Palma 2 Pro Review

Design and Build

The Boox Palma 2 Pro (P2P) presents itself as an unusually compact e-ink writing tablet, one that eschews the increasingly common aluminum or magnesium chassis in favour of a plastic enclosure. This immediately establishes a different tactile impression. The plastic body, while perhaps less ostentatious than a metal frame, conveys a quiet utilitarianism. It feels practical rather than ornamental – not cheap, but intentionally unpretentious. And the plastic build also means that the P2P is very light (the lightest e-ink tablet I’ve ever reviewed).

At 8.8 mm thick, it is by no means a svelte object, though the thickness can be rationally excused. The smaller 6.13-inch display leaves less internal volume in the horizontal plane for components, necessitating a deeper housing. This is a structural compromise rather than a design flaw, and in hand it does not feel disproportionate. The weight distribution is balanced, and the density of the body imparts an impression of mechanical integrity – no rattling, no audible creaks, perhaps a slight sense of hollowness when tapping the top end of the rear panel, but nothing concerning.

The rear surface itself has a faintly abrasive, grainy texture that lends both grip and a curious kind of understated comfort. It feels less sterile than glass or smooth metal, is warmer to the touch, and more congenial to prolonged handheld use – however, I would expect most users to keep it housed within the protective casing (see below), rendering this point irrelevant. In the top-left corner is the 16Mp camera lens and flash. This does jut out slightly so it is not flush with the rear panel, but (again) because the P2P will most likely be used within the protective case most of the time, this doesn’t really present an issue.

The perimeter layout is thoughtful, if somewhat eclectic. The right edge hosts the power button integrated with a fingerprint scanner, combining both convenience and security measure. The bottom edge is crowded but orderly, containing (from left to right) a tray accommodating both microSD expansion and data-only SIM cards, the USB-C port, a microphone pinhole, and a speaker grille. On the left edge sit the volume keys (or page-turn controls, depending on context) and a “Smart Button” that defaults to a screen refresh but can be remapped. The top edge houses an additional microphone, ensuring adequate audio capture whether the device is held upright or inverted.

The front façade is subdued and functional. A black bezel frames the screen, slightly wider at the top and bottom. Unlike most e-ink tablets, whose bezels meet at sharp right angles, the Palma 2 Pro employs rounded corners that soften the visual geometry and contribute to a gentler aesthetic continuity. In the centre of the upper bezel is a rectangular recess, which Boox label as a “receiver“, but I’m pretty certain that this the light sensor for auto-adjusting the brightness of the screen based on the level of lighting in the external environment.

Ergonomically, the Palma 2 Pro distinguishes itself from larger e-ink tablets by virtue of scale alone. It is genuinely pocketable, sliding easily into most trouser or jacket pockets – more so than the reMarkable Paper Pro Move, which is the only other e-ink device I’ve reviewed with a similar form factor. In my own use, this portability translates directly into practicality. The smaller form factor and lighter mass make it markedly more comfortable to hold in one hand, to annotate notes while standing, or to operate in motion. It feels like a device designed not for the desk but for the field – something that can accompany the user rather than remain anchored to a workspace.

In sum, the design and build of the Boox Palma 2 Pro strike a careful equilibrium between modesty and resilience. It doesn’t feel like a a luxurious object, but it is an honest one: solid, portable, and thoughtfully constructed, with few superfluous gestures. Its aesthetic restraint is not a deficiency but a kind of maturity – a design that serves its function with quiet confidence.

Hardware specs

Beneath its modest exterior, the Boox Palma 2 Pro conceals a surprisingly competent hardware configuration. At its core resides a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor – a mid-tier chipset more often found in smartphones of a certain vintage, but still very respectable within the e-ink domain. It operates at a clock speed of 2 GHz and is accompanied by a generous 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. For an e-ink tablet, these are prodigious specifications; few competitors in this category provide such computational headroom.

In practical terms, this hardware endowment translates into a palpable fluidity in everyday use – or at least as much fluidity as the limitations of e-ink technology will permit. The inclusion of a dedicated GPU is especially significant, as it underpins Boox’s proprietary BSR (Boox Super Refresh) technology. This technology allows users to select higher refresh profiles for third-party applications, thereby mitigating one of the chronic shortcomings of e-ink displays: their languid response times (however, this does usually have a negative effect on the battery life).

