector, a familiar and reliable mechanism for smart devices.

On the pen's body, you'll find an indicator light, a dedicated recording button, and a "Flow Mark" button. This mark button is a stroke of genius—press it during a recording, and it immediately highlights that specific important moment in the audio, saving you from scrubbing through an hour-long lecture to find the most critical takeaway.

The Magic of the Companion App

While the hardware is elegant, the true power of the Flowtica Scribe lies in its iOS and Android application. Pairing the pen is a breeze, followed by a quick firmware update to get everything synchronized. Out of the box, users get around 300 free minutes per month for AI-powered summaries and advanced transcriptions, along with unlimited standard audio recording for as long as you own the device. For power users, the ecosystem is surprisingly open—you can easily export audio to use with your preferred AI models, such as Google Gemini Pro.

The software supports multiple languages, though early testing reveals that manually selecting your spoken language yields significantly better transcriptions than letting the app guess. Once correctly configured, the transfer speed is nothing short of lightning-fast. Stop your recording on the pen, and within seconds, the audio is on your phone being processed into clean, readable text.

Action Items and The Smart Notebook

Perhaps the most impressive demonstration of the Scribe's ecosystem is how it handles actionable tasks. While the pen works flawlessly on any standard paper, Flowtica also offers its own specialized leather-bound notebook. If you jot down a to-do list in this specific notebook and snap a photo using the Flowtica app, the software works in tandem with the audio recording to extract those handwritten notes and convert them into interactive action items right on your device.

In practice, it feels like magic. A quick test session involving handwritten notes and simultaneous speech resulted in the app not only transcribing the spoken words accurately but also generating a concise summary, automatically identifying speakers, and appending the written tasks to a digital checklist.

Final Thoughts

The Flowtica Scribe is shaping up to be an incredibly nifty gadget for anyone who wants to digitize their workflow without giving up the tactile feel of real ink. While privacy concerns might limit its use in highly confidential corporate meetings, it is an absolute powerhouse for personal brainstorming, studying, and content creation. If you are looking for a way to streamline your note-taking process and leverage AI without staring at a screen all day, the Flowtica Scribe is a compelling new tool worth checking out.

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How I use my e-Ink and other devices everyday

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:06:55 +0200

I Replaced My Smartphone Screen With a Fleet of E-Ink Devices. Here’s How My Wild Daily Workflow Actually Works.

If you’re reading this, there's a good chance your eyes are tired. We stare at glaring OLED and LCD screens all day, inviting eye strain, screen fatigue, and for some of us, debilitating migraines. For tech creator Stefan Svartling, standard smartphone screens became such a headache—literally—that he decided to fundamentally change how he interacts with the digital world.

The solution wasn't a digital detox; it was an e-ink revolution. Armed with a collection of over 20 electronic ink devices, he has meticulously engineered a multi-device workflow that hands off tasks from morning to midnight. It sounds like an intricate juggling act, but a closer look reveals a masterclass in intentional, distraction-free computing.

Here is how he navigates a typical day using a fleet of purpose-built e-ink readers, an Apple Watch Ultra 2, and an iPhone that has been permanently demoted to a mobile router.

The Morning Commute: Pocket-Sized Companions

When Svartling packs his bag for the office, two e-ink devices are absolute mainstays: the Viwoods AiPaper Reader (in classic black and white) and the XTEINK X4 Pro. The XTEINK is a dedicated micro-reader—strictly no Android distractions—that slides perfectly into a jeans pocket for a quick paragraph on the go.

But what about the smartphone? Svartling carries an iPhone Air, but you won't catch him staring at it. Slapped with a MagSafe battery pack, the iPhone is tossed in his bag and left on personal hotspot mode from dawn to dusk. "My iPhone is just a router," he explains. He relies on its powerful bandwidth to blanket his e-ink devices in Wi-Fi, leaving the actual screen time to the glare-free panels.

On the drive to work, he streams audiobooks via Storytel via Apple CarPlay. When he arrives, the beauty of ecosystem syncing takes over. The exact spot where the audiobook paused in the car is queued up on the Viwoods AiPaper Reader. Because the Viwoods boasts an ultra-fast refresh rate, he can utilize immersive reading—listening to the narrator through his AirPods while following the text simultaneously without any screen ghosting. For English titles, he relies on KOReader, seamlessly syncing his reading progress between the Viwoods and the tiny XTEINK X4 Pro.

The AI-Powered E-Ink Research Hub

E-ink is historically for consumption, but Svartling uses it as a dynamic research engine. During the day, he scrolls Reddit using the Sidekeys app, which maps scrolling to physical buttons for a flawlessly smooth, ghost-free experience.

When he finds an interesting news piece or a dense Reddit debate, he doesn't read it in the browser. Instead, he shares the link directly to Google Gemini. He prompts Gemini to analyze the text, summarize the key points, and translate it into Swedish. These AI-generated insights are then saved into dedicated Gemini notebooks.

When it's time to actually digest this research, he turns to his larger devices. He pushes the Gemini documents to the Viwoods AiPaper Mini—his absolute favorite form factor—or the expansive 10-inch Viwoods AiPaper for deep, distraction-free reading, highlighting, and stylus note-taking using the PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives) organization method.

The Evening Wind Down: Swapping for Warmth

As the sun sets, the device rotation shifts based on lighting. The 10-inch Viwoods AiPaper has a gorgeous screen for writing, but lacks a frontlight, making it strictly a dining table device. For the couch, the Viwoods AiPaper Mini takes over. Occasionally, he’ll reach for the Bigme B7 Color tablet, though its awkward side-button placement restricts it to seated reading only.

