The Palma is a wierd product. It’s a small e-reader with far larger gadget ambitions. On its web site, Boox describes the product as a “distraction-free device that lets you reclaim your focus in the exact middle between tech and life.”
In a whole lot of methods, the corporate’s ambitions seem to reflect these of Gentle Cellphone’s by constructing a secondary system designed to take away you out of your smartphone’s built-in distractions. That’s a pleasant sufficient sentiment many people can little doubt get behind, having skilled yet one more deeply polarizing U.S. presidential election by the lens of social media.
What, exactly, constitutes a “distraction” versus a vital operate is extraordinarily subjective, nevertheless. Turning again to Gentle Cellphone for a second, we see a product that was deliberately launched with a restricted function set, solely to subsequently introduce new performance that was initially deemed “nonessential” by the startup.
For higher or worse, we depend on our little pocket communicators for practically each side of our lives. Decreasing dependence and distraction are valiant targets, however depriving customers of genuinely useful options may be counterproductive.
The Palma doesn’t begin from that very same place of practical minimalism — no less than not absolutely. There are specific limitations baked straight into the product by the character of its ePaper show. There’s sure performance that works higher on the expertise — studying, for instance — nevertheless it lacks an incredible quantity of versatility in comparison with your customary smartphone/pill display screen.
The system, nevertheless, runs Android (albeit a number of generations behind) and has entry to the Play Retailer. It has a digicam, microphone, audio system, and Bluetooth connectivity. The Palma 2 options an upgraded octa-core processor and provides in privateness by the use of a fingerprint reader.
The attention-grabbing selections of what to place in and what to go away out make it really feel like PDA with an id disaster: a wierd client digital chimera that’s not totally positive what it desires to be when it grows up. Because it seems, that’s a part of the enjoyable.
Enjoying round with the Palma 2 despatched me down some sudden rabbit holes, together with Reddit threads whereby folks focus on methods to backdoor performance onto the system. There may be, for instance, a microSD slot for expandable reminiscence, however not one for a SIM. Meaning, regardless of the inclusion of microphones, audio system, and Bluetooth, it’s not particularly designed to make cellphone calls.
As such, folks debate the viability of utilizing WhatsApp’s voice function as a work-around. There’s no GPS, which places the kibosh on mapping performance, however how about piggybacking on a tool that does? It’s a whole lot of work for comparatively little reward, nevertheless it’s all the time hopeful to see the methods by which technological limitations spur intelligent person innovation.
Granted, I’ve solely been utilizing the Palma 2 for a short while, however I are inclined to fall within the camp of customers content material to think about the system as a pure e-reader. It enjoys a lot of these options, together with ePaper that’s far simpler on the eyes (and sleep schedule) and extends battery life far past what the typical smartphone is able to.
The brand new processor provides zip to the Palma, whereas eradicating the annoying latency from the earlier technology. That stated, the product remains to be hampered by ePaper’s refresh limitations. If Boox had been to make a model of the Palma that was a real e-reader, stripped of a lot of the doubtless extraneous options, and delivered it at a lower cost, I may see this stuff flying off the shelf.
Simply the promise of a reader that’s skinny sufficient to hold in a pocket will doubtless appeal to a whole lot of consideration. I’ve wasted extra time than I care to say attempting to resolve whether or not to take my Kindle with me on an extended prepare journey, understanding it might imply awkwardly carrying the system round for the remainder of the night and probably leaving it behind in a darkish nook.
Boox makes some nice e-readers, and the Palma matches the invoice. It’s good {hardware}, with a flush 300 ppi show and a strong entrance mild for studying in mattress. The $280 asking worth, then again, is difficult to justify except you intend to make the most of many of the different options.