In essence, BSR serves as an adaptive overdrive, dynamically pushing the refresh rate and image reconstruction speed beyond what standard e-ink panels typically attempt. The result is not a radical transformation – e-ink physics still impose their immutable constraints – but rather a perceptible amelioration. Scrolling through a web page, for example, feels markedly smoother than on conventional e-ink devices, and even lightweight app animations become tolerably fluid. However, one must maintain perspective: the performance, though improved, remains leagues apart from LCD or OLED panels. Video playback, in particular, is an unambiguous reminder of these physical limitations, with visible ghosting and tonal persistence that no amount of algorithmic ingenuity can entirely abolish.

To quantify the device’s capabilities, I conducted a series of Geekbench 6 CPU tests. The Palma 2 Pro achieved an average of 776 in single-core performance and 1915 in multi-core – the mean result of three consecutive runs. These figures, while modest in absolute smartphone terms, are impressive within the narrow ecosystem of e-ink tablets, which historically trail far behind their luminous-screened counterparts in raw processing power. You can see how performance compares to other e-ink tablets using this benchmark here.

What stands out in day-to-day operation is not so much the numerical performance as the consistency of it. The Palma 2 Pro feels responsive, stable, and devoid of the latency spikes that plague lower-end e-ink devices when multitasking or invoking more demanding Android applications. It navigates between reading, note-taking, and light productivity tasks with composure.

Overall, the hardware architecture of the Boox Palma 2 Pro situates it at the higher echelon of e-ink performance. It is neither a powerhouse in absolute computational terms nor a device meant for intensive multimedia consumption, but within its domain – the confluence of reading, annotation, and mobile productivity – it performs admirably. It exemplifies what can be achieved when an e-ink device is provisioned with sufficient processing latitude and an intelligent refresh system to match.

Screen

The Boox Palma 2 Pro employs a Kaleido 3 colour e-ink panel, a technology that remains, even now, something of a paradox to me. On the one hand, it represents the latest evolution in colour e-ink; on the other, it is still bounded by the immutable physics of the medium. The display, therefore, must be understood not in comparison to LCD or OLED screens (which utilise far more colours and vibrancy), but in relation to other e-ink implementations.

Kaleido 3 panels characteristically exhibit a darker overall tone than their monochrome counterparts, and the Palma 2 Pro is no exception. The colour reproduction, while serviceable, is subdued – hues appear faint, desaturated, and somewhat grainy, due to the 150PPI of colour pixels (300PPI with black-and-white). This gives the screen a slightly paper-like matte quality that some might find appealing, though it comes at the cost of vibrancy and contrast. Ghosting, the residual imprint of previous images, occurs more frequently here than on monochrome e-ink panels. It can be mitigated by adjusting refresh and contrast settings within Boox’s EInkwise Center, but not entirely abolished. These constraints are endemic to the technology itself rather than any flaw in Boox’s execution.

My personal take with colour e-ink is that it is only really good to have if you are going to take full advantage of it (for example, if you read colour comic books, need to distinguish colour on charts/graphs, or are a visual thinker that users colour to organise your thoughts). If, however, you will be mostly reading black text on white background, a monochrome device is much more comfortable. For most of my activities, I am happy to forgo colour in exchange for better contrast and readability (and – indirectly – slightly better battery life because I don’t have to use the frontlight as much), which is why I tend to prefer monochrome e-ink tablets.

What Boox has done, however, is extract as much competence from this hardware as the laws of optics and charge distribution will permit. Within those confines, the Palma 2 Pro’s display performs admirably. Black text remains sharp and legible, and colour (while muted) adds a subtle dimensionality to highlighted notes, graphs, and web content.

Perhaps the most defining characteristic of this display, however, is not its colour capability but its size and proportion. The 6.13-inch diagonal, combined with a 9:16 aspect ratio, gives the device a distinctly “phone-like” footprint. This makes it exceptionally comfortable to hold in one hand for reading or jotting quick notes – an ergonomic advantage over larger e-ink tablets – as well as making it highly portable, easily slipping into a pocket or a small compartment of a bag. Yet the same compactness becomes a liability when engaging with dense materials such as PDFs or full-page documents. The smaller canvas necessitates frequent zooming, panning, or rotation into landscape mode. It is usable, but undeniably more fiddly than a larger screen capable of presenting an A4 page first time, without messing around with the layout settings.

