12 ms·

Boox Palma review: A phone-shaped e-reader

jruohonen 3y ago
Can anyone here provide a summary of the market offerings at the moment? I am still using a PocketBook, which is fine, but I'd like to still be able to also purchase books -- yet without surrendering to arbitrary and morbid DRMs and privacy violations like with Kindle.
- soapdog 3y ago
  Good E-Reader YouTube Channel and website got reviews for most of the available devices.
- antonyt 3y ago
  What are you looking to do that you can't with your PocketBook? Regardless of hardware, the options are to play ball with lock-in and DRM schemes, to buy only DRM-free books, or to buy books wherever and strip the DRM. I buy books from ebooks.com and then use Calibre and DeDRM to turn them into vanilla ePubs. Once you've got an ePub, just about any reader will work with it (barring older Kindles).
  - jruohonen 3y ago
    Good advice, thanks! My requirements are pretty much similar, I reckon. In other words, I only read books (i.e., all network connections always turned off, etc.) and supply the current reader mostly with EPUBs. As for hardware and such, my PocketBook is a little slow but I still fancy its matte display. That is, I don't want another standard "computer".
  - kemayo 3y ago
    Even new Kindles are still a bit of a pain when dealing with ePubs, unfortunately. You can't just copy them onto the device, because the Kindle itself doesn't support ePub. What Amazon did is change its Send To Kindle email/app services to support ePubs, so when you use them it handles all the converting for you. If you want to put an ePub on your Kindle without going through Amazon's services, you still need to do the manual conversion dance with Calibre or similar.
    - jzb 3y ago
      Is there any reason (e.g., patents) for Amazon not to natively support ePubs or do they just want to make sure there's that extra bit of friction in using anything not from their store? (While claiming "support" for ePubs -- just with extra steps.)
      - SSLy 3y ago
        The latter, ePubs are dumb HTML+CSS+fonts containted in a zip.
      - __mharrison__ 3y ago
        The general mechanism for making Kindle books in the past (on the Amazon KDP website) was to run a tool (kindlegen) that would convert EPUBs to Kindle files. Amazon could have native support for EPUB from day 1 if they wanted to.
      - kemayo 3y ago
        Based on the rate of changes to the software for Kindles, I have to assume that their Kindle dev team is one or two people working on it in their spare time, so maybe it's lumped under the heading of "legacy format issues, we'll get to it someday". (Cynically: yes, it's probably the anti-competitive friction reason.)
- hollow-moe 3y ago
  I got a Meebook M6, it's a typical 6" reader but it's running android 11 so I'm free to use any digitalized store. I really hope the market for android readers grow, actually the market is only closed proprietary and jailing devices...
jzb 3y ago
I wonder what level of demand there is for this. I could read books on my phone, but carry a separate e-reader because I want a larger screen that's more book-like. Currently using a Kindle Oasis and I like the fact that it's not just a flat rectangle and has physical buttons. I wouldn't mind a bit more chunk to it, but it's easier to hold. Really liked my last Kobo but it died after just a year or so of use.
- msh 3y ago
  I guess that given its android I would not be limited to kindle books (and DRM free books) but could buy/rent books from other sources.
  - troyvit 3y ago
    With Calibre you can put almost anything on your Kindle, which is nice.
    - msh 3y ago
      Only if the DRM format is supported by plugins.
      - dingnuts 3y ago
        If you have an ebook in mobi or epub or azw3 format that isn't DRM protected, Calibre has the ability to convert it to whatever Kindles like out of the box. If you have DRM encumbered files obviously you're going to need to do something else, first, but why did you buy a book with DRM? Seems unwise to begin with lol Can you imagine buying a dead tree book and have the publisher come up and say "no no no, you can't sell that when you're done!" DRM'd ebooks. What a world.
        peheje 3y ago
        Agree. Also the fact that DRM'ed ebooks from Kindle can only be read on Kindle devices or apps - you can't even use another device like Kobo or another reader.
chaostheory 3y ago
A lot of books don’t display way on smaller e-readers. Larger format e-readers like the Kindle Scribe are likely the future. Until that came out, I couldn’t stand e-readers unless the books were just text only novels. They just destroy all the formatting
- BossingAround 3y ago
  'The future' has been with us for a while. There are so many 6"-13" ereaders. I've got a 13" one and it's awesome for PDFs. That said, I could definitely use Palma for regular novels as you say. My 13" ereader is pretty much a couch device, it might as well not have a battery because I'm always near a plug. Whenever I travel, I just think "naah" and downlad novels on my regular smartphone. There's definitely a market for small, phone-shaped ereaders.
SSLy 3y ago
Ah, product from the company known to blatantly ignore GPL. I'm so thrilled.
client4 3y ago
I'd like to know if there's a working microphone. Google voice on a wifi eink phone sounds pretty great to me.
- awiesenhofer 3y ago
  There is! https://shop.boox.com/products/palma https://shop.boox.com/products/palma
pier25 3y ago
