Verdict
The Onyx Boox Palma is a small , various e - reader with a high-pitched - timber design and a lot decease for it . Its concealment is clear and well-to-do to learn , has excellent battery life , a comfortable fit in hand , supreme pocketability and reams of versatility thanks to Android – but there are question about long - term software living .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Once prognosticate to replace the report book , e - readers have n’t quite match the promise levels of public adoption we were tell they might when they were first released . alternatively , we see a steadfast trickle of options hail onto the market each class from the likes of Amazon and Kobo , none setting the world alight but generally please those who buy them .
With the option to read on a speech sound or tablet , there ’s less understanding to own a gimmick dedicated to one job , as with the MP3 players of past . That has n’t give up Onyx , a Chinese house , from going all - out on due east - paper as a display tech , releasing Es - reader of all soma and sizes .
At $ 279/£226 , it is n’t cheap however , with the Kindle Paperwhite retailing for around 35 % less . So , does the Palma do enough to bring in a blank space in your sack ? say on for the full follow-up .
Design
E - reader invention has n’t exactly get along a foresighted way in the past ten . Given that they are specifically a replacement for physical book , their modus operandi is to be somewhat similar but better overall . That means they are generally flat , twinkle and inconspicuous for the most part , and that depict the Onyx Palma perfectly .
Smaller and lighter thanmany ceremonious e - reader , it has a profile more reminiscent of asmartphonethan your mother’sKindle . That said , the smartphone in inquiry would in all probability be from 2018 or earlier , for the Palma has bezels by the twelve .
Put more delicately , its 6.13 - inch video display is flanked by a well thick border on each side . This signify that , although it is relatively diminutive , the Palma feel more significant than it actually is . At 170 g , it is light despite its size of it , and as a result , it is easy to apply .
Crucially , it is 8 mm thick , which does n’t make it the slender gimmick on the marketplace , but it is enough to make it easy to bag and use one - handed . It is a little smaller than aniPhone 15 Pro Max , but appreciably lighter .
In terms of build quality , it feel solidly built and , adverse to most New smartphones , it does n’t throw itself off every available surface with raging gleeful abandon . That is a upshot of the credit card used throughout its construction and the textured vegan leather ( fictile leather ) bum . At no item will it convince you that you are holding something made from leather , but it improves grip considerably .
Around the systema skeletale , there ’s a power button , a volume rocker and a USB - C port , with a 16MP camera on the rear and no equivalent weight on the front . Again , this is an einsteinium - proofreader ; the comportment of the television camera at all is the elision rather than the norm .
compare to the Kindle Paperwhite , the Palma is smaller , light , and more interesting from a design position . The Kindle ’s profile is n’t dramatically larger , but it does countenance for a greater reading area . Whether that matters to you will look heavily on how much you respect pocketability .
There are a great many bags and pockets that the Palma will go into over the Kindle , so if you plan to practice it on public exaltation , it may be the practiced choice .
Screen
For any typical ‘ smart ’ machine , the covert is the system of measurement by which it at last lives or dies , a mantra that is no less on-key for an Es - reader . However , what make a good tocopherol - lecturer screenland differs greatly from what micturate an splendid smartphone or tab screen . While ordinarily there will be terms like ‘ OLED ’ and ‘ high refresh rate ’ bandied about , with the e - proofreader , there ’s ‘ sixteen ghost of gray ’ , which seems more or less less exciting on the surface .
In reality , for an e - proofreader , the Onyx has a good show . It sports a 6.13 - column inch atomic number 99 Ink Carta Plus showing , and while at 824×1648 pixels it does n’t have an easily classifiable resolution to go by , it is over 720p , which ca-ca it sharp enough for recital – crucial given the utilization fount .
There is n’t much to say about colour balance , yield that it is monochrome , and luminosity is an interesting query . Firstly , it definitely gets subdued enough for prosperous bedtime reading , again all important for the utilisation case , but the technical school used makes sunshine legibility a give .
E Ink , the tech that motor the display , works somewhat like veritable newspaper in oecumenical usance . This means it does n’t become hard to see in strong sunlight , but rather achieves the opposite . The more sunshine there is , the more legible it becomes .
What ’s more , there ’s the option to dynamically transfer the colour temperature of the exhibit on the fly according to your druthers , take it easy to avoid eye song when reading for foresightful period .
What you wo n’t get is the ability to check video ( not that you should ever bribe an e - reader for this purpose ) or an experience that feel as smooth as using a standard smartphone .
The trade-off is in reduced eye strain , and the battery - efficient nature of e - paper . When it is inactive , there ’s no energy haul , only when refresh the display . That think of if you use the ilk of the Palma for a duo of hours a 24-hour interval , recharge becomes potentially a hebdomadal natural event rather than a daily chore .
Cameras
The Onyx Palma , much to my surprisal , run around a photographic camera , and a 16MP sensing element at that . It sit on the rear , along with a ostentation , with no equivalent sensor on the front – though this is to be expected .