When it's finally time for bed, the Viwoods AiPaper Reader C (the color edition) comes out. This isn't just about seeing book covers in color; the black-and-white AiPaper Reader only features a cold frontlight, which is harsh in pitch-black rooms. The color edition features a soothing warm light, making it the ultimate bedside companion to finish the day's chapters.

Why Keep the iPhone?

If e-ink handles reading, journaling, Reddit, and AI research, why keep the iPhone Air around at all? Simply put: trust and utility. E-ink operating systems aren't yet secure enough for sensitive banking apps. Plus, the iPhone provides a high-quality camera and the backbone for CarPlay navigation.

For actual communication, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 does the heavy lifting. Equipped with its own eSIM, the watch handles phone calls, text messages, and streams Storytel during power walks. Svartling even uses it to record voice memos on the go, which are beamed to the iPhone and transcribed later by Gemini. Sometimes, the Bigme HiBreak Pro Color tags in as a primary phone, but the iPhone-as-a-router system remains supreme.

It is an intricate web of syncing, Wi-Fi handoffs, and highly specialized hardware. But in a world designed to burn our retinas with endless notifications and blue light, Svartling’s e-ink ecosystem is a brilliant, eye-saving escape.

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A comparison between CrossPoint and CrossInk on the XTEINK X4 Pro

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 15:01:38 +0200

Speed vs. Sync: The Ultimate Firmware Face-Off on the XTEINK X4 Pro

For e-reader enthusiasts, hardware is only half the equation. The operating system running under the hood dictates the entire digital reading experience, transforming a static e-ink display into a fluid, highly personalized library. On the acclaimed XTEINK X4 Pro, users are faced with a crucial software choice: stick with the robust, feature-heavy CrossInk, or pivot to the increasingly popular CrossPoint firmware.

After evaluating both operating systems on the XTEINK X4 Pro, the differences between CrossPoint and CrossInk are stark. Each caters to a fundamentally different type of reader. Here is a deep dive into how they compare across performance, interface design, syncing capabilities, and specialized reading features.

The Need for Speed and Intuitive Design

When it comes to raw performance and UI responsiveness, CrossPoint is currently dominating the competition. Booting up or putting the XTEINK X4 Pro to sleep requires just a single tap of the power button, allowing you to dive into a book instantaneously.

Beyond the boot sequence, the general speed of the user interface—page turns, opening new files, and navigating menus—feels incredibly snappy on CrossPoint. Conversely, recent iterations of CrossInk have grown noticeably sluggish, hindered by software overhead that slows down the fundamentally instantaneous nature of e-ink technology.

CrossPoint also wins out on interface design. The layout is remarkably intuitive, particularly for beginners. A swipe down reveals brightness, color warmth, and smart toggles like night mode and screen refresh, while a swipe up handles chapter navigation. It features only four main top-level menu categories, preventing the settings fatigue often associated with e-readers. Furthermore, CrossPoint includes native daylight saving time support directly in its clock settings—a minor but highly appreciated technical convenience that CrossInk lacks.

The Syncing Ecosystem and Data Tracking

Where CrossInk flexes its muscles is in its advanced ecosystem synchronization. If you own multiple XTEINK devices—such as an X4 Pro for the home and an X3 for commuting—CrossInk is unparalleled. It natively syncs files, exact reading progress, and reading statistics across all compatible devices in real-time.

CrossPoint, unfortunately, lacks this proprietary device-to-device syncing. Users are restricted to standard, somewhat clunkier methods like Calibre wireless, creating local hotspots, or web server transfers. While functional, these methods lack the frictionless ecosystem integration that CrossInk provides.

Additionally, CrossInk tracks granular reading statistics. For the data-obsessed reader, seeing exact metrics on reading habits is a major plus. However, this tracking can induce a sense of performance anxiety. CrossPoint omits reading stats entirely, offering a purer, more zen-like reading environment.

The Ergonomics of Reading

The physical handling of an e-reader is critical, and here, the two firmwares trade blows.

CrossInk provides a brilliant control mapping feature: you can set both physical page-turn buttons to "Next Page." This is an ergonomic triumph, allowing you to switch hands dynamically while reading without having to constantly shift your thumb to a specific button. CrossPoint currently forces a strict "Next/Previous" mapping.

However, CrossPoint claims the victory in touch control management. When you disable the touchscreen in CrossPoint to grip the device without accidental page turns, the touch layer is completely deactivated. Bizarrely, in CrossInk, even when touch is disabled, a long-press will still trigger the dictionary lookup. This technical oversight makes it frustrating to grip the XTEINK X4 Pro firmly by the bezel and screen without launching unintended software actions.

Dictionary Deep Dive and Typography Layout

For readers delving into complex texts or foreign languages, dictionary lookups are vital. CrossInk handles this flawlessly. It allows you to quickly switch between multiple installed dictionaries on the fly if a definition isn't found. More importantly, it correctly highlights and processes hyphenated words across line breaks. CrossPoint currently struggles here, only highlighting half of a hyphenated word, although developers have promised a patch in upcoming versions.

CrossInk also offers better layout optimization for the status bar. It neatly separates information, placing the current time at the top of the screen and a highly useful "minutes left in chapter" estimate at the bottom. CrossPoint crowds the bottom status bar with the time and entirely omits the chapter time estimate, leaving readers guessing how much longer a section will take.

The Verdict

Choosing between CrossPoint and CrossInk on the XTEINK X4 Pro comes down to how you consume literature.

If you value cross-device synchronization, advanced dictionary features, and granular hardware button customization, CrossInk remains an incredibly powerful choice.

However, if your priority is a frictionless, distraction-free reading experience, CrossPoint is the undisputed winner. Its superior speed, logical UI, and frequent developer updates make it feel like a modern, optimized operating system built purely for the joy of reading.

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viwoods AiPaper Reader Folding Case

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 17:37:55 +0200

The Viwoods AiPaper Reader Replaced My Smartphone. Here's How I'm Protecting It.