Touch interaction is handled by a capacitive layer that supports taps, swipes, and gestures. Responsiveness is adequate, though I occasionally experienced inadvertent page turns or unintended feature activations when my palm rested on the surface.

The front light is another important inclusion. It features adjustable colour temperature, allowing a warm reddish hue for evening use. Given the innate dimness of Kaleido 3 panels, I found myself keeping the light on more often than not. This illumination greatly improves legibility in low-light conditions, though it introduces a small but perceptible optical gap between the physical surface and the layer where the “ink” appears. This separation slightly undermines the illusion of ink-on-paper contact, a point I will return to when discussing writing feel.

The Palma 2 Pro supports stylus input via Boox’s InkSense technology, based on Intel’s USI (Universal Stylus Initiative) standard. The screen surface also appears to have a thin, slightly textured film that introduces a faintly grainy tactile resistance under the pen – again, a detail better explored in the next section.

In summary, the screen is compact, multi-functional, and well executed within the boundaries of current colour e-ink technology. Its portability and versatility make it a highly usable display for reading and light annotation. Yet, I cannot help but wonder how a monochrome variant of the Palma 2 Pro might have performed – one that sacrificed colour for contrast, brightness, and clarity. In my eyes, colour on e-ink remains a fascinating compromise: useful, but never truly satisfying.

Writing feel

Stylus input on the Boox Palma 2 Pro is facilitated by Boox’s InkSense technology, an active digitiser built upon Intel’s USI (Universal Stylus Initiative) standard. Those familiar with my earlier review of the Boox Go 7 will recall that I found the first iteration of InkSense distinctly underwhelming. The original stylus, with its rigid cone-shaped nib, produced a sharp, percussive tapping sound that was both audible and distracting. Line consistency was erratic – some strokes rendered unevenly, others were intermittently dropped – and the overall precision, particularly for smaller handwriting, left much to be desired.

The Palma 2 Pro represents a quiet but meaningful evolution. Boox has introduced a new stylus, the InkSense Plus, alongside subtle modifications to the screen surface itself. The new nib is thinner, softer, and decidedly more pen-like. This immediately mitigates the brittle acoustics of its predecessor; the pen now sounds out a dull thud rather than a harsh clack. The tactile impression is gentler, and the feedback feels more organic. The combination of the slightly roughened screen surface and the felt-like texture of the nib generates a degree of friction that curtails slippage – a small but vital improvement that lends the act of writing a touch more intentionality.

The refinements are not limited to sensation alone. I observed no missing strokes, and the previous wavering lines have been largely eliminated. The pen registers with a consistency that, while still short of exemplary, is considerably more dependable than before. Importantly, these enhancements appear to stem not solely from the new stylus, but also from an altered surface treatment on the screen itself. When using the InkSense Plus stylus on my older Go 7, many of the earlier deficiencies remained, suggesting that Boox has indeed recalibrated the Palma 2 Pro’s panel coating or digitiser layer to complement the new hardware.

However, improvement does not equate to parity with higher-end writing systems. Despite its progress, InkSense Plus still falls short of EMR (Electro-Magnetic Resonance) solutions found on devices such as Wacom-enabled tablets. The front light, while valuable for visibility, introduces a perceptible optical gap between the screen surface and the electronic “ink” beneath it, almost as if you are writing underneath the screen. This depth separation produces a mild sense of dislocation, as if the pen tip and the rendered line occupy slightly different planes. Even after calibration, strokes can feel faintly misaligned – an effect subtle but cumulatively fatiguing.

Latency, though acceptable, remains perceptible. The line visibly trails the pen tip by a fraction of a second, an artefact most noticeable during quick notetaking or sketching, or drawing long lines across the screen. For casual annotation this is tolerable, but it can be disconcerting for tasks requiring precision or rhythm. When writing in small characters (something I often attempt to conserve space on the Palma’s compact 6.13-inch screen) the ink tends to ‘clump‘ at stroke intersections, diminishing legibility. Even when selecting the thinnest pen setting, the rendered line feels slightly swollen and imprecise. This imprecision becomes particularly evident when attempting delicate operations, such as plotting points on graphs or writing in mathematical notation, where spatial accuracy matters.

