The Cellphone-Sized Boox Palma 2 Professional Made Me a Coloration E-Reader Convert

Coloration E Ink isn’t what you suppose it’s. Whilst you might think about a tool just like the Boox Palma 2 Pro would turn out to be the simply pocketable trove of your spectacular on-line comics assortment, the washed-out colours gained’t seem as interesting as having the graphic novel in your arms. So why then has the costly, $400 phone-like e-reader, which begins transport on Dec. 3, remained my fixed coat pocket companion?

For a lot of months, I had been an avid commute connoisseur of paperbacks. I used to be feeling as haughty as the everyday cosmopolitan reader for my means to face upright on a packed subway automobile and proceed flipping by means of pages. In some unspecified time in the future, what grew to become clear was how little studying I may really do in such a strained place.

And so I ended. I used to be busy checking my cellphone for Slack messages, and my studying habits evaporated. So I already knew why the original Boox Palma was so interesting and have become a sensation amongst studying circles again in 2023. A phone-shaped E Ink system wouldn’t essentially occupy the identical house because the cellphone, however it could have the identical really feel as our common pocketable supercomputers. If there’s a brand new development in tech that’s all about tricking our brains into higher habits, the Boox Palma would absolutely look like the least egregious and most helpful, proper?

So why then do I benefit from the Boox Palma 2 Professional as a lot as I’m confused by it? It’s as a result of the system needs to separate the distinction between each cellphone and e-reader, and it could actually’t do the cellphone half that properly in any respect. Nor ought to it. This system has turn out to be my go-to doohickey for studying as of late—each comics and literature—and that’s coming from a die-hard, dyed-in-the-wool, and dead-eyed bodily paper reader. Higher but, the Boox Palma 2 Professional has turn out to be my favourite option to take notes, even when the small display isn’t finest for my hen scratch scribblings.

The Boox Palma 2 Professional shouldn’t be a cellphone, fortunately

For individuals who nonetheless don’t perceive E Ink, the know-how is a number of the most fascinating you will get for any display. These gadgets use {an electrical} subject to maneuver white, yellow, cyan, and magenta particles round to generate the picture you see on display. It’s a substitute for your typical LCD or OLED shows, however in actuality it’s a way more particular display expertise that’s simpler on the eyes because it’s—properly—basically ink behind a pane of glass.

The Boox Palma 2 Professional is basically the identical Boox P6 Pro Color the corporate began promoting in China earlier this yr. That features a 6.13-inch coloration E Ink display based mostly on Kaleido 3 technology. This number of E Ink was introduced in 2022 and proved extra responsive than the earliest variations, and helps 4,096 colours and a 150 PPI (pixels per inch) coloration decision. Amazon’s $630 Kindle Scribe Colorsoft makes use of this similar know-how. Kaleido 3 is older than Gallery 3, which helps many extra hues and clearer 300 PPI for coloration. Gallery 3 might be present in e-paper gadgets just like the Remarkable Paper Pro and the $500 Paper Pro Move.

The twin SIM card and microSD card tray really makes a stunning quantity of sense. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

The final Boox Palma was beloved by the numerous who used it, however in my thoughts it was lower than stellar because it lacked stylus assist when you needed it to be a private notetaker. It was additionally restricted by the shortage of 5G connectivity and a comparatively gradual refresh pace for its black and white E Ink. You’d suppose that might be sufficient for studying the everyday novel. However as I broke out the Palma 2 Professional day-after-day, I realized simply how a lot even small coloration accents on the high of every chapter whereas I used to be studying Joe Abercrombie’s The Hassle With Peace assist to get you engaged with the work.

So the Boox Palma 2 Professional provides all the pieces that was lacking, although in some very odd methods. The phone-shaped system remains to be based mostly on Android—particularly Android 15—which implies it has entry to an assortment of all of your favourite studying apps plus YouTube if you wish to see how your favourite creators seem on coloration e-paper. The additionally has a nano SIM card slot that doubles as a spot to insert a microSD card (as much as 2TB). Whereas it could be extra annoying to dig into your desk drawer for a SIM elimination device simply to retrieve your reminiscence card, the slot cuts down on extraneous ports. The Palma 2 Professional comes with 128GB of inside storage (way over the 32GB or 64GB within the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft), which implies you’d must obtain fairly a number of books earlier than you fill it up. For those who plan to obtain and watch motion pictures on this system, don’t. The refresh fee can sustain with video, however it simply gained’t look good whenever you do it.

Certain, that textured again has the mild really feel of a stucco wall, however as quickly as you slap a case round it, the e-reader appears like a cellphone. The 16-megapixel digicam is generally pointless, save for the novelty of taking a look at these low-quality photos on the muddled E Ink display. The facility button doubles as a refresh toggle, after which there’s the “Sensible Button,” which is nearly just like the latest iPhone’s Action button, because it’s customizable for various features. I set a single press to refresh the web page and a double press to allow the “FreeMark” function for jotting notes down on my books and comics.

And sure, you’ll be able to order a $430 bundle that comes with an InkSense Plus stylus. It does the job and feels good in hand, however chances are you’ll discover out that making an attempt to write down notes on such a small display isn’t to everybody’s style.