I've been using a Kindle paperwhite for a couple of years and I only wish the display was larger, not smaller. PDFs, Kindle books with code, comics, etc are terrible in the paperwhite. I've been meaning to get a Scribe since it was released, but it's still not available where I live.
- SSLy 3y ago
  Get kobo sage / Elipsa 2E.
- sofixa 3y ago
  Onyx Boox have larger models (10 inch screens) with the added advantage of full Android with all it brings (lots and lots of apps) if you can swallow their disregard for the GPL.
  - BossingAround 3y ago
    Not only that, they have 13" models, e.g. [0]. I love using them for PDFs. [0] https://onyxboox.com/boox_tabx https://onyxboox.com/boox_tabx
- roldie 3y ago
  I've been enjoying the reading experience on my Supernote A5x. I'd recommend it if you're looking for something a bit more multifunctional than a dedicated e-reader
drakonka 3y ago
I really like the sound of this product, both for reading and _possibly_ for writing depending on the capabilities. I've been wanting to make a little writing tool with a really long battery life that I could connect to a mechanical keyboard and carry around with me. I wonder if I could use this device as a screen for that kind of thing - plugging in and powering an external keyboard, and if it would support a word processor app.
- RBerenguel 3y ago
  Not exactly what you want (I want the same) but I wrote this to scratch that itch: https://github.com/rberenguel/PiWrite https://github.com/rberenguel/PiWrite
  - drakonka 3y ago
    This is very cool! You're right that not exactly what I'm looking for, but great to see nonetheless. I did see on the product Q&A page[0] that one of the questions was about plugging in a keyboard. The answer was: "You can connect a wired keyboard to the Palma via a USB-C to USB-A OTG Adapter. After that, you can type in the Notes app and third-party word processor apps. " Which sounds promising! [0] https://shop.boox.com/products/palma https://shop.boox.com/products/palma
    - RBerenguel 3y ago
      That certainly looks great, and has an excellent form factor too
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jxdxbx 3y ago
I got one. I love it so far. I never liked the original Kindle size, since it was too big for my pockets, at which point, why not offer more screen? So I had generally preferred readers that are more small tablet / iPad mini size—Boox Leaf 2 was my favorite. But this is big enough to fit in my pocket, so I hope to have it with me pretty much always. Also, it’s a decent FLAC player—supports microSD, though it complains about USB-C headphone eating up power (as opposed to Bluetooth). The camera will be handy for when I don’t have my phone—I’d like to be able to be without it (ok, I have a cellular Apple watch) without that “but what if I need to??” feeling.
- hhhlkgvh 3y ago
  Does the boox leaf support Google play store? I need an eink device for reading from apps like Scribd, Libby, etc
  - jxdxbx 3y ago
    Yes, it does.
- UtopiaPunk 3y ago
  This is probably asking too much of it, but does the Boox Palma have GPS? Occassionally I go on outdoor trips with little or no reception, and I'll download maps to my phone that work offline. If I could have a device with great battery life handle map/navigation duty, and also read some ebooks in the evening, that'd be really nice.
  - jxdxbx 3y ago
    No. A full e-ink Android phone as a secondary device could be cool though.
kepano 3y ago
Boox devices run Obsidian and I have been working on an e-ink optimized theme[1]. This seems like a really fun device for reading, I wonder what it would be like for writing? [1]: https://minimal.guide/features/eink https://minimal.guide/features/eink
- sofixa 3y ago
  I have used Obsidian on my Onyx Boox Nova Air, and it's fine for reading, but writing with the stylus with OCR to write into notes isn't a great experience.
  - singhrac 3y ago
    Any chance you've tried the tldraw plugin? https://github.com/holxsam/tldraw-in-obsidian https://github.com/holxsam/tldraw-in-obsidian Would love a review if you have one!
- desireco42 3y ago
  I have Boox Tab Mini C and this would be awesome if I could use it more with Obsidian...
nar001 3y ago
I really wish they didn't just blatantly disregard the GPL
- pyrophane 3y ago
  Me too. There aren't many companies making similar devices, so Boox almost occupies a niche all by itself. I'm generally a fan of eInk stuff, their suspicion of/hostility towards the GPL makes me not want to support them.
  - braunboffel 3y ago
    > I'm generally a fan of eInk stuff, their suspicion of/hostility towards the GPL makes me not want to support them. What suspicion or hostility does E Ink Corp have towards the GPL?
bryanlarsen 3y ago
Anybody have any idea how well it works for reading books from web sites like RoyalRoad?
Nellyz 3y ago
[dead]
tekeous 3y ago
Ships with Android 11…DOA if you ask me. Even e-readers need proper software support.
- unleaded 3y ago
  Huh? I use android 10 everyday without any issues..
  - gpm 3y ago
    Android 10 stopped receiving security updates in February... Android 11 is a year older... so it probably still has a few months to go. Months. On a new device. And it seems unlikely they're going to upgrade between android versions if they're running a 3 year old OS on release.
    - BossingAround 3y ago
      Then again, do you need security updates on your ereader? Are you really going to log in to your email, bank account, or whatever other service on a screen that does 15FPS (and is one of the best eink displays at that)?
      - peheje 3y ago
        Probably not, but wouldn't you want to connect it to your home wifi?
        BossingAround 3y ago
