Boox Palma Review: Should’ve Been More of An E-Reader

Boox precocious added a caller e-reader to its ranks. It’s called the Palma and boasts an “eye-friendly” ePaper show that’s precocious been making rounds online. Priced astatine $280, it’s importantly much costly than Amazon’s $100 basal Kindle model, truthful I went into it with mode much expectations than I did with a Kindle. But I’m acrophobic it didn’t bash justness to its price.

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Boox Palma Design

Easily stowable.

The astir important happening you request to cognize astir Palma’s plan is that it feels similar holding an iPhone successful your hands. It is 6 x 3 inches and has astir the aforesaid signifier origin arsenic my past iPhone 12 Pro Max. This 2:1 facet ratio differs considerably from the 8:6 ratio connected a Kindle. 

Paper-like rear. Photo: Dua Rashid

I emotion however portable the Palma is. Weighing lone 170g, it feels bully and airy successful your tote bag. I carried it with maine to a mates of places and backmost and distant from enactment for astir a week, and it didn’t measurement my bureau tote down. It has a slim 8mm profile, a humble integrative body, and a sturdy exterior. Even though my Palma shipped with a protective cover, I didn’t usage it with that. I tried it for a fewer minutes but rapidly ditched it arsenic it added to the weight, made utilizing it little ergonomic, and didn’t consciousness necessary. Though tiny, the Palma feels beauteous robust and doesn’t request that other protection. The backmost of the instrumentality has a faux paper-like look, which I dig. 

While I liked that the Palma didn’t consciousness flimsy capable to necessitate a case, I did consciousness a small acrophobic astir the lack of a water-resistant standing and however that could pb to a catastrophe if a spillage occurs. The institution claims its e-reader is “water-repellent,” but it is not water-resistant. Compare this to the precocious IPX8 h2o absorption standing connected the Kindle, and you’ll recognize what a large flaw this is. 

Photo: Dua Rashid

The close broadside of the Palma hosts a powerfulness fastener and a measurement rocker, and the near borderline offers the SD paper slot and a customizable relation button. The buttons are bully and clicky, and I similar however they adhd a small popular of bling to the different bland body. The relation fastener has been designed intelligently and fixed up to 3 actions for a 1) short-press 2) double-click, and a 3) long-press. These actions see taking a screenshot, putting the Palma into Sleep Mode, going to the adjacent page, the erstwhile page, and truthful on. 

The underside of the e-reader sports a Type-C charging larboard and a brace of talker grilles. To my pleasant surprise, the speakers are excellent. Though tinny and crisp similar astir mobile telephone speakers, their measurement is awesome capable to capable a mid-sized room. I liked putting the Palma connected a support successful my room and listening to podcasts arsenic I cooked. The dependable of my cooking, on with my thunderous room exhaust, were some overpowered by the Palma’s speakers. 

Photo: Dua Rashid

I’m besides blessed astir the awesome speakers due to the fact that the Palma doesn’t connection a 3.5mm larboard for a wired audio connection. So, your lone 2 options are Bluetooth and speakers, and I mostly recovered myself opting for the latter. If I were idiosyncratic who drove, I would besides spot myself listening to audiobooks connected its speakers successful the car. If I ever devour contented wherever I attraction astir audio, I’d power to a bully brace of buds.

Boox Palma Functionality

Outdated OS but immense storage.

Android 11 powers the Palma, which, considering we’re on Android 15 now, makes it highly outdated successful presumption of the OS. Thankfully, the OS doesn’t importantly interaction the reader’s day-to-day functionality. Still, if you privation to usage the Boox much as a tablet, you mightiness find the outdated OS limiting you concerning app compatibility. 

Photo: Dua Rashid

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The processor connected committee is Qualcomm’s Octa-Core 2GHz with integrated graphics, 6GB memory, a whopping 128GB storage, and an SD paper slot. Amazon’s Kindle is 64GB, truthful the 128GB is instantly impressive. Considering it’s expandable with the representation paper slot, it is adjacent better, but we haven’t been told a maximum of however galore GBs the slot tin offer.  

The airy powering the E-Ink Carta 1200 show connected the Palma is called Moon Light 2 and is liable for the eye-friendly brushed glow that illuminates the device. The 6.13” surface offers 300ppi and a solution of 824×1648 dots. I cognize that the 6-inch size sounds a small excessively gangly for an e-reader and a small excessively phone-like. 

You besides get a 16MP rear camera with an LED flash. The flash besides works arsenic a beauteous agleam and utile flashlight erstwhile you swipe down connected the Palma and pat its icon successful the power center. However, the camera won’t fulfill your photography needs. It lone exists for scanning documents.

