BOOX Palma 2 Pro: Specs, Price, Pros & Cons
Take it out of a jacket pocket and the Palma 2 Pro looks like a phone, which is the idea. BOOX has built a 6.13-inch colour E Ink reader in a phone's proportions, and the Pro adds the one thing its sibling lacks: a SIM slot for mobile data. It is a reader for people who want their books, news apps and a map with them without the pull of a smartphone screen.
The screen is Kaleido 3, E Ink's colour filter layer over a black-and-white panel. Text keeps its full sharpness while colour runs at half the resolution, so covers, comics and highlighted notes look muted, like newsprint. That is the right expectation to bring.
Because it runs Android with the Google Play Store, the Palma reads anything that has an app: Kindle, Kobo, a library service, a newspaper subscription, an RSS reader. Page-turn buttons on the side, a customisable smart button and a fingerprint reader in the power key make one-handed reading easy. It also works with the InkSense Plus pen for quick memos, though the pen is sold separately.
The Pro costs a good deal more than the plain Palma 2. That gap buys colour, the data connection and more memory, and it swaps the Palma 2's dedicated microSD slot for a hybrid tray that takes either a second SIM or a card. BOOX rates it water-repellent, meaning splashes and light rain, never submersion, which matters for a device built to live in a pocket. Buyers who already carry a phone everywhere should ask whether mobile data on a reader solves a problem they have.
Category strengths
Where the BOOX Palma 2 Pro beats the average
- A much bigger battery ?3,950 mAh vs 2,300 mAh (avg)
- Much more storage ?128 GB vs 64 GB (avg)
- Much more RAM ?8 GB vs 4 GB (avg)
- Has stylus support ?
- Has cellular ?
Where the BOOX Palma 2 Pro trails the average
- A thicker body ?8.8 mm vs 6.7 mm (avg)
How this VS Score was computed
Score 62: each known spec is measured against the median of Android e-readers (7 products, medians winsorised to the 10th–90th percentile), then weighted. 44% of the scoreable weight could be used; unknown values, features not applicable to this class and proxies (battery capacity where a rated life exists) add or remove nothing.
| Specification | This product | Cohort median | Score weight | Points moved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internal storage | 128 | 64 | 0.7 | +35.0 |
| Color display | Yes | 57% of the class have it | 0.5 | +25.0 |
| Stylus support | Yes | 50% of the class have it | 0.5 | +25.0 |
| Cellular | Yes | 43% of the class have it | 0.2 | +10.0 |
| Speakers | Yes | 67% of the class have it | 0.2 | +10.0 |
| Battery capacity | 3,950 | 2,300 | 1 | +6.0 |
| Thickness | 8.8 | 6.7 | 0.5 | −0.5 |
| Screen size | 6.13 | 6.13 | 1 | +0.0 |
| Pixel density | 300 | 300 | 2 | +0.0 |
| RAM | 8 | 4 | 0.5 | +0.0 |
| Weight | 175 | 175 | 2 | +0.0 |
Not scored: Resolution (one resolution dimension is not a sharpness measure; pixel density is scored instead); Front light (standard for the class (100% have it)); Adjustable warm light (standard for the class (86% have it)); Auto-brightness (unknown: not scored); Flush screen (standard for the class (100% have it)); Dark mode (unknown: not scored); Touchscreen (standard for the class (100% have it)); Page-turn buttons (standard for the class (80% have it)); EPUB support (standard for the class (100% have it)); Audiobook support (standard for the class (100% have it)); Text-to-speech (unknown: not scored); Library lending (unknown: not scored); Cloud sync (standard for the class (100% have it)); App store (standard for the class (100% have it)); Expandable storage (microSD) (standard for the class (100% have it)); Battery life (weeks) (unknown: not scored); Charge time (unknown: not scored); USB-C (standard for the class (100% have it)); Wireless charging (unknown: not scored); Bluetooth (standard for the class (100% have it)); 3.5mm headphone jack (not applicable: only 0% of this class have it); Waterproof (not applicable: only 0% of this class have it).
Editor’s note
The question I would settle before buying is whether you need the data connection. The SIM slot takes a data-only plan, so this is no phone replacement: no calls, no texts, just mobile internet for sync, maps and browsing. For a commuter who reads news apps on the train and wants them fresh without tethering, that has real value. For someone who reads novels at home, it is a feature paid for and never used, and the Palma 2 does the reading part for far less.
The colour screen is a similar trade. Kaleido 3 shows 4,096 colours at 150 ppi, enough for book covers, manga panels and colour-coded highlights. The colour filter also sits over the whole panel, so plain text looks a little greyer and darker than on the Palma 2's Carta 1200 screen. If you read mostly text, black-and-white is the better screen.
Battery life is the open question. BOOX publishes a 3,950 mAh capacity and no runtime, so there is nothing to plan on, and an Android reader with mobile data switched on is doing more work than a Kindle ever does.
The Android side is the strength. Kindle, Kobo and library apps all install from the Play Store, so you are not tied to one bookstore the way a Kindle or Kobo reader ties you. The cost of that freedom is setup: apps designed for phone screens often need BOOX's per-app refresh and contrast settings before they are comfortable on E Ink.
Against a Kobo Clara Colour, the Kobo is waterproof, simpler and well under half the price, but it keeps you in Kobo's store and library lending. I'd choose the Palma 2 Pro for a reader who wants every app and every store in a pocket, and I would steer anyone who just wants to read books to something simpler.
Specifications
Quality bars are generated automatically against 12 other e-readers.
Display
Reading
Storage & performance
Battery
Connectivity
Design
Sources and verification
Where the specifications come from
- Official product pageshop.boox.com
- Independent testingtechradar.com
- Retailer listing (cross-check)amazon.com
Verification
- First published
- Specifications last checked
- Sheet completeness
- 31 of 39 specifications verified; the rest show as Unknown and are never estimated or scored
- Page type
- Product specification page — Compiled from the manufacturer’s published specifications and the cited sources; this is not a hands-on test.
- Basis
- Research-based: specifications and editorial text were compiled from the documents listed here and the manufacturer’s published data. We have not tested this unit ourselves; where independent measurements are mentioned they belong to the linked publication.
Where to buy
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Price history
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The bottom line
The BOOX Palma 2 Pro earns a VS Score of 62, comfortably above average among the 13 e-readers we compare here.
- Who it’s for
- A reader who wants Kindle, Kobo, library and news apps together on a pocketable colour E Ink screen, with mobile data so they sync away from Wi-Fi.
- Who should look elsewhere
- Anyone who mainly reads novels, needs a waterproof reader for the bath or the pool, or hopes to replace a phone. The SIM slot is for data only.
- The trade-off that matters
- The open Android platform that runs every reading app also means tuning display settings app by app, work a Kindle or Kobo never asks of you.
- The main alternative
- Kobo Clara Colour: a waterproof colour reader at a much lower price, for buyers happy to stay with one bookstore.
The VS Score is calculated from the weighted specifications above, compared with every other e-reader we track — a shortlisting guide, not a substitute for your own priorities. See how we score.
