We might earn a fee from hyperlinks on this web page.
In the event you’ve ever owned a devoted e-reader with a grayscale e-ink display screen (versus a pill with a backlit LCD display screen), likelihood is good it was one of many many types of the Amazon Kindle. Barnes & Noble continues to be making Nooks, however few individuals purchase them, and it’s a must to have finished your analysis to have even heard of wannabe Kindle killers from the likes of Kobo (a Canadian firm owned by the Japanese retail big Rakuten).
However in the event you’re going no farther than the newest iteration of Amazon’s e-reader, you are lacking out on among the finest gadgets in the marketplace—even when they’re from firms you’ve got by no means heard of, like Onyx Worldwide, a Chinese language tech firm that is been making e-ink gadgets since 2011. I nonetheless keep in mind the primary time I noticed somebody studying an Onyx Boox pill on the subway; my assumption was that it was an inexpensive knockoff (c’mon…Boox?). I used to be incorrect. Not solely are firms like Kobo and Onyx often trumping Amazon with regards to selection and innovation of their e-readers, their gadgets are often simply higher: not locked all the way down to a proprietary working system or a specific e-book retailer, and far more versatile and customizable, with out the necessity to jailbreak the onboard software program as you’d a Kindle’s.
For the previous month or so, I have been testing out the Boox Palma, the phone-shaped, Android-based e-ink machine Onyx dropped final yr, and it is the very best e-reader I’ve ever used.
Purchase the Boox Palma from Amazon:
An e-reader that appears (and virtually works) like a cellphone
Credit score: Joel Cunningham
I’ve owned a variety of e-readers over time, ever since my mother and father gifted me a third-generation Kindle (the one with the keyboard) means again in 2010. I’ve at all times discovered the proportions of the usual 6-inch e-reader display screen a bit of awkward—too squarish to really feel like an precise guide, and too massive to simply match right into a pocket. For some time I used a bigger 7.8-inch Nook Glowlight Plus, and whereas the additional display screen actual property was good, it was hampered by gradual software program and difficulties loading library books.
Consequently, my e-book library is cut up throughout retailers and gadgets. Thus, like many individuals, I most frequently discovered myself studying on my cellphone, which might deal with each the Kindle and Nook apps, and is well-integrated with my library’s app-of-choice, Libby. The draw back: It is my cellphone, which implies it is consistently pinging me with notifications or distracting me with social media once I imply to be studying.
Enter the Palma, which is mainly the identical measurement as an iPhone 15 Plus. It is easy to slide into my pocket, it mirrors the display screen measurement I’ve gotten used to from my years of studying on a cellphone display screen, and but it nonetheless has the advantages of a black-and-white e-ink show—which for me means extra immersion into no matter I am studying, and fewer threat of distraction.
Android offers you freedom
My greatest beef with my varied Kindles and Nooks was the truth that I do not significantly love the person expertise for both machine—typically, I believe the Kindle and Nook iPhone apps work rather a lot higher than the clunkier e-reader variations.
The fantastic thing about the Palma is that on the working system stage, it mainly is a cellphone, operating an easy model of Android 11. This implies as an alternative of resigning your self to an on-device OS for studying and sorting your books, you possibly can select whichever app(s) you want finest, so long as they’re obtainable for obtain Android within the Google Play retailer (sorry, Apple Books readers). No jailbreaking or side-loading wanted (although you possibly can actually do the latter in the event you like).
Credit score: Joel Cunningham
I at present have put in the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo apps, in addition to the Libby app (for studying library books from the Brooklyn Public Library), plus a format-agnostic app referred to as Moon Reader+ that I extremely suggest in order for you extra customizability out of your studying apps, from font option to kerning to file sorting and extra. The purpose is, any and all of those apps are open to you—although Onyx has its personal default studying app, you’re under no circumstances railroaded into utilizing it.
Hearken to your audiobooks and podcasts too
Android assist means it’s also possible to use the Palma to hearken to your audiobooks—there isn’t any headphone jack, however it is going to pair together with your Bluetooth headphones simply sufficient. I examined out syncing audiobooks through Audible and the Kindle app, and it labored as anticipated, and there is sufficient onboard storage—128GB—to carry an terrible lot of audio materials. (I am not a heavy audiobook listener, however I did obtain Pocket Casts to check out the Palma as a podcast machine. Briefly: It really works nicely, however I nonetheless choose my iPhone for that, because it syncs with my Apple Watch and extra readily connects to my Beats earbuds.)
Add fonts, screensavers, and extra with ease
My favourite factor concerning the Palma is I can plug it into my laptop computer and simply sideload books, add new fonts, and the rest you possibly can accomplish through drag and drop. The Android OS is not shy about letting me see the file construction and put issues precisely the place they should go. The top result’s, in the event you’re prepared to place in a bit of effort, you possibly can create a very customized expertise. Set your personal lock display screen, select your personal wallpaper, learn in Wingdings: The probabilities are countless.
Snappy efficiency
With 6GB of onboard RAM, the Palma is actually quick sufficient to ship your e-books at a clip, and turning pages or skipping by way of chapters quickly isn’t any drawback. Navigating round a PDF is fairly easy too: Supplied the app permits it (as does the native PDF reader, Neo Reader), you possibly can pinch to zoom out and in and revel in near-instantaneous efficiency, which is far more than I can say for attempting to enlarge a PDF on my outdated Nook.
The machine additionally permits you to browse the web with minimal lag, and apps load rapidly sufficient that I by no means felt like I used to be utilizing a lesser or clunky machine.