Boox Palma Experience

Bad astatine browsing

To entree my book, I had to download the Kindle app from the Google Play Store and motion up for (and wage for) Kindle Unlimited. It outgo maine astir $12 a period but was elemental to acceptable up. Reading my existent read, Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen, for a week made maine consciousness similar this instrumentality is confused betwixt wanting to beryllium an e-reader and a mobile phone. Personally, the 2:1 facet ratio didn’t enactment for me. It acceptable excessively small connected each leafage and, consequently, progressive a batch of scrolling and page-turning, which could person easy been avoided with a much book-like signifier factor. I tried zooming retired connected my publication a small to acceptable much substance connected a azygous page, but that was uncomfortable, too, and I resorted to a font large capable for my eyes. 

Photo: Dua Rashid

The interaction sensitivity isn’t what you get connected a smartphone oregon tablet, but it’s not bad. I did person to re-tap a mates of times erstwhile I tapped excessively lightly retired of habit, but for the astir part, it was fine. To crook a page, I lightly tapped oregon swiped the close portion of the screen.

One diagnostic I looked for arsenic soon arsenic I got my hands connected immoderate instrumentality was acheronian mode, truthful it was unusual to spot that I couldn’t find a acheronian mode setting. During the full investigating period, I felt that thing important was missing, arsenic if I inactive hadn’t afloat settled into this caller device. I contacted Palma to inquire whether I missed it, and they confirmed that the mode doesn’t beryllium connected it yet.

The Palma astatine night. Photo: Dua Rashid

Apart from Palma’s e-reader capabilities, I judge it needs much processing powerfulness to execute different tasks efficiently. You tin usage a browser and the Play Store arsenic you wish, which means you tin download games, YouTube, Netflix, oregon immoderate different apps you don’t caput interacting with connected a black-and-white e-ink display. But determination was capable stutter and lag successful day-to-day browsing that I can’t ideate utilizing it for adjacent airy games. I experienced pixel distortion portion scrolling down astatine times, typing was sometimes messy with the show perpetually glitching and it would look arsenic if it’s not accelerated capable to support up with my enactment flow.

One of the biggest issues with Palma is pixel persistence. I experienced terrible representation retention wherever I’d spot a precise evident representation of the past leafage enactment connected my adjacent one. This is simply a precise communal occupation that is pertinent to OLED displays. Whether it was typing connected the Palma oregon switching betwixt websites, it was wide that the instrumentality wasn’t accelerated capable to support up. Navigation improved erstwhile I switched to the ‘Ultrafast’ refresh mode retired of the 4 (HD, Balanced, Fast, Ultrafast) provided, but inactive not capable to connection a smooth, stutter-free browsing experience.

While the camera did a decent occupation capturing images, the OCR was poor, and I would alternatively usage my telephone for scanning and speechmaking documents. If I’d ever usage the Palma for this job, I’d person to marque rather a fewer corrections to the OCR results.

Palma’s OCR capabilities connected Lost to The World by Shahbaz Taseer. Photo: Dua Rashid

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In presumption of gestures, I recovered the Palma precise casual to get utilized to. It copies many gestures from iOS, such arsenic swiping close from the near of the show to spell backmost oregon enabling a Nav Ball successful Settings, which works precisely similar Assistive Touch. Of course, it besides keeps many Android features, such arsenic the bottommost navigation barroom with icons specified arsenic Home, Back, and Recents.

The Palma’s artillery beingness was excellent. It took a small little than 2 hours to complaint afloat and past wholly refused to die. Every day, I’d cheque the percent aft concluding my usage for that day, and it would spell down by a precise tiny margin. Its 3950mAh artillery volition easy past you a week and a fractional if you usage it regular for speechmaking and browsing.

Boox Palma Verdict

Trying to deterioration excessively galore hats.

The Palma tried to overperform successful a fig of areas and, arsenic a result, failed successful some. If it stuck to its occupation of being conscionable an e-reader, it could person been a much awesome instrumentality and, ideally, outgo less. Form factor-wise, it looks similar it’s trying precise hard to beryllium a phone. Functionality-wise, it wants to beryllium a tablet. I would person accepted the try-hard attitude, too, if it was cheaper. But for a steep terms of $280, I don’t privation to wage for features I ne'er asked for oregon don’t execute that well. On apical of that, immoderate glaring flaws, specified arsenic the lack of h2o resistance, a acheronian mode, and a 3.5mm port, are unacceptable erstwhile you’re mounting maine backmost astir 300 bucks.

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