Overall, I would categorise the writing experience as somewhere between adequate and good. It is undeniably improved over the earlier InkSense implementation, and I find it perfectly serviceable for short notes, annotations, and sketches. Yet, for sustained handwriting or precise diagrammatic work, it still lacks the immediacy and finesse characteristic of EMR systems. The Palma 2 Pro demonstrates commendable progress – it is better, quieter, smoother but not yet sublime. It performs with competence rather than artistry.

Hardware features

For a device of its size, the Boox Palma 2 Pro exhibits a rather surprising abundance of hardware features – an unusually comprehensive set for a compact e-ink tablet. Many of these I have already touched upon: the colour front-lit display, the Boox Super Refresh (BSR) system, and stylus support. Yet beyond these, the Palma 2 Pro incorporates a host of peripheral functions that, taken together, make it one of the more technically ambitious e-ink devices currently available.

The inclusion of a speaker is the most immediately practical of these additions. It is not, by any reasonable standard, an impressive transducer – the sound is thin, lacking low-frequency depth, and prone to a certain papery hollowness. Nevertheless, it is entirely adequate for audiobooks, podcasts, or voice messages, where intelligibility rather than fidelity is the goal. For those desiring a slightly more refined auditory experience, the device offers Bluetooth connectivity, allowing pairing with headphones/speakers. The Bluetooth implementation is stable and responsive, and it opens the Palma to a range of peripheral uses beyond simple reading (e.g. keyboard connectivity).

Network connectivity is provided by Wi-Fi, which functioned reliably on standard home and public networks, though I did encounter difficulty connecting to a more complex enterprise network at my office – likely an authentication or certificate compatibility issue rather than a hardware fault. For use beyond the reach of Wi-Fi, there is a SIM card slot supporting data-only cellular connections. It does not accommodate voice calls or SMS, but third-party applications such as WhatsApp and Messenger operate without issue. I did test out using the Palma as a satnav through Google Maps, and although it technically worked fine, the graininess, ghosting, and limited colour palette (due to the inherent drawbacks of Kaleido3) made the experience a bit unpleasant (although I do intend to play around with the refresh settings to see if I can make it more usable at a later date). The same tray also supports microSD expansion, allowing for significant storage flexibility.

Audio input is managed through dual microphones, which, though unremarkable in quality, are perfectly serviceable for dictation, quick voice notes, or video calls. In addition, applications such as ChatGPT, worked well with voice input. As a sidenote, I want to note here that ChatGPT ran seamlessly on the first attempt, a noteworthy improvement given that some earlier Boox models exhibited difficulties with such apps.

Physical control is another area where Boox have provided options. On the right edge sits the power/sleep button, which doubles as a fingerprint scanner, providing secure and instantaneous unlocking. On the left edge are two buttons that serve as volume or page-turn controls depending on context. I found these particularly useful, as they allowed me to disable touch gestures entirely when reading or taking notes, thus avoiding inadvertent page turns caused by resting my palm on the screen. Both buttons can also be reassigned to alternate functions via long-press customisation.

Adjacent to them lies the “Smart Button“, which by default triggers a manual screen refresh with a single press and launches the AI assistant with a double press. This, too, can be customised, as well as having a third function programmed into a long-press. Internally, the Palma 2 Pro is equipped with a G-sensor for automatic screen rotation and a light sensor that modulates the front-light brightness in response to ambient illumination. These small conveniences collectively enhance the impression of a device designed with real-world use in mind.

On the rear panel resides a 16-megapixel camera accompanied by an LED flash. In truth, photography on an e-ink screen remains an inelegant affair. The inherent refresh lag and the muted colour palette of Kaleido 3 make framing a shot an exercise in patience, and the flash often produces harsh reflections that obscure printed text. The accompanying camera and document-scanner apps function adequately, and optical character recognition (OCR) works tolerably well, but the overall process is not what one would describe as pleasant. It is a feature best viewed as an occasional utility rather than an ‘every-day‘ tool.

The USB-C port supports OTG (On-The-Go) connections, allowing the attachment of external drives, keyboards, or other accessories. This further broadens the Palma 2 Pro’s versatility, reinforcing its identity as a multifunctional device rather than a simple e-reader.

Taken collectively, these features render the Palma 2 Pro one of the most capable e-ink devices currently available in terms of hardware diversity. Yet, each component (particularly the speaker, microphones, and camera) remains firmly within the realm of functional adequacy rather than excellence. None of them rivals the sophistication found in modern smartphones, nor are they intended to. Their purpose is utilitarian: to expand the device’s range of possible uses, not to dazzle. Within the context of e-ink hardware, the Palma 2 Pro is impressively well equipped; within the broader technological landscape, it is commendably pragmatic.

