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Comment by peri-cl | Hacker News Reader

There are 10+ comments here praising a third-party firmware, so I think it deserves mention that this might (?) no longer be possible for new devices,

https://www.theverge.com/tech/921552/xteink-x3-x4-e-reader-t...

> "But now buyers report Xteink is blocking [CrossPoint Reader], which might depend on where you live and where you purchase its devices. [...] Instead of being offered a replacement, they received a statement they shared to Reddit explaining that recently shipped devices from Xteink now come with firmware flashing disabled."

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IIRC this is mainly ones sold by third-party vendors in China? Like if you buy from AliExpress.

EDIT: if you look at the Reddit post the article references it even says:

> !!!!!THIS ONLY APPLIES TO LATEST CHINESE STOCK AND NOT THOSE THAT ARE BOUGHT FROM XTEINK.COM!!!!!

Also note that CrossPoint has a way to bypass said flash block if you look at their repo or website:

- https://crosspointreader.com/unlock

- https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader#usb-l...

I can also anecdotally say that the x3 I bought from Amazon in like June (seller was xteink official store) was flashable without any bypass needed.

Same for mine bought a week ago.

Thanks for the confirmation, you two. Amazon's dropping one off today with the rest of our order.

I've been using a 2012 Kindle Paperwhite that is long past its expiration date, and I've little interest in continuing with Kindles, so this is a toe in the water of alternatives.

Its pretty good if you can get an opds server going or are ok with dropping bools directly on the sd card. Its small enough that it just stays in my pocket and i read when i have time instead of doom scrolling

Yeah but everyone buys from ali because it's much cheaper and you get more protection.

The ones from Xteink are more expensive. It's sneaky that they're trying to cash in on the success of the custom firmware that they had nothing to do with creating.

Why do the AliExpress ones lock the firmware? They have analytics in it or something?

I bought my X4 from Ali and usb flashing is disabled so I flashed crosspoint using the SD card method which wasn't difficult. It's not like I'm going to patch it often, it's just mildly less convenient when I do.

But yet, xteink is a partner at https://freeink.org/

I received my X4 Pro from Xteink themselves about a week ago and there was no problem installing CrossPoint. They do say that they have unlocked firmware, but I think the issue is if you buy them from AliExpress or similar as they seem to have locked firmwares. I think it's not too difficult to unlock the locked ones but haven't needed to try.

Nah it’s fine. They committed to international devices being unlocked, and the firmware lock is trivial to bypass anyway.

Why does XTINK even bother with their own firmware. Let their developer work on Crosspoint and make great hardware.

yes for sure crosspoint made this thing the best bang for your buck purchase in the milky way

Agreed. The stock firmware is virtually unusable. Extremely clunky, nothing renders right, moving books is a PITA, etc. Crosspoint makes it worth the $70. Without crosspoint, just don't buy it.

There’s an unlocked developer edition.

Crosspoint links to it at https://crosspointreader.com/devices

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