E-ink enthusiasts are a particular breed. We chase the perfect paper-like display, the fastest refresh rates, and the most distraction-free reading experience. For me, that pursuit recently culminated in crowning the Viwoods AiPaper Reader—specifically the black-and-white edition—as my absolute favorite device, with its color sibling, the AiPaper Reader C, trailing just behind in second place.

But declaring an phone-like e-reader your daily driver means accepting the risks of the real world. That’s why, despite my usual aversion to bulky covers and screen protectors, I recently dropped over 500 Swedish Krona (around $50) on the official Viwoods folding leather case.

The E-Ink Smartphone Shift

To understand why I bought this case, you have to understand the hardware shift I've made. The Viwoods AiPaper Reader has essentially become my main phone. My iPhone Air has been relegated to the role of a glorious 5G mobile hotspot and MagSafe battery host. From morning until night, the AiPaper is tethered to the iPhone's internet sharing, serving as my workhorse for both professional tasks and on-the-go reading.

But there’s a catch to this newfound e-ink minimalism. The AiPaper Reader, while a marvel of design and incredibly snappy to use, simply doesn't possess the bulletproof durability of modern flagship smartphones. I’ve dropped my case-less iPhone Air twice onto hard surfaces without a single scratch to show for it. I wouldn't dare test that same luck with an exposed e-ink screen. These displays are inherently more fragile than the thick Gorilla Glass slabs we're used to abusing. Thus, the hunt for protection began.

The decision of which device to protect was easy. Because I love both my AiPaper Readers, they serve distinct purposes in my life. The Kaleido 3 color version is my dedicated evening companion for reading at home, safely resting by my bedside. The black-and-white model, however, is the one that goes everywhere I go. It travels with me to the office, runs errands with me, and endures the bumps of my daily commute. Given the steep price tag of the official accessories, I couldn't justify buying two. The black-and-white model was the clear winner for the protective gear upgrade.

Hands-On With the Olive Green Armor

So, how does the official Viwoods case hold up to its premium price tag? In short: exceptionally well.

First impressions matter, and the aesthetic cohesion here is impressive. The case comes in an earthy olive-gray or olive-green hue that perfectly complements the device itself. Viwoods went the extra mile to match the case’s faux leather material to the green accents and branding on the side of the AiPaper Reader. It feels intentional, giving the reader a premium, book-like vibe when closed.

Functionally, the case strikes a solid balance between protection and accessibility. The device snaps securely into a hard plastic shell that wraps around the display's edges. What I appreciate most, though, is what remains uncovered. The USB-C port, the microphones, and the bottom speaker are left completely open. More importantly, all the physical side buttons—crucial for tactile page-turning and navigation on an e-reader—remain fully exposed and easy to press. The top of the device is also left completely free.

The faux leather cover isn’t just for show. It features built-in magnets that trigger the device's sleep/wake function automatically—a feature that feels mandatory these days but is always nice to see flawlessly executed. When you fold the cover back, it lays perfectly flat, meaning it doesn't add awkward bulk when you’re holding it in one hand for a reading session. And when you need to read hands-free at a desk or table, the front cover easily folds into a sturdy kickstand.

The Verdict

At over 500 SEK on the Swedish Amazon store, it’s undeniably a pricey accessory. But when you look at the build quality, it’s clear this case is built to go the distance and hold up for years. For someone who has completely shifted their daily workflow to an e-ink device, investing in its longevity isn't just a luxury; it's a necessity. If the Viwoods AiPaper Reader is going to survive the rigors of being my everyday digital companion, this olive-green armor is exactly what it needs.

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XTEINK X4 Pro is the new Kindle!

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 13:05:48 +0200

Forget the Kindle: Why "Micro E-Readers" Are the Future of Digital Reading

For more than a decade, the Amazon Kindle has been synonymous with digital reading. It is the default answer to a ubiquitous question: What should I buy to read ebooks? But as we move deeper into a hyper-mobile era, the traditional e-reader is starting to feel a bit like a relic. After spending significant time with the latest wave of micro e-readers—devices like the XTEINK X4 Pro, the XTEINK X4, the XTEINK X3, and even the SEEED reTerminal Sticky—it is becoming increasingly clear that the era of the dedicated, single-purpose Kindle might be drawing to a close. The future of reading isn't a tablet you leave on your nightstand; it is a micro-device that lives in your pocket.

The Portability Paradigm Shift

The fundamental flaw of traditional e-readers, such as the Kindle Basic or the Kindle Paperwhite, is their footprint. While they are thinner and lighter than a physical hardcover, they are still just large enough to be inconvenient. You typically need a bag, a protective case, or a large coat pocket to carry one. Consequently, a Kindle often gets left at home, relegated to sofa reading or bedtime routines.

The XTEINK X4 Pro flips this dynamic completely. It is a micro e-reader specifically designed to be carried everywhere. You can attach it to the back of your smartphone or slip it into the smallest of pockets. This radical portability changes the very nature of how you consume literature. Instead of carving out an hour to read at home, you can pull out the X4 Pro during a commute, while waiting in line for coffee, or during a five-minute break at the office. When your library is truly always with you, you fundamentally read more.

Breaking Down the Walled Garden

Beyond physical bulk, traditional Kindles operate within a rigid software ecosystem. Unless you are willing to jump through the hoops of jailbreaking to install third-party software like KOReader, you are heavily restricted to books purchased through the Amazon ecosystem.

The XTEINK X4 Pro, on the other hand, embraces open systems and user control. It seamlessly integrates with applications like KOReader, allowing for effortless reading progress synchronization across all your other devices. The hardware itself offers features that rival or exceed flagship models, including crisp resolution, responsive touch controls, and adjustable cold and warm front lights.