So the manufacturing business intelligibly expects that you ’ll be taking photograph of something with your e - reader , but quite how you achieve that is a footling difficult to sympathise . The main ramification lies in lacking anything that might qualify as a camera app . Instead , there ’s a prick call ‘ DocScan ’ which , unsurprisingly , allow you to scan documents .
It influence quickly , and benefits from let in Onyx ’s writing signal detection software . In hypothesis , you could compose your notes on a page , scan it , and then have the Palma recognise it as text , which you could copy and paste . However , my scribbledigook scratchings were not recognisable as speech in the English language , so your success will count on how much attention you compensate to cursive lesson in primary schoolhouse .
If you are quite mad , it is possible to install a camera app on the Palma , which is precisely what I did . Open Camera , once put in , did not savor its life , however . Autofocus was exceptionally sluggish , and using an e - reader for a viewfinder was not a pleasant experience .
So , though it might be obvious , the tv camera is a nice extra , but you should not buy an atomic number 99 - reviewer for its photography accomplishment .
Performance
Though it might not seem necessary on the Earth’s surface , as the Onyx Palma runs Android , it needs some decent computer hardware to keep things running swimmingly . With that aver , beneath the hood can be regain a 2GHz ‘ octa - core ’ processor ( no word on manufacturer or modeling ) paired with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of memory .
For general use , i.e. reading , it is more than sufficient . The light interface created by Onyx present no issue for the processor ; webpages load quickly , and apps installed oeuvre well . You wo n’t be gaming on this ( save for something like Words with Friends ) , so the question becomes redundant . If you are run PUBG on an e - reader , there are other issues at gambling .
With the relatively generous allocation of RAM , it was easygoing to keep multiple apps open in the background , and the 128 GB of storage means you may easily keep a library ’s worth of Holy Writ in your pocket without issue . That ’s also expandable , thanks to the inclusion of a microSD card slot .
I did , of course , benchmark the Palma . It achieved a individual - core score of 333 and a multi - core account of 1104 in Geekbench 6 , which confirms that it is no ball of fire .
Software
Beyond the display and the pattern , there ’s a fundamental feature that differentiates the Palma from other atomic number 99 - readers : it runs Android . The equipment comes with a full - fat adaptation of Android 11 pre - installed , with a swooning interface designed by Onyx .
This clearly focuses on pushing you towards version , with a book store , dictionary , papers scanning help and more right on the front Sir Frederick Handley Page . A swipe to the left hand reveal a reading of the OnePlus ‘ ledge ’ with a customisable list of gismo that can be added or absent to your heart ’s content . New apps install on the right-hand screen , and swiping up does nothing .
It ’s a unruffled , no - gimcrack user interface that fits the brief of what an e - reader should have . operate Android is a crucial vantage too ; where the likes of the Kindle and Kobo are set by their package , you may instal anything you wish .
This allows you to install a range of e - reader and amusing apps not usually possible on a Kindle or Kobo . Plus , you may add productiveness apps if you bid , making it easier to read document send to you . There ’s a whole world of possibilities .
Onyx does what it can to prove and palliate some of the outlandishness that can ensue , but there ’s only so much that can be done . The Palma does n’t wish apps with a dark way occasionally , and sometimes apps with softly coloured interfaces render oddly . These issues are to be expected , however ; most apps are n’t plan to be used on due east - readers .
Support for a emcee of file type gives the Palma the same versatility as the Kobo , and with the Kindle app installed , it put to work equally well as Amazon ’s own devices without the data file type restrictions it impose . It ’s an impressive advantage for the Palma over much of the contention .
Battery life
As explicate earlier , this is a moment of the eastward Ink video display . Once a page is render , it take no power to expose . When the gadget is asleep , there ’s also no power draw , so it is loose to eke out weeks of exercise without too much issue .
This is definitely true of the Palma . It was charge to 100 % on a Sunday , and with a duet of hour of read each daytime , I was at 74 % five years later . That ’s with email on in the background and several other apps pulling in presentment . The Palma works well as a ‘ paper ’ in the morning , too .
If you expend it less , you ’ll get long . If you have only version apps instal , that figure will increase yet again .
There ’s nothing to say about fast charging as it is an ability that the Palma does n’t possess . Plugging into the bulwark sees power top up at the standard 5W rate , and a full care choose rough two and a half hour .
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Should you buy it?
The Onyx Book Palma is small enough to match in a sac or pocketbook easily .
The Onyx Book Palma comes with Android 11 out of the box and with no word on succeeding software update .
Final Thoughts
While it is an excellent e - reader and electronic mail machine , it is n’t great as a smartphone - light equipment , but that ’s the point . If you are in the market for a companion for your commute and love reading , the Palma is an splendid choice .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every tocopherol - reader we reexamine thoroughly . We utilise the gimmick over the review point . We ’ll always say you what we find , and we never , ever accept money to go over a product .
FAQs
No , it charges at 5W.
It bleed Android 11 with Onyx ’s simplistic e - lector - focused skin .
Test Data
Full Specs
