BOOX Palma 2 Mobile ePaper eBook Reader Fingerprint Recognition Smart Button Dual Microphones (White)

I'm impressed. Blown away, actually. I haven't been this excited about a new device since I bought my first Kindle (a second-generation one) in 2009, and for considerably more money.The Palma 2 is revolutionary. It's also a truly elegant and thoughtfully designed device. If you're considering getting one, you can already imagine why I like it so much. I assure you that I'm not disappointed in any way. It's everything I'd hoped: very speedy, extremely nice to look at, a pleasure to read on in daylight and in the dark. It runs all of my Android apps.I even like the native on-screen keyboard. Some reviewers report having rushed to install Gboard, but I've found the native keyboard to be excellent. I initially thought it didn't have the multi-clipboard feature, but it does! As far as I'm concerned, the Boox keyboard is superior to Gboard. To give an example of a feature it has that I believe Gboard lacks: when you want to use square brackets, the Boox keyboard gives you both brackets with a tap on one key ( [] ) and positions your cursor between the two so that you can immediately enter text there. I have wanted this feature for a long time! [EDIT: I need to walk my endorsement of the native keyboard back a bit, because the dictionary that it uses for predictive text input is atrocious. Unusable. Laughable. Boox really needs to provide a usable predictive text input service. Also, there doesn't seem to be any autocorrect.]I've been similarly impressed with the native reading app, NeoReader. It's elegant and highly functional. I'd been planning to use Readera or Moon+ Reader, but now I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be fine with just NeoReader, even though unfortunately it's a "system app" that's not available for installation on other Android devices. I think Boox should sell both NeoReader and the keyboard in the Play Store.A year or two ago I might have hesitated to buy this kind of device from a Chinese company, but in light of what our own government is doing right now with the complicity of the tech bros--and also our alignment with Russia, our punishing of our allies and our pardoning of violent criminals--I no longer feel any added degree of safety limiting myself to American-branded tech products. It's sad but true. No American company offers anything like the Palma 2, anyway. They should.My only caveat would be that this is not a device for people who don't like to think about any settings or options when it comes to technology. There's a bit of a learning curve to an Android device with an e-ink display. People like me enjoy the novelty and experimentation, but I realize not everyone does. If you're familiar with Android and like it, or if you know you wouldn't mind learning it to get what the Palma 2 has to offer, I don't think you'll regret buying one.One reviewer here calls the Palma 2 an e-ink phone. It's not a phone. It has everything a phone does except for cellular connectivity. That's made crystal clear in the product information and in every online review, so if you still think it's a phone you haven't done your homework yet.I couldn't recommend the Palma 2 more highly.A final note: There aren't many cases available specifically for the Palma 2, and none of the ones I found appealed to me at all. I decided to go with a pouch-style universal smartphone case with a zipper. That way there's nothing on the device when I'm reading. I'm going to be very careful not to drop it, because if I chipped or cracked it I don't think I'd be able to resist buying a new one!

Fantastic E-reader. Don’t pay attention to the negative reviews here complaining about not having the kindle app. The people that left those reviews clearly don’t understand that this is an android based device, very different from Kobo, nook, or Kindle. All apps available to android devices (to my knowledge) are available on this device due to its use of android and the google play store. All you have to do is login to your google account (YouTube, Gmail, etc.) and you will be able to download any ebook app you desire.Personally I don’t like the included ebook app NeoReader. It’s a completely fine app, however every time you lock the device it resets the app from the current book back to the shelf. This may be an option that I’m missing in settings, but I prefer that when I open my ebook apps, that they automatically re-open the last book I was reading.Instead of NeoReader, I side loaded an app called KoReader. I’ve used this before on Samsung phones and really liked it.The one negative I can find about the device is the finger print reader. It’s not a terrible fingerprint reader, I just have frequent fingerprint read fails and I just have to lift my finger and reposition it. Not a huge problem, but something to consider.Battery life is great, only if you keep WiFi and Bluetooth off. With both on, the battery drains quickly and will probably only last a day or two. With both turned off, I would have gotten 5+ days, but I recharged it on the 5th day just because I wanted to make sure it would last while at work.I have a Kobo Libra 2, however that has been relegated to the shelf since this device is just so convenient and powerful! I love that I can put it in my pants pocket and take it everywhere I go, something I cannot do with larger ereaders.

I was really struggling to choose an e-reader considering the number of choices out there. Ultimately I settled on the Palma 2 and so far I love it. The fact that it's essentially an Android phone without the cellular feature is the biggest selling point for me. I have books across kindle, play books, and multiple other third party services, so I really didn't want to lock myself into an ecosystem requiring cumbersome side loading.Response time for the screen is very fast but you can configure it to multiple levels depending on the app you're using and your tolerance for ghosting.I love the configurable action button and volume rockers. Physical page turning buttons was another big factor in my decision; you can dictate what the volume rocker does on a per-app basis.The screen is very crisp, even with tiny text, and the adjustable brightness and light temperature sliders allows me to find a comfortable reading configuration for all times of day and in all types of environments.I think some people may prefer ereaders with everything set up for you from the beginning, but this is the perfect device for someone with multiple reading apps that doesn't want to be locked into a single ecosystem.