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Comment by fluidcruft | Hacker News Reader

I'm actually in the market for something this size, but it's too expensive for me given what I know about reMarkable's inconvenience. I'd pick it over a kindle scribe, but not sure I'd pick it over a boox or supernote. I haven't decided if I actually care about color yet. MyDeepGuide's review of reMarkables color tech has me pretty interestes in it... but I don't know I actually need color personally. I have a colleague who has a reMarkable and it seems pretty annoying software wise. Especially at this size I want ebooks easily loaded.

I mostly have a very aged Kindle that needs replaced and I would like a small digital notepad. Boox fits the bill generally. I have a larger boox, it's a little quirky and a bit too heavy to hold comfortably but works fine after some configuration.

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Supernote has a similarly sized product if you want the format but with more software functionality.

There's also a company called Viwoods making "AI" enabled e-ink tablets. I have heard significantly less about them so far, but they have a mini version which is roughly e-reader sized.

Check out the Boox Palma 2. I love mine and it has an actual operating system (Android 13).

Heh I saw that mentioned on a review of this unit, but running Android makes it a nonstarter. The price point is much more reasonable though.

What’s wrong with android? I enjoy that it makes boox devices more expandable. For instance I installed termux and used a bluetooth keyboard for a very interesting development environment (vim + c compiler)

You won't be able to install anything soon once Google puts its thumb on sideloading. Investing in Android in mid 2025 is a lost cause.

Why would Boox disable sideloading on their own Android build? Your comment makes as much sense as saying Google is going to disable sideloading on LineageOS and GrapheneOS. Boox doesn't give a flying shit about Google's Android certification program. Google has no claws on devices that have to sideload Play Store.

Is that true for people building off of open source android components (like Boox is doing)? What would you recommend as an alternative? As others have said, I doubt Google can disable sideloading when google play must be sideloaded on the device.

I'm fine with Android, but not Android (or any other OS) from 2022.

at least you can sideload what you want

The Palma 2 doesn't have writing support does it?

I have been looking at the Boox Go 7... I have a Boox Note Air and generally like it a lot after the major software upgrade it got when Air 2 was released and also particularly running Android has been quite handy (for syncing journal articles with Zotero). But I am also very curious about Supernote Nomad and may go that way if I decide backlight doesn't matter. I do like backlight for reading in be without bothering my wife...

And so I keep spinning in indecision...

The Palma 2 doesn't have stylus support. I seriously considered the Supernote Nomad, the modular design is neat, but went with the Palma 2 for the backlight and the Boox software, which seems to be superior to Supernote for everything but writing and notes. If my primary use case were note-taking rather than reading, I would have gone with the Supernote Nomad.

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