I wouldn't anticipate too much from m5stack. They have a habit of developing products that are well designed from a physical standpoint... but when you try to develop with them one finds that the software and support needed to achieve your goals are half-baked and downright annoying. UIFlow1/2, I'm looking at you...
I have a tiny devboard collection habit, and gotta say coding agents work great with these. I've got a stick and a few dials running various hyper specific UIs for home assistant.
I have the older Paper-S3, which has better specs (larger screen and battery, 16-level grayscale) and also has a Crosspoint Reader port. Nice device, clearer screen than my Pocketbook Verse.
I think you can get 60 fps out of the old Paper S3. There was a gameboy emulator I saw recently that did it with some trickery I haven't reproduced on mine, but super impressive piece of hardware.
M5Stack and LilyGo products aren't necessarily end user ready. They are awkward middle grounds between shoebox sized literal circuit level prototype of smartphones and on-stage-CEO-showing-off prototypes. A bit like bake at home dough. Not competitors to real products.
I really don't understand why the XTEINK X4 Pro doesn't have a built-in USB-C port. A good part of the appeal of a device like that is less lock-in, but then you're stuck with a proprietary connector.
I guess this makes it a bit thinner and maybe a larger battery? I'd much rather have a slightly larger/thicker device and built-in USB-C.
I got the Xteink X4 Pro a few days ago. I was so convinced everything these days has a USB-C port, I didn't even check. Honestly it's the only downside of the device, I love everything else about it. Sure, it's small, but it's almost entirely an advantage for me. I don't even think about "should I take it with me?" - I just do, which means I read much more. The light is great for reading in bed. And CrossPoint is super solid (flashing took a minute).
The "original" XTEINK X4 (not pro) has a USB-C port - that's explicitly why I bought it. It looks like it is out of production now. The good news is they are a proven, very popular device (it's just an e-ink display glued to an ESP32 with good third party support) so this class of device should be available on AliExpress soon if not already.
M5Stack's twitter says 2 to 3 months [0] to restock because they're out of eink driver ic.
When I submitted the story maybe 8 hours[1] after the announcement, it was already out of stock. This person says it sold out in 1 second - https://x.com/henry19840301/status/2090652363434647738 - if that's possible.
Maybe "one second" was a poorly phrased colloquialism meaning "right away".
One can sign up for new product releases and if I paid attention to my marketing emails I could have clicked through. I'm guessing there are enough people who do combined with limited initial stock. We don't know.
Thanks for passing through the info for those of us not on Twitter!
would need a cheaper one
esp32, display the same size, battery and few buttons, no need for lights or even chassis, can 3d print it.
but only found screens too small or costs more than this device!
For reference, see the M5dinmeter
The software to achieve my goals basically "just works".
Most of their products are ESP32 based I think.
I guess this makes it a bit thinner and maybe a larger battery? I'd much rather have a slightly larger/thicker device and built-in USB-C.
When I submitted the story maybe 8 hours[1] after the announcement, it was already out of stock. This person says it sold out in 1 second - https://x.com/henry19840301/status/2090652363434647738 - if that's possible.
[0]:https://x.com/M5Stack/status/2091116748686922069
[1]:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49390702
One can sign up for new product releases and if I paid attention to my marketing emails I could have clicked through. I'm guessing there are enough people who do combined with limited initial stock. We don't know.
Thanks for passing through the info for those of us not on Twitter!
would need a cheaper one esp32, display the same size, battery and few buttons, no need for lights or even chassis, can 3d print it. but only found screens too small or costs more than this device!
btw where does these ship from?