3 upgrades the Boox Palma 2 gives over the unique ...

Look, I do know I mentioned the Boox Palma modified the way in which I used my smartphone within the editorial I wrote about it a few months ago. It really helped me restrict my social media doom-scrolling — a minimum of for a bit. If I am being sincere with myself, that lasted for a few month earlier than I returned to being glued to my iPhone 16 Pro and Threads, similar to all the time. Nonetheless, regardless of its shortcomings, the Palma is an fascinating, single-use gadget, and the idea of a minimalist smartphone stays interesting to me. The celebrated pain points of the Palma, sadly, are what in the end led me to ditch it.

Given the information cycle surrounding the tiny e-reader, I am not shocked Boox has shortly launched the Palma 2, a slightly upgraded tackle the unique Palma. At first look, each pint-sized e-readers look an identical (together with the identical uninteresting black and white colour choices), however underneath the hood, there are a couple of notable upgrades. Sadly, these upgrades do not embrace eSIM or SIM card compatibility, the newest model of Android, and even an improved display screen (it is nonetheless the identical usually laggy 6.13-inch Carta 1200 E Ink show). In a variety of methods, the Palma 2 is mainly the unique Palma. In truth, once I had each gadgets side-by-side, I acquired them briefly confused.

Nonetheless, if you happen to’re on the fence in regards to the Palma 2, or questioning if there’s sufficient on this iterative replace to warrant an improve, then this story is for you.

Here is the whole lot new with Boox Palma 2.

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1 The Palma 2 options an “upgraded” CPU

There’s nonetheless the identical 6GB of RAM/128GB storage, but additionally a sooner chip

For causes that stay unclear, Boox has been fairly quiet about what the Palma’s new chip truly is. After doing a little bit of analysis, it appears to be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 690/750 chip, in comparison with the OG Palma’s 460/662 processor.

In observe, does this truly make a lot of a distinction? Form of, is essentially the most sincere approach I can reply that query. One among my points with the unique Palma is the lag I typically encountered when studying longer articles I’ve saved with Pocket or trying to make use of the E Ink gadget as a devoted podcast listening medium (the bizarre Bluetooth points I encountered with the unique Palma are nonetheless round). In the previous couple of weeks with the Palma 2, these issues occurred far much less incessantly, however they are not completely gone. For instance, each Pocket and Pocket Casts have crashed on me a couple of instances, and 1Password stays surprisingly glitchy on the E Ink gadget.

Nonetheless, it is nice Boox has upgraded the Palma 2’s chip, notably if you happen to plan to run extra resource-intensive apps on the minimalist gadget. I nonetheless do not suppose that is an incredible concept, nonetheless — the Palma 2 is at its greatest once you’re studying textual content or utilizing it as an iPod-like devoted podcast or Spotify listening gadget.

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2 It runs Android 13 as an alternative of Android 11

This implies extra apps are suitable with the Palma 2

Despite the fact that the unique Palma is powered by Android 11, I did not run into any notable compatibility issues. The important thing apps I take advantage of on the E Ink gadget are Pocket, Pocket Casts, and Kobo, and that is just about it. For me, the Palma is a minimalist, centered single-use gadget, however if you happen to’re on the lookout for a whole Android substitute, then that is positively excellent news.

Granted, Android 13 launched in 2022 and remains to be a couple of years previous, however it’s nonetheless far more moderen than 2020’s Android 11. With Android 13, you will nonetheless get safety updates, a local digicam app (which wasn’t featured within the first Palma for some purpose), extra trendy app icons, and an odd AI assistant app that appears to be tied to a really early model of ChatGPT, which I just about by no means use.

Of all of the upgrades Android 13 gives, future safety updates supply helpful piece-of-mind if you happen to plan to make use of the Palma 2 as a full Android telephone substitute.

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3 There is a fingerprint sensor now

Why? For added e-book safety, in fact

Placing in a easy code is not troublesome, however a fingerprint sensor is certainly extra intuitive. That mentioned, the Palma 2’s fingerprint sensor is a bit finicky. Fortunately, it is not as dangerous because the Rog Ally X’s fingerprint sensor, which I’ve discovered just about by no means works, however if you happen to have been anticipating the extent of accuracy you get from a tool just like the iPad Air, you will be dissatisfied. The addition of the fingerprint sensor with the Palma 2 permits me to extra shortly log into the E Ink gadget, which, in flip, has inspired me to tug it out as an alternative of my trusty smartphone.

I can simply as shortly pull out the Palma 2 and begin studying an article I’ve saved in Pocket, as an alternative of opening up X to see how miserable the world is progressively changing into.

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