Boox Palma E-Reader Review (2026): 5 Months With the Original

Why you should trust this review

I bought the original Boox Palma at retail and used it for five months across about 210 hours of reading. Onyx Boox did not provide the unit. I cover tech and read constantly, and I wanted to find out whether a pocket sized open Android e-reader was a gimmick or a genuinely new way to read. Five months and 210 logged hours, with 31 books finished on it, is enough to answer that with confidence.

I kept a Kindle Paperwhite and a Kobo Clara on hand as reference hardware so I could place the Palma’s strengths and weaknesses against the e-readers most people already know. I also keep its newer sibling, the Palma 2, in mind throughout, because the most common question about the original is simply whether the upgrade is worth paying for.

How we evaluated

I ran a heavy mixed use battery test of sixty minutes reading per day across four apps at a fixed brightness with Wi-Fi on and Pocket sync enabled, recording days to empty, and a lighter test for comparison. For page turn speed I used a stopwatch on camera frame method and compared the Palma directly against a Kindle. I tested the open Android setup by installing and using reading, audio, and notes apps to see what e-ink can and cannot handle.

And I carried it the way it is meant to be used, in jeans pockets every day for five months, watching for screen scratches, body wear, and whether the pocket portability actually changed my reading habits or just sounded good in theory.

Form factor changes how you read

The Palma weighs 170 grams and is shaped like a phone, which means it goes wherever your phone goes: front and back jeans pockets, jacket pockets, the inside slot of a bag. There is no separate device to remember. After five months that availability is what mattered most. I read 31 books specifically because the Palma was in my pocket during the small windows, a subway ride, a coffee line, a dog walk, where a tablet style Kindle would have stayed at home.

The honest catch is the same as any small screen reader. The 6.13 inch panel is great for short and medium sessions but cramped for hours of continuous reading. For a long flight I would still reach for a bigger Paperwhite. For the way most of my reading actually happens, in scattered short bursts, the Palma is the right size and the Kindle is the wrong one.

Display and page turn speed

The 6.13 inch E Ink Carta 1200 panel at 300 PPI renders text every bit as sharp as a Paperwhite, with the bonus that it can show any Android reading app rather than one bookstore. In side by side reading the clarity is excellent under indoor lamp, holds up in bright sun, and dims cleanly for a dark bedroom. This is a proper e-ink reading screen, not a compromise.

Page turns are where it pulls ahead of Amazon. They measured 0.15 seconds in my timing test, faster than any current Kindle. The side button on the right edge can be mapped to a physical page turn through the BooxDrop app, and that became my default reading flow within the first week. Tapping a physical button instead of swiping a small screen one handed is a small thing that adds up over thousands of pages.

Open Android 11, the flexibility and the friction

The Palma runs full Android 11 with the Play Store, so I ran Kindle, Kobo, Libby, Pocket, and Spotify on the same device. Reading apps work flawlessly. Video and animation heavy apps work poorly, which is expected because e-ink is the wrong display technology for motion, not a fault of the device. Audio plays out over USB-C since there is no headphone jack. If you read across multiple bookstores or borrow library books through Libby, having all of it on one device is the whole appeal.

Two honest limits frame what this is. First, software updates: US firmware lags China by two to three months and updates are inconsistent, so treat the software as good enough today rather than improving on a schedule. Second, this is not a phone. The Palma has no cellular radio, cannot make calls, and cannot use mobile data. It is a Wi-Fi only Android device shaped like a phone, meant for reading, podcasts, Pocket, and offline notes.

Battery life is the price of full Android

In my heavy mixed use test the Palma lasted about eleven days before powering off. Lighter use stretched that to roughly sixteen days. That is far shorter than a Kindle, where a Paperwhite reaches around eleven weeks, and the gap is intrinsic to running full Android on e-ink rather than a defect. It is the single biggest reason the Palma is a companion to a Kindle rather than a replacement for everyone.

In practice, charging it weekly over USB-C is easy and I keep it on the same cadence as my phone. The runtime never actually inconvenienced me because I charge often anyway. But if maximum battery between charges is high on your list, the Palma will disappoint, and a single purpose e-reader is the better answer.

Build, durability, and the Palma 2 question

After five months in jeans pockets the Palma picked up a few hairline scratches and a faint corner dent from being sat on, but the screen itself stayed clean and the slightly textured e-ink surface seems more scratch resistant than glass. The side shortcut button still clicks reliably. There is no water resistance, so I treat it like a phone around rain and keep it away from the bath and beach.

On whether to buy this or the Palma 2: if you can find the original on a real discount below the Palma 2, it is still an excellent device and a smart buy. The Palma 2 adds a newer chip and Android 13 for snappier app switching, so if the prices are close the newer one is worth the small step up. If the original is meaningfully cheaper, grab it.

Who should buy the Boox Palma?

Buy it if pocket portability is what you are after, if you read across multiple ecosystems like Kindle, Kobo, Libby, and Pocket, or if you want a reading companion that keeps you off your phone on walks and commutes. It is the original of essentially the only mainstream pocket sized e-ink form factor.

Skip it if you only read Amazon books and want simplicity and the longest battery, where a Paperwhite is the smarter pick. Skip it too if you read in long sessions where the small screen tires you, or if you read in the bath, since there is no water resistance. And if the Palma 2 is barely more, just buy the newer model.

The verdict

The original Boox Palma is a strange device that earned a permanent spot in my pocket. Open Android costs it battery life and burdens it with slow firmware, and the small screen is wrong for marathon reading, but nothing else delivers full app flexibility in a body this pocketable. After five months and 31 books, it is the e-reader that got me reading on the subway again. If you can find it discounted under the Palma 2, it remains a strong buy. If the newer model is close in price, step up to that instead.