Once upon a time, my mom used to tell nine-year-old me that phones are the worst possible distractions. Back then, I’d just roll my eyes. But after spending a week with a minimalist phone, I’m starting to think she might’ve had a point.
I Used the Boox Palma 2 as My Main Phone For a Week
If there’s one thing you need to know about me, it’s that I love to do weird tech experiments just to see what happens. Since I’m currently away from college on summer vacation and have a lot more free time on my hands, I’ve started to notice just how addicted I am to my phone.
Sure, locking my phone in a cupboard is one of the odd productivity hacks that works, but it’s not exactly sustainable. At the end of the day, I’m still glued to my screen the moment it’s back in my hands. Recently, minimalist phones have been all over my social media. Naturally, I had to try one.
I decided to use the Onyx Boox Palma 2 as my primary phone for a week. If you aren’t familiar with the device, the Boox Palma 2 looks exactly like a Kindle thanks to its e-ink display. But it’s much smaller, palm-sized, and shaped like a typical smartphone. I’ve been wanting to get back into reading for months. Using the Boox Palma 2 as my main phone—rather than ultra-minimalist options like the Light Phone III—seemed like a good way to do this.
The Boox Palma 2 is available on Boox’s official website, and the Standard Bundle currently costs $269.99 ($279.99 otherwise), thanks to a back-to-school promotion, which includes the device itself and a matte transparent case. If you’d prefer something more protective, you can go for the Flip-Fold Protective Case Bundle for $275.98, which includes a folio-style case that covers the screen and offers a bit more durability.
My daily driver is an iPhone 15 Pro Max, which is what I decided to ditch for a week. I don’t keep a SIM card in my main phone. I usually rely on an older iPhone X for calls and when I’m on the go, and I kept it around during this experiment just in case of emergencies, especially since the Boox Palma 2 doesn’t have a SIM slot.
Nonetheless, I barely touched it all week, since I hardly got any calls. Like I mentioned, I’m also currently on summer vacation, so I didn’t really need to have my iPhone X on me all the time anyway. That gave me the perfect excuse to fully commit to the Boox Palma 2.
I Can Download Anything, But Almost Nothing Feels Worth Using
The Palma 2 has a 6.13-inch display. While it’s noticeably smaller than the 6.7-inch screen on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I didn’t find it limiting at all. I used the iPhone X for years before upgrading, and its 5.8-inch display always felt perfectly usable. So, though I thought the Palma’s screen size would take a bit of adjusting, it wasn’t a hurdle at all. In fact, it felt familiar and surprisingly comfortable to get used to again.
The Palma 2 runs Android 13 and comes with the Google Play Store installed, meaning I technically had access to all my favorite apps. Since I was going to be using it as a replacement for my phone for the whole week, I downloaded the usual: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and a few others. But it didn’t take long to realize that none of them felt the same on an e-ink display, especially one in grayscale.
If you’ve seen an e-ink display like the Kindle in action before, you know what I mean. E-ink displays refresh slowly, and animations are practically non-existent. And of course, everything looks muted in grayscale. That’s great for reading, but terrible for apps that rely on color and require a lot of slugging.
All the apps we use daily are designed to be visually stimulating and fast. Even just swiping through Instagram Stories felt… sluggish. I found myself closing these apps as quickly as I opened them. And though it got a bit frustrating at times, it made me realize just how much time I spend doomscrolling every single day.
I’d be lying if I said I only used the Palma 2 for reading, though. I did end up using a few apps I installed from the Google Play Store, like Gmail and Google Tasks. I don’t use the Messages app on my iPhone at all, and rely on WhatsApp instead. So, I downloaded WhatsApp on the Palma 2 and paired it with my iPhone using the linked devices feature, which lets you use the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices.
It worked just fine for checking and replying to messages, though typing on the Palma’s screen definitely took some getting used to. Finally, I couldn’t survive a week without my music when I was on the go. So, I downloaded Spotify as well.
The browser was also good enough for quick searches or opening links. I was a big fan of the Palma’s pre-installed Calculator app, which looked surprisingly sleek on the e-ink display. It’s hard to explain, but something about doing basic math on a grayscale screen just felt… peaceful?
Other than these apps, that’s pretty much all I needed for the week. And to my surprise, I absolutely loved it.
Though I spend a good chunk of my days working nowadays, I’d be lying if I said I don’t pick up my phone randomly during working hours. Sometimes it’s out of habit, and sometimes it’s just to take a quick scrolling break. When it comes to my Apple devices, I’ve used Screen Time features like Downtime and App Limits to reduce the time I spend on distracting apps.
During the week I used the Palma 2 as my main phone, though, I didn’t need to resort to any features to stop myself from scrolling… since scrolling just wasn’t enjoyable. Without the vibrant visuals you’re greeted with as soon as you open a social media app, opening them no longer felt fun. Naturally, I began reaching for something else to fill the gap, and it’d almost always be my eBooks.
I Got Bored Sometimes, And That Wasn’t a Bad Thing
Given that spending my free time usually involves bouncing between Instagram and TikTok, there were definitely moments during the week when I found myself with absolutely nothing to do. I’d reach for the Palma 2 out of habit, unlock it, and just blankly stare at it.
I wasn’t a fan of it at first and started having the urge to stop the experiment and pick up my iPhone. But as the week progressed, I started to appreciate those moments of boredom.
Given how hectic life can be with work and college, I can’t remember the last time I just sat with my thoughts without feeling the need to fill every second with content. A lot of the time, when I found myself “bored,” I was actually just procrastinating.
With nothing better to do and without my usual distractions available, I ended up doing something more useful with that time, like replying to emails, working on my tasks, or even just cleaning my workspace.
I Didn’t Need to Plug in the Boox Palma Every Few Hours
Though my iPhone’s battery life is great and typically gets me through the day with just an overnight charge, it doesn’t come close to the Boox Palma 2’s.
I charged the Palma at the beginning of the week when I started the experiment, and it lasted me the entire time without needing another top-up. During the week, I read three books, each over 400 pages long. I also used a bit of social media and browsed the web here and there.
Right now, the device is still at 94% and says it’s expected to last another 14 days, 14 hours, and 57 minutes. Though needing to charge my iPhone isn’t too big of a deal, I really appreciated not having to think about battery life at all with the Palma.
With my usual phone around me, I’d sometimes spend hours scrolling before going to bed. There were times when I wouldn’t realize the sun had already started to rise. Of course, all the time I spent scrolling translated to less sleep, which would ultimately lead to a cranky, groggy start to the next day.
One week with a minimalist phone and I noticed I was sleeping a lot better. I’d often wind down by reading a few pages of a book, and on the days when I didn’t feel like reading, I’d just not pick up the phone at all and put it away entirely. This way, I found myself falling asleep much faster (which used to take me hours sometimes).
Similarly, instead of checking my social media feeds first thing in the morning and catching up while I ate breakfast, I found myself opening an eBook or reading a few articles on Google instead.
I didn’t notice how big of a difference this made initially, but by the end of the week, it really started to show. I felt more rested, more present, and less anxious overall. And the best part about this was that I didn’t stop using my phone completely.
I still had the option to reply to my texts, check my emails, and even scroll on social media. It was just that I wasn’t mindlessly glued to it like before.
Now that I’ve shifted back to my regular phone, I miss how quiet my mind felt during that week. I’ve also been catching myself falling into the same old habits again, like picking up my phone out of boredom and staying up later than I should. Ultimately, I’m tempted to continue using the Palma 2 as my main phone. If only it had a SIM slot, I’d already have made the switch by now.