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Palma is a strange product. It’s a small e-reader with much bigger hardware ambitions. On its site, Boox describes the product as a “distraction-free device that lets you regain your focus right in the middle between technology and life.”
In many ways, the company’s ambitions seem to mirror those of the Light Phone by building a secondary device designed to take you away from your smartphone’s built-in distractions. Of course, many of us can ignore these pleasant sentiments, having witnessed yet another highly polarized US presidential election through the lens of social media.
However, what constitutes a “distraction” versus an essential function, specifically, is highly subjective. Returning to the Light Phone for a moment, we see a product that deliberately launched with a limited feature set, only to later introduce new functionality that the startup initially deemed “unnecessary.”
For better or worse, we depend on our little communication devices for almost every aspect of our lives. Reducing dependency and distraction are brave goals, but depriving users of truly useful features can be counterproductive.
Palma doesn’t start from the same place of functional simplicity – at least not completely. There are some limitations built directly into the product due to the nature of its e-paper presentation. There are certain functions that work better on technology – reading, for example – but they lack a tremendous amount of versatility compared to a standard smartphone/tablet screen.
However, the device runs Android (albeit a few generations behind) and has access to the Play Store. It has a camera, microphone, speakers, and Bluetooth connectivity. The Palma 2 features an upgraded octa-core processor and adds privacy via a fingerprint reader.
The interesting choices of what to put in and what to leave out make it seem like a PDA with an identity crisis: a weird consumer electronic illusion that’s not quite sure what it wants to be when it grows up. As it turns out, that’s part of the fun.
Playing with Palma 2 has led to the discovery of some unexpected holes, including Reddit threads where people discuss ways to access backdoor functionality On the device. There is, for example, a microSD slot for expandable memory, but no SIM card slot. This means that although microphones, speakers and Bluetooth are included, it is not specifically designed for making phone calls.
As such, people are debating the feasibility of using WhatsApp’s voice feature as an alternative solution. There’s no GPS, which puts the kibosh on the mapping function, but what about using a device that does? It’s a lot of work for relatively little reward, but it’s always hopeful to see the ways in which technological constraints stimulate intelligent user innovation.
Granted, I’ve only been using the Palma 2 for a short time, but I tend to fall into the camp of user content who think of the device as a pure e-reader. It has many of these features, including ePaper which is much easier on the eyes (and sleep schedule) and extends battery life far beyond what a regular smartphone can do.
The new processor adds pressure to the Palma, while removing the annoying latency of the previous generation. However, the product is still hampered by update limitations imposed by ePaper. If Boox makes a version of the Palma that’s a true e-reader, stripped of a lot of potentially extraneous features, and delivers it at a lower price, I can see these things flying off the shelf.
Just the promise of a reader thin enough to carry in one’s pocket is likely to attract a lot of attention. I’ve wasted more time than I care to mention trying to decide whether to take my Kindle with me on a long train ride, knowing that it would mean awkwardly carrying the device for the rest of the evening and possibly leaving it behind in the dark. corner.
Boox makes some great e-readers, and the Palma fits the bill. It’s a beautiful device, with a 300 ppi flow-through display and solid front lighting for reading in bed. On the other hand, it’s hard to justify the $280 asking price unless you plan to take advantage of most of the other features.
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