“I’ve been reading a lot more and scrolling so much less.” Nine words from an r/Onyx_Boox reader, and the whole Palma pitch in one sentence. The Palma is a phone-shaped e-ink device for people whose problem is not reading — it is the phone itself. BOOX’s 2026 update, the Palma 3, keeps that shape and changes what is inside it. The question is whether it is the one to buy, or whether the older Palma 2 Pro is still the better pick.
The Short Verdict
- Buy the Palma 3 ($339.99) if you want the newest Palma, the lower price, and a pen — in black-and-white. It is the first standard (black-and-white) Palma with stylus support, runs Android 16, and costs $60 less than the 2 Pro.
- Buy the Palma 2 Pro ($399.99) if you want a colour screen and 5G. It was the first Palma with a pen at all, and it remains the only one of the two with a colour display.
- The real difference is not the pen — both have it. It is the screen: black-and-white and $339.99, or colour and $399.99. Everything else in this comparison follows from that.
The Two Models at a Glance
| Palma 3 (2026) | Palma 2 Pro (2025) | |
|---|---|---|
| US price | $339.99 | $399.99 |
| Screen | 6.13-inch, 300 ppi, black-and-white | 6.13-inch, colour |
| Operating system | Android 16 | Not verified — see build notes |
| Stylus | Yes — first standard (B&W) Palma with a pen | Yes — first Palma with a pen, period |
| Connectivity | Not verified — see build notes | 5G |
| Body | Aluminium and fibreglass | Not verified — see build notes |
| Announced | September 15, 2026 | 2025 |
Same Shape, Different Screen
Both devices are the same idea: a 6.13-inch e-ink reader in the shape of a phone, small enough to carry like one and different enough to use like one. The Palma 3’s screen is black-and-white at 300 ppi — the sharpness readers expect from a modern e-ink panel, and the right choice if your reading is mostly text. The Palma 2 Pro’s screen is colour, which matters for covers, comics, and anything where colour carries information.
That is the honest trade-off, and it is worth stating without decoration: colour e-ink is muted next to a phone or tablet screen, and it costs battery and sharpness in colour mode. If 95% of your reading is black-and-white text, the Palma 3’s screen is the sharper value at $60 less. If comics, magazines, or colour highlights are a weekly habit, the 2 Pro’s colour screen is the feature you will actually use.
The Pen: New to the Standard Palma, Not New to the Line
This is the correction that matters most in this comparison, because it is easy to get wrong. The Palma 3 is not the first Palma with a pen. Handwriting support was introduced by the Palma 2 Pro in 2025 — BOOX’s own announcement for the 2 Pro says so, in so many words. The Palma 3 is the first standard, black-and-white Palma to support a pen (BOOX’s InkSense Plus stylus), which is a real step — it brings handwriting to the cheaper, sharper-screened model — but it is a first for the standard line, not for the Palma family.
Practically, that means both devices let you write on them. The difference is what you are writing on: a black-and-white page on the Palma 3, or a colour page on the 2 Pro. If your notes are text and sketches, either works. If your notes need colour — highlighting in more than one shade, annotating charts — the 2 Pro is the only one of the two that offers it.
Android 16 and the Anti-Phone Idea
The Palma 3 runs Android 16, announced alongside the device on September 15, 2026. That matters less as a version number than as what it enables: the Palma is an Android device that runs reading apps, and the whole point of the form factor is that it runs them without running your attention. One reader described the effect as the absence of pull: “It just doesn’t have the same pull on my attention that my phone did.” Another described the before-and-after: “Had trouble sleeping due to too much screentime, just had to break the cycle” — and then, in the same thread, “Think I’ve read over 50 books in 6 month.”
That is the use case to buy for. Readers are actively configuring the Palma against phone behaviour — one thread is literally titled around making it “a proper offline, anti-doomscrolling machine.” A press reviewer of the 2 Pro found the same thing in practice: “In moments when I would normally scroll on my phone, I was getting some reading in instead.”
The honest caveat is that an Android device can only be as distraction-free as you make it. The Palma’s e-ink screen and phone shape do the heavy lifting — notifications are less insistent on a slow, grey screen — but the anti-phone effect comes from what you install and what you leave off. Buy it for the shape and the screen, not for a promise that it will fix your screen time on its own.
Price and Who Should Buy Which
Choose the Palma 3 if…
…you read mostly text, you want a pen, and you want the newest device for the least money. At $339.99 it is $60 cheaper than the 2 Pro, runs Android 16, and is the first black-and-white Palma with stylus support. The aluminium-and-fibreglass body is the new build for this generation. For a reader who wants a pocketable e-ink device for novels, articles, and notes, it is the straightforward pick.
Choose the Palma 2 Pro if…
…colour matters to your reading or your notes, or you want 5G connectivity. At $399.99 it is the older device, but it is still the only Palma of the two with a colour screen — and it was the model that introduced pen support to the line in the first place. If you read comics or colour content on a phone-shaped device, this is the one.
Choose neither if…
…what you actually want is a plain e-reader. The Palma is a phone-shaped Android device, not a Kindle or a Kobo: it costs more than a Paperwhite ($199.99 with ads) or a Clara BW ($159.99), and it asks you to manage apps and settings. If your reading is novels and library books, the dedicated readers are cheaper, simpler, and longer-lived per charge. Our Kindle buying guide covers the dedicated readers in full, and our Kobo vs Kindle comparison covers the Kobo side. The Palma earns its price only if the phone shape — pocketable, one-handed, always with you — is the feature you are buying.
FAQs
Is the Palma 3 the first Palma with a pen?
No. The Palma 2 Pro (2025) introduced stylus support to the Palma line. The Palma 3 is the first standard, black-and-white Palma with a pen.
Is the Palma 3 better than the Palma 2 Pro?
It is newer, cheaper ($339.99 vs $399.99), and runs Android 16 — but it has a black-and-white screen where the 2 Pro has colour, and the 2 Pro has 5G. “Better” depends on whether colour matters to you.
Can the Palma replace my phone?
That is the wrong question. It is built for people who want their phone’s convenience without their phone’s constant pull — a reading-first device in a phone’s shape, not a phone replacement.
What is the Palma 3’s screen?
A 6.13-inch black-and-white e-ink screen at 300 ppi. The Palma 2 Pro has a 6.13-inch colour screen.
When was the Palma 3 announced?
September 15, 2026, alongside two other BOOX devices.
The Bottom Line
The Palma 3 is the cheaper, newer, black-and-white Palma with a pen — $339.99, Android 16, 300 ppi, and the first stylus support in the standard line. The Palma 2 Pro is the colour Palma with a pen — $399.99, 5G, and the model that introduced handwriting to the family. Pick the screen, not the version number: if your reading is text, the Palma 3 is the better buy; if it is colour, the 2 Pro still earns its premium. And if you only want to read novels, buy a dedicated e-reader instead — the Palma’s price only makes sense if the phone shape is the point.