The Boox Palma is a great e-reader in the frame of an Android smartphone

There are really only three things you need to know regarding Boox Palma. A: This is regarding the measurement of the smartphone. Two: It runs Android, with Play Games Gather. 3: It has E Ink display. I’ll delve into the alternative specifications and shapes, though that mix – smartphone, Android, E Ink – is Palma’s entire raison d’être for life.

In a few months of using the Palma, a $280 device that’s been on sale since late fall, the mix became exactly what I wanted. Since it’s smartphone-sized, with a 6.1-inch display and an overall footprint only a smidge larger than the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus, I’ll be able to store it in one hand and have compatibility with my patch. Since it runs Android I will be able to get any app I want. And since it’s E Ink, the battery lasts anywhere from four days to a day, the screen is easy to see even when it’s black, and – and this is the most impressive section – most of the apps are simply appalling in terms of usability.

Sure, Palma could technically acquire TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. It will probably also play games movies from those apps without stuttering. However, as a result of E Ink’s low resolution, slow refresh rate, and perfect black-and-white, it’s a worthless experience that I’m never tempted to do. Rather, I find myself making the issues that Palma’s performance is designed for. This factor is an e-reader in the beginning. It’s just that, unlike all other e-readers, it allows you to read in any app as per your convenience.

The primary app I downloaded onto the Palma was Amazon Kindle, where all my virtual books are. And before you were like, Dude, why didn’t you buy a Kindle? The second app I downloaded was ReadWise Reader, an app for reading and organizing long-form articles, PDFs, and just about anything else. Already, I had refused to do business with alternative e-readers. Next, I downloaded a few information apps, Flipboard, and the note-taking app Obsidian.

Two months later, they are still the apps I use most in Palma. The Boox preinstalls a few others, like an accent recorder and a song app, though I’ve touched on them little else. Who wants them when I have Android! Instead I downloaded Pocket Casts and Spotify, and now my Palma is my iPod in addition to being my Kindle. When I go for coffee in the morning or to walk the dog in the afternoon, only Palma comes with me.

I was surprised at how much of my telephone work disappeared when I moved all my listening and reading to another device. I’ve never lost count of how many times I take out my phone to change songs, only to be lured through a Slack message or Gmail notification. (Come to think of it, because of the “notification mute” feature in the Boox version of Android, I don’t think I got a single notification, I had it all.) Now that I’m bringing Palma and now the coffee shop. But I don’t have my phone with me, so I’m doing extra studying because TikTok isn’t even remotely attractive on this device. I’m actually currently offline – I’ll just turn it off on the plane to sync multiple apps, then close the relationship and move on to studying again. A tool that’s easy to have, technically can do everything I want, but most effective makes it easy to do what I want, which is everything I wanted.

“It’s just the right amount of friction,” Craig Maud informed me after describing his experience with Palma. Maude – a blogger, creator and speculator who has been the subject of virtual studies for years – also loves her Palma. He wrote a blog post about it in May, giving a bunch of countries the scoop on the device – he believes he convinced at least a few hundred countries to buy one. “You don’t want to go on YouTube and say, ‘Okay, let me watch MKBHD,'” he says. “But if I needed to… I could get into that for a second.”

That friction is a function of the device itself: E Ink monitors are not fresh enough to enjoy video properly. Serviceable in a pinch? Fixed. However now that is not enough to really attract you.

Like me, Mod mentioned the Palma blend of measurement and performance offered to him in the tool. “It’s perfect for one hand, it’s not heavy, it won’t fall on your face awkwardly,” he said. “You’ve got it in your hand with your thumb on the volume control, and you can easily read an article until you fall asleep.” Did I mention you’ll set the Palma to turn pages while you press the volume buttons? love him. The mod is known as Palma’s “A Reader’s Gentle Lullaby.”

Matt Martin, CEO of calendar startup Clockwise and another new Palma owner, echoed this sentiment. “I aspire to read more,” he said. “I aspire to not spend 30 minutes before bed on Instagram Reels.” he downloaded unused york example Discussed the apps, Instapaper, Libby, and Kindle, and said he’s been learning more and doing less Reels-ing since then.

“There’s an old anecdote that we were all taught in Psych 101,” Martin noted, “which is that the physical environment matters. I think a different device matters here: Sometimes you’re reading, and you’re in a slow section, and that random thought comes to your mind, like, What was that thing I wanted to buy on Amazon? And you’re there without even thinking about it.” A device like the palma provides enough friction to stop that education before it goes too far.

Maude has liked Palma so much that he wants the books to go even further. “I’d love to have this thing as my main driver,” he said, “more than a dopamine casino iPhone where it’s vying for your attention every two seconds.” He also wants the Bucs to get rid of the camera behind Palma, which, frankly, I had forgotten all about until he brought it up. I believe it is great to do in a pinch, although it is not a point-and-shoot.

Boox didn’t assemble any super machines here. Not by any stretch now. The plastic frame is a little flimsy, the display looks almost as good behind the bezels, completion takes half a second longer than necessary, the display can also be unresponsive from time to time, and I wish it would do ghosting a little faster. Can do a full-refresh of E Ink to remove it. (Although, there is a dedicated button to do that latter part, which helps.) For a $280 e-reader, I would expect a little extra polish in each hardware and device. Worst of all, the Palma runs Android 11, whose time is already largely over, and I can no longer count on Boox to update it anytime soon or ever. Of course, my Palma will slowly stop working app by app over the next few years. This is especially troubling, considering how simple my desires are; As for enjoying the songs and studying the articles, there is no reason why this should not continue forever.

What Boox really did was create a precise architecture of content — measurements, screen, apps — that feels less like a replacement for my smartphone and more like a complement to it. I prefer to search for small fresh things in Palma rather than my telephone; I unused york example‘There’s now a video game app for some E Ink crosswords, and for example, I just installed the Roku app, so now it’s a more remote control and I can plug my headphones in when I want to focus quietly. There is a park for these.

This date is full of companies looking to improve the best way to utilize their units. Humane, Rabbit and others have introduced wild fresh types of units, hopefully we can find fresh and different things to do with them. Palma represents a much less progressive – but possibly much more potential – backup: It simply changes the smartphone formulation, leaving what works but subtly altering the device’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s no longer as spectacular, no longer as fast, no longer as frictionless. Rather, it is calm, easy, sensible. And for that I like it.