April 15 I read BDtechsupport Mobile The Launching news Box Palma, a mobile device from Onyx Company with an electronic ink screen. This caught my attention for two reasons:
- It reminded me Yotaphone, an experiment by a Russian manufacturer that did not have much success in the market. Many years ago.
- What if the idea is better as a secondary mobile phone to carry around when you just want to disconnect and chill?
This second reason led me to ask my partner Enrique if he could get it for me as a press unit. Enrique did it (he always does!) and here I am two months later, recounting a bittersweet experience.
the intellect. I thought that for a trip to the beach, a weekend getaway, a full day away from home, or even just a vacation in a familiar place, something like Bux Palma made sense.
A mobile that can’t cause us major confusion as its 6.1″ screen is in another league and is great for reading, even in the sun. A help for disconnection (no option to insert a SIM, it’s Wi-Fi + Bluetooth only) And an encouragement to read more.
Photo: BDtechsupport.
the reality. When the box arrived at my house and I was able to get my paws on it, it didn’t take long for me to realize that the experience wasn’t going to be as fun as it sounded.
For starters, I’m coming from a Kindle Oasis, and that’s the experience I’m used to with e-ink. Box one is not at that level. I understand that it’s not that good because the oasis is nice, but maybe I expected something more for around 300 euros. There are phones with very good LCD panels and better specifications at these prices.
On the left, Boox Palma. On the right, the Kindle Oasis. Almost same height, different width. Box is much more portable. Photo: BDtechsupport.
It is rather slow. Not much fluidity and a certain clumsiness. No agility, some actions freeze or require multiple attempts. Switching from one task to another or navigating menus is sometimes difficult.
Due to the nature of the panel, some common smartphone gestures are not present here. It’s understandable. But that doesn’t help either.
Screen is not very good. And that should be its strong point, but it doesn’t live up to expectations. For reading, especially outside in the sun, it’s so much better than a mobile phone, there’s no rival.
Photo: BDtechsupport.
But its image quality leaves something to be desired. The texts are clear, but the panel has a hard time completely erasing the letters on the previous screen This results in annoying shadows in the text.
An example: the symbols of the letters on the previous page are between the text and the back box Photo: BDtechsupport.
Another example. The list contained a graph of positions occupied by two items that can still be seen. Photo: BDtechsupport.
Battery is also disappointing. I understand permanent connectivity as something that erodes autonomy, but electronic ink should be given a better time. This is not the case. It still requires almost daily charging to use it as a “single cell phone”. The dream of using it on a weekend getaway, forgetting about the charger, will only be possible if we use it.
And using it as a “single cell phone” equates to using far less than we use regular cell phones. We can’t take photos, or see social networks, browsing is frustrating, and apps… well. You can install any of them from Play Store, it’s true, but it’s also true that most of them aren’t very useful. Best expected ones: Kindle and similar.
Photo: BDtechsupport.
The rest are non-adaptive (rational) and depend on which experience is lacking. I don’t think it’s impossible to use games (anyone who buys this phone clearly doesn’t do it for games), but its slowness and middle panel make it a refuge for emergencies using any app, nothing more.
Scanner. Its tiny rear camera (the only one on the box) isn’t designed for taking photos, only for scanning documents. This is one of the weakest points.
The humble Boox Palma camera, with 16 megapixels and specialized OCR software, according to the manufacturer. Photo: BDtechsupport.
I tried to scan a DIN A4 clearly and at a minimum distance so that the entire sheet of paper would fit in the viewfinder. Only the document title can be read, the text (size 16, not even 12) cannot be distinguished.
Nothing is separated. Photo: BDtechsupport.
I had to bring the camera too close to the page to see the text, cutting off half the page.
Scanning should be clear at minimum distance. Cut sheet in half. Photo: BDtechsupport.
However, the screen though E-inkWhat it runs is Android, specifically Android 11, which was announced in 2020, so the screenshots are in color when we export, not black and white.
Photo: BDtechsupport.
Photos can also be viewed in color when sent to another device. What isn’t brilliant is its quality.
Box camera in front of the mirror. There is no opportunity to take selfies as there is no front camera. Photo: BDtechsupport.
Concept of shelter. I propose to use this mobile phone as a digital refuge, a place to disconnect, something that might interest some of our readers because of the distractions and the involvement of notifications that we are publishing. The theory sounded pretty good. Not so much in practice.
I can’t recommend it to those who are very clear that they take their toll because they don’t want the idea of this mobile device. E-ink.
For everyone else, a smart watch with LTE and a standard e-book reader, even if it’s not in our pocket, will give us a more satisfying experience. Maybe not cheap, but we’ll save you the frustration.
BOOX Palma 6.13″ Mobile ePapel Reader 128 GB Android 11 Lite e-Ink Camera (White)
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