A few weeks with the Daylight DC-1 tablet: rethinking screen time

There’s a large portion of insubstantial successful nan San Francisco offices of Daylight Computer, pinch a database written successful purple ink of each nan kinds of devices nan institution hopes to 1 time make. The database is long: Daylight wants to make a phone, a laptop, different kinds of tablets. Basically thing you tin deliberation of pinch a screen, Daylight wants to make it pinch a better, different screen, 1 that doesn’t blare brightly into your eyes successful a acheronian room but alternatively looks for illustration insubstantial and useful conscionable good outdoors.

I should mention different large portion of insubstantial correct adjacent to nan 1 pinch merchandise ideas — an arsenic agelong database of reasons Daylight mightiness fail. And arsenic CEO Anjan Katta shows maine astir nan office, nan remainder of nan squad is preparing for a motorboat statement for its first device, a tablet called nan DC-1, it’s clear he’s worried astir really nan world will respond to his large thought astir nan future.

Daylight wants to beryllium much of a manner marque than a gadget maker. In caller months, Katta has been connected a circuit of podcasts and YouTube channels preaching nan high-minded gospel of minimalist gadgets, arguing that bluish ray vulnerability is sidesplitting our slumber and that we request devices that incentivize america to usage them little and much deliberately alternatively than luring america successful pinch agleam lights and notifications. Instead of modeling themselves disconnected of purveyors of precocious tech for illustration Apple aliases Samsung, Katta and Daylight look to idolize companies for illustration Patagonia, which some made bully things and stands for something. And I suppose if Patagonia tin waste vests to VCs, Daylight tin waste tablets to tech enthusiasts.

The DC-1 costs $729, which is simply a batch for an Android tablet, and it’s particularly a batch for a tablet that feels very overmuch for illustration a company’s first product. It’s thick, it’s heavy, it’s powered by aged chips. I for illustration nan speckled backmost and nan clicky buttons, but I can’t extremity noticing nan very somewhat misaligned ports aliases nan truth that I tin descent my fingernail betwixt nan show and nan lawsuit and virtually pry nan point apart. I’ve had nary existent hardware issues utilizing nan tablet truthful far, but nan deficiency of manufacturing polish feels for illustration a first try. 

Katta tells maine that nan DC-1 isn’t yet finished, particularly nan software. The instrumentality is meant to tally package called Sol:OS, a customized type of Android meant to thief you support things minimal and quiet. Right now, my trial exemplary is moving a lightly customized type of nan celebrated Niagara Launcher, and astatine 1 point, erstwhile I mill reset nan device, it mislaid a batch of nan features nan squad had loaded connected for maine to test. All of that is to opportunity this instrumentality isn’t fresh for a afloat reappraisal — we’ll get to that erstwhile it launches Sol:OS for real, which Katta tells maine should beryllium this fall.

For now, I mostly conscionable want to talk astir nan screen. The DC-1 has a 10.5-inch screen, and Daylight calls it a “Live Paper” display. Just to beryllium clear: Live Paper is not E Ink. E Ink is nan tech you find successful a Kindle and astir different e-readers and uses existent ink. That intends it looks really bully successful nan sunlight and only uses powerfulness erstwhile it’s moving nan ink around. (Technically E Ink is simply a marque and “electronic paper” is nan technology, but everyone uses them interchangeably. E Ink is Kleenex.) Live Paper is really designed to lick immoderate of nan weaknesses of E Ink — particularly its slow refresh complaint and nan ghosting that leaves faint impressions of worldly connected nan surface for excessively long. 

What Live Paper really is, Katta tells me, is an adjustment of a reflective LCD show tech that has been astir for a agelong time. Reflective LCDs are LCD displays without a backlight; they usage a reflector astatine nan bottommost of nan stack to bespeak earthy ray backmost done nan pixels. That makes them awesome and comfortable to usage successful agleam light, intends they don’t usage overmuch power, and allows them to beryllium cheaper, thinner, and lighter. All bully things! But location are conscionable arsenic galore downsides: RLCDs, arsenic they’re known, evidently struggle successful bad lighting. They’re besides difficult to find successful color, astatine ample sizes, aliases astatine precocious resolutions.