Furthermore, managing your digital library is vastly superior. Instead of relying exclusively on cloud delivery systems, the X4 Pro utilizes a robust web service accessible directly from your phone or computer. You can drag and drop files, install custom fonts, and tweak device settings on the fly. It also solves hyper-local problems that larger tech companies have long ignored. For example, the Kindle ecosystem has notoriously poor dictionary support for languages like Swedish. The X4 Pro handles international dictionaries effortlessly, providing the localized, highly customized experience that modern readers demand.

The Waterproofing Myth

Of course, the immediate defense of modern Kindles is durability—specifically, waterproofing. The XTEINK X4 Pro is not waterproof. But the necessity of waterproof e-readers has always been somewhat exaggerated in marketing materials. The vast majority of reading happens on public transit, at desks, or in cafes—not at the bottom of a swimming pool. If you get caught in a light drizzle, a quick wipe-down before slipping it back into your pocket is more than sufficient. The trade-off between absolute water resistance and absolute, frictionless portability is one that heavily favors the latter.

A Shifting Industry

The XTEINK X4 Pro is not an anomaly; it is the vanguard of a broader industry shift. The market is finally waking up to the demand for smartphone-sized—and smaller—e-ink devices. We are already seeing the horizon fill with similar hardware, from the upcoming Onyx Boox Picco to pocket-friendly offerings from PocketBook and the remarkably thin Viwoods AiPaper Reader. Even larger devices in this new class, like the Viwoods AiPaper Reader, maintain this underlying ethos of extreme, unencumbered portability.

We are entering a new era of digital reading. The clunky, walled-off devices of the past are making way for ultra-portable, open-source-friendly companions that fit seamlessly into everyday life. The traditional e-reader paved the way, but devices like the XTEINK X4 Pro are taking the baton. By ensuring your current book is never more than an arm's length away, the micro e-reader doesn't just change how you read—it makes you read more.

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My Top 10 e-Ink devices (e-Readers)!

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 17:12:50 +0200

The E-Ink Arsenal: The 10 Best Devices I Actually Use

The e-ink landscape has exploded far beyond the simple e-readers of yesterday. From full-fledged Android smartphones to massive digital canvases, there are more ways to read, write, and browse without the eye-straining glare of LCDs than ever before. But with so many options—and a rapidly evolving market—which ones actually earn their keep?

Out of a personal collection of over two dozen e-ink devices, these are the top 10 I reach for the most. This isn't just a list of the newest or most expensive hardware; it's a practical ranking of the readers that genuinely fit into a daily workflow, ranked from least-used to the absolute favorite daily driver.

Rank	Device	Standout Feature
1	Viwoods AiPaper Reader (B&W)	Flawless contrast & ideal form factor
2	Viwoods AiPaper Color	Premium Kaleido 3 reading experience
3	XTEINK X4 Pro	The ultimate pocketable reader
4	Bigme B7 Color	Fast refresh & highly customizable keys
5	Bigme HiBreak Pro Color	A true e-ink smartphone replacement
6	XTEINK X4	Gorgeous magnetic phone attachment
7	Viwoods AiPaper Mini	Fluid navigation & snappy performance
8	XTEINK X3	Exceptional battery & build quality
9	Viwoods AiPaper	Massive digital canvas for productivity
10	ReTerminal Sticky (Seed Studio)	Open-software friendly & robust

10. ReTerminal Sticky (Seed Studio)

A surprisingly solid entry with excellent build quality. It’s highly customizable and works seamlessly with third-party reading software like CrossInk and CrossPoint. The major drawback? A glossy display that essentially turns into a mirror under direct sunlight, making outdoor reading a frustrating challenge.

9. Viwoods AiPaper

If you want the sensation of reading a physical textbook, this massive digital canvas delivers. It boasts one of the widest displays available on an e-note, making it exceptional for PDF markup and heavy productivity. However, the lack of a front light and its sheer bulk mean it is strictly a desk-bound tool rather than a cozy bedtime reader.

8. XTEINK X3

A masterclass in battery life and minimalist design, but its pocket-sized form factor is a double-edged sword. It is a bit too cramped for comfortable page-turning. The absence of a front light also severely limits its usability when the sun goes down, but it remains a rugged, dependable backup device.

7. Viwoods AiPaper Mini

This compact tablet hits a sweet spot for speed and form factor. Navigating through apps and web browsers is remarkably fluid, a rarity in the e-ink space. Its only Achilles' heel is the front light setup: it completely lacks a warm temperature setting. The harsh, cool glow is far from ideal for nighttime reading, which holds it back from true greatness.

6. XTEINK X4

A gorgeous piece of hardware featuring flush bezels that seamlessly blend into the display background. It even magnetically snaps to the back of a smartphone for brilliant portability. Unfortunately, it lacks a front light and suffers from occasional sun-fading issues when reading outdoors. Still, the tactile page-turn buttons are among the best in the business.

5. Bigme HiBreak Pro Color

A true e-ink smartphone that can replace your daily driver. Powered by a Kaleido 3 color display, it's incredibly fast—capable of scrolling through YouTube, Reddit, and Google News without breaking a sweat. The front light leaves something to be desired, occasionally throwing a pinkish-purple hue when the warm light is cranked up, but its sheer utility makes it indispensable for smartphone usage.

Configuration Profile:
- Display: Kaleido 3 Color E-Ink
- Connectivity: Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
- Features: Full Android OS, Cameras, Audio/Mic

4. Bigme B7 Color

For those who need a capable color e-note, the B7 is a powerhouse. It’s fast, versatile, and features highly customizable physical buttons that can map to almost any app action. It’s the perfect companion for consuming digital news, browsing social media, or navigating the web in full color without eye strain.

