The Next Boox Palma E-Reader Might Be a Phone Too

The Boox Palma e-reader is unquestionably my favorite gadget from the last few years, however I additionally get why so many individuals discover it to be a little bit confounding. It is a phone-shaped e-ink system that has all of the capabilities of a contemporary Android smartphone—along with serving up your e-books, it may well run apps from the Google Play retailer; it even has a digicam. However does not have mobile performance, which implies it may well’t take calls. That may be altering, and shortly.

Based on a report from The Verge, Boox’s guardian firm, the Chinese language tech agency Onyx Worldwide, is engaged on a brand new Palma-like system that can retain the shape and e-ink show of the present Palma, however add each mobile connectivity and coloration—two of essentially the most requested options from the system’s die-hard followers, at the very least judging by my observations of the r/Onyx_Boox subreddit over the previous few years.

The Verge received a take a look at the presumed Palma successor throughout IFA 2025, a European commerce present akin to CES. Although it wasn’t on show on the present flooring, a reporter was proven a tool that certain seemed quite a bit just like the Palma, however which had each a coloration show (nearly definitely the identical Kaleido 3 display screen discovered on the Boox Go Color 7) and icons indicating a 4G + LTE mobile connection. No concrete particulars on specs or a launch date had been supplied. (You possibly can learn extra, and see an image of the system, over at The Verge).

Operate lastly follows kind

Personally, I really like the Palma as a result of it is extra transportable than the typical e-reader. As a result of it’s simpler to hold, I read more and use addictive apps on my phone less (although the Palma can run most apps, social media is not very enjoyable on a sluggish e-ink display screen). However I nonetheless want to hold my telephone, for all the same old causes (messaging, maps, tap-to-pay), so it isn’t the life-changing system it’d in any other case be. That would change if Boox certainly releases a Palma that may make calls and run messaging apps over a mobile connection.

There are lots of questions that must be answered earlier than I can get too excited, nonetheless. For one factor, the system hasn’t been formally introduced, and there isn’t any assure it is going to be launched within the close to time period, or if it is going to be offered within the U.S. (not all Boox merchandise can be found within the U.S. market). Then there’s the matter of provider assist—you are definitely not going to have the ability to purchase a Palma telephone direct from Verizon or T-Cellular, and it isn’t a certain factor {that a} Chinese language-made area of interest system it can play good with each home provider.

We additionally haven’t any info on what this factor may cost a little. For $300, the Palma already has lots of phone-like capabilities, however including a coloration display screen and a modem (and getting it licensed to play good with U.S.-based networks) will undoubtedly push that quantity quite a bit greater. Tariffs aren’t probably to assist issues both: The newest Palma 2 has already elevated in worth from $279 to $299, and given that each one e-ink screens are made abroad, there isn’t any probability it will not face these further import charges.

All that mentioned, one other system already in the marketplace offers me a fairly good concept of what utilizing a Palma telephone will probably be like.

Not the primary e-ink telephone

For the previous few months, I have been taking part in round with the Bigme Hibreak Pro, a $459 e-reader that appears an terrible lot like my Palma 2 (you’ll be able to see each within the image on the high of this text). In lots of respects, the Hibreak Professional is a one for one match for the Palma…but it surely additionally has 5G mobile functionality.

A tool like this holds lots of enchantment—I am at a degree the place I’m beginning to resent my iPhone’s primacy in my life. I might love carry just one system, and one that does not as readily plug me in to the horrors of the web and social media, however which might nonetheless deal with essentially the most important capabilities (maintaining me linked to my household, dealing with NFC funds, guiding me through Google Maps).

However thus far, for me, the Hibreak Professional is not it—as with other Bigme devices I’ve tested, I discover its software program deeply irritating, and I have never had the time or power to commit to putting in an alternate launcher. (It does not assist that the primary system I acquired had a defective USB-C port, and getting a substitute took just a few months.) I typically suppose Boox makes higher units than Bigme, so I am hopeful a Palma telephone would repair a few of these points.

At this level, that is nonetheless a giant if. Regardless of their lovability, Boox’s e-readers positively aren’t as user-friendly as a Kindle. And although the Palma has attracted a cult following (to not point out mainstream consideration from shops like The New York Occasions), an e-ink telephone is at all times going to have area of interest enchantment, which implies we’re most unlikely to see one from a longtime tech firm like Apple or Samsung. A Palma telephone may fulfill some e-ink diehards, however I do not count on to see too lots of them whereas driving the subway.