Coloration and 5G make a giant distinction

I do not assume anybody may have predicted the sort of viral hit the original Boox Palma can be for a sure subset of E Ink followers and smartphone haters. Boox has been releasing Android-based E Ink tablets for years at this level, however providing most of the similar options in a smartphone-sized machine captured the creativeness in a completely new approach. It helped that it arrived in 2024 alongside a rising curiosity in less distracting alternatives to the smartphone, however the machine was a success all the identical, which naturally led many to surprise how Boox would observe it up.

The Boox Palma 2 got here out in 2024, and was in the end a minor improve to the corporate’s authentic machine, with extra RAM and a sooner processor being probably the most notable adjustments. It is taken the corporate saying the Boox Palma 2 Pro in 2025 to really see what a correct sequel seems like. The Palma 2 Professional contains a shade E Ink show, help for a 5G information connection, and the flexibility to make use of a stylus to take notes. It improves on the Boox Palma in all the apparent methods you’d count on, however not all of those new additions are created equal.

4/5

Model

Boox

Storage

128GB

CPU

Octa-core processor

Working System

Android 15

A phone-sized shade ePaper machine with 5G connectivity for downloading books on the go, and stylus help for taking notes.

Professionals & Cons

• Smartphone measurement is ideal for one-handed studying
• Android 15 means most apps can be found
• Stylus help is helpful in a pinch

• Costly
• Coloration E Ink makes regular studying worse

The Palma 2 Professional is even nearer to being a smartphone

Boox’s new machine has practically all of the items it wants to interchange a cellphone

A part of what makes the Palma so approachable is that, on some stage, it is simply an Android cellphone. The Palma 2 Professional has a pleasant 6.13-inch Kaleido 3 E Ink show beneath a glass display with rounded corners. On the correct facet of the machine, there is a energy button that doubles as a fingerprint reader, and on the left, there’s quantity / page-turn buttons, and a customizable Good Button that you may assign for issues like refreshing the display or pulling up Boox’s AI assistant.

The again of the Palma 2 Professional is phone-like, too. The machine itself is out there in both black or white, and whichever shade you select, you may get a textured, virtually stone-inspired again and a 16MP digital camera with flash. Inside, Boox says the Palma 2 Professional has a 3,950mAh battery, 128GB of storage that may be expanded through the machine’s Twin Sim slot (which takes a SIM card and a microSD card), together with an unnamed octa-core processor and 8GB of RAM.

Like all fashionable electronics, the Palma 2 Professional prices over USB-C, however once more, the important thing half right here is that it runs Android 15. Which means your whole favourite studying apps could be downloaded straight from the Play Retailer, together with no matter podcast, music, or video apps you employ, too. That was technically true of the Palma and Palma 2, however the addition of the colour display and help for Boox’s InkSense stylus open up extra choices for those who get pleasure from drawing, taking notes, or consuming content material in shade, like comics or the uncommon YouTube video. All issues that weren’t practically as pleasurable (or potential) on the Carta 1200 show previous Palmas used.

However how helpful these advantages are will get more durable to sq. if you have a look at the value of the Palmas facet by facet. The Palma 2 Professional prices $399.99, whereas Boox at present sells the Palma 2 for $299.99 and the Palma for $199.99. When you concentrate on these as smartphones, these are completely regular costs, however when you think about the potential drawbacks of the colour E Ink show on the Palma 2 Professional, there may be good causes to have a look at Boox’s extra reasonably priced units.

Coloration E Ink will get extra annoying if you’re solely studying

You sacrifice decision for shade on the Palma 2 Professional

Paradoxically, whereas I like having the choice to learn comics on the Palma 2 Professional and recognize having the ability to have a look at images or doodle in shade, I struggled with the drawbacks of the Palma 2 Professional’s Kaleido show.

It is decrease decision — 412 x 824 decision for shade and 824 x 1,648 decision for black and white — makes books and plain textual content look far much less crisp than other e-readers, and likewise much more grey except the adjustable backlight is totally cranked up. Boox provides a number of methods to regulate the brightness and refresh fee of the show (with Really helpful, Quick Refresh, and Customized choices), so you may actually tune issues to your choice, however it’s nonetheless not fairly nearly as good as what you may get on one thing just like the Kindle Paperwhite.