3. XTEINK X4 Pro

This is the ultimate portable e-reader. It solves the shortcomings of its siblings by including a highly responsive touch display and a gorgeous warm front light. With excellent physical buttons and a design that begs to be taken everywhere, it’s a near-perfect pocket reader for commuting or traveling.

2. Viwoods AiPaper Color

A fantastic premium device equipped with a Kaleido 3 display. While e-ink color still struggles with human skin tones (faces tend to look a bit red or washed out in articles), you can easily switch to grayscale for a flawless reading experience. It’s a highly versatile daily companion, bridging the gap between a work tablet and a leisure reader.

1. Viwoods AiPaper Reader (Black & White)

The undisputed champion of the e-ink arsenal. While color e-ink is fun, absolutely nothing beats the razor-sharp contrast of a pure black-and-white display. It’s incredibly fast, features a perfectly balanced front light with granular controls, and boasts a form factor that feels perfectly weighted in the hand. From morning news roundups to novels, this is the device that rules them all.

Unmatched Contrast: Pure B&W e-ink provides a sharper, cleaner reading experience than any modern color panel.
Perfect Form Factor: Lightweight, highly ergonomic, and ideal for single-handed use during marathon reading sessions.

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Review: SEEED Studio reTerminal Sticky & a comparison to XTEINK X4 and X3

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 19:08:58 +0200

Forget the Kindle: Why the 4-Inch reTerminal Sticky is the Ultimate Pocket E-Reader

The e-reader market has long been dominated by giants pushing 6-inch and 8-inch slabs that demand to be carried in a bag. But a quiet revolution of micro e-readers is brewing, and the latest contender isn't even meant to be an e-reader at all. Meet the SEEED Studio reTerminal Sticky.

Marketed as a magnetic, ultra-low-power e-ink display for families, the reTerminal Sticky is designed to be the ultimate smart home companion. Out of the box, this ESP32-S3-powered, open-source device is meant to stick to your fridge, displaying voice-transcribed notes, weather forecasts, and daily to-dos. It is a tinkerer’s dream. But for a specific niche of bookworms, its true potential lies elsewhere. Thanks to its support for alternative firmware like Crosspoint Reader and CrossInk, the Sticky can be completely repurposed into a dedicated, pocket-sized e-reader, directly rivaling specialized devices like the XTEINK X4, X3, and X4 Pro.

The Glossy Display Paradox

When you boot up the CrossInk firmware on the reTerminal Sticky, the first thing you notice is the display. At 3.97 inches, it sits right in the sweet spot of the micro e-reader spectrum—larger than the ultra-compact XTEINK X3, but slightly smaller than the X4.

Interestingly, the current iteration features a glossy e-ink screen. In the e-reader community, glossy screens are traditionally viewed with skepticism due to severe glare under direct sunlight. However, there is a surprising upside: image and text clarity. Compared to the matte display on the XTEINK X4, the Sticky’s glossy finish delivers significantly deeper blacks and superior contrast. Text appears remarkably sharp, and book covers render with a crispness that matte layers often diffuse. For those who cannot stand the glare, Seeed Studio has confirmed that future batches will feature a matte display and will be made widely available in US and European storefronts to eliminate import taxes.

Hardware and Ergonomics

While the Sticky is noticeably thicker than its XTEINK competitors, this added bulk works in its favor. The device feels incredibly substantial and comfortable in the hand. Navigating the UI is remarkably fluid. The device supports full touch controls, allowing you to highlight text, create clippings, or tap into the built-in dictionary with ease.

Rather than relying on a single rocker switch like the X4, the Sticky features two distinct, highly tactile side buttons that make page-turning a snappy, satisfying experience. For those who prefer physical controls, you can disable the tap-to-turn functionality and rely entirely on the side buttons or screen swiping. Surprisingly, despite sharing the same CPU architecture as the XTEINK X4 Pro, the Sticky feels noticeably faster when turning pages.

Micro E-Reader Comparison

Feature	reTerminal Sticky	XTEINK X4	XTEINK X4 Pro
Screen Size	3.97 inches	Larger than Sticky	Same as X4
Display Finish	Glossy	Matte	Matte
Frontlight	No	No	Yes
Page Turn Controls	Discrete side buttons	Rocker switch	Rocker switch

Where It Falls Short

No device is perfect, and the Sticky’s smart-home roots do show through in a few limiting ways. First is the mounting system. While it features magnets in the corners, it lacks a true built-in MagSafe array. If you want to snap it onto the back of your smartphone for easy everyday carry, you’ll need to apply an aftermarket MagSafe ring—a clunky workaround.

Second, the device does not ship with a microSD card. While the native smart home software doesn’t require one, installing the CrossInk e-reader firmware absolutely depends on it. If you’re buying this to read, you must supply your own storage.

Visually, the Sticky misses one subtle but important design cue: bezel matching. The XTEINK X4 in white perfectly matches the background hue of its e-ink display, creating the seamless illusion of physical book margins. The Sticky’s bezel color is slightly off, breaking that visual continuity. Finally, it lacks a frontlight entirely. Much like a traditional paperback, you are dependent on ambient daylight or a desk lamp to read.

The Verdict

The SEEED Studio reTerminal Sticky represents a fascinating intersection of maker hardware and reading technology. By loading it with open-source reading firmware, you get a phenomenally fast, perfectly sized e-reader that slips effortlessly into any pocket.

For many minimalists, the era of carrying a dedicated, bulky e-reader is ending. A micro e-reader like the Sticky ensures that your current novel is always with you, significantly increasing how much you actually read on a daily basis. If you can live without a frontlight and do not mind supplying your own SD card, this smart home gadget might secretly be the most compelling e-reader you can buy.

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SEED Studio reTerminal Sticky - installing CrossInk / Crosspoint with a serious surprise!

