BOOX Palma 2

BOOX Palma 2

The device you carry alongside your phone (or instead of it)

The Palma 2 is one of the most misunderstood products in the e-reader category. It looks like a smartphone 6.13-inch display, 170 g weight, palm-sized dimensions, textured back. It runs Android 13 with the full Google Play Store. It has a 16 MP camera and a fingerprint sensor. But it isn’t a phone. There’s no SIM slot, no cellular connection, no way to make voice calls or send SMS.

That’s the whole point.

The Palma 2 exists for a specific and growing kind of user: someone who wants to reduce phone use without giving up smart-device functionality entirely. Read a Kindle book on the train without opening Instagram. Take notes during a meeting without accepting a Slack alert. Meditate with a Headspace session without a text message interrupting. Everything a smartphone can do for reading, note-taking, and mindful work nothing a smartphone does for compulsive scrolling and endless notifications.

Some people carry the Palma 2 alongside a real phone as a distraction-free reading companion. Others use it to replace their phone entirely for a period during travel, on holiday, during a self-imposed digital detox. Neither approach is wrong; the device supports both.

The E Ink Carta 1200 display sharp text at phone size

6.13-inch E Ink Carta 1200 panel at 1648 × 824 resolution (300 PPI). Same pixel density as any high-quality e-reader text is genuinely sharp at normal reading distance, with high contrast between black text and pale-cream E Ink background.

Compared to any smartphone LCD or OLED screen:

• No blue light emission — reflective display, doesn’t fire light directly into your eyes
• No flicker — E Ink doesn’t refresh at 60 Hz like phones; the image stays still until you turn a page
• Sunlight readable — works better in bright outdoors than any phone, no glare wash-out
• Weeks of standby battery — E Ink only uses power to change what’s shown; a static page consumes nothing

Trade-off: E Ink refresh is slower than phone screens. Scrolling social media isn’t smooth. Video playback works but doesn’t look like the source. For fast-media consumption, use a real phone; for text and reading, the Palma 2’s E Ink is better in every way.

Dual-tone front light day and night

The 6.13″ front light illuminates the screen from the sides (like a Kindle Paperwhite), not through the display like a phone:

• Cool white for daytime and outdoor reading
• Warm amber for evening and bedtime reading — less blue light, easier on sleep patterns
• Adjustable brightness from very low (dark room, no disruption) to bright enough for well-lit indoor use

Works in any lighting condition, including complete darkness.

Android 13 with full Google Play Store

The Palma 2 runs Android 13 with unrestricted Google Play Store access. Install any Android app you’d use on a phone:

• Reading: Kindle, Kobo, Libby, Google Play Books, Scribd, Audible
• Note-taking: OneNote, Notion, Obsidian, Google Keep, Simplenote
• Communication (via Wi-Fi): WhatsApp Web, Signal, Zoom, Google Meet, Slack — for the ones you choose to receive
• Productivity: Google Docs, Sheets, Outlook, calendar apps
• Mindfulness: Headspace, Calm, Insight Timer, habit trackers
• Media (limited but works): Spotify, Apple Music, Pocket Casts, YouTube (audio-focused works better than video)
• News: Feedly, Pocket, Instapaper, news app apps

No BOOX-only ecosystem. Everything you already use on your phone works here including the apps you deliberately install and the ones you deliberately don’t.

Honest note on Android generation: The Palma 2 runs Android 13 (2022 release). The newer Palma 2 Pro runs Android 15. Most current apps work fine on Android 13, but a small number of newer apps require Android 14+ minimum. For pure reading use, Android 13 is more than enough; for productivity workflows with the newest apps, the Palma 2 Pro has a longer support runway.

The 16 MP camera with OCR the killer utility feature

Most e-readers don’t have cameras. The Palma 2 does a 16 MP rear camera with LED flash and it’s used for one specific, genuinely useful task: document scanning with OCR.

Snap a photo of a document, receipt, printed page, or whiteboard sketch. The Palma 2’s built-in OCR converts the image text into editable, searchable, copy-pasteable text. Useful for:

• Scanning receipts to save as expense records
• Capturing whiteboard notes from meetings without shaky hand-writing
• Digitising printed articles from magazines or newspapers
• Preserving handwritten notes in a searchable format
• Business card scanning for contact management

The camera also handles standard photography if you need it but that’s not the design intent. This is a document-capture tool wearing camera clothing.

Physical buttons and the smart button

The Palma 2 has three physical buttons on the side, an unusual detail for a modern e-reader:

• Volume up / down — controls audio volume for TTS and music apps; can be remapped to page-turn in reading apps
• Smart button — fully customisable: short press, long press, and double-tap can each trigger different actions (screen refresh, launch specific app, activate AI assistant, take a screenshot, etc.)

The smart button is genuinely useful. Many users assign short-press to “next page in Kindle,” long-press to “refresh screen” (which clears ghosting), and double-tap to launch their notes app. That combination turns the Palma 2 into a one-handed reading device that doesn’t require constant touchscreen interaction.

Storage and expandability

128 GB internal storage enough for tens of thousands of ebooks, hundreds of PDFs, and a substantial audiobook library. MicroSD expansion up to 2 TB covers pretty much any collection you could accumulate.

Cloud sync via BOOX Cloud (10 GB free), plus Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and any Android cloud app.

Fingerprint security in the power button

Unlock the device by pressing the power button — the fingerprint sensor is integrated into it. Fast, reliable, and matches the security convention of modern smartphones without needing a separate touchpad.

Full technical specifications