alt Hacker NewsQuestion to X4 owners - what is the benefit over a smartphone?
I have a kindle for beach and travel as a good compromise size; I use my 10" tablet when I really settle in for reading, or when I read technical books with graphs or books with photographs etc. For my adhoc reader I use kindle app on my phone. What is the unique selling point of something like X4? I notice it attaches to the phone which seems bizarre, phone feels like a functional superset, so I must be missing something - is it battery life or less distractions or something else?
Thx! :)
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I carry my phone and my X4 in the same pocket. Whenever I feel like doom-scrolling, I take out the X4 and read a chapter in a book instead. It is excellent for taking back time to read that I lose to my phone.
Sure I could read the same book on my phone, but it takes multiple steps to open the e-reader app on my phone. On top of that, there are half a dozen other things I could open on my way to opening up my e-reader app. With X4, I press the button on the side and I'm reading.
Is it the best ereader? Not at all. Reading whitepapers or programming books on it is a fools errand. It is great for anything that is mostly text. Novels are amazing on it. I've keep up with my read it later backlog by saving URLs with the Obsidian ReadItLater plugin and then using pan to convert the collection of markdown into an epub file.
The battery life is amazing. I've charged it once since getting on 3/27. I've read about 1500 pages (5 novels) since I got it (albeit I've stalled out in June by trying to finish a book I'm not too into).
It is a great compliment to a 10" tablet. Whereas a 7" reader tends to stay at home due to its size, the X4 gets tossed in my pocket and comes everywhere with me.
I thought the same thing until I got a kindle. It just feels different. The eink display is really nice to look at.
it is small, has absolutely no possibility to distractions like phone. none.
I won't hesitate to give this to my children, in a year or two when they are reading more fluently and don't need lots of pictures.
Price is also a factor here!
Less distractions, yes, but mainly it's the size and e-ink display.
I kinda prefer oled screens so for me a foldable phone is much nicer than a kindle. Especially at night.
- The e-ink screen is great for reading. The feeling of ink on paper it produces cannot be replicated on any other screen. Not to my satisfaction.
- The microcontroller is so weak that you cannot add crappy features like more powerful e-readers are wont to do. This produces minimal distraction-free UIs. No messaging, no browsing.
- The form factor is the biggest win. It fits in a pocket and is great for the 5-10m you find when traveling or waiting somewhere. I cannot carry e-readers that way.
- It is great for fiction, and text-heavy non-fiction: history, philosophy etc. Stuff with a lot of images, tables, code blocks etc ... nope.
A single-function book is your window to the world. A phone is the world's window to you.