Boox not too long ago added a brand new e-reader. Referred to as Palma, it has an “eye-friendly” e-paper show and has been circulating on-line not too long ago. At $280, it is considerably costlier than Amazon’s $100 base Kindle mannequin, so I had a lot larger expectations for it than I did for the Kindle. However I am afraid it would not do justice to its value.
Brooks Parma
It is making an attempt to do too many issues directly.
benefit
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strong physique
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Enormous, expandable space for storing
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Lengthy-lasting battery life
shortcoming
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No darkish mode
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No 3.5mm interface
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Facet ratio makes it troublesome to learn
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Interface lag
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Boox Parma Design
Straightforward to retailer.
A very powerful factor you should know in regards to the Palma’s design is that it feels such as you’re holding an iPhone in your hand. It measures 6 x 3 inches and appears virtually equivalent to my previous iPhone 12 Professional Max. This 2:1 side ratio is sort of totally different from the 8:6 side ratio on the Kindle.
I really like how transportable the Palma is. Weighing solely 170 grams, it feels snug and light-weight in your purse. I took it to a couple locations and forwards and backwards to and from work for a few week, and it did not burden my workplace. It has a slim 8mm profile, a plain plastic physique and a rugged look. Regardless that my Palma got here with a protecting case, I did not use it. I attempted it for a couple of minutes however shortly gave up on it as a result of it added weight, made utilizing it much less ergonomic, and felt pointless. Regardless that it is small, the Palma feels fairly sturdy and would not want additional safety. The again of the system has a paper-like look to it, which I actually like.
Whereas I like that the Palma would not really feel flimsy sufficient to require a case, I do have some issues in regards to the lack of waterproofing and the way it may result in catastrophe if a spill occurred. The corporate claims its e-readers are “waterproof,” however they don’t seem to be. Evaluate that to the Kindle’s IPX8 water resistance score, and also you understand what an enormous disadvantage that is.
The appropriate aspect of the Palma homes the ability button and quantity rocker, whereas the left edge provides an SD card slot and customizable operate buttons. The buttons are good and clicky, and I like how they add slightly sparkle to an in any other case bland chassis. The operate button is intelligently designed and might carry out as much as three operations: 1) quick press, 2) double click on, 3) lengthy press. These actions embody taking screenshots, placing Palma into sleep mode, going to the subsequent web page, earlier web page, and extra.
The underside of the e-reader has a Sort-C charging port and a pair of speaker grilles. To my nice shock, the audio system had been glorious. Whereas sharp and pointy like most telephone audio system, they’re loud sufficient to fill a reasonably sized room. I wish to put the Palma on the kitchen shelf and take heed to podcasts whereas I prepare dinner. The sounds of my cooking, in addition to the thunderous sound of the kitchen exhaust, had been drowned out by Parma’s audio system.
I am additionally happy with the spectacular audio system, since Palma would not provide a 3.5mm port for wired audio connections. So your solely two choices are Bluetooth and audio system, and I largely discovered myself selecting the latter. If I had been a driver, I may additionally see myself listening to audiobooks on audio system within the automotive. If I ever devour content material that cares about audio, I will swap to pair of headphones.
Boox Palma options
Outdated working system however large space for storing.
Android 11 powers Palma, contemplating that we at the moment are on Android 15, which may be very outdated by way of working system. Fortunately, the working system will not considerably affect readers’ day by day functioning. Nonetheless, if you wish to use Boox extra When utilizing a pill, you could discover that an outdated working system limits your app compatibility.
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The processor is Qualcomm octa-core 2GHz, with built-in graphics, 6GB of reminiscence, as much as 128GB of space for storing and an SD card slot. Amazon’s Kindle is 64GB, so 128GB is instantly spectacular. That is even higher contemplating it is expandable through a reminiscence card slot, we simply have not been advised what number of GB that slot can provide at most.
The sunshine powering the E-Ink Carta 1200 show on the Palma is known as Moon Mild 2, and is answerable for illuminating the system with an eye-friendly delicate glow. The 6.13-inch display offers 300ppi and 824×1648 dots decision. I do know the 6-inch measurement sounds a bit too tall for an e-reader, and a bit too phone-like.
