This smartphone has a display like no other: it’s e-ink, like a Kindle

If you’re eyeing up a new phone, you’ll probably find that all the latest smartphones look a bit samey. And if you want something a little more minimalist, you might have a hard time getting your hands on what you want. Enter Boox’s Palma smartphone, with a 6.1-inch e-ink display. That’s the same screen tech that’s used on Kindles and other e-readers, meaning you get a black and white display that’s more like paper than another screen.

This isn’t just any device – it’s a mobile e-ink smartphone that’s looking to marry the the digital age’s convenience with the old-school charm of paper. The Boox Palma packs a 6.13-inch e-ink screen, kitted out with E Ink Carta 1200 touchscreen tech – the same one as the Kobo Sage. What does this mean for you? A screen experience closer to paper, just without the pages. With a crisp 300 PPI, the display offers high contrast. And adjustable dual-tone front lights ensure you can stare at this phone well into the wee hours, sans glare. Thanks to Boox’s Super Refresh Technology, powered by a nifty Qualcomm Octa-core CPU, lag is a thing of the past.

Running on Android 11 OS and buddy-buddy with the Google Play Store, the Palma makes downloading your must-have apps a breeze. Stuck in a queue? Whip out this lightweight wonder, snug as a bug in your pocket, and catch up on emails, messages, or whatever tickles your fancy. It offers everything you’d expect from a smartphone, just with the e-ink display. It even comes with a water-repellent coating for those accidental coffee spills. Plus, you’ll find a customizable button for tasks like screenshotting or page-flipping. And round back, there’s a 16MP camera that can is designed for document scanning.

The Boox Palma comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, with room to expand via microSD. That means if you use the smartphone for reading, your entire library can tag along. Support for 24 file formats means your reading list just got a whole lot more diverse. And for the cloud aficionados, services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive are seamlessly integrated.

Fancy swapping out your OLED pixels for an e-ink smartphone? The Boxx Palma can be yours $280/€300. It’s available directly from the brand and from some third-party retailers.

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