Boox Palma 2: A great little e-reader with big ambitions

Palma is a rare product. A small e-reader with big gadget ambitions. On its website, Boox describes the product as a “distraction-free device that allows you to bring your focus back directly between technology and life.”

In many ways, the company’s ambitions seem to be similar to that of the Light phone by creating a second device designed to remove you from the built-in distractions of your smartphone. That’s a good enough sentiment that many of us can no doubt get behind, as we experience yet another deeply divisive US presidential election on social media.

What, exactly, constitutes “interference” versus essential work is highly dependent, however. If we go back to the Light Phone for a second, we see a product that was deliberately introduced with a limited feature set, only to introduce new functionality that was deemed “insignificant” at first.

For better or worse, we rely on our small pocket contacts in almost every aspect of our lives. Reducing dependencies and disruptions are strong goals, but depriving users of really useful features can be counterproductive.

Palma doesn’t start from that same place of working minimalism – at least not fully. There are some limitations baked right into the product by the nature of its ePaper display. There are certain functions that work better on technology – reading, for example – but it lacks a large amount of flexibility compared to your standard smartphone/tablet screen.

The device, however, runs Android (albeit a few generations behind) and has access to the Google Play Store. It has a camera, microphone, speakers, and Bluetooth connectivity. The Palma 2 features an improved octa-core processor and adds privacy in the form of a fingerprint reader.

The interesting choices of what to include and what to leave out make it sound like a PDA with an identity crisis: a strange electronic consumer chimera that isn’t entirely sure what it wants to be when it grows up. As it turns out, that’s part of the fun.

Playing around with the Palma 2 sent me down some unexpected rabbit holes, including Reddit threads where people discuss the workings behind the device. There is, for example, a microSD slot for expandable memory, but no SIM card. That said, despite the inclusion of microphones, speakers, and Bluetooth, it’s not specifically designed for making phone calls.

So, people are debating the functionality of WhatsApp voice as a way of working. There’s no GPS, which puts the kibosh on mapping functionality, but what about piggybacking on a device that does? It’s a lot of work for relatively little reward, but there’s always hope to see ways in which technological limitations encourage creative user innovation.

Granted, I’ve only been using the Palma 2 for a short time, but I tend to fall into the camp of content users who think of the device as a pure e-reader. It enjoys many of those features, including an ePaper that’s easy on the eyes (with a sleep schedule) and extends battery life beyond what a typical smartphone can do.

The new processor adds zip to the Palma, while removing the annoying lag from the previous generation. That said, the product is still hampered by ePaper’s update limitations. If Boox could make a version of the Palma that was a true e-reader, stripped of most of the features it might be out there, and delivered at a lower price, I could see these things flying off the shelf.

The promise of a student slim enough to fit in a pocket is likely to attract a lot of attention. I’ve spent more time than I care to say trying to decide whether to take my Kindle with me on a long train journey, knowing it would mean lugging it around all night and leaving it in the dark. it exists.

Boox makes excellent e-readers, and the Palma fits the bill. It’s great hardware, with a 300 ppi display and a strong front light for reading in bed. The $280 asking price, on the other hand, is hard to say unless you plan to use most of the other features.