Boox's New Pocket Reader Is Like a Phone for Books
Boox has announced the Palma 3, a phone-sized reader with a black-and-white screen. It costs $339.99 and is listed as coming soon. The Verge
The screen is 6.13 inches and sharp, with 300 dots per inch. It uses black-and-white e-paper, which looks like printed paper and stays easy on the eyes during long reading. The body has a metal frame with a back that feels a bit like paper.
Inside is a Qualcomm chip with eight cores, plus 6GB of short-term memory and 128GB of space for books and apps. You can add more space with a small memory card. The rechargeable battery is 3,950mAh, which is large for this size and helps run apps and the reading light.
It has a 16-megapixel camera on the back and a fingerprint reader in the power button for unlocking. It runs Android 16, the same basic system used by many phones. It can also use the Boox InkSense Plus pen for writing, which costs $46 and is not in the box.
That price is $60 more than the last black-and-white model. The Palma 2 came out in 2024 for $279.99. The higher price reflects the newer Android version, new body materials, fingerprint unlock, and support for Boox's own pen.
The Palma 3 is the black-and-white choice next to the Palma 2 Pro. The Palma 2 Pro has a 6.13-inch color e-paper screen using Kaleido 3, a layer that adds color, and runs Android 15. It has an eight-core chip with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage. BOOX It also connects to 5G and costs $399.99 in the U.S. Lifehacker
The broader context here is simple. Color is handy for comics, marked-up school papers, and web pages. Black-and-white stays sharper for plain books. Boox is selling both, so buyers do not have to choose between an old black-and-white reader and a new color one.
For everyday use, full Android 16 is what sets this apart from a basic reader. It lets you install normal reading apps, file sync apps, and login apps. It also means managing app settings and battery use, much as on a phone. The memory card slot, fingerprint reader, and pen fit that same plan. This is a small second computer for reading and notes, not a one-job device.
In my view, the pen is the most useful extra. A 6.13-inch screen will not replace a big notebook. It does make margin notes, quick fixes, and signing a form easy without a second device. My kids always got more done when the tool fit in a pocket, and commuters and field workers may find that mix of small size, paper-like screen, and pen hard to get on a normal phone screen.
If you are deciding what to buy, start with what you need. The $339.99 reader alone covers books, apps, and fingerprint unlock. Pay $46 for the pen only if you will write by hand. If you want color and cell service, compare the $399.99 Palma 2 Pro with the sharper black-and-white screen and newer system here. Different jobs call for different tools.
