It’s been a month, a half dozen flights, and many hours on the device. Finally, I’m ready to give the Boox Palma the review it deserves.
This conversation needs to be lensed through my use case, and what drew me to the device. First and foremost, I was seeking the most portable, yet comfortable, “distraction free” writing device I could find. If it could serve as an ereader, that would be a big bonus as well.
In short, the Palma fulfills the role near perfectly. I’m writing this with my 6'2 frame hunched in an economy seat on my 5th flight in 3 weeks. The Palma resides comfortably on the tray table, and I’m clacking away on a tiny portable keyboard. The duo fits into the smallest sling bag you’d want.
Unlike some e-ink displays, like the Freewrite Traveller, latency is at an absolute minimum here — barely lagging behind an LCD screen, even when I’m churning away at my top consistent speeds of around 80 wpm. Meanwhile, unlike the Remarkable or Supernote, the front light is helpful for dim airplane seats.
From a reading perspective, the Palma is equally solid. Sure, a Kindle Paperwhite is a slightly nicer experience in general, but the difference isn’t wide enough to justify traveling with another device. I’ve had no trouble reading for hours on the Palma.
As for distraction-free: it works well enough. There is zero chance I’m going to be sucked into doing my day job on the device, and sure, I could install Reddit or any of the other infinity pools, but I just… didn’t. Distraction problem solved.
So all in, a huge win of a device if your use case aligns. Is it the best at anything? Of course not. But if you want a niche device that utilizes e-ink, it is a joy to use.