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Android Authority
25-05-2025
- Android Authority
I ditched my Kindle for this small phone-sized Android e-ink reader, and I'm not going back
BOOX Palma 2 The BOOX Palma 2 is a small, lightweight, and portable e-ink reader. It runs Android 13 with full access to the Google Play Store, allowing you to use your favorite apps on a display that's easily readable outdoors while still lasting a week on a charge. I loved reading as a kid, and I still read now, though less frequently, because I tend to lose myself way too easily in books and end up neglecting work and other obligations to finish them. Still, for the past decade, I've had a Kindle of some sort on my bedside table. Not anymore, though. I skipped right past the e-ink tablet category and found an alternative that actually works better for me: the Onyx BOOX Palma 2 ($299.99 at Amazon). It's smaller, lighter, easier to carry everywhere, more versatile, and after using it for a month, I don't see myself going back to a Kindle for most of my reading. Everything I love about the Kindle, but more portable Rita El Khoury / Android Authority My Kindle Paperwhite 2021 is still fantastic. It has a battery that lasts for weeks on end, a nice e-ink screen that can be easily read when it's sunny outdoors with built-in LED lights to continue reading in the dark, an IPX8 rating to resist water, and it's noticeably faster than my previous Kindles. But my issue with it has always been the size. I am not a tablet-carrying person — not even around my house. Anything larger than a phone gets relegated to stationary use, and worse yet, I'll think twice, if not ten times, before I take it away on a trip. Basically, if a gadget doesn't easily fit in my pocket and requires that I keep it in a backpack, I know I'm likely to ignore it, so I don't bring it along. That's why I use earbuds on planes and trains even though I have two excellent pairs of over-ear headphones, and in the 10 years that I've owned a Kindle, I don't think I've ever brought one on any trip. The BOOX Palma 2 changed all of this for me. I didn't expect the small size to affect how often I use an e-reader, but it did. At 159mm x 80mm, it is nearly half the footprint of my Paperwhite's 174mm x 125mm, and significantly lighter, too (170g vs 205g). It's the width, specifically, that plays such a crucial role in making it a pocket-friendly, single-handed, use-while-walking experience versus the Kindle's two-handed, sit-down experience. Rita El Khoury / Android Authority Because of its small size, the Palma 2 doesn't sit on my bedside table like the Kindle does. It often stays in my lounge or pyjama pants' pockets, so it's almost always with me at home. I don't think the Kindle ever saw the outside of my bedroom door, but the BOOX Palma 2 has been with me on all three floors, on the terrace, and, uh, in several bathrooms, too. I even took it with me on the subway a couple of times! And when I was packing for a short trip to Budapest a couple of weeks ago, I looked at it and thought, 'Oh, why not?' and brought it along. I slipped it in my pocket before take-off, read my book, and slipped it back in my pocket when we landed. No backpack fussing necessary — a dream for me. The Palma 2 is easier to carry everywhere, even in the pocket of my home loungewear. Plus, as someone who suffers from Carpal Tunnel pain, the smaller size and lighter construction have helped me read longer without feeling wrist cramps or needing to switch hands every few minutes. Going back to my Kindle Paperwhite feels like such a downgrade in portability and usability now. Rita El Khoury / Android Authority The 300ppi HD e-ink display has been a joy to use as well, both indoors and outdoors, and I appreciate Onyx BOOX's software, which has a million and one settings to control the brightness, warmth, contrast, refresh rate, scroll percentages, app responsiveness, dark and light colors, and more — sometimes even on a per-app basis — so I can optimize the e-ink experience to my liking. Amazon barely lets me change a thing or two, in comparison. On top of that, the build quality feels 'rugged,' even if it isn't. This is the only device I carry without a case, and I don't feel like I need one despite how clumsy I am. I feel that the textured back is very forgiving and that the anti-reflective glass display is impossible to break or scratch. Maybe I'm wrong there, but there's an indestructible impression you get when holding the Palma 2 that you don't have with today's fragile and shiny glass-covered phones. Everything I love about the Kindle, but more versatile Rita El Khoury / Android Authority My Kindle Paperwhite is a reading machine. I open up a book, read, finish it, and move to the next. Sure, there's a web browser, but it's so laughably unusable that I rarely, if ever, resort to it. I've been yearning for an Android-powered e-reader for years (I even tried the HUAWEI MatePad Paper for a while), and the BOOX Palma 2 filled that need for me. It runs Android 13 with full access to the Play Store, so it can technically become a SIM-less phone with all of your apps and games. But I