Battery

The P2P has a 3950mAh battery, which has a little more capacity than the usual 3700mAh battery that Boox utilises on the majority of the other tablets in their product range – and this was demonstrated in the battery tests.

As mentioned previously, e-ink tablets with Super Refresh technology are going to drain the battery much quicker than their less power-hungry (and less powerful) counterparts, so this is something to bear in mind.

And, of course, the battery life can be improved by turning off the frontlight and wifi/Bluetooth if they’re not required.

The table below shows how much battery is depleted by performing certain operations for an hour.

Test (1hr)	P2P (% battery used)
Note-taking	4%
Reading	1%
Wifi On	+0%
Frontlight (medium)	+1%
Frontlight (full)	+5%

So, you could expect to drain about 4% of the battery per hour when note-taking, and 1% per hour when reading. If the frontlight is on a medium setting, expect to add another 1% per hour, and if it is on full, add an extra 5% per hour. Having Wifi on or off doesn’t make much of a difference (but remember this test was only an hour long, so it may make a difference over longer periods).

I calculate typical battery life from these figures by assuming 3 hours of note-taking and 3 hours of reading each day. If the frontlight is not used, you could expect to use up about 15% of the battery per day, which would give you about 6.7 days of usage. If the frontlight is turned on to a medium setting for the duration, the percentage of battery used increases to around 18% per day, and you could expect it to last around 5.6 days before recharging. Because it uses a colour Kaleido 3 screen, which is darker than monochrome screens (as discussed above) it is likely that you will need to have the frontlight turned on at least a little for most of the time.

Overall, for an e-ink tablet with super-fast refresh rates (BSR), these results are really good – in fact they are the best battery life figures out of all the e-ink tablets I’ve tested that support super-fast refresh rates.

Accessories

The Boox Palma 2 Pro shipped with a protective cover, and the new InkSense Plus stylus.

Stylus

The InkSense Plus stylus represents a significant refinement over Boox’s earlier InkSense pen, both in form and function. Its most conspicuous improvement lies in the nib itself – a thinner, softer, and more pen-like tip that immediately alters the tactile dynamic between pen and screen. The writing experience benefits from two complementary effects: first, a greater degree of friction, which lends strokes a more deliberate and paper-like quality; and second, a reduction in the hard, percussive tapping noise that plagued the original InkSense. The sound is now muted to a subdued whisper rather than a conspicuous rattle, which makes extended writing sessions far less distracting.

Physically, the stylus is constructed from silver metal, giving it both a reassuring weight and a modest sense of refinement. Its design is almost cylindrical but with two opposing flattened facets, a pragmatic inclusion that prevents it from rolling away on a desk or smooth surface. In the hand, it feels balanced and proportionate, neither top-heavy nor insubstantial. However, the barrel’s smooth metallic finish can become slippery, particularly during longer writing sessions or in warmer environments. A slightly textured coating or rubberised grip might have mitigated this tendency.

There were three spare nibs contained within the box of the InkSense Plus, however after using it a fair bit for over a week, I’ve not had cause to replace them – it will be interesting to see how long they last.

The stylus lacks an eraser end, opting instead for a side-mounted button that serves as an eraser when pressed. This is a matter of preference: I personally find such buttons inconvenient, as they are easily activated inadvertently when rotating or adjusting grip. Others may appreciate the immediacy of function-switching without lifting the pen. The button itself is well placed and tactile, but for my own workflows I would rather forego it entirely.

From a technological perspective, the InkSense Plus is still constrained by its USI (Universal Stylus Initiative) foundation. While USI offers reduced manufacturing complexity, it remains a step below EMR (Electro-Magnetic Resonance) technology in responsiveness and precision. EMR pens benefit from imperceptible latency and require no internal power source, drawing energy inductively from the screen. The InkSense Plus, by contrast, necessitates occasional charging via a USB-C port located near the top of the shaft. It is not a major inconvenience, but it introduces another point of maintenance – and a small mental burden to ensure it remains powered when needed.