Including a stylus to an e-reader with a built-in digicam would signify you could possibly do some fascinating issues with photographs. As an illustration, I used to be curious to see if this system would work properly for marking up paperwork I took photos of. Sadly, the restricted measurement of the sensor and the E Ink display made textual content illegible. You possibly can mark up these photographs to your coronary heart’s content material, however it would solely be helpful as a celebration trick if you wish to present your pals a horrifyingly pixelated model of their face with a drawn-on mustache.

At the least, the Boox Palma 2 Professional has stable battery for studying on the go. With out web connection and studying throughout my roundtrip 1-hour commutes to work, the Palma 2 Professional may final 4 days without having a cost. That being mentioned, the extra you utilize it like a cellphone, together with with 5G, the much less the three,950mAh battery can sustain.

Studying comics requires some setup

Boox provides quite a lot of choices for studying your coloration comics, however you’ll must sacrifice one thing in order for you the clearest picture in your Palma 2 Professional. The “EInkWise” menu accommodates choices for how briskly you need the system to refresh the display and the way clear you need the colours. The “Regal” refresh mode and “Vivid” colours will make your comics pop. The setting is crucial for some comics which use small white textual content on background scenes, like Brian Okay. Vaughan and Fiona Staple’s Saga collection. Nevertheless, this can gradual the refresh pace each time you swipe by means of one other comedian panel.

The Palma 2 Professional is nice for studying black and white manga, however that’s not why you’d bounce for a coloration e-reader within the first place. If I’m studying colourful comics, I’d need the system to be as correct as potential to the creator’s imaginative and prescient. The Kindle app works seamlessly on the Palma 2 Professional, and with that I checked out a number of western comics to get a greater concept of how vibrant the display might be in comparison with the precise pages in actual life. The picture is extra uninteresting than what you’ll get with the precise comedian. The distinction between colours in a comic book like Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard’s The Energy Fantasy was adequate that shapes didn’t bleed into one another, however the lack of a fuller coloration spectrum will make shiny pinks learn extra like diluted magenta.

For black and white comics, you’ll be able to depend on sooner refresh speeds. You’ll inevitably see the ghost of older scenes on the display in some eventualities—which is an artifact of E Ink’s design. To resolve this, you typically should refresh the web page you’re on. However due to the small display you’re going to wish to pinch to zoom in on hard-to-read textual content. Having the extra vivid coloration choices and slowest “Regal” refresh fee will make zooming that a lot slower in addition to creating extra ghosting.

My eyes are eager sufficient (and one way or the other weren’t destroyed by three many years of gaming on infinitely smaller screens). I can learn comparatively small textual content, however even I’ve an issue making an attempt to parse white textual content on a darkish background within the wan gentle of a subway automobile. Studying comics on a 6.13-inch show is doable, however it might not be to everybody’s desire. Since this system makes use of Android, that meant I may simply get a number of apps like Hoopla, Kindle, ReadEra, Libby, and Crunchyroll Manga working sufficient that I may obtain all my varied books from all my common sources. Nevertheless, not each app will assist the FreeMark markup function. Crunchyroll Manga, as an example, would say that the web page accommodates “non-public info” which disallowed handwriting enter. The identical function labored superb on Kindle, so your mileage might fluctuate.

I additionally needed to modify the Palma 2 Professional’s entrance gentle if I ever needed to learn my comics and manga in the best way they have been meant. The system’s Auto gentle settings will typically dim the display and heat the colour temperature a lot that every one however the typical tome turn out to be illegible. I needed to push the brightness to just about as excessive as it could go earlier than it felt comfy for my eyes.

The little e-notepad that might

I’m a journalist who’s very used to writing notes on miniature notepads, so in apply I ought to be a lot better at writing small. In actuality, I’d replenish a whole web page like SpongeBob scribbling a whimsical calligraphied “The.” So after I try to take notes on the Boox Palma 2 Professional, I discover I’ve to create fairly a number of pages after only one session with my native tabletop RPG group. Nevertheless, taking the stylus out can create some nervousness since there’s no particular magnet on the system that may maintain it firmly in place. The included Magnetic 2-in-1 Protecting Case has a number of MagSafe-like magnets, however none of them will maintain the pen from coming free in your pocket.

The Palma 2 Professional is Boox’s first Palma to come back with stylus assist. The one within the field is thick sufficient to really feel comfy in my adult-sized arms, and it pairing was seamless. When making an attempt to reference a doc, having to scroll by means of web page after web page can get tedious, and it means you’re extra liable to overlook issues. The default notes app is ok for jotting down a number of ideas in a number of colours, however it’s slightly barebones. When you have a favourite notes app on Android, you must go for that first.

If there’s anyone system the Boox Palma 2 Professional will get in comparison with, it’s the Paper Professional Transfer with its 7.3-inch show. That system will inevitably really feel extra like an iPad mini than a cellphone. Hell, each reMarkable and Apple’s tiny tablets have magnets to connect the stylus when not in use. And as a lot as you suppose you need an E Ink cellphone like this, the refresh fee merely isn’t sufficient to maintain up with most apps you want a cellphone for.

I desire the Boox Palma 2 Professional to every other e-reader due to its compact nature. Contemplating the worth of different, fashionable, bigger coloration E Ink gadgets, it’s not egregiously costly, both. That being mentioned, you have to know your most popular measurement of e-reader earlier than you drop $400—the price of a stable funds cellphone—on a reading-specific system. However screw all of it. If it makes you learn extra, then the system makes the case for itself.