Look, I know I said the Boox Palma changed the way I used my smartphone in theeditorial I wrote about it a few months ago. It truly helped me limit my social media doom-scrolling – at least for a bit. If I’m being honest with myself, that lasted for about a month before I returned to being glued to myiPhone 16 Proand Threads, just like always. Still, despite its shortcomings, the Palma is an interesting, single-use gadget, and the concept of a minimalist smartphone remains appealing to me. Thecelebrated pain points of the Palma, unfortunately, are what ultimately led me to ditch it.
Given the news cycle surrounding the tiny e-reader, I’m not surprised Boox has quickly released thePalma 2, a marginally upgraded take on the original Palma. At first glance, both pint-sized e-readers look identical (including the same dull black and white color options), but under the hood, there are a few notable upgrades. Unfortunately, those upgrades don’t include eSIM or SIM card compatibility, the latest version of Android, or even an improved screen (it’s still the same often laggy 6.13-inch Carta 1200 E Ink display). In a lot of ways, the Palma 2 is basically the original Palma. In fact, when I had both devices side-by-side, I got them briefly confused.
Nevertheless, if you’re on the fence about the Palma 2, or wondering if there’s enough in this iterative update to warrant an upgrade, then this story is for you.
Here’s everything new with Boox Palma 2.
Boox’s Palma 2 is very similar to its predecessor, with the pint-sized E ink device’s side-set fingerprint scanner being the only notable hardware upgrade.
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1The Palma 2 features an “upgraded” CPU
There’s still the same 6GB of RAM/128GB storage, but also a faster chip
For reasons that remain unclear, Boox has been pretty quiet about what the Palma’s new chip actually is. After doing a bit of research, it seems to be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 690/750 chip, compared to the OG Palma’s 460/662 processor.
In practice, does this actually make much of a difference? Sort of, is the most honest way I can answer that question. One of my issues with the original Palma is the lag I sometimes encountered when reading longer articles I’ve saved withPocketor attempting to use the E Ink device as a dedicated podcast listening medium (the weird Bluetooth issues I encountered with the original Palma are still around). In the last few weeks with the Palma 2, these problems occurred far less frequently, but they aren’t totally gone. For example, both Pocket andPocket Castshave crashed on me a few times, and 1Password remains surprisingly glitchy on the E Ink device.
Still, it’s great Boox has upgraded the Palma 2’s chip, particularly if you plan to run more resource-intensive apps on the minimalist device. I still don’t think that’s a great idea, however – the Palma 2 is at its best when you’re reading text or using it as an iPod-like dedicated podcast or Spotify listening device.
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This means more apps are compatible with the Palma 2
Even though the original Palma is powered by Android 11, I didn’t run into any notable compatibility problems. The key apps I use on the E Ink device arePocket,Pocket Casts, andKobo, and that’s pretty much it. For me, the Palma is a minimalist, focused single-use device, but if you’re looking for a complete Android replacement, then this is definitely good news.
Of all the upgrades Android 13 offers, future security updates offer useful piece-of-mind if you plan to use the Palma 2 as a full Android phone replacement.
Granted, Android 13 released in 2022 and is still a few years old, but it’s still far more recent than 2020’s Android 11. With Android 13, you’ll still get security updates, a native camera app (which wasn’t featured in the first Palma for some reason), more modern app icons, and an odd AI assistant app that seems to be tied to a very early version of ChatGPT, which I pretty much never use.
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3There’s a fingerprint sensor now
Why? For added e-book security, of course
Putting in a simple code isn’t difficult, but a fingerprint sensor is definitely more intuitive. That said, the Palma 2’s fingerprint sensor is a bit finicky. Thankfully, it’s not as bad as theRog Ally X’sfingerprint sensor, which I’ve found pretty much never works, but if you were expecting the level of accuracy you get from a device like the iPad Air, you’ll be disappointed. The addition of the fingerprint sensor with the Palma 2 allows me to more quickly log into the E Ink device, which, in turn, has encouraged me to pull it out instead of my trusty smartphone.
I can just as quickly pull out the Palma 2 and start reading an article I’ve saved in Pocket, instead of opening up X to see how depressing the world is progressively becoming.
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