Boox just lately added a brand new e-reader to its ranks. It’s referred to as the Palma, and it boasts the “eye-friendly” ePaper show that has just lately gained traction on-line. At $280, it’s significantly dearer than Amazon’s $100 base mannequin Kindle, so I purchased it with a lot larger expectations than the Kindle. However I’m afraid it didn’t reside as much as its price ticket.
Bux Palma
He is making an attempt to do an excessive amount of without delay.
professionals
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Sturdy physique
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Big, expandable storage
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The battery life is lengthy
Minuses
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No darkish mode
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No 3.5mm port
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The side ratio makes it tough to learn.
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The interface is sluggish
Design by Boox Palma
Straightforward to fold.
Crucial factor you want to know concerning the Palma design is that it feels such as you’re holding it in your palms. iPhone in your palms. It is 6 x 3 inches, and has nearly the identical kind issue as my historic iPhone 12 Professional Max. That 2:1 side ratio is a big change from the 8:6 ratio on the Kindle.
I like how moveable the Palma is. At simply 170g, it feels good and light-weight in your bag. I carried it round with me to and from work a few instances for a couple of week and it didn’t crush my workplace bag. It has a slim 8mm profile, an unobtrusive plastic physique, and a rugged look. Though my Palma got here with a protecting case, I didn’t use it with it. I attempted it for a couple of minutes however shortly discarded it because it added weight, made it much less ergonomic to make use of, and didn’t really feel needed. Despite the fact that the Palma is tiny, it feels fairly stable and doesn’t want that a lot further safety. The again of the gadget has a fake paper look to it, which I like.
Whereas I like that the Palma doesn’t really feel flimsy sufficient to require a case, I’m a bit involved concerning the lack of a water-proof ranking and the way that would result in catastrophe if a spill happens. The corporate claims its e-reader is “water-repellent,” however it’s not waterproof. Evaluate that to the Kindle’s excessive IPX8 waterproof ranking and you may see what a giant deal that is.
On the precise facet of the Palma are the ability button and quantity rocker, whereas on the left facet is the SD card slot and a customizable operate button. The buttons are good and clicky, and I like how they add a bit aptitude to the in any other case featureless physique. The operate button has been cleverly designed and has three actions for 1) a brief press, 2) a double press, and three) a protracted press. These actions embrace taking a screenshot, placing the Palma to sleep, going to the following web page, the earlier web page, and so forth.
On the underside of the e-reader is a Kind-C charging port and a pair of speaker grilles. To my nice shock, the audio system are glorious. Whereas they’re tinny and harsh, like most cell phone audio system, they’re loud sufficient to fill a medium-sized room. I loved setting the Palma on a shelf within the kitchen and listening to podcasts whereas I cooked. The sound of my cooking, in addition to the loud exhaust fumes from the kitchen, have been drowned out by the Palma’s audio system.
I’m additionally glad for the spectacular audio system, as a result of the Palma doesn’t supply a 3.5mm port for wired audio. So that you solely have two choices – Bluetooth and audio system, and I largely went with the latter. If I have been a driver, I’d additionally see myself listening to audiobooks on its in-car audio system. If I ever devour content material the place sound is vital to me, I’d swap to pair of headphones.
Boox Palma Performance
Outdated OS, however large quantity of reminiscence.
Android 11 works on Palmawhich, provided that we’re on Android 15 now, makes it extraordinarily outdated by way of the OS. Happily, the OS doesn’t have a big influence on the day-to-day performance of the reader. Nonetheless, if you wish to use Boox extra as a pill, you could discover that an outdated OS limits you by way of app compatibility.
The processor on board is a Qualcomm Octa-Core 2 GHz with built-in graphics, 6 GB of reminiscence, a whopping 128 GB of storage, and an SD card slot. The Amazon Kindle is 64 GB, so 128 GB is straight away spectacular. Contemplating that it may be expanded by way of a reminiscence card slot, it’s even higher, besides we weren’t informed the utmost quantity of GB the slot can supply.
The E Ink Carta 1200 show backlight on the Palma known as Moon Mild 2 and is liable for the eye-pleasing gentle glow that illuminates the gadget. The 6.13-inch display screen affords a pixel density of 300ppi and a decision of 824×1648 pixels. I do know, 6 inches sounds a bit tall for an e-reader and a bit phone-like.
