The smartphone-like Boox Palma ebook reader hits a record low price

Kindles and Kobos are relatively comfortable to use, but if those are too big and restrictive, the smartphone-like Boox Palma is a fantastic alternative that’s grown on us considerably. A new model is on its way, but if you don’t need the smoother performance it promises, you can save a bit on the original today. It’s down to $245.99 ($34 off) at Amazon, which is a new all-time low price.

The Palma’s hardware sheet and appearance resemble a smartphone, but it has neither calling capabilities nor a traditional display. It uses a 6.13-inch backlit E Ink Carta 1200 display instead, offering a crisp 300 ppi resolution. There’s a microphone and speaker, a microSD card slot for expanding its 128GB of internal storage, volume buttons that can double as page-turning buttons, and even a 16-megapixel camera with a flash for scanning documents and handwritten notes. Its pocket-stowable and one-handed form factor makes it more ideal for your everyday carry than a full-sized reader.

One big advantage of the Boox Palma compared to most ebook readers is that it runs Android 11 with Google Play, so you can supplement its built-in tools and apps by downloading anything else you like. That means you aren’t locked into any particular ebook ecosystem and don’t have to ditch your favorite sources. Missing your Amazon Kindle library? Just download the Kindle app — a much better proposition than manually sideloading everything. You can also use your preferred music streaming service and news apps.

However, the laggy user experience that befalls any E Ink device can be limiting outside of reading and perhaps some casual listening and productivity tasks (and even some New York Times’ crossword puzzles, The Verge’s David Pierce found). It’s fine if you’re just scrolling through pages of your monthly reads, but not ideal for social media deep-diving and other visually rich shenanigans.

The incoming Boox Palma 2 brings a faster octa-core chipset and an Android 13 upgrade (and adds a fingerprint sensor), but no one has tested it yet to find out whether those changes will translate to improved usability in a practical sense. If you’re looking to save a bit and start reading today, you may not miss much by staying a generation behind.