TL;DR
- BOOX is launching the Palma 2 and Note Air4 C.
- The Palma 2 offers a phone-sized e-reader option with upgraded silicon and new biometrics.
- Meanwhile, the Note Air4 C is tablet-sized solution with a color screen for your Android apps.
It’s somewhat a testament to how mature the mobile device landscape is that we see such diversity among screens. Not everyone’s in a race to deliver the highest refresh rates, densest pixels, and widest color gamut, and that frees resources up to explore things like the wild world of foldables. One of the most interesting niches to develop has been Android-powered hardware that takes advantage of eye-friendly, low-power electrophoretic displays — ePaper. Today we’re checking out two of the newest ePaper devices coming from BOOX.
First up is the sequel to what’s easily the most phone-like of BOOX’s offerings, the Palma 2. This one’s got a 6.13-inch 300 PPI Carta 1200 screen, which means you can look forward to some high-contrast, crisp text with low eye strain. It runs software based on Android 13, which is a little behind the times but should suffice for this kind of use case. The octa-core processor and 6GB of RAM are probably overkill, but the 128GB of storage sounds plenty nice for saving every book you’d ever want to read — and there’s even microSD expansion for you madmen who need more.
While you’re probably going to be using something like the Palma 2 mainly for reading, enjoying features like its dual-tone front light, there’s also plenty of standard smartphone hardware here, including a 16MP camera for grabbing a quick pic of anything interesting you come across, and speakers for music (or some text-to-speech for impromptu audio-book action in a pinch). Since this is 2024, BOOX even throws in an on-board AI assistant. And new with this generation, the Palma picks up a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometric authentication.
If 6.13 inches sounds a little too cozy, you might want to check out the 10.3-inch BOOX Note Air4 C. This tablet features a Kaleido 3 panel that lets it offer color, and since this one also runs Android 13, that means you can tap into your favorite productivity apps between books. Compared to the prior-generation Air3, the new e-reader upgrades its RAM to 6GB, while keeping storage at 64GB — and again, there’s microSD expansion support. The company even managed to shave 10 grams off its weight.
Sales of both models are open now, with the Palma 2 going for $280, and the Note Air4 C fetching $500.