In practice, the stylus performs absolutely fine for short-form notetaking, annotations, and sketches. It is stable, comfortable, and perceptibly improved in both control and acoustic subtlety from its predecessor. However, for extended writing or fine-detailed work, its minor latency and limited precision become apparent. The gap between pen and digital ink, already perceptible due to the front-light layer, reinforces this sense of slight detachment.

Overall, the InkSense Plus stylus is a welcome evolution – competent, and pleasant to use, though not transformative. It elevates the writing experience from merely tolerable to genuinely usable. Yet it remains a tool optimised for practicality rather than perfection, best suited to brief notes and casual annotation rather than meticulous drafting or long-form note-taking.

Protective case

The official protective cover for the Boox Palma 2 Pro is a thoughtfully engineered accessory that demonstrates an uncommon attention to the ergonomics of portable e-ink devices. It consists of two interlocking components, each serving a distinct purpose yet working together with elegant simplicity.

The first component is a semi-transparent, flexible enclosure that wraps around the body of the Palma, providing protection for the rear panel and all four edges. The material is a soft, malleable plastic that absorbs minor impacts while maintaining a snug fit. The device wedges securely into this housing, which has precisely cut openings for the USB port, speaker, microphones, and power button. On the left edge, the smart button and page-turn keys are covered but remain operable through narrow recessed apertures, allowing full functionality without sacrificing protection. The rear panel includes a cut-out for the camera and an embedded circular magnet at its centre – a seemingly modest detail that underpins the design’s cleverness.

This magnet serves to anchor the second component, a detachable front cover composed of a rigid plastic screen panel with a thinner, flexible flap. The flap folds neatly around the back of the device, with a magnetic clasp on the right-hand side, and adheres magnetically to the front panel, creating a stable, unified case. The circular magnetic coupling prevents unwanted shifting or separation, and it feels far more deliberate and refined than the loosely hinged covers typical of earlier Boox designs.

What distinguishes this configuration is its modularity. The front panel can be detached instantly, leaving only the rear/side enclosure in place. This design is both practical and surprisingly liberating. In previous iterations of the Palma, I found that folding the cover behind the device created awkwardness: the flap would dangle, shift in the hand, and press uncomfortably against the fingers. With this two-part system, I can remove the front cover entirely when using the device, regaining the tactile comfort of its bare form, and then reattach the screen protector for transport. It is an elegant solution that eliminates nearly all of the ergonomic irritations that plagued earlier Boox covers.

However, there is one conspicuous omission: there is nowhere to store the stylus. Although the InkSense Plus pen is magnetised, the Palma 2 Pro itself is not, and thus cannot hold it along its edge as some devices do. The protective cover provides no pen loop, slot, or receptacle. The only place where the stylus can attach magnetically is to the front surface of the detachable panel on top of the magnetic clasp, but this position is tenuous at best – the pen adheres weakly and is easily dislodged in transit. Consequently, one must carry the stylus separately, which undermines some of the compact convenience that defines the device as a whole.

Despite this oversight, the protective cover remains a decent piece of industrial design. It is secure, adaptable, and genuinely improves the user experience rather than merely accessorising it. The detachable mechanism is a small innovation, but it transforms the act of using and carrying the Palma 2 Pro into something markedly more comfortable and considered. The absence of a stylus holder is regrettable, but it is the only serious flaw in what is otherwise a well executed protective system.

Software

My review of this tablet should be read in conjunction with my review of the current firmware (see table below), which includes aspects such as the Operating System, User Interface, and Native Apps.

However, it is worth noting that the P2P runs a later version of Android than its predecessor (Android 15, rather Android 13 on the Palma 2). This (potentially) means that it will have more security updates and better compatible with third-party apps – I can’t be 100% sure, but this is perhaps the reason that ChatGPT worked first time on the P2P, when it has been a bit of a fight to get working on previous Boox devices.

The hardware and software reviews have been separated because the firmware used at the time that this review was written may not be the same firmware being used currently. This could result in the review quickly becoming outdated. Also, as several tablets may use the same firmware, this would mean going back and updating every single tablet review from a particular manufacturer to account for the new firmware. By splitting them up, if there is a firmware update, I am able to make the updates on a single page.

Current versions of this brand’s firmware are shown in the table below, along with the tablets running them.