And that would not essentially be an issue if Boox did not provide you with so many various methods to learn issues. Having few limits on the sorts of information you should use or the sorts of apps you may obtain from the Play Retailer implies that I’ve spent far more time studying on the Palma 2 Professional than I’ve on mainly every other E Ink machine I’ve examined. Boox’s personal pores and skin on Android 15 can also be comparatively streamlined, and the corporate’s personal studying app NeoReader, whereas a bit obtuse and ugly, did an ideal job of dealing with any eBook file I may throw at it. If all you are serious about is studying, the Palma 2 Professional may very nicely be the perfect and most versatile possibility, particularly at this pocketable measurement, although Boox actually imagines it getting used for extra.

The display is just too small to jot down on comfortably

Writing on the Palma 2 Professional just isn’t for the faint of coronary heart or massive of hand

The Boox Palma 2 Professional is nice for studying, however for those who’re within the writing a part of the machine, you may be higher off trying elsewhere. The Palma 2 Professional helps Boox’s InkSense Plus stylus, a slim silver stylus that prices over USB-C, that is flatter on two sides like a drafting pencil, with a facet button that may be assigned to a number of totally different capabilities.

It is comfy to carry and straightforward to cost — you may observe its battery life and connection to your machine inside Fast Settings — however it would not really feel good to make use of for writing on the Palma’s comparatively easy display. Most different E Ink units get round this by texturing the glass or including a movie to introduce friction and resistance to the writing course of, however the Palma 2 Professional has neither. Extra so than something, it made me miss writing on the reMarkable Paper Pro Move, which does a incredible job of simulating the sensation of writing on paper.

That is to not say that I did not discover the choice to shortly jot one thing right down to be useful once I was away from my desk, however I by no means actually received over how cramped the display felt. Not everybody may have the identical downside, as a result of a few of it does come right down to how small and neat your handwriting is, however I would not purchase the Palma 2 Professional simply since you’re serious about utilizing it for taking notes. You may discover higher choices for that, even from Boox’s personal lineup.

Mobile connectivity is the perfect a part of the Palma 2 Professional

If you happen to can add an information SIM you positively will not remorse it

I spent the primary half of my overview time utilizing the Palma 2 Professional utilizing it on Wi-Fi round the home, studying articles whereas I waited for espresso to brew, writing down to-dos at my desk, and dealing my approach by way of library books earlier than mattress. I discovered the expertise pleasurable and the shape issue enjoyable, however I did not actually get why it was essentially higher than an e-reader.

Slotting a data-only SIM card from Google Fi Wi-fi in and taking the Palma 2 Professional to the park modified every part for me. Not solely was the machine nonetheless much more nice to learn on than my cellphone, it may additionally wholly exchange my cellphone for practically all my fundamental cellphone duties. Boox’s NeoBrowser does a adequate job of loading web sites that I simply got here to depend on it to look issues up. With a 5G connection, I may additionally simply obtain new books and comics to the Kindle app with out having to hunt for Wi-Fi. And if an necessary e mail got here by way of for work, I used to be in a position to not solely obtain a notification about it, but in addition reply to it, straight from the Palma 2 Professional.

For anybody seeking to exchange their smartphone or no less than largely exchange it with a tool that is a bit slower and extra targeted, I feel the Palma 2 Professional is a perfect candidate. It really works with information SIMs particularly, so there isn’t any cellphone app, and you will not be capable of place a name except you are able to do it over an web connection, however for every part aside from gaming, the Palma 2 Professional may do the trick.

Do you have to purchase the Palma 2 Professional?

You would possibly get your wants met by a less expensive E Ink machine

For anybody carefully following Boox’s units, the Palma 2 Professional is a end result of the work the corporate has executed constructing smartphone-sized units. It would not come with out tradeoffs, although. Coloration E Ink is not as crisp as a conventional black and white E Ink display. And writing on the machine is not as comfy as the corporate’s different units.

If the factor you are most serious about is utilizing the Palma 2 Professional as a cellphone substitute, or no less than making it the primary approach you learn if you’re not at dwelling, it truly is the most suitable choice on the market. Having a 5G connection makes a distinction in how helpful the machine truly is. The one disgrace is that the characteristic is not obtainable on Boox’s cheaper units.