        I mean, what for? Sure, synchronizing books, yeah. I do that, then turn the wifi off. It's just draining battery for no reason. Perhaps synchronizing your notes to the cloud if you use the ereader as a tablet, that I could see for heavy note takers.
mattgrice 3y ago
Good to see there is still some competition because I am getting the same vibe off Kindle that I got from Ballmer-era MS software. "We won, draw down the team and put it in maintenance mode." In particular, the iPad app has bugs I run into almost every day.
- nacs 3y ago
  Not sure how the iPad fits into that. It’s pretty heavily developed and they’ve even spun off a dedicated iPadOS to take advantage of the additional tablet size/hardware features.
  - occamschainsaw 3y ago
    I think the parent comment is addressing the Kindle app on iPad rather than the iPadOS. IMO the Kindle app has been buggy on iPad and Mac. They recently overhauled the Mac app to be more like iPad (Catalyst I guess).
wbobeirne 3y ago
I would kill for a major manufacturer to make an e-ink phone that isn't hard to acquire and run. The Hisense A9[1] looks just about perfect, but the difficulty of getting Google services to run on it puts me off. [1]: https://hisenseeink.com/products/hisense-a9-pro-e-ink-smartphone-1 https://hisenseeink.com/products/hisense-a9-pro-e-ink-smartp...
- aaarrm 3y ago
  Does a device like this have faster screen update rates or is more responsive to inputs than e readers like the Kindle? I only ask because I had to stop using the Kindle and go back to paperback, and I am by no means a purist for these things. I just found the delays in everything so bad to use that I was actually avoiding reading just because I was avoiding using the device. I'm hoping to revisit e readers in a few years to see if things have improved on that front.
  - guntherhermann 3y ago
    From the video, it looks faster than the Kindle, but not by much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA5dIN3aS-o&t=465s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA5dIN3aS-o&t=465s
  - awiesenhofer 3y ago
    No, the Hisense is not much faster. But these newer Boox devices are way faster than a kindle! (Though not as fast as Lcd of course)
- gsa 3y ago
  AFAIK, Google doesn't hand out Android certification for e-ink devices and without the certification a manufacturer can't bundle Google Services on the device.
  - BossingAround 3y ago
    Though a lot of boox devices make side-loading Google store incredibly easy (it's a button click in the menu).
pyrophane 3y ago
Having used Boox devices in the past (but not yet the Palma) I have a few thoughts on this one: 1. The phone form factor actually kinda makes sense to me because so few Android apps and websites are tablet optimized. 2. The lack of a fingerprint reader is a deal-breaker for me. I tried the Tab Mini C and found entering a passcode all the time to be too annoying. They put a fingerprint reader on the Tab Ultra and I don't understand why that hasn't been a priority on other devices. 3. Although I prefer the look of non-color eInk screens compared to the current generation color ones, they are worse at displaying apps & websites that aren't optimized for eInk (i.e, that aren't black text on a white background), which is most of them. As soon as you start adding color backgrounds, things can turn into an undifferentiable sea of black pretty quick, which makes a color display much better for this type of device. I won't be buying one of these but I like that they are experimenting with different form factors and features.
kemayo 3y ago
For anyone curious about the several Onyx Boox GPL-issues comments, here's an older HN thread about it at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23735962 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23735962 or just these screenshots at https://twitter.com/puffnfresh/status/1587064729977044994?lang=en https://twitter.com/puffnfresh/status/1587064729977044994?la... tl;dr Onyx Boox devices have a modified Linux kernel, and Onyx apparently refuses to release the source for it.
- rnk 3y ago
  Has the fsf ever sued anyone for violating gpl? I'd donate for that. Not because I want to destroy them, just push companies to release their mods. Based on what I've read about the ras pi hardware, without any info here, I'd guess all these smaller devices have secret blob images and use of undisclosed or nonpublic apis from the hardware makers, and they can't disclose them. We should reverse engineer them, get the hardware makers to disclose them. I've further read one reason for this is wanting to control their hardware, but also because there can be patent encumbrances about capabilities, not disclosing apis hides that. Of course these are problems the gpl wants to fight too.
_trackno5 3y ago
I wonder how this compares to the Hisense Reader Pro. I’ve been eyeing it for a while
extr0pian 3y ago
I was strongly considering buying this, but instead ordered the Hisense A7 off of Aliexpress. The main differences is the the A7 is a bit larger than the Palma and also has a headphone jack. It does get some service in the US, but it's also filled with a bunch of Chinese apps that are constantly phoning home, so I currently don't have my sim in it. I've ripped out much of the Chinese bloat with ADB, but I've had to reenable/reinstall when it lead to something breaking. Aside from that, I'm pretty happy with it. It looks some people have gotten root access, but it looks like a somewhat complicated process.
Shelly22 3y ago
[dead]
Fire-Dragon-DoL 3y ago
I couldn't figure out if it's waterproof