My rating	Firmware version	Tablets using this firmware
	4.1 (current version) Aug 2025	Boox Go 10.3 Boox Note Air5 C Boox Palma 2 Pro Boox Note Air3 Boox Note Air4 C Boox Note Air3 C Boox Go 7 Boox Go Color 7
	4.0 (current version) Oct 2024	Boox Note Max Boox Tab Ultra C Pro Boox Tab X Boox Tab X C Boox Tab Mini C Boox Tab Ultra Boox Max Lumi 2 Boox Tab Ultra C Boox Note Air2 Plus Boox Note 5
Older Boox firmware versions may be found here

Brand

For some people, it is also worth considering the brand as whole, including aspects like customer service, ecosystem, values, and criticisms.

My full overview of the Boox brand can be found here, but I have provided a summary below.

Final Verdict

The Boox Palma 2 Pro is, in my estimation, one of the most versatile and technically ambitious e-ink devices currently available. It combines an impressive array of hardware and software capabilities within a remarkably compact form factor. In performance terms, it acquitted itself admirably: both CPU and battery benchmarks were strong, and in real-world use the device exhibited a good degree of responsiveness. The inclusion of a colour Kaleido 3 display, Boox Super Refresh technology, front light, microSD expansion, data-SIM support, customisable side buttons, dual microphones, and speakers make the Palma 2 Pro a genuinely multifaceted instrument rather than a single-purpose e-reader.

Its foundation on Android 15, together with access to the Google Play Store, significantly broadens its horizons. The ability to install mainstream applications – from productivity suites to messaging platforms – transforms it into a flexible companion device rather than a closed ecosystem. Yet this versatility must be approached with realism. E-ink displays, for all their charm, remain slow and monochromatic in behaviour, and many third-party Android apps are designed with high-color, high-refresh screens in mind. While Boox’s BSR system softens the disparity, some applications still either function awkwardly or not at all. This is particularly true with third-party apps that use stylus input.

Boox’s own native reading and note-taking apps are well-developed but idiosyncratic – sophisticated, certainly, but also quite complex. The user interface can feel labyrinthine to new users, and some of the options are buried in unintuitive menus. Nevertheless, once configured, they offer a breadth of functionality that surpasses most other e-ink software suites.

The InkSense Plus stylus and accompanying writing experience are adequate, occasionally even satisfying, but fall short of the immediacy and precision of EMR systems. The latency and slight optical separation between pen tip and digital ink preclude it from serving as a serious long-form writing instrument. For brief annotations, sketches, or marginal notes, however, it performs competently and without frustration.

The Palma’s 6.13-inch screen defines both its strength and its constraint. It renders the device supremely portable – genuinely pocketable, a rarity among e-ink tablets – and makes it uniquely comfortable for one-handed operation. It is ideal for quick note capture, messaging, or immersive reading of ePub-format books. Yet its smallness conspires against it in more expansive tasks. PDFs require constant zooming and panning; journaling or long-form handwriting becomes cramped and imprecise. The device is, by design, not a workstation but a mobile companion – perhaps an auxiliary node in one’s digital life rather than the central hub.

What distinguishes the Palma 2 Pro, and what ultimately won me over, is its sense of practical coherence. It is a device that understands its purpose. It does not pretend to be a tablet replacement or a writer’s canvas; instead, it situates itself intelligently between categories – primarily, a portable e-reader but it also happens to be a competent note-taker, communication tool, and research companion. In that regard, it succeeds where others, such as the reMarkable Paper Pro Move, falter by being overly specialised or rigidly minimal.

Personally, I found the Palma 2 Pro to be a delightfully useful addition to my routine. It has replaced my Boox Go 7 as my lightweight reading device, largely because it is small enough to be with me everywhere. I seldom took notes on the Go 7 because the experience was uninviting; with the Palma 2 Pro, I can do so spontaneously, whether standing, traveling, or waiting between appointments. It is not a “daily driver” for extensive writing or journaling – the screen is too diminutive, and the stylus, though improved, lacks the fidelity required for intricate work – but as a mobile e-ink companion, it is superb.

In summary, the Boox Palma 2 Pro occupies a rarefied niche: a diminutive yet powerful e-ink device that merges reading, writing, and connectivity into one coherent whole. It is imperfect, certainly – but some of its imperfections highlight of the present limitations of e-ink itself. Within those limits, Boox has created something unusually accomplished: a pocket-sized instrument of quiet versatility.

Buying options

The Boox Palma 2 Pro can be purchased from:

• The Boox Global Store*
• The Boox Euro Store*
• Some Amazon Stores*

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