The Next Boox Palma E-Reader Might Be a Phone Too

The Boox Palma e-Leader is undoubtedly my favorite gadget of recent years, but I also understand why so many people find it a little confusing. It is an e -ink phone device that has all the capacities of a modern Android smartphone – in addition to serving your electronic books, it can run applications from the Google Play Store; He even has a camera. But does not have a cellular functionality, which means that it cannot make calls. It could change, and soon.

According to a report by The Verge, Boox’s parent company, the Chinese International Technology Company, works on a new Palma type device that will keep the current shape and display of the current Palma, but will add both the connectivity and the cellular color – two of the most requested features of the pure and hard fans of the device, at least in recent years.

The penis took a look at the alleged successor of Palma during IFA 2025, a European fair similar to CES. Although it was not exposed on the living room, a journalist has been shown a device that looked a lot like Palma, but which had both a color screen (almost certainly the same Kaleido 3 screen found on the color Boox Go 7) and icons indicating a 4G + LTE cellular connection. No concrete details on the specifications or an release date has been provided. (You can find out more and see an image of the device, on the penis).

The function finally follows the form

Personally, I love the Palma because it is more portable than the average electronic reader. Because it is easier to transport, I read more and I use less addictive applications on my phone (although the PALMA can run most applications, social media is not very fun on a slow electronic connection screen). But I still need to transport my phone, for all the usual reasons (messaging, cards, tap-to-pay), so it’s not the device that changes the life it could be. This could change if Boox indeed releases a palma which can make calls and run messaging applications on a cellular connection.

However, there are a lot of questions to answer before you can be too excited, however. On the one hand, the device has not been officially announced, and there is no guarantee that it will be published in the short term, or if it will be sold in the United States (not all Boox products are available on the American market). Then, there is the question of the support of operators – you will certainly not be able to buy a Palma phone directly from Verizon or T -Mobile, and it is not a safe thing that a niche of Chinese manufacturing, it will play well with each domestic carrier.

We also have no information on what this thing could cost. For $ 300, the PALMA already has a lot of phone type capabilities, but adding a color screen and a modem (and having it certified to play well with the United States-based networks) will undoubtedly push this much higher number. The prices are not likely to help things either: the most recent Palma 2 was $ 299, and since all the screens in electronic speakers are made abroad, there is no chance that it is not confronted with these additional import costs.

That said, another device already on the market gives me a fairly good idea of ​​how the use of a Palma phone will be.

Not the first e-ink phone

For the past few months, I have been playing with the Bigme Hibreak Pro, an electronic reader of $ 459 that is very similar to my Palma 2 (you can see both on the image at the top of this article). In many ways, the Hiberak Pro is a match for a match for the Palma … But it also has a 5G cell capacity.

A device like this contains a lot of attraction – I am at a point where I start to want the primacy of my iPhone in my life. I would love to wear only one device, and one that does not connect me so easily to the internet horrors and social media, but which can always manage the most essential functions (keep me connected to my family, manage NFC payments, guide me via Google Maps).

But so far, for me, the Hiberak Pro is not the case – as with other bigme devices that I have tested, I find its software deeply frustrating, and I have not had time or energy to devote to the installation of an alternative launcher. (This does not help that the first device I received has a defective USB-C port, and obtaining a replacement has taken a few months.) I generally think that Boox makes better devices than Bigme, so I hope that a Palma phone would solve some of these problems.

At this point, it is always a big Si. Despite their worship, Boox electronic readers are certainly not as friendly as a Kindle. And although the Palma has attracted cult follow-up (not to mention the traditional attention of points of sale like the New York Times), an e-ink phone will always have a niche attraction, which means that we will see very little of a technological business established as Apple or Samsung. A Palma phone can satisfy online pure and hard, but I don’t expect to see too many many by driving in the metro.