Can anyone here provide a summary of the market offerings at the moment? I am still using a PocketBook, which is fine, but I'd like to still be able to also purchase books -- yet without surrendering to arbitrary and morbid DRMs and privacy violations like with Kindle.

soapdog 3y ago
Good E-Reader YouTube Channel and website got reviews for most of the available devices.
antonyt 3y ago
What are you looking to do that you can't with your PocketBook? Regardless of hardware, the options are to play ball with lock-in and DRM schemes, to buy only DRM-free books, or to buy books wherever and strip the DRM. I buy books from ebooks.com and then use Calibre and DeDRM to turn them into vanilla ePubs. Once you've got an ePub, just about any reader will work with it (barring older Kindles).
- jruohonen 3y ago
  Good advice, thanks! My requirements are pretty much similar, I reckon. In other words, I only read books (i.e., all network connections always turned off, etc.) and supply the current reader mostly with EPUBs. As for hardware and such, my PocketBook is a little slow but I still fancy its matte display. That is, I don't want another standard "computer".
- kemayo 3y ago
  Even new Kindles are still a bit of a pain when dealing with ePubs, unfortunately. You can't just copy them onto the device, because the Kindle itself doesn't support ePub. What Amazon did is change its Send To Kindle email/app services to support ePubs, so when you use them it handles all the converting for you. If you want to put an ePub on your Kindle without going through Amazon's services, you still need to do the manual conversion dance with Calibre or similar.
  - jzb 3y ago
    Is there any reason (e.g., patents) for Amazon not to natively support ePubs or do they just want to make sure there's that extra bit of friction in using anything not from their store? (While claiming "support" for ePubs -- just with extra steps.)
    - SSLy 3y ago
      The latter, ePubs are dumb HTML+CSS+fonts containted in a zip.
    - __mharrison__ 3y ago
      The general mechanism for making Kindle books in the past (on the Amazon KDP website) was to run a tool (kindlegen) that would convert EPUBs to Kindle files. Amazon could have native support for EPUB from day 1 if they wanted to.
    - kemayo 3y ago
      Based on the rate of changes to the software for Kindles, I have to assume that their Kindle dev team is one or two people working on it in their spare time, so maybe it's lumped under the heading of "legacy format issues, we'll get to it someday". (Cynically: yes, it's probably the anti-competitive friction reason.)
hollow-moe 3y ago
I got a Meebook M6, it's a typical 6" reader but it's running android 11 so I'm free to use any digitalized store. I really hope the market for android readers grow, actually the market is only closed proprietary and jailing devices...