had learned my lesson from the MatePad Paper: Android and e-ink don't mix well if you try to do too much. That's why I didn't try to treat this like a regular Android phone, and instead, I set it up like a Kindle+. Onyx has its own suite of BOOX software on there, which seems fit for purpose, but I didn't want to change my own habits, and that's the benefit of having the Play Store at my fingertips. Rita El Khoury / Android Authority I downloaded the Kindle app to carry over all my ebooks and documents, and then I added the apps that my Paperwhite doesn't let me use: Google Play Books for my other ebooks and PDF documents, Chrome with all my bookmarks, history, and login info, DuckDuckGo for private browsing, my favorite writing app JotterPad, and even Home Assistant to experience what an e-ink smart home dashboard experience could be like. Having my browser, my favorite writing app, and several ebook apps on an e-ink display is a big upgrade from just accessing books. I love this versatility that the Kindle doesn't afford me. The idea that I can get any app or any service to run on this little unit is freeing. If/when I need them, I could get Spotify to stream music while reading, Audible for audiobooks, Todoist to manage my to-dos, ChatGPT or Gemini to do more extensive research, Google Drive to access my online documents, and so on. However, I've consciously decided to keep disruptions away from this reader, so any communication or social media app isn't welcome on it — no Gmail, Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Instagram here. Oh, and there's microSD support, too, so I can sideload many books and documents without going through cloud services. Perfect. Rita El Khoury / Android Authority I'd be lying if I said that the experience is exactly like it is on my Pixel 9 Pro XL with third-party apps, though. The Palma 2 only has 6GB of RAM, so opening several apps results in freezes before I can clear the memory. This happened about once a week with the Kindle app. Also, even on the fastest refresh setting, the e-ink display isn't as good as a gorgeous 120Hz AMOLED display — obviously. It's black-and-white, too. But that is the charm of the Palma 2, in my opinion. The fact that I have to slow down, ignore disruptions, and focus on one app at a time is a tremendous plus in this hectic life we live, where everything is vying for our attention. I find that I'm more focused writing on JotterPad on the Palma 2 than on my phone. And even in black-and-white, I can read more Android Authority articles to catch up on the daily tech news cycle than on my beautifully colored Pixel or iPad display. It helps that the Onyx BOOX software adds some extra features to let the app experience be the best it can. For every app, I can optimize the display settings, color settings, side button function (page turn, volume, or scrolling), and keep it active in the background. So if your eyes are getting old like mine, and you find that the Kindle app's fonts are too small for your liking, you can change the DPI and force the entire app to be more easily readable. The customizable side button is also perfect to avoid the slowness of e-ink reactions. I have mine set up to open the app switcher with a press, the Kindle app with a double press, and return to the home screen with a long press. This lets me avoid dealing with the e-ink display most of the time or forcing it to display animations in slo-mo while I execute gestures. What about battery life? Rita El Khoury / Android Authority If you're expecting Kindle-like battery life from the BOOX Palma 2, I'm sorry to burst your bubble. This isn't a multi-week device, but it's easily a multi-day one. Android is obviously a more powerful operating system than the basic software that runs on Kindles, and it siphons a lot more power, whether it's idling or active. Where my Kindle can keep power for more than a month or two if I keep it idling away, the Palma 2 can make it to ten days at most before the battery runs out. With frequent usage and reading (around three hours per day), this was down to five or six days. When I went to Budapest for six days, I only charged the Palma 2 when I returned home. About a week of battery life on an Android device this thin is nearly unheard of, but the e-ink display makes it possible. I think the trade-off is more than worth it. I'd rather have a lot more power and only charge once a week on average than be limited in what I can use on an e-ink display. Having access to my favorite browser, writing app, and several ebook readers on an e-ink display that is incredibly readable outdoors and lasts a week without forcing me to worry about daily charging (and while taking some unnecessary load away from my main phone) is a huge perk. I can finally spend a couple of hours writing without seeing my Pixel dip from 50% to 20% battery, or read on a plane without pulling out the power bank to keep my phone alive. Of course, I'd still like to see Onyx take the BOOX Palma series' power efficiency forward in future versions, but it's on the right path already. What the BOOX Palma 2 can still improve Rita El Khoury / Android Authority If