The BOOX Palma has generated quite a buzz in the e-reader community with its unique features and capabilities. As the latest offering from BOOX, the Palma is a palm-sized e-reader.
Let’s dive into everything you need to know about this palm-sized e-reader.

Key Specifications of BOOX Palma

12 Things You Need To Know About Boox Palma

1. It’s Not A Smartphone

First and foremost, it’s important to clarify that the BOOX Palma is not a smartphone. Unlike smartphones, it doesn’t support SIM cards or eSIMs for making calls. Instead, it relies on Wi-Fi or a hotspot for internet connectivity. However, you can still make calls using popular third-party apps such as WhatsApp.

2. Lightweight

This device is incredibly light in hand, and its size is perfect for on-the-go use, easily fitting in your pocket as an alternative to a smartphone. The weight and size of the Boox Palma make it an ideal portable device.

Its weight is approximately 170g or 6oz. In fact, it’s one of the lightest e-book readers I’ve ever held. While the Kobo Clara 2 is quite light, this device is even lighter, which is really impressive.

3. Incredibly Crisp Display

Featuring a 6.13″ HD Carta 1200 display, the BOOX Palma offers a resolution of 824 x 1648 pixels, resulting in sharp text rendering and a high pixel density of 300 ppi. The display is incredibly crisp and excels both indoors and outdoors. You can even have the front light almost turned off and still enjoy a very sharp display.

The device is equipped with warm light capabilities, including light sensors, dual color temperature, and auto-adjustable front lights. With its Paperlike screen, the BOOX Palma ensures a comfortable reading experience in any lighting condition.

When using the reading app, I find that the best clarity and resolution come from setting it to HD. This setting provides excellent text crispness, although it may result in slight lag when turning pages. However, this minimal lag is not usually a concern since reading generally involves moving back and forth through the text.

4. Flexible Screen Refresh Modes

The BOOX Palma offers various screen refresh modes to suit your preferences. You can choose from HD, balanced, fast, and ultra-fast modes. The balanced mode strikes the perfect balance between performance and ghosting clarity.

Additionally, the refresh rate can be adjusted on a per-app basis. For instance, when using a web browser, you may notice that certain websites are more dynamic, featuring videos or animations as you scroll. In such cases, you can increase the refresh rate for that specific application to improve the user experience.

To change the refresh rate, swipe up from the bottom of your device to access the refresh menu. From here, you can select the app-specific refresh rate. If you prefer to see a complete list of your applications and manually choose the refresh rate for each one, simply tap the settings icon. For reading applications like Kindle or the default reading app, you can opt for a slower refresh rate. This will help conserve battery life, but you can still refresh the screen manually using the refresh button on the side if needed.

5. Features A Camera

The Boox Palma is equipped with a 16-megapixel camera with LED flash that performs adequately. However, since the device uses a black-and-white E Ink display, you’ll only see photos in grayscale on the device itself. The images are actually captured in color, so if you send them to another device or share them with someone else, the pictures will appear in full color on their screens.

While the camera app doesn’t capture high-quality images, it’s handy for taking quick snapshots. Additionally, the device offers basic photo editing capabilities, allowing users to make simple modifications to their images.

6. Android 11 And Google Play Store

The BOOX Palma runs on Android 11, which is specifically customized to provide a distraction-free and focused reading experience. It features a minimalistic interface that prioritizes simplicity and functionality.

As Boox Palma runs on Android, you can easily install a wide range of apps from the Google Play Store. This is a major advantage for an e-reader with smartphone capabilities. For instance, I’ve installed YouTube Studio to monitor comments and statistics on my videos, making it easy to reply to comments.

I’ve also added the Kindle app, KOReader, Google Play Books, Google News, Google Maps, Reddit, Goodreads, and Gmail. Additionally, I have the Brave web browser installed, as well as Storytel for audiobooks and eBooks. Other apps I’ve installed include the weather app, Google Keep, Moon+ Reader, and Kobo Books. Having the Google Play Store on an Android e-reader is perfect because you can install all your favorite apps for reading books and more.

The layout of Google Play Store, however, is quite different from what we’re accustomed to, featuring unusually large icons. While the top charts section looks more familiar, this unique layout is likely tailored for e-ink displays.

7. KOReader

One great feature of the Boox Palma is its ability to seamlessly run both the KOReader and Kindle apps. This allows you to keep all your KOReader books perfectly synchronized across all your devices. Whether you’re using a Bigme B751C, a Kobo Elipsa 2E, or a Kobo Libra Colour, you can ensure that your books are in complete sync.

With KOReader, you can synchronize all your books, including highlighted passages and reading progress. This comprehensive synchronization is a significant advantage of using KOReader.

You can download the KOReader APK directly from their GitHub page, using either the built-in web browser on your Boox Palma or the Brave web browser. No matter which browser you choose, simply navigate to the GitHub page, download the APK file, and install it.

After installation, you can customize the settings to your preference. For instance, you can set up a statistics bar that displays your progress, battery life, remaining reading time, and the number of pages left in the chapter. This functionality significantly enhances the reading experience.

8. Gboard

The primary concern when typing on e-ink devices is typically the lag. However, the Boox Palma’s 6GB of RAM significantly reduces this issue.

Still, the layout and spacing of the Boox native keyboard make typing cumbersome and note-taking difficult. Its keys are not ergonomic.

To resolve this issue, use Google Keyboard as your default input method. The spacing of the keys on Gboard is much better, leading to fewer typing errors.

This change will make typing more enjoyable and reduce errors. Consequently, taking notes on the Palma becomes as straightforward as typing on your smartphone.

9. DocScan App

Boox Palma includes a Doc Scan app with camera functionality. Although the camera feed is black and white with a relatively low refresh rate, causing some flickering if you move, it’s an interesting feature nonetheless.

10. Google Maps on Boox Palma

The Boox Palma can access Google Maps, although it has some limitations compared to a smartphone. The device is a bit slow in updating the exact location, and its GPS is not as precise as that of a typical smartphone. However, it more than suffices for short journeys.

While you might not use this device for a long haul, especially a road trip, it’s more than adequate for navigating from point A to point B over relatively short distances. The mapping functionality adds versatility to the Boox Palma, making it useful for basic navigation needs in addition to its primary reading functions.

11. Music app

The device comes with a pre-installed Music app, offering users the ability to enjoy audio content on their device. While I haven’t stored any music on the device yet, it’s ready for use when needed. It’s worth noting that the Boox Palma doesn’t feature a traditional headphone jack. However, the USB-C port located at the bottom of the device can be used for audio output with the right adapter.

12. Onyx Boox Palma Black Vs Onyx Boox Palma White

The Onyx Boox Palma comes in both black and white versions, each with distinct characteristics. The white model has a semi-transparent bezel that makes the backlight more noticeable, especially in dark environments, and displays a distracting black line at the top edge of the screen in all refresh modes except HD.

These issues are less apparent or non-existent in the black version, providing a less intrusive reading experience.

The white plastic of the Palma could potentially become yellowish over time, though it is not yet confirmed if this will happen with this specific model.

Both versions face challenges with official case fit, with noticeable gaps and slightly off button cutouts. The white Palma with a black bumper looks particularly bad due to the color difference in the gaps, while the black Palma with a white case is considered more aesthetically pleasing.

Conclusion

While the BOOX Palma may not fulfill everyone’s requirements, it presents a captivating combination of e-reader functionality, app support, and additional features like Bluetooth connectivity. Its compact size, pocket-friendliness, and anticipated long battery life make it an ideal pocket e-reader for many.

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