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The tiniest e-reader in the world, and you can build one yourself

51 points by Brajeshwar 4 hours ago | 15 comments

What's really nice about tiny e-readers is that you can read without having to move your eyes horizontally.

If there are only four words per line, you can slide your eyes down the middle and take in all the words in a chunk like you would for normal speed-reading.

I have an xteink X4 and X3 and I swear I can read for much longer without strain. You can also just crank your margins way up on most other e-readers.

ghostly_s 55 minutes ago

I can't imagine this tiny thing being able to refresh fast enough to keep up with my reading speed (not crazy fast).

Minor49er 3 hours ago

Is it really worth the tradeoffs of having significantly smaller storage space, reduced screen size, and clicking through way more often, just to not have to move your eyes as much horizontally?

piffey 45 minutes ago

For me seems to be. I keep it in my front shirt pocket, pull it out to read all the time. I've gone through 8 books on it so far this year. That's 7 more books than I read on my Kobo by this time last year given how convenient it is to take it everywhere. Granted I'm usually a paper book reader so my Kobo was always just a travel device, but the Xteink makes it so easy to squeeze reading in everywhere.

postalponed 2 hours ago

The biggest benefit for me is the size of the device. I always have it on me, so I rather read than doomscroll

alistairSH 2 hours ago

Just wait until you get older and need to increase the font size. Now you're down to 2 words/line and you get carpal tunnel or De Quervain's from the constant clicking to page. I'm only half kidding.

broabprobe 4 hours ago

Agreed, the x3 is incredible. You'll pay 2x what this costs but the ux is phenomenal with Crosspoint

fmajid 53 minutes ago

Try the M5Stack Paper S3 instead. I am running a community build of Crosspoint Reader on mine, it actually has a touchscreen and a microSD card reader, supposedly limited to 16GB but handles my 128GB card just fine.

fmajid 54 minutes ago

I'm not that fond of eInk, having tried a PocketBook Verse e-reader (more open than a Kindle, has a microSD slot for my 70+GB fully DRM-free eBook collection) with a fairly grainy screen.

A recent article on HN convinced me to try the M5Stack Paper S3. Much nicer screen with 16-level grayscale touchscreen, microSD slot, ESP32-S3 with WiFi and Bluetooth, supports the Crosspoint Reader software. It's got a magnetic back but won't fit on the back of a Magsafe phone like the Xteink4 can. It's double the price, but well worth it.

Uncle_Brumpus 3 hours ago

My current e-reader is an Openbook Abridged designed by Joey Castillo of Oddly Specific Objects. It is larger than this tiny device, but smaller than something like a smartphone, and I think it is the PERFECT size. It's a similar kind of device which actually has even less features than this O24. I love it so much, and have been reading so much more than I used to since I soldered the kit together ~6 months ago.

baldgeek 3 hours ago

Is this actually out? I saw him with demo units at Supercon last year. I would love to get one

ofrzeta 2 hours ago

"Since the ESP32 only supports 8MB of onboard storage" - an SD card breakout with SPI interface costs 2 bucks. That would be an easy addition. I think there are also ESP32 boards with SD card slot but this would also make for a nice custom PCB.

Lord_Zero 51 minutes ago

Wait, are they suggesting using the Heltec Lora ESP32 board? That is a super odd choice. Adafruit has the boards you speak of and they have tri-color too and more features in the same form factor. Why buy a Heltec Lora board to use as an e-reader and waste money on a perfectly good Lora chip on it...

ofrzeta 40 seconds ago

I think were using the Heltec Wireless Paper board https://heltec.org/project/wireless-paper/

forsalebypwner 3 hours ago

I feel like this article was made for me specifically because I have a handful of Waveshare ePaper HATs for the Pi Zero that are currently sitting unused, they have standard GPIO connections in addition to the HAT interface that I should use along with an ESP32, because battery life would be much more important than running a full linux install for this!