The Onyx Boox Palma is a highly portable e-reader designed to look like a phone. You can carry it around in your pockets, and the form factor differs from an Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble Nook. It is light, so you can whip it out on public transit or read in direct sunlight. Battery life is measured in weeks, not days. The big selling points behind the Palma are Android 11 and Google Play. You can order it today from the Good e-Reader Store for $279.99 and comes with a free case.
The Onyx Boox Palma features a 6.13-inch capacitive touchscreen display and utilizes E INK Carta 1200 for fast page refreshing. The resolution is 824 x 1648 with 300 PPI. Reading an ebook is bliss; fonts are razor-sharp, whether you are using an app or sideloading your content. The screen is flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. The device colour scheme is a piano black on the front and back platting. It has two speakers, two microphones, a volume rocker (which can double as page-turn buttons), and an ambient light sensor to adjust the front-lit and colour temperature system based on the environment. It does not have a front-facing camera but does on the rear with a 16 MP snapper and LED light. A USB-C port will charge it and also transfer audiobooks or ebooks right to the device.
Underneath the hood are a Qualcomm Octa-core processor, a staggering 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It does have a MicroSD card, capable of an additional 1TB of storage. You can connect to the internet with Wi-Fi (2.4GHz + 5GHz) and have Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless earbuds or headphones to listen to audiobooks, music or podcasts. It is powered by a 3,950mAh Li-ion Polymer battery, which should be good enough for a couple of weeks of light reading or using Android apps. The dimensions are 159 x 80 x 8.0 mm and weighs 170 G.
The Palma uses Google Android 11 as the operating system and fully supports the Google Play Store, so you can download your favourite apps or discover new ones. Users will likely want to download their preferred e-reading ecosystem, such as Kindle, Kobo or Nook, and library apps like Libby or Hoopla. Since it has Google Play Services, you can also access all official Google apps such as Maps or Google Books. In addition, Onyx has integrated the ultra-smooth performance, leveraging the signature BOOX Super Refresh Technology. This empowers the device with four refresh modes, allowing for a smooth user experience across various tasks, including reading, web browsing, and using apps.
Palma offers abundant storage space for your entire ebook collection. You can enjoy seamless reading by supporting 24 popular formats, including EPUB, MOBI, TXT, CBR, and more. Integrating third-party cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive also grants you convenient access to your files online.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