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:56:10 +0200

Hacking a $50 Fridge Magnet Into a Pocket E-Reader (Mind the SD Card Trap)

The Seeed Studio reTerminal Sticky is officially marketed as a digital sticky note for your family. Slap its magnetic back onto a refrigerator, press a button, and speak to leave a voice-transcribed message or pull up the local weather forecast (measured in Celsius, naturally). Powered by an ultra-low-power, 3.97-inch E-Ink screen and an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, it is a brilliant piece of smart home technology that retails for just $50.

But for the open-source hardware community, the Sticky is not just a family dashboard—it is a blank canvas. Thanks to its open architecture, this little device can be completely repurposed. If you are a fan of minimalist reading devices, there is a brilliant firmware hack that transforms this unassuming fridge magnet into a full-fledged pocket e-reader.

The CrossPoint Connection

If you are familiar with pocket-sized e-ink devices like the XTEINK X3 and XTEINK X4, you might already know about CrossPoint and its popular fork, CrossInk. CrossPoint is a community-built, open-source firmware designed specifically to run on resource-constrained ESP32 chips. It strips away modern operating system bloat to deliver a distraction-free, highly customizable reading experience.

Because the reTerminal Sticky is built around the exact same ESP32-S3 architecture as these dedicated readers and features a responsive capacitive touch screen, developers have made it fully compatible with the CrossPoint ecosystem. By flashing this firmware, you overwrite the voice notes and smart home dashboards, replacing them with a dedicated e-book interface complete with rich typography settings, custom fonts, and touch-based page turning.

The Web Flashing Process

Installing the firmware is remarkably straightforward, requiring nothing more than a USB-C cable and a Chromium-based web browser. By navigating to the CrossPoint or CrossInk web flasher, you simply select the "Seeed Studio Sticky" from a dropdown menu, pick the latest release build, and hit flash.

The browser directly writes the bootloader, partition tables, and firmware to the Sticky's internal flash memory. It takes a few minutes, and the process is usually foolproof. However, as demonstrated in the YouTube tutorial below, there is a critical hardware trap waiting to catch first-time hackers off guard.

The "Serious Surprise": The SD Card Trap

After a successful flash, the standard procedure is to unplug the device, plug it back in, and hold the power button for three to five seconds to finalize the installation. But instead of booting into a pristine reading library, you might be greeted by a frustrating boot loop and a glaring "SD card error" on the E-Ink display.

The culprit is not a bad flash or corrupted software. The issue lies in the fundamental hardware constraints of the ESP32-S3 chip. The microcontroller has a very limited amount of usable RAM (roughly 380KB). To handle the heavy lifting of parsing large e-book files like EPUBs, the CrossPoint firmware is engineered to aggressively cache book data, layouts, and chapters directly to external storage.

While dedicated e-readers like the XTEINK series ship with a MicroSD card pre-installed in the slot to handle this heavy caching, the reTerminal Sticky does not. Seeed Studio provides the MicroSD slot on the motherboard, but leaves it empty to keep the retail cost down to a flat $50. When the CrossPoint firmware boots up and fails to find an SD card to write its cache directory to, the system panics and crashes.

The fix is incredibly simple: you just need to supply your own MicroSD card. By inserting a spare card—or borrowing one from an existing XTEINK device—the hardware bottleneck is cleared. The device immediately boots directly into the CrossPoint e-reader interface without skipping a beat.

The Verdict: A $50 E-Reader

Once properly set up with external storage, the reTerminal Sticky makes for a surprisingly capable reading device. The 800 by 480 resolution provides crisp, clear text, and the capacitive touch screen allows for smooth page turns with a simple tap. You can easily adjust font sizes, margins, and deep settings directly from the display.

It is worth noting that the Sticky lacks a frontlight, meaning you will need an external reading lamp for nighttime sessions. Additionally, early hardware batches feature a glossy screen overlay, though Seeed Studio has confirmed that future production runs will shift to a more traditional, glare-reducing matte finish.

If you are willing to spend five minutes in a web browser and have a spare MicroSD card lying around, the reTerminal Sticky is no longer just a smart home accessory. It is a fully hackable, pocket-sized e-reader that punches well above its weight.

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reTerminal Sticky from SEEED Studio - First Look! XTEINK alternative

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:55:09 +0200

Meet the reTerminal Sticky: The Hackable E-Ink Display That Wants to Run Your Home and Read Your Books

E-ink is no longer just for reading the latest bestseller. The technology has steadily infiltrated our daily lives, popping up in everything from smart home dashboards to digital typewriters. Now, Seeed Studio is pushing the boundaries of what a compact e-paper device can be with the reTerminal Sticky, an ultra-low-power, magnetic display designed to serve as the ultimate digital notice board for your family—and a highly hackable playground for makers.

A Smart Hub Powered by the ESP32-S3

At its core, the reTerminal Sticky is powered by the ESP32-S3 microcontroller, making it an open-source dream for tinkerers who want to build custom smart interfaces. Out of the box, however, it is positioned as a versatile family hub. The concept is simple but highly effective: stick the device to your wall, door, or refrigerator using the included magnetic ring, and use it to display voice-transcribed notes, real-time weather updates, to-do lists, or a digital clock.

Physically, the reTerminal Sticky stands out in a crowded market of increasingly razor-thin e-readers. Compared to streamlined devices like the minimalist XTEINK X4, the Sticky is substantially thicker and noticeably heavier. It feels purposeful in the hand, though its primary destiny is to be mounted on a surface. It features a glossy touch screen—a departure from the matte finishes usually preferred by reading purists—and notably lacks a frontlight.

Despite these unconventional choices, Seeed Studio made an excellent design decision: matching the white bezels perfectly with the background color of the e-ink display. This creates a seamless, borderless illusion where text appears to float without any physical hardware margins boxing it in.

