I decided to buy the Boox Palma 2 last month, and since I’ve been primarily using it to read Kindle ebooks with the Kindle Android app, I thought I’d put together a quick comparison between it and the current Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite.
The Palma has a 6.13″ E Ink screen (Carta 1200), but because of the narrower screen ratio it’s not nearly as wide as the Kindle, which has a 6″ screen, and it’s a lot smaller than the Paperwhite with its 7″ screen. It’s a little taller than the Kindle, but not by much, and it has a much smaller bezel.
When I first fired up the Boox Palma 2 and started using it with the Kindle app, I was surprised by how crisp the screen looked and how smooth scrolling and page turns were. Unlike the past few Onyx devices that I’ve reviewed, the Palma has BSR for better refreshing, and it makes a huge difference. Ghosting is also less of an issue with BSR, although it’s still more prevalent than with Kindles.
One of the best things about the Palma is the fact that it has volume buttons on the side that can also be used as page-turn buttons. There’s an extra button on the left side of the screen as well that can be programmed to do a number of different things.
Dark Mode is one thing the Palma isn’t quite as good at as Kindles since the Android app isn’t designed for E Ink screens, so the text doesn’t look as white. Turning off high contrast mode helps a little, but Boox devices show more ghosting than Kindles, and that’s more obvious with a black background.
Dark Mode looks and works better when using the default NeoReader app on the Palma, but that app doesn’t support ebooks with DRM so you’d have to go through several extra steps to read Kindle ebooks with it.
I really like the form factor of the Palma, but personally I don’t need 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage space, a fingerprint reader, a camera, a memory card slot, and so on just to read ebooks. I hope other companies start coming out with more basic versions of pocketable ereaders like the Palma. It’s great for reading on the go, and it fits in a pocket easier than even the basic Kindle because of the narrower screen.
One thing that’s kind of crazy about comparing these three devices is you can buy both the Kindle ($109) and the Kindle Paperwhite ($159) for $10 less than the Boox Palma 2 ($279) sells for by itself. The Palma adds some hardware upgrades and the Android OS is more versatile than a Kindle, but still that’s a high price to pay if you just want to use it to read Kindle ebooks. I really do like the Palma, though. It’s not quite as good as Kindles when it comes to reading Kindle ebooks, but it comes pretty close, and because of the Android OS it can do a whole lot more than just displaying ebooks from Amazon.
I had the 1st Palma and sold it. It’s just too small. I always have my phone for a “reading emergency”, but I always have my kindle paperwhite. My clothes seldom have pockets, so there’s the purse transportation. It’s annoying to me to have to turn pages every 5 seconds.
My very favorite cell phone was the LG V20. My 1st cell phone was a blackberry back around the “turn of the century”. So I’ve used cell phones for a long time. When my V20 began dying, I sadly bought a pixel. But, I’ve continued to use my V20 for games and some YouTube. If I wanted a small “e-reader” I’d use my LG so as to save my Pixel battery. (To my knowledge, the V20 was the last cell phone with a removable battery. I purchased expandable batteries for it to extend the charge. Over time, the batteries lost their charge and I’d get a new one. It’s the only phone I didn’t trade in when I bought a new one.)
For those who just want a small eReader for occasional use, check ebay for used phones. You might get a bargain.