Greater than an e-reader (however nonetheless not a real cellphone)
Android assist means you possibly can obtain greater than studying apps. You may as well obtain Goodreads, or Gmail, or Chrome, or X/Twitter, or Reddit, or the rest you need. And in contrast to the extraordinarily clunky screens on most e-readers, which endure from extreme lag that makes even scrolling a webpage disagreeable, the Palma gives 4 totally different refresh modes, from HD (finest for studying super-crisp textual content on a static display screen, as when studying a novel), to Balanced (for scrolling by way of PDFs), to Quick or Ultrafast, which might deal with scrolling by way of your social media feeds with responsiveness near what you’d get with an LCD display screen.
On a Kindle, doing something however studying appears like a chore, but it surely really is possible to browse the net and even watch movies on the Palma. All the pieces will nonetheless look a bit grainy, and naturally it is all in grayscale, however contemplating I might barely learn my electronic mail on my first Kindle’s “experimental” net browser, I am nonetheless fairly impressed. I even downloaded a Tetris app, which capabilities surprisingly nicely in Ultrafast mode.
I might by no means recommend that utilizing any non-reading app on the Palma is a nice expertise, however they may work, and in a means, their comparable ugliness to how they’d look on a full-color LCD is nearly a boon—I am utilizing the Palma as a result of I wish to learn extra books, in spite of everything. If I needed to be distracted by an immersive social media expertise, my iPhone has me coated.
No SIM assist
Although it appears to be like and capabilities like an Android cellphone, the Palma cannot substitute yours, because it lacks SIM assist (although it has a side-loading card tray, it accepts solely reminiscence playing cards as much as 1TB). You should use it for cellphone calls over wifi through a supported app (like Google Voice)—the machine has each audio system and a microphone along with supporting Bluetooth headphones. It would additionally run most messaging apps through wifi, although you might want a SIM-less cellphone quantity to get them up and operating.
The dearth of SIM assist is hardly a dealbreaker for me, as I wasn’t seeking to substitute my cellphone with an e-ink machine. (If that is your aim, look to Hisense, one other Chinese language firm that makes various e-ink cellular gadgets.)
An awesome one-handed studying expertise
My combined reactions to the Palma as an Android machine apart, it excels as an e-reader. The shape issue is what it’s—I personally discover the 6.13-inch display screen very nice, and the 1648 x 824 display screen decision at 300 ppi means the textual content is at all times tremendous crisp and readable, particularly at HD decision. The construct high quality feels good: the display screen is “micro-etched glass” that largely avoids points with glare, the bodily buttons are responsive and straightforward to click on, and the again cowl is flippantly textured to make it simple to grip.
You’ve got the selection of turning pages by both tapping the contact display screen or utilizing the bodily buttons on the best hand facet of the machine, making it simple to learn one-handed (particularly contemplating how gentle it’s—round 170 grams). Although assist varies from app to app, a lot of the studying apps I’ve tried will flip pages ahead and backward utilizing the quantity up/down button. You may as well change your settings to learn through infinite scroll utilizing both your fingertip or the quantity button.
A further button on the left facet will be mapped to various totally different capabilities based mostly on a fast press, an extended press, or a double faucet. By default it is going to refresh the display screen, which is useful in the event you incessantly end up aggravated by the faint ghosting that may plague any E Ink display screen, however it’s also possible to use it to show pages, skip to the following chapter, and extra.
A snug frontlight
The ghosting you see right here will be solved for with a fast faucet of the refresh button on the facet of the Palma.
Credit score: Joel Cunningham
The frontlight on the display screen is similar to what I’ve skilled with different e-readers—you possibly can alter the brightness and the heat to fit your consolation stage—with maybe a bit extra of a visual “ring” across the fringe of the display screen than you’d see on, say, a Kindle Paperwhite.
I wasn’t tremendous impressed by the auto-brightness possibility, which purports to set the very best brightness stage based mostly in your present lighting circumstances. I discovered it tended to waffle forwards and backwards between too bight and too darkish, at the same time as I sat unmoving in a darkish room. It is easy sufficient to regulate the lighting manually that I wasn’t a lot bothered by this, but it surely’s value noting (and turning off).
What else can it do?
After a month of testing, I really feel just like the Palma does every thing I would like it to very nicely, and a bunch of stuff I do not actually need it to do surprisingly nicely. It can also do much more that I have never even tried, together with scanning paperwork and taking images and capturing video (supplied you obtain a digital camera app; there isn’t any native default, which is odd). The images will appear like crap on the machine itself, however in the event you hook it as much as your laptop computer to entry them, they appear pretty much as good as something you’d take with a primary sensible cellphone digital camera—not iPhone high quality by any stretch, however why does an e-reader have a digital camera in any respect?
Dangers to think about
The good factor a couple of Kindle is that if yours breaks, you possibly can simply name up Amazon customer support to get it fastened or changed. With a Boox Palma, you will not have that luxurious: Father or mother firm Onyx relies in China, and Reddit’s e-reading communities are riddled with experiences of less-than-ideal customer support (although remember most individuals do not publish to Reddit about good customer support experiences). There’s additionally the truth that, as a Chinese language firm, Onyx is not topic to the identical privateness restrictions and legal guidelines as Apple or Amazon, however that is a nicely of paranoia I might relatively not dip into. (As it’s, the one factor anybody would study from taking a look at my Palma is that I learn a variety of science fiction.)
That mentioned, in the event you’re within the U.S., I might positively suggest shopping for the machine from Onyx’s Amazon retailer. It is the identical worth and also you get the standard advantages of Amazon, together with the choice to achieve out to their customer support in case you have a difficulty with a cargo.
The underside line
All of this performance does come at a worth—the machine retails for $279, which is clearly far more than entry stage Kindles, and in the identical ballpark because the high-end (and now discontinued) Kindle Oasis. However all of those options, together with the shape issue, additionally imply the Boox Palma is the very best e-reader for me, and positively the very best e-reader I’ve ever used.