jzb 3y ago

I wonder what level of demand there is for this. I could read books on my phone, but carry a separate e-reader because I want a larger screen that's more book-like. Currently using a Kindle Oasis and I like the fact that it's not just a flat rectangle and has physical buttons. I wouldn't mind a bit more chunk to it, but it's easier to hold. Really liked my last Kobo but it died after just a year or so of use.

msh 3y ago
I guess that given its android I would not be limited to kindle books (and DRM free books) but could buy/rent books from other sources.
- troyvit 3y ago
  With Calibre you can put almost anything on your Kindle, which is nice.
  - msh 3y ago
    Only if the DRM format is supported by plugins.
    - dingnuts 3y ago
      If you have an ebook in mobi or epub or azw3 format that isn't DRM protected, Calibre has the ability to convert it to whatever Kindles like out of the box. If you have DRM encumbered files obviously you're going to need to do something else, first, but why did you buy a book with DRM? Seems unwise to begin with lol Can you imagine buying a dead tree book and have the publisher come up and say "no no no, you can't sell that when you're done!" DRM'd ebooks. What a world.
      - peheje 3y ago
        Agree. Also the fact that DRM'ed ebooks from Kindle can only be read on Kindle devices or apps - you can't even use another device like Kobo or another reader.

chaostheory 3y ago

A lot of books don’t display way on smaller e-readers. Larger format e-readers like the Kindle Scribe are likely the future. Until that came out, I couldn’t stand e-readers unless the books were just text only novels. They just destroy all the formatting

BossingAround 3y ago
'The future' has been with us for a while. There are so many 6"-13" ereaders. I've got a 13" one and it's awesome for PDFs. That said, I could definitely use Palma for regular novels as you say. My 13" ereader is pretty much a couch device, it might as well not have a battery because I'm always near a plug. Whenever I travel, I just think "naah" and downlad novels on my regular smartphone. There's definitely a market for small, phone-shaped ereaders.

SSLy 3y ago

Ah, product from the company known to blatantly ignore GPL. I'm so thrilled.

client4 3y ago

I'd like to know if there's a working microphone. Google voice on a wifi eink phone sounds pretty great to me.

awiesenhofer 3y ago
There is! https://shop.boox.com/products/palma https://shop.boox.com/products/palma

pier25 3y ago

I've been using a Kindle paperwhite for a couple of years and I only wish the display was larger, not smaller. PDFs, Kindle books with code, comics, etc are terrible in the paperwhite. I've been meaning to get a Scribe since it was released, but it's still not available where I live.

SSLy 3y ago
Get kobo sage / Elipsa 2E.
sofixa 3y ago
Onyx Boox have larger models (10 inch screens) with the added advantage of full Android with all it brings (lots and lots of apps) if you can swallow their disregard for the GPL.
- BossingAround 3y ago
  Not only that, they have 13" models, e.g. [0]. I love using them for PDFs. [0] https://onyxboox.com/boox_tabx https://onyxboox.com/boox_tabx
roldie 3y ago
I've been enjoying the reading experience on my Supernote A5x. I'd recommend it if you're looking for something a bit more multifunctional than a dedicated e-reader

drakonka 3y ago

I really like the sound of this product, both for reading and _possibly_ for writing depending on the capabilities. I've been wanting to make a little writing tool with a really long battery life that I could connect to a mechanical keyboard and carry around with me. I wonder if I could use this device as a screen for that kind of thing - plugging in and powering an external keyboard, and if it would support a word processor app.

