The Commuter
Sunlight-readable e-ink display. Weeks of battery life. Resume exactly where you left off β even across multiple devices.
Open-source Β· ESP32-C3 Β· Xteink X4
Your pocket e-reader β
with a virtual chicken.
β¨ Custom firmware for the Xteink X4 e-reader β built on CrossPoint Reader
Open-source firmware for the Xteink X4 β a $69 pocket e-reader with physical buttons, SD card, and weeks of battery. CrossPet adds Vietnamese UI, a virtual chicken pet, mini games, reading stats, weather & lunar calendar.
4.3" E-Ink Β· Physical buttons Β· SD Card Β· WiFi + BLE Β· Weeks of battery Β· 100g pocket-sized
Your chicken grows with every page
The more you read, the more your chicken evolves. From a tiny egg to a proud rooster with a book.
Egg
0 pages
Chick
100 pages
Hen
500 pages
Rooster
2000 pages
Track reading stats, earn streaks, and watch your pixel chicken come to life.
Built for readers, by readers
CrossPet fits into your reading life β however you read.
The Bookworm
Anti-aliased text with 3 font families including OpenDyslexic. Adjustable spacing, margins, and 4 font sizes. Your eyes will thank you.
The Tinkerer
Fully open-source firmware. WiFi book upload, OTA updates. Hack it, mod it, make it yours.
The Minimalist
No ads. No tracking. No cloud dependency. Physical buttons. One purpose: focused reading.
What makes CrossPet special
Everything you need for great reading β plus the things that make it uniquely CrossPet.
Core Reading
- EPUB 2 & 3 with image support
- Anti-aliased grayscale text rendering
- 3 font families Γ 4 sizes Γ 4 styles
- Multi-language hyphenation engine
- KOReader Sync β cross-device progress
- WiFi book upload + Calibre + OPDS browser
- 4 screen orientations (Portrait, Landscape CW/CCW, Inverted)
- Fully remappable physical buttons
- Custom sleep screens (cover art, custom images)
- SD-first aggressive layout caching
CrossPet Exclusives
- Virtual Chicken β pixel companion that grows with your reading
- Reading Stats β daily time, streaks & session tracking
- Stats sleep screen dashboard
- Weather Widget β Open-Meteo API, shown in header & clock
- Clock + Lunar Calendar with month navigation
- Daily Literary Quotes on clock sleep screen
- BLE Remote & Presenter β keyboard & slide control
- Mini Games β Chess, Caro, Sudoku, Minesweeper, 2048
- Pomodoro Timer
- Vietnamese fonts β full diacritics, anti-aliased on e-ink
- Full Vietnamese UI β menus, settings, all screens
Vietnamese fonts that actually work on e-ink
CrossPet includes 3 font families (Bookerly, Noto Sans, Bokerlam) with full Vietnamese diacritics support β Δ, Γ’, Δ, Γͺ, Γ΄, Ζ‘, Ζ° and all tone marks render perfectly with anti-aliased grayscale on the 800Γ480 e-ink display. Bokerlam is a handcrafted Vietnamese font optimized for readability. No more broken characters or missing glyphs.
See it in action
Real CrossPet firmware running on a real Xteink X4 β Vietnamese UI, virtual chicken, reading progress, all on e-ink.
Home screen: weather, book cover, reading progress, virtual chicken β all in Vietnamese.
Take a break β play a game
Five pixel-perfect mini games built right into the firmware. No install, no internet, just fun.
Chess
Classic chess with AI opponent. Multiple difficulty levels.
Caro (Gomoku)
Five-in-a-row on e-ink. Crisp and satisfying.
Sudoku
Logic puzzles in 4 difficulty tiers. Auto-save progress.
Minesweeper
The classic. Pixel-perfect on the 800x480 display.
2048
Slide and merge tiles. One more game before bed...
More than just a reader
Useful tools built right into the firmware β no apps, no internet required.
Clock & Lunar Calendar
Monthly calendar with lunar date integration. Navigate months with Left/Right buttons. Vietnamese lunar calendar shows "Γm lα»ch" range in header. Perfect for tracking traditional holidays.
Weather Widget
Current weather from Open-Meteo API β free, no API key needed. Shows temperature in header bar, clock sleep screen, and dedicated weather app. Auto-syncs when WiFi connects.
Daily Literary Quotes
28 rotating literary quotes displayed on the clock sleep screen. A new quote every day to inspire your reading journey.
Pomodoro Timer
Built-in focus timer for productive reading sessions. Set work/break intervals and stay on track β right on your e-reader.
Your e-reader is also a wireless presenter
Connect to your laptop via BLE and control presentations with physical buttons β next slide, previous slide, from across the room. No dongle, no app. Just pair and present.
BLE 5.0
HID Keyboard
Page Remote
No Dongle
Official vs CrossPoint vs CrossPet
| Feature | Official | CrossPoint | CrossPet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open source | β | β | β |
| Anti-aliased text rendering | β | β | β |
| Custom font families | β | β (3 families) | β (3 families + Bokerlam) |
| KOReader Sync | β | β | β |
| Calibre integration | β | β | β |
| OPDS browser | β | β | β |
| WiFi book upload | β | β | β |
| OTA firmware updates | β | β | β |
| Remappable buttons | β | β | β |
| Vietnamese UI | β | β | β |
| Virtual Chicken companion | β | β | β |
| Reading stats & streaks | β | β | β |
| Weather widget | β | β | β |
| Clock + Lunar calendar | β | β | β |
| Pomodoro timer | β | β | β |
| Literary quotes on sleep screen | β | β | β |
| Mini games | β | β | β |
| BLE remote / presenter | β | β | β |
Xteink X4 β honest comparison
Not the best screen. Not the most features. But the only one you can hack, pocket, and make truly yours.
| Spec | Xteink X4 + CrossPet | Kindle Paperwhite | Boox Page | Smartphone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $69 | ~$150 | ~$250 | $200β1200 |
| Screen | 4.3" E-Ink 800Γ480 β small but sharp enough | 6.8" E-Ink 1236Γ1648 β bigger, sharper | 7" E-Ink 1264Γ1680 β best resolution | 6"+ LCD/OLED β high brightness, more eye strain |
| Battery | Weeks (no backlight, ultra-low power) | Weeks | DaysβWeek (Android drains faster) | Hours |
| Backlight | None β can't read in the dark | Warm light, adjustable | Warm + cold light | Full brightness |
| Touchscreen | None β buttons only | β | β | β |
| Weight | ~100g | 205g | 195g | 150β230g |
| Open-source firmware | CrossPet β fully open source, fully customizable | Locked down, Amazon controls | Android, partially open | Locked ecosystem |
| Sideload books | SD card + WiFi upload | Send-to-Kindle, limited formats | Full Android, any app | Yes |
| Ads | None, ever | Yes (pay extra to remove) | None | Common in free apps |
| Storage | SD card β swap anytime, unlimited | 8β32GB fixed, no expansion | 64GB fixed | 64β512GB |
| Personality | Virtual chicken, games, lunar calendar, weather | Standard UI, limited customization | Android apps, but generic | Many apps, but easy to get distracted |
| Pocket-sized | Fits in any pocket | Too large for pockets | Too large for pockets | Varies |
No backlight, no touchscreen, small screen β but at $69, you get an open-source e-ink reader that fits in your pocket, runs for weeks, and has a virtual chicken. Trade-offs worth making.