You additionally get a 16MP rear digicam with LED flash. The flash will also be used as a really vivid and helpful flashlight while you swipe down on Palma and faucet the Management Middle icon. Nonetheless, this digicam will not meet your pictures wants. It is just used for scanning information.
Boox Parma Expertise
Not good at shopping
To entry my books, I needed to obtain the Kindle app from the Google Play Retailer and join (and pay for) Kindle Limitless. It price me about $12 a month, however it was simple to arrange. Every week into my present learn, Sarah Gruen’s Water for Elephants, and I really feel like this system is torn between desirous to be an e-reader and a telephone. Personally, the two:1 side ratio simply would not work for me. It is too small on every web page, so it requires plenty of scrolling and web page turning, which may be simply prevented with a extra book-like type issue. I attempted making the ebook slightly smaller to suit extra textual content on one web page, however that was additionally uncomfortable, so I went with a font measurement massive sufficient for my eyes.
The contact sensitivity is not fairly pretty much as good as a smartphone or pill, however it’s not dangerous both. It did must be re-tapped a number of instances once I hit it too flippantly out of behavior, however for probably the most half it was fantastic. To show pages, I flippantly faucet or swipe the proper a part of the display.
One of many options I search for once I get any system is darkish mode, so it is unusual that I can not discover a darkish mode setting. All through my testing, I felt like one thing vital was lacking, like I hadn’t fairly gotten used to this new system. I contacted Palma to ask if I would missed it, they usually confirmed that the mode did not exist but.
Along with the Palma’s e-reader performance, I consider it requires extra processing energy to carry out different duties successfully. You have got the browser and Play Retailer at your disposal, which suggests you possibly can obtain video games, YouTube, Netflix, or another app you do not thoughts interacting with on a black and white e-ink show. However there’s sufficient stuttering and lag in day-to-day shopping that I can not think about utilizing it for mild gaming. I typically skilled pixel distortion when scrolling down, typing was typically complicated, the show saved glitching, and it did not look like it was quick sufficient to maintain up with my workflow.
One of many greatest points with Palma is pixel persistence. I skilled extreme picture retention, the place I might see very apparent photographs from the earlier web page retained on the subsequent web page. This can be a quite common drawback associated to OLED shows. Whether or not typing on the Palma or switching between web sites, it is clear that the system simply is not quick sufficient. Navigation improved once I switched to the “Extremely Quick” refresh mode of the 4 supplied (HD, Balanced, Quick, Extremely Quick), however nonetheless not sufficient to supply a easy, stutter-free shopping expertise.
Whereas the digicam does a good job of capturing photographs, the OCR function is poor and I take advantage of my telephone to scan and skim paperwork. If I had been to make use of Palma for this job, I must make fairly a number of corrections to the OCR outcomes.
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By way of gestures, I discovered the Palma simple to get used to. it copies Many gestures from iOS, resembling swiping proper from the left aspect of the show to return or enabling the navigation ball in Settings, work precisely like Assistive Contact. After all, it additionally retains many Android options, For instance, a backside navigation bar with icons resembling “House”, “Again” and “Current”.
The Palma’s battery life is excellent. It took lower than two hours to totally cost, after which it stopped freezing in any respect. On daily basis, I test the proportion on the finish of the day’s use and it drops barely. If you happen to use it day-after-day for studying and shopping, its 3950mAh battery can simply final every week and a half.
Boox Parma Verdict
Attempting to put on too many hats.
Parma tried to excel in lots of areas however ended up failing in some. If it had caught to being simply an e-reader, it may need been a extra spectacular system and ideally price much less. From the appears to be like of it, it looks as if it is making an attempt to be a telephone. Functionally, it needs to be a pill. If the worth had been cheaper, I might additionally settle for this tough work angle. However for the hefty value of $280, I do not need to pay for options I by no means requested for or that do not carry out nicely. On high of that, there are some evident flaws, like no waterproofing, no darkish mode, and three.5mm ports, that I simply can’t recover from while you’re spending round $300.
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