there's one hardware aspect of the Palma 2 I'd change instantly, it'd be the fingerprint sensor. It's quite finicky and unreliable, and I say this having used the Pixel 6, 7, and 8 — some of the worst fingerprint readers in the history of Android. Somehow, this one is worse. My success rate with it is about 20%, and when it doesn't work, I have to enter the PIN code manually. If it were my money, I'd take away the unnecessary camera and upgrade the bad fingerprint sensor or add more RAM. I'm also dubious about the camera's utility on the Palma 2. Maybe there's a real use case where some people scan documents or take photos with it, but I can honestly say I didn't use it more than once. Even if it shoots colored photos, seeing the black and white preview on the screen was enough to turn me off from the entire experience. If it were my money, I'd save the few bucks needed to purchase the camera module and add some RAM instead, or upgrade to a better fingerprint sensor. Rita El Khoury / Android Authority And finally, I wish the customizable volume buttons worked well across all apps. I tried to make them switch pages in the Kindle app, but I couldn't get that to work, no matter whether I chose 'page-turn' or 'scrolling' as functions. Of course, I'd love to see Onyx implement a better processor, upgrade to a more reactive e-ink panel, add more RAM, and pick a larger battery for the next BOOX Palma version, but those are given for any Android device. As it stands, though, there's very little I'd fault the Palma 2 at, and my Android Authority colleagues have heard me say nothing but good things about this little e-ink gadget. It's the book that's always with me, and I love it for that. BOOX Palma 2 Pocketable size • Full access to the Play Store and Android apps • Week-long battery life MSRP: $299.99 Pocket-sized Android e-reader. The BOOX Palma 2 is a small, lightweight, and portable e-ink reader. It runs Android 13 with full access to the Google Play Store, allowing you to use your favorite apps on a display that's easily readable outdoors while still lasting a week on a charge. See price at Amazon Positives Pocketable size Pocketable size Full access to the Play Store and Android apps Full access to the Play Store and Android apps Week-long battery life Week-long battery life Optimized and highly customizable Boox software Optimized and highly customizable Boox software MicroSD slot Cons Only 6GB of RAM Only 6GB of RAM Slow and unreliable fingerprint reader Slow and unreliable fingerprint reader Still based on Android 13
Gizmodo
22-05-2025
- Gizmodo
Forget Tablets, This Hackable E-Ink Display Runs for Months and Syncs With 100+ Apps, Now Available to Order
This e-ink tablet has everything you need to keep you on task and working at a good clip. If you've ever found yourself picking up your phone to check your calendar and somehow ended up scrolling through social media twenty minutes later, you're not alone. It's so easy to forget what you're doing when you've always got something to do. And distraction really is a thing. Sometimes, all you really want is a simple way to keep track of your day without getting pulled in ten different directions. That's where TRMNL steps in. See at TRMNL For just $129, this compact e-ink dashboard helps you stay focused by showing only the information you actually need and nothing you don't. That means it has all the info you might need to keep abreast of your schedule or what needs to get done, but nothing to ruin your productivity in ways that will keep you from being successful. Productivity on your terms TRMNL is an always-on display designed to blend into your space and serve up essential details like your calendar, the weather, task lists, or reminders, all in one glance. It connects with over 100 different apps and services, meaning you can plug it into your existing digital life without having to overhaul your setup. You can place it on your desk, mount it on a wall, or pop it on the kitchen counter, and once it's up and running, you barely need to touch it again. Because it uses e-ink, TRMNL consumes very little power and can go for months on a single charge. That means no tangled cords, no daily charging, and no bright screen lighting up your space at night. It's a clean, paper-like display that quietly does its job in the background with no pings, pop-ups, or distractions. And if you want to do these types of things, you'll be glad to know it's hackable, with over 2,700 custom plugins already created by developers and hobbyists. If you want to build a completely custom layout that pulls in specific data, you can. But for everyday users, the plug-and-play setup is more than enough to get started quickly. Families use it to display shared calendars and reminders. Developers and remote workers use it to track tasks or sprint goals. Whatever your needs, TRMNL adapts to your workflow, not the other way around. At $129, it's a smart buy for anyone looking to cut back on screen fatigue while still staying on top of things. Simple, focused, and quietly powerful, TRMNL is what you need for a digital detox and then some. And these days, that's super rare. See at TRMNL