Voice Input, Audio, and App Integration

Unlike most traditional e-readers, the reTerminal Sticky is equipped with both built-in microphones and onboard speakers. This hardware supports its AI-powered voice input capabilities. Through the companion app—which connects to both iOS and Android via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi—users can dictate notes that are instantly transcribed and pushed to the display.

Currently, the voice transcription supports English and Chinese, meaning users looking for other languages will need to rely on the app's manual text input for the time being. The interface also beautifully supports landscape mode, making it an excellent standalone weather station, widget dashboard, or indoor temperature monitor.

The Ultimate E-Reader Alternative?

What truly makes the reTerminal Sticky fascinating is its open-source ethos. Through the community-driven "reTerminal Sticky Playground," users are encouraged to flash custom software and completely repurpose the hardware. For smart home enthusiasts, it can run ESP Home, transforming it into a low-power control node for your local network. For developers wanting a bit of fun, there is even a "Sticky Arcade" firmware.

Perhaps most exciting for the e-ink reading community is the device's compatibility with alternative reading firmware. The Sticky fully supports both Crosspoint Reader and CrossInk. By flashing these, you can effectively bypass the smart-home family hub interface and transform the Sticky into a pocket-sized, touch-enabled e-reader. This positions it as a highly capable alternative to devices like the XTEINK X3, X4, or X4 Pro.

While the lack of a frontlight and the glossy screen mean it might not replace a dedicated bedtime reader, the added utility of physical buttons (which double as page-turners or volume rockers), USB-C charging, and an SD card slot make it a surprisingly robust reading companion for the tinkering crowd.

The Verdict

The reTerminal Sticky elegantly bridges the gap between a consumer-friendly smart display and a hacker’s blank canvas. Whether you want a low-power dashboard to leave reminders for your family, or a customizable ESP32-S3 device to flash with CrossInk for your afternoon reading, Seeed Studio’s latest offering is a delightfully unique addition to the expanding e-ink ecosystem.

Go check it out here and buy it, it’s cheaper than XTEINK:

Be a member of my youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2sLD8A_C5NObxCodTeIfiA/join

Watch video here:

https://github.com/Yannick158/sidekeys-hibreak

This APP makes the viwoods AiPaper Reader (also Reader C, Bigme HiBreak) Incredibly Awesome!

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 18:06:40 +0200

This Free App Radically Transforms How You Use Android E-Readers

If you have ever tried browsing the web or reading on an Android-based e-reader, you already know the central frustration of the form factor. E-ink displays are magnificent for static text, but they were never originally designed for continuous vertical scrolling. Swiping with your finger on an E-ink screen often results in ghosting, stuttering refresh rates, and an ergonomically awkward reading experience.

But a new, completely free utility called SideKeys is fundamentally changing the way we interact with Android e-readers. Originally developed with the Bigme HiBreak Pro in mind, the application has proven to be a game-changer for devices like the viwoods AiPaper Reader, the AiPaper Reader C, and the Bigme HiBreak Pro Color. By taking absolute control over your device's physical buttons, SideKeys bridges the gap between traditional tablet navigation and the unique demands of E-ink hardware.

The Mechanics of Deep-Level Key Mapping

To understand why Side Keys is so revolutionary, we have to look at how Android handles physical input. Out of the box, most Android e-readers only allow rudimentary customization of their hardware buttons—typically limiting them to volume control or standard page turns in supported apps.

Side Keys bypasses these limitations by leveraging Android's deep-level Accessibility APIs. Instead of merely sending standard volume up or down signals (known programmatically as KeyEvent), the app operates as a persistent background service that intercepts hardware button presses before they reach the active application. It then translates these physical inputs into simulated touch gestures (MotionEvent) or programmatic scrolling commands.

This deep-level control means you can bind complex actions to physical buttons using specific triggers:

Single Press: Execute a standard forward action or partial scroll.
Double Press: Execute reverse actions or secondary commands.
Long Press: Trigger global system actions, such as navigating "Back" or forcing a screen refresh.

Furthermore, Side Keys incorporates advanced hardware logic like "Key Debounce." In mechanical switches, a single physical press can sometimes register as multiple rapid electrical signals, causing the operating system to detect accidental double-clicks. The software's debounce feature operates as a time-based threshold filter, actively ignoring micro-stutters to ensure that each press is registered intentionally and precisely.

Unleashing the viwoods AiPaper and Bigme Devices

For users of the viwoods AiPaper Reader and its Color variant, this software unlocks the full potential of the hardware. The viwoods devices feature a dedicated physical "AI button" on the chassis. Without third-party intervention, its utility is limited, but Side Keys liberates it.

You can configure a single press to scroll down exactly 70% of the screen height, map a double press to scroll up, and assign a long press to execute a global "Back" command. Suddenly, navigating text-heavy applications like Reddit, Google News, or Gmail becomes entirely frictionless. You can hold the device comfortably in one hand and browse endlessly without ever smudging the screen with your fingers or enduring the jarring screen refreshes that accompany manual swiping. The app even allows you to fine-tune the exact scroll distance, allowing you to lower the value for precise, line-by-line reading or raise it to jump quickly through massive blocks of text.

The Storytel Solution: App-Specific Automation

Perhaps the most powerful feature of Side Keys is its Per-App Key Mapping capability. Utilizing Android's usage tracking services, the app dynamically monitors the foreground package (the application currently displayed on your screen) and instantly switches your button hardware profiles on the fly.

This is a massive triumph for audiobook and e-book enthusiasts, particularly those who use services like Storytel. A long-standing grievance with the Storytel app is its lack of native support for volume-button page turns. Side Keys solves this elegantly. Instead of sending a generic "page down" hardware command that the app would ignore, Side Keys can be configured to execute a precise, simulated physical tap on the far right or left edge of the screen.

