Onyx Boox Palma review - Palm tablet with e-ink display and camera

At 6.13 inches, the Onyx Boox Palma has a similar screen diagonal to current smartphones. The e-ink screen is housed in a fairly simple plastic casing, the back has a pattern that is reminiscent of woodchip wallpaper and also feels like it. The back camera module protrudes a little and feels very angular when you run your finger over the edges.

The round sides make the smartphone-sized e-ink tablet very ergonomic to hold. The device is sturdily built and does not mind pressure, although it does creak slightly when twisted. At 170 grams, the Onyx Boox Palma is quite light and does not tire the arms even when held for long periods.

128 GB of mass storage and 6 GB of RAM are good features and significantly more than many larger e-readers. However, if you like listening to music, you will have to accept the fact that you can only connect headphones and speakers via the USB-C port or Bluetooth 5.0 - there is no dedicated 3.5 mm audio port.

The card slot does not accept SIM cards, only a microSD card, but this can be up to 2 TB in size. In our test with the Angelbird V60 reference card, the reader proved to be very fast with 56.2 MByte/s in the copy test. The device achieved even better read values in the CPDT benchmark. This means that you can confidently use a microSD card as a memory extension, as it won't slow you down too much.

WiFi 5 is the fastest WiFi standard that the Onyx Boox Palma can handle. This means that the usual values of around 300 - 350 Mbit/s are possible. However, our test with the Asus ROG Rapture AXE11000 reference router shows that the transfer rates can sometimes slip to well below 300 MBit/s and are not quite as stable as with other devices.

Despite its smartphone-like form factor, the Onyx Boox Palma does not have a cellular modem, which means that mobile Internet access or phone calls via the mobile network are not possible.

The software is based on Android 11 and apps can also be easily downloaded and launched via the pre-installed Google Play Store. However, you should bear in mind that individual applications such as videos or fast-paced games make little sense on the slow-reacting, black and white e-ink display.

The touchscreen is precise to use, but you have to get used to the fact that the screen reacts a little slower to inputs than IPS or OLED screens. There is no fingerprint sensor, nor is there biometric face recognition, as there is no front camera.

The physical buttons are located on the left and right sides of the casing. They can be used to adjust the volume, scroll through books, or switch the system to standby. The left button can be assigned relatively freely; for example, you can use it to request a screen refresh if parts of the last image are still visible.

The manufacturer does not install a camera app on the Onyx Palma, only a text-scanning app. However, you can easily install a third-party camera app via the Google Play Store to be able to use the 16-megapixel lens on the back for taking pictures.

It turns out that pictures can be taken with the device if necessary: these are also reasonably well exposed, but only show a few details. In low light, a usable brightening is achieved, but the sharpness leaves a lot to be desired. The camera is good for scanning documents and documenting situations, but real photo enthusiasts will hardly be happy.

There is no front camera, so selfies can at best be taken using the rear camera, but then you have to make do without an image preview.

The pre-installed reading software is called Neo Reader. It offers extensive setting options and you can also use the volume buttons to turn pages, which is very practical.

From the sharpness of the display to the contrast and the fading of watermarks, the reading experience can be customized. There is also an optional text-to-speech function, which works very well, at least for English books. It doesn't exactly sound like a born reader, but it reproduces the text clearly; you can find even more pleasant-sounding solutions in the Play Store.

Speaking of the Play Store, you can of course also simply download and install your favorite reading software, such as Tolino or Kindle. They work without any problems on the Onyx Boox Palma. The pre-installed Onyx store only offers free books from open sources, at least in Europe.

The somewhat older Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 is used as the SoC. It is usually sufficient for smooth system operation, but cannot achieve high scores overall in our benchmarks. You should therefore avoid very complex apps on the e-ink tablet, but if you just want to read your documents and e-books, the octa-core processor with up to 2 GHz provides enough power for a smooth experience.

The UFS 2.1 memory is fast enough to avoid excessively long waiting times and to process data transfers reasonably quickly. The difference will be particularly noticeable when compared to cheaper e-readers.

The Onyx Boox Palma only heats up to over 40 °C very occasionally under prolonged load. You can feel it at this one point, but it never feels uncomfortable. We also didn't notice any performance throttling in the 3DMark stress tests.

The speaker is located at the bottom edge, although there is also a cut-out above the screen like for earphones - no sound can be heard there. Nevertheless, the earpiece can also be used, for example for calls via Internet services such as Skype.

It is therefore a mono speaker for media sound, which can be reasonably loud at over 81 dB(A) at its peak. However, you shouldn't expect too many low mids or even bass frequencies, so the sound is somewhat treble-heavy, which is not so bad for the intelligibility of speech and vocals.

Nevertheless, if you want really good sound output, you should connect headphones or speakers via the USB-C port or Bluetooth. This works without any problems and brings significantly more fullness to the sound.

A 3,950 mAh battery is installed in the Onyx Boox Palma. This is a very good capacity for an e-ink tablet in this price range, and the compact device also achieves good values: with minimal backlighting, you can browse through documents and books for almost 21 hours before the tablet has to be plugged in. With 150 cd/m² brightness, it is still just under 15 hours.

The small e-ink tablet can be charged with a maximum of 10 watts, so it takes over 3 hours for the battery to be fully charged again.

You can get the Onyx Boox Palma from our rental partner KEX Tech in the online shop for just under 300 euros. The item is also available on eBay, but it costs 310 euros there.

You'll have to spend a few more euros on amazon.de, where the Onyx Boox Palma is currently only available as an imported device from the USA.