You additionally get a 16-megapixel rear digicam with an LED flash. The flash additionally works as a reasonably brilliant and helpful flashlight if you swipe down on the Palm and faucet on its icon within the management heart. Nonetheless, the digicam gained’t fulfill your images wants. It’s solely there for scanning paperwork.
Boox Palma Expertise
I can not see effectively
To entry my e book, I needed to obtain the Kindle app from the Google Play Retailer and register (and pay) Kindle LimitlessIt price me about $12 a month however was simple to arrange. Whereas studying my present e book, Water for elephants Sarah Gruen, for every week, made me assume that this gadget was a mixture of an e-book reader and a cell phone. Personally, the two:1 side ratio did not work for me. There wasn’t sufficient room on every web page, and it meant lots of scrolling and web page turning that would have simply been averted if the format had been extra portrait-like. I attempted scaling the e book down a bit to suit extra textual content on a single web page, however that was additionally awkward, so I resorted to a font that was simply massive sufficient for my eyes.
Contact sensitivity is not the identical as on a smartphone or pill, however it’s not unhealthy. I needed to re-tap a few instances once I was habitually urgent too evenly, however for essentially the most half it was high quality. To show a web page, I evenly pressed or swiped my finger on the precise facet of the display screen.
One of many options I search for once I first get my palms on any gadget is a darkish mode, so it was unusual to see that I couldn’t discover a darkish mode setting. All through my testing interval, I felt like one thing vital was lacking, like I nonetheless hadn’t absolutely gotten the grasp of this new gadget. I reached out to Palma to ask if I missed it, and so they confirmed that it wasn’t there but.
Other than the Palma’s capabilities as an e-reader, I feel it wants extra processing energy to deal with different duties effectively. You should utilize the browser and Play Retailer as you please, which implies you may obtain video games, YouTube, Netflix, or every other app you don’t thoughts interacting with on a black-and-white e-ink show. However there was sufficient stuttering and lag throughout on a regular basis shopping that I can’t think about utilizing it for even mild gaming. I often encountered pixel glitches when scrolling down, typing was often sloppy, and the show was always glitching, making it really feel prefer it wasn’t quick sufficient to deal with my workflow.
One of many largest points with the Palma is pixel persistence. I skilled extreme picture retention, the place I noticed a really apparent picture of the earlier web page lingering on my subsequent web page. This can be a quite common subject that’s particular to OLED shows. Whether or not I used to be typing on the Palma or switching between web sites, it was clear that the gadget wasn’t quick sufficient to deal with it. Navigation improved once I switched to the “Superfast” refresh mode of the 4 (HD, Balanced, Quick, Superfast), however it was nonetheless not sufficient to offer a clean, lag-free shopping expertise.
Whereas the digicam did a good job of capturing photographs, the OCR was poor, and I’d use my cellphone to scan and skim paperwork as a substitute. If I ever used the Palma for this job, I must make fairly a number of corrections to the OCR outcomes.
As for gestures, it was very simple for me to get used to Palma. It copies many gestures from iOS gadget, for instance, swipe proper from the left fringe of the display screen to return, or activate the Nav Ball in Settings, which works precisely like Assistive Contact. After all, it additionally saves lots of Android Options, for instance, a backside navigation bar with icons like Residence, Again, and Latest.
The Palma’s battery life was glorious. It took slightly below two hours to completely cost, after which it refused to die. Every single day I checked the share after I completed utilizing it for the day, and it dropped by a really small quantity. Its 3,950mAh battery will simply final every week and a half in the event you use it day by day for studying and internet shopping.
Verdict within the Bux-Palma case
Making an attempt to put on too many hats.
The Palm tried to outdo itself in a variety of areas and, in consequence, failed in a few of them. If it had caught to its mission of being simply an e-reader, it might have been a extra spectacular gadget and, ideally, price much less. When it comes to kind issue, it feels prefer it’s making an attempt too arduous to be a cellphone. When it comes to performance, it needs to be a pill. I’d settle for that perspective too if it have been cheaper. However for a steep $280 price ticket, I don’t wish to pay for options I by no means requested for or that don’t work all that effectively. On prime of that, some evident flaws like the dearth of waterproofing, darkish mode, and a 3.5mm port are unacceptable if you’re costing me round $300.