When you open Storytel, Side Keys seamlessly detects the app environment and alters the AI button's behavior. A single press programmatically taps the right screen edge to page forward, while a double press taps the left edge to page back. You can even configure a long press to trigger a full E-ink screen refresh, clearing any residual text ghosting. It takes an app that is notoriously stubborn to use on e-readers and makes it feel perfectly native to the hardware.

Seamless Background Execution

Because Side Keys operates as a high-priority system-level overlay, it features an essential option to "Hide from recent apps." This critical setting ensures that when you clear your device's memory or swipe away all running applications, Side Keys remains persistently active in the background, ready to translate your hardware inputs without interruption.

Currently residing in its beta testing phase and completely free to download, SideKeys is easily the most essential utility you can install on your Android e-reader today. By eliminating the need to physically tap the display and introducing granular, app-specific hardware control, it doesn't just improve your E-ink experience—it completely redefines it.

How to join (it’s free):

Join this Google Group with the same Google account you use on the Play Store: https://groups.google.com/g/sidekeystester

Then open this link and hit "Become a tester": https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.sidekeys.hibreak

Now install it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sidekeys.hibreak

If you do so you help the developer to get this app into Google Play Store.

You can also install it yourself via Github but then again, you don’t help the developer:

Be a member of my youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2sLD8A_C5NObxCodTeIfiA/join

Watch video here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2sLD8A_C5NObxCodTeIfiA/join

XTEINK X3, X4 and X4 Pro - A simple comparison

stefan@svartling.net (Stefan Svartling) — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 14:53:12 +0200

The Ultimate Pocket E-Reader Showdown: XTEINK X3 vs. X4 vs. X4 Pro

The pursuit of the perfect, distraction-free reading device has led to a fascinating evolution in the e-reader market. We are no longer limited to hauling around tablet-sized screens; the latest trend is the ultra-portable, magnetic pocket e-reader. At the forefront of this movement is XTEINK, a brand that has garnered a cult following for its minimalist, smartphone-attachable E-Ink devices. After spending considerable time with the company's core lineup—the X3, the standard X4, and the newly minted X4 Pro—it is time for a definitive breakdown. Which of these pocketable companions truly deserves a spot on the back of your phone?

The Display Dilemma: Whiteness and Screen Clarity

When it comes to E-Ink, screen clarity and background whiteness are paramount. Putting the three devices side-by-side reveals a surprising quirk in visual perception. The compact X3 emerges as the device with the whitest-looking display. However, this is partially an optical illusion; the X3’s stark black bezels create a high-contrast framing that tricks the eye into perceiving a brighter white canvas.

In contrast, the standard X4 (specifically in its frost white colorway) and the X4 Pro sit slightly lower on the perceived whiteness scale. The X4 Pro, in particular, has a slightly darker tint compared to the minimalist X3. This is a common technical trade-off: the Pro model is equipped with both a capacitive touch layer and a front-light layer. These two additional layers sit between your eyes and the e-ink capsules, subtly pushing the text further away and reducing the raw brightness. Despite this, the text on the Pro remains incredibly crisp—vastly superior to many mainstream e-readers—but purists who demand the rawest E-Ink experience will notice the difference.

Device Breakdown

XTEINK X3: The Ultra-Light Minimalist

If portability is your absolute highest priority, the XTEINK X3 is a masterclass in miniaturization. Featuring a 3.7-inch display and weighing a mere 58 grams, this device is designed to live in a jeans pocket all day long. It ditches modern USB-C ports in favor of pogo pins for data transfer and charging. In practice, you rarely need to consciously charge its 650mAh battery; simply plugging it in to update the Crossink software provides enough trickle charge to keep the device alive indefinitely. The physical page-turn buttons are its primary control method, though their placement on the opposite sides can feel awkward. Thankfully, the software allows you to map both buttons to "page forward."

XTEINK X4: The Aesthetic Middle Ground

Stepping up in size, the standard XTEINK X4 features a 4.3-inch display. The white version of the X4 is a particular standout. The white bezels blend seamlessly with the background, allowing users to push the software margins incredibly thin—down to a setting of one or two—maximizing text real estate. With robust magnets, the X4 mounts flawlessly onto larger smartphones like the iPhone Air, sitting flush without overhanging the edges. Note that XTEINK recently sold out and discontinued the standard X4 to focus on the Pro, making the original a bit of a collector's item.

XTEINK X4 Pro: The Undisputed Champion

Retaining the 4.3-inch form factor, the X4 Pro fundamentally transforms the user experience by adding a touchscreen and a dual-tone front light. The front light is a game-changer for night reading in bed. The touchscreen allows for instantaneous dictionary lookups (via long-press) and seamless clipping. What makes the X4 Pro brilliant is its software flexibility: if you hate accidental screen taps, you can disable capacitive touch entirely, relying on physical buttons or a simple swipe gesture to turn pages.

Quick Spec Comparison

Feature	XTEINK X3	XTEINK X4	XTEINK X4 Pro
Display Size	3.7 inches	4.3 inches	4.3 inches
Input Method	Buttons only	Buttons only	Touchscreen + Buttons
Front Light	No	No	Yes
Battery	650mAh	650mAh	1100mAh

Key Takeaways

Best for minimalists: The X3 remains the most pocketable and features the highest perceived screen contrast.
Best aesthetics: The white X4 provides the illusion of a larger screen and thinner margins.
Best overall functionality: The X4 Pro wins with its front light, touch dictionary support, and customizable touch controls.

Ultimately, if you are investing in a pocket e-reader today, the XTEINK X4 Pro is the clear recommendation. It packs everything a modern reader needs into a tiny, magnetic footprint, ensuring your library is always just a flip away.

Buy them from here:

https://www.xteink.com/

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