Last year I tested an Android tablet from Boox with an e-ink screen (plus an excellent keyboard folio case and stylus) that proved to be a fun little machine for reading, sketching and typing, but I thought its $599 price made it a tough sell. That same Shenzhen-based company is back with a less ambitious e-ink device that is much smaller and more affordable. While it no longer has that great keyboard or stylus support, the Boox Palma is a more practical reading device, but the price is still perhaps too high.

About this review: Boox sent me the Palma for review. The company did not have any input in this article.

Boox Palma: Pricing and Availability

The Boox Palma is available for purchase now on Amazon or Best Buy, priced at $279. The device comes in either black or white, with one storage configuration — 128GB, though it supports microSD card for additional storage.

Design and hardware

Lovely to hold and look at

While I am no expert in e-readers, I have used a few. In addition to the aforementioned tablet from Boox, I have used a Kindle and a Nook here and there over the years. One thing I didn't realize until I picked up the Palma was how much more enjoyable it is to hold an e-reader when the device is in modern smartphone shape, with an elongated upright rectangle that keeps the horizontal width narrow. Now that I've held this guy, I can't believe the Kindles and Nooks of the world opted for a square-ish boxy design. It's not like the extra horizontal space is necessary when we're consuming text (I can see the benefit if we are consuming images).

So right away, my impression of the Palma is good. The device measures 6.3x3.1x0.31 inches and weighs 170g, so it's smaller and lighter than almost all modern flagships. The body is made of plastic but has a matte coating with a subtle texture that is meant to resemble recycled paper. The side frame is also subtle curved, like an older iPhone (before Apple went with the hard flat sides).

There's a 16MP camera on the back that isn't meant for photos, but rather scanning documents. We know this because Boox actually does not include a camera app in its software, but there is a document scanner. The side frame also houses a USB-C port, speaker grill at the bottom, two physical buttons and a volume rocker. But the star of the show is, of course, the e-ink screen.

The 6.13-inch HD e-ink screen has a resolution of 824x1648 (about 300 PPI), and it's sharp enough that I can't make out individual pixels in text. The e-ink display has a matte coating that does not reflect light, and it really does look like paper, with text appearing printed on the screen. E-ink screens usually have really slow refresh rates, but Boox gives this screen the option to boost the refresh rate (there are four different refresh rate modes). While Boox does not specify the refresh rate, I'd say at maximum it can get up around 24Hz, so you can watch videos on the screen (not that you'd really want to, given its deep contrast monochrome color scheme). The display is also backlit, so you can use it even in dark settings.

Boox did not specify the battery capacity or the SoC powering the device, but you won't need to worry about battery life or performance. The e-ink screen is very energy efficient, and this is not a device you need to charge every day — or even every week. I used the device in short intervals here and there, but I'd say over a week I averaged about 60-75 minutes of daily use, and the device still had over 50% to spare after seven full days.

Software

It's basically an Android phone

The Palma runs a proprietary OS that's a lightly skinned version of vanilla Android 11. There's a Google Play Store pre-installed on the homescreen, along with several Boox apps like the aforementioned scanner, dictionary, calculator, web browser, and an app for storing and reading PDFs and e-books. I use Amazon's Kindle service, so I quickly installed the Kindle app, which runs flawlessly on the device.

I also installed Instagram and YouTube, just to see if they run, and they do. Again, you really wouldn't want to browse Instagram or watch videos on this device, but it's possible. Boox has a proprietary cloud system for you to upload mostly word-based files from other computing devices for downloading onto the Palma device.

The UI behaves like Android: if you swipe from the top you get a notification panel and series of control shortcut toggles that allow you to adjust screen brightness or refresh rate. A back swipe goes back one layer, and a swipe up from bottom exits out of an app.

What I Like

Excellent screen for handheld reading

As mentioned, I love this device's size and I have found myself reading not just e-books on it, but also text-heavy articles. When I hold a device in my hand, whether it be phone or tablet, I tend to hold it up at head level, so I don't have to crane my neck down. The Palma's lighter weight makes doing that action much easier. After holding it to read for an hour, I went back to my usual reading device, the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and I definitely felt its extra weight and width.

The screen looks great as mentioned, as the e-ink panel does not emit blue light or reflect light that could cause eye strain. And the ability to speed up refresh rate makes the device more usable to do smartphone things than typical the Kindle or Nook. I read articles and emails, and respond to Instagram DMs with it (the on-screen keyboard has a slight lag for fast typers, but it's not too bad).

What I don't like

The appeal is still very niche

There's not much to complain about here, other than nitpicky things like lack of official water resistance or a SIM tray for mobile data support. I also think the power button and volume rocker can be easily confused due to their close proximity and similar shape. One final nitpick I have is the price is probably still high enough to limit its appeal to a mainstream audience. Otherwise, the Boox Palma does everything it advertises at a high level.

Should you buy the Boox Palma?

You should buy the Boox Palma if:

• You want a sleek and portable e-reader
• You want a handheld device for light productivity that doesn't strain the eye

You should not buy the Boox Palma if:

• You don't find reading things off your phone to cause any discomfort
• You don't read much

The Boox Palma is an excellent e-book reader, but its $279 asking price may be considered deep considering it isn't an essential must-have device. I think most people are fine reading words off their phone, so asking them to pay $279 for a dedicated reading device from a brand that's not a household name could be a tough ask. But for the small subset of people who do love their e-reader, I think the Boox Palma has a lot to like over bigger-named alternatives.