RBerenguel 3y ago
Not exactly what you want (I want the same) but I wrote this to scratch that itch: https://github.com/rberenguel/PiWrite https://github.com/rberenguel/PiWrite
- drakonka 3y ago
  This is very cool! You're right that not exactly what I'm looking for, but great to see nonetheless. I did see on the product Q&A page[0] that one of the questions was about plugging in a keyboard. The answer was: "You can connect a wired keyboard to the Palma via a USB-C to USB-A OTG Adapter. After that, you can type in the Notes app and third-party word processor apps. " Which sounds promising! [0] https://shop.boox.com/products/palma https://shop.boox.com/products/palma
  - RBerenguel 3y ago
    That certainly looks great, and has an excellent form factor too

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

jxdxbx 3y ago

I got one. I love it so far. I never liked the original Kindle size, since it was too big for my pockets, at which point, why not offer more screen? So I had generally preferred readers that are more small tablet / iPad mini size—Boox Leaf 2 was my favorite. But this is big enough to fit in my pocket, so I hope to have it with me pretty much always. Also, it’s a decent FLAC player—supports microSD, though it complains about USB-C headphone eating up power (as opposed to Bluetooth). The camera will be handy for when I don’t have my phone—I’d like to be able to be without it (ok, I have a cellular Apple watch) without that “but what if I need to??” feeling.

hhhlkgvh 3y ago
Does the boox leaf support Google play store? I need an eink device for reading from apps like Scribd, Libby, etc
- jxdxbx 3y ago
  Yes, it does.
UtopiaPunk 3y ago
This is probably asking too much of it, but does the Boox Palma have GPS? Occassionally I go on outdoor trips with little or no reception, and I'll download maps to my phone that work offline. If I could have a device with great battery life handle map/navigation duty, and also read some ebooks in the evening, that'd be really nice.
- jxdxbx 3y ago
  No. A full e-ink Android phone as a secondary device could be cool though.

kepano 3y ago

Boox devices run Obsidian and I have been working on an e-ink optimized theme[1]. This seems like a really fun device for reading, I wonder what it would be like for writing? [1]: https://minimal.guide/features/eink https://minimal.guide/features/eink

sofixa 3y ago
I have used Obsidian on my Onyx Boox Nova Air, and it's fine for reading, but writing with the stylus with OCR to write into notes isn't a great experience.
- singhrac 3y ago
  Any chance you've tried the tldraw plugin? https://github.com/holxsam/tldraw-in-obsidian https://github.com/holxsam/tldraw-in-obsidian Would love a review if you have one!
desireco42 3y ago
I have Boox Tab Mini C and this would be awesome if I could use it more with Obsidian...

nar001 3y ago

I really wish they didn't just blatantly disregard the GPL

pyrophane 3y ago
Me too. There aren't many companies making similar devices, so Boox almost occupies a niche all by itself. I'm generally a fan of eInk stuff, their suspicion of/hostility towards the GPL makes me not want to support them.
- braunboffel 3y ago
  > I'm generally a fan of eInk stuff, their suspicion of/hostility towards the GPL makes me not want to support them. What suspicion or hostility does E Ink Corp have towards the GPL?

bryanlarsen 3y ago

Anybody have any idea how well it works for reading books from web sites like RoyalRoad?

Nellyz 3y ago

[dead]

tekeous 3y ago

Ships with Android 11…DOA if you ask me. Even e-readers need proper software support.

unleaded 3y ago
Huh? I use android 10 everyday without any issues..
- gpm 3y ago
  Android 10 stopped receiving security updates in February... Android 11 is a year older... so it probably still has a few months to go. Months. On a new device. And it seems unlikely they're going to upgrade between android versions if they're running a 3 year old OS on release.
  - BossingAround 3y ago
    Then again, do you need security updates on your ereader? Are you really going to log in to your email, bank account, or whatever other service on a screen that does 15FPS (and is one of the best eink displays at that)?
    - peheje 3y ago
      Probably not, but wouldn't you want to connect it to your home wifi?
      - BossingAround 3y ago
        I mean, what for? Sure, synchronizing books, yeah. I do that, then turn the wifi off. It's just draining battery for no reason. Perhaps synchronizing your notes to the cloud if you use the ereader as a tablet, that I could see for heavy note takers.

mattgrice 3y ago

Good to see there is still some competition because I am getting the same vibe off Kindle that I got from Ballmer-era MS software. "We won, draw down the team and put it in maintenance mode." In particular, the iPad app has bugs I run into almost every day.

