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In 2023, Boox turned heads with the Palma. The device blurred the line between e-readers and smartphones, by combining e-paper with Android. The initial pitch was something along the lines of a phone-sized Kindle that’s small enough to slip into a pocket.
The product would be enticing for many if that were the only thing it brought to table. I say this as someone who has taken his Kindle with him on the subway, only to awkwardly hang onto it for the rest of the night — and hopefully avoid leaving it behind. The idea of a pocketable e-reader is very appealing.
It’s clear, however, that Boox has larger ambitions with the line. On Wednesday, it referred to the forthcoming Palma 2 as “Mobile ePaper for a Mindful Lifestyle.” Hyperbolic market speak aside, Boox appears to envision the product as a kind of productivity device with limited distractions.
Image Credits:Boox
It’s a hard line to walk, building a “mindful” work device. In this case, it means a 6.13-inch 300 PPI E Ink display with 6GB of RAM and 12GB of storage. The device gets a speed bump with a new octa-core processor and a fingerprint reader for added security. Presumably the latter is handy if you’re using the device for more than airport reads.
The Android device has access to Google’s Play Store, further blurring the smartphone line. There are also a pair of speakers and a 16-megapixel camera designed specifically for scanning documents.
The device is currently up for preorder at $280, which puts it in the general price range for e-readers.
Brian Heater is the Hardware Editor at TechCrunch. He worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where he served as the Managing Editor. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Juniper.
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