nacs 3y ago
Not sure how the iPad fits into that. It’s pretty heavily developed and they’ve even spun off a dedicated iPadOS to take advantage of the additional tablet size/hardware features.
- occamschainsaw 3y ago
  I think the parent comment is addressing the Kindle app on iPad rather than the iPadOS. IMO the Kindle app has been buggy on iPad and Mac. They recently overhauled the Mac app to be more like iPad (Catalyst I guess).

wbobeirne 3y ago

I would kill for a major manufacturer to make an e-ink phone that isn't hard to acquire and run. The Hisense A9[1] looks just about perfect, but the difficulty of getting Google services to run on it puts me off. [1]: https://hisenseeink.com/products/hisense-a9-pro-e-ink-smartphone-1 https://hisenseeink.com/products/hisense-a9-pro-e-ink-smartp...

aaarrm 3y ago
Does a device like this have faster screen update rates or is more responsive to inputs than e readers like the Kindle? I only ask because I had to stop using the Kindle and go back to paperback, and I am by no means a purist for these things. I just found the delays in everything so bad to use that I was actually avoiding reading just because I was avoiding using the device. I'm hoping to revisit e readers in a few years to see if things have improved on that front.
- guntherhermann 3y ago
  From the video, it looks faster than the Kindle, but not by much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA5dIN3aS-o&t=465s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA5dIN3aS-o&t=465s
- awiesenhofer 3y ago
  No, the Hisense is not much faster. But these newer Boox devices are way faster than a kindle! (Though not as fast as Lcd of course)
gsa 3y ago
AFAIK, Google doesn't hand out Android certification for e-ink devices and without the certification a manufacturer can't bundle Google Services on the device.
- BossingAround 3y ago
  Though a lot of boox devices make side-loading Google store incredibly easy (it's a button click in the menu).

pyrophane 3y ago

Having used Boox devices in the past (but not yet the Palma) I have a few thoughts on this one: 1. The phone form factor actually kinda makes sense to me because so few Android apps and websites are tablet optimized. 2. The lack of a fingerprint reader is a deal-breaker for me. I tried the Tab Mini C and found entering a passcode all the time to be too annoying. They put a fingerprint reader on the Tab Ultra and I don't understand why that hasn't been a priority on other devices. 3. Although I prefer the look of non-color eInk screens compared to the current generation color ones, they are worse at displaying apps & websites that aren't optimized for eInk (i.e, that aren't black text on a white background), which is most of them. As soon as you start adding color backgrounds, things can turn into an undifferentiable sea of black pretty quick, which makes a color display much better for this type of device. I won't be buying one of these but I like that they are experimenting with different form factors and features.

kemayo 3y ago

For anyone curious about the several Onyx Boox GPL-issues comments, here's an older HN thread about it at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23735962 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23735962 or just these screenshots at https://twitter.com/puffnfresh/status/1587064729977044994?lang=en https://twitter.com/puffnfresh/status/1587064729977044994?la... tl;dr Onyx Boox devices have a modified Linux kernel, and Onyx apparently refuses to release the source for it.

rnk 3y ago
Has the fsf ever sued anyone for violating gpl? I'd donate for that. Not because I want to destroy them, just push companies to release their mods. Based on what I've read about the ras pi hardware, without any info here, I'd guess all these smaller devices have secret blob images and use of undisclosed or nonpublic apis from the hardware makers, and they can't disclose them. We should reverse engineer them, get the hardware makers to disclose them. I've further read one reason for this is wanting to control their hardware, but also because there can be patent encumbrances about capabilities, not disclosing apis hides that. Of course these are problems the gpl wants to fight too.

_trackno5 3y ago

I wonder how this compares to the Hisense Reader Pro. I’ve been eyeing it for a while

extr0pian 3y ago

I was strongly considering buying this, but instead ordered the Hisense A7 off of Aliexpress. The main differences is the the A7 is a bit larger than the Palma and also has a headphone jack. It does get some service in the US, but it's also filled with a bunch of Chinese apps that are constantly phoning home, so I currently don't have my sim in it. I've ripped out much of the Chinese bloat with ADB, but I've had to reenable/reinstall when it lead to something breaking. Aside from that, I'm pretty happy with it. It looks some people have gotten root access, but it looks like a somewhat complicated process.

Shelly22 3y ago

[dead]

Fire-Dragon-DoL 3y ago

I couldn't figure out if it's waterproof