There are immoderate well-liked RLCD devices retired location already. (The HannsNote2 is simply a favourite of nan r/RLCD subreddit, and nan HiSense Q5 sewage immoderate bully reviews a fewer years ago.) Katta says he’s spent nan past 5 aliases truthful years trying to lick RLCD’s problems and amended connected nan full system. He hasn’t solved each of them — nan DC-1 doesn’t do color, which Katta tells maine is technically imaginable but causes a bunch of different compromises — but nan Daylight squad has managed to make a 10.5-inch reflective LCD that is almost arsenic easy connected nan eyes arsenic E Ink and almost arsenic responsive arsenic a emblematic tablet screen.

I opportunity “almost” because it’s not each nan measurement location successful either case. On nan E Ink broadside of nan spectrum, Live Paper has a small much glare, uses a batch much power, and has importantly worse viewing angles than my Kindle. The viewing angles are possibly E Ink’s astir evident advantage — you’re ever going to get glare connected an LCD, and while nan Live Paper is an improvement, it’s still not arsenic clear and crisp successful nan sunshine arsenic an E Ink screen. E Ink feels for illustration paper; Live Paper feels for illustration a screen.

Meanwhile, compared to an iPad aliases smartphone, erstwhile you scroll quickly successful an app, nan DC-1 lags a spot (though not arsenic overmuch arsenic immoderate E Ink surface I’ve tried), and you get a spot of that wiggly “jelly scroll” that utilized to plague tons of devices. I besides spot a mini spot of ghosting if I’m moving things astir quickly; Daylight says nan Live Paper surface refreshes astatine 60 frames per second, but I decidedly announcement it stuttering sometimes.

Basically, nan DC-1’s surface isn’t arsenic bully arsenic a Kindle successful perfect Kindle conditions aliases arsenic bully arsenic an iPad successful perfect iPad conditions. But there’s a lawsuit to beryllium made that Live Paper is really a jack of each trades successful conscionable nan correct way. It’s responsive and accelerated capable that I tin easy type connected nan DC-1 aliases moreover watch a video (albeit successful achromatic and white). E Ink is often good successful a pinch, but you tin get overmuch much done smoothly connected nan DC-1 than connected a Kindle aliases a Boox tablet. 

The DC-1 is besides overmuch easier to look astatine successful furniture aliases immoderate benignant of agleam ray than thing for illustration an iPad. Personally, I’d astir for illustration this show successful somewhat smaller shape — I’m connected grounds for loving nan Boox Palma arsenic a pocketable Android device, and I fishy I’d for illustration it moreover amended pinch a Live Paper show — but if you’re nan type to usage an iPad for reading, web browsing, and possibly journaling and crosswording, nan DC-1 does it each really well. It’s conscionable not a bully Netflix machine, you know?

As for nan backlight, Daylight’s clever thought was to fto you power not only nan brightness but besides nan somesthesia of nan light. (You tin do this connected tons of e-readers, too, by nan measurement — immoderate caller Kindle models have a “warm light” mode that I for illustration overmuch amended than nan default light.) It tin spell from normal, daylight-blue ray to a deep, warm, amber glow, which is ostensibly amended for reference astatine nighttime without screwing up your circadian hit and sleep. The wide mentation is sound, but whether your telephone surface is capable ray to really do immense harm is harder to say. But moreover from a comfortableness perspective, I really for illustration it; I now publication successful furniture pinch nan ray beautiful debased and very warm, and I don’t cognize if I slumber immoderate better, but it’s surely easier to look astatine successful nan dark.

The cooler point is that you tin move nan backlight each nan measurement off. At nan lowest setting, nan DC-1 emits nary ray astatine all. It relies wholly connected ambient ray to show you what’s connected nan screen. (An RLCD pinch a backlight is sometimes besides called a “transflective LCD,” for immoderate that’s worth.) With nary ray on, though, nan DC-1 looks very dim and low-contrast moreover successful agleam sunshine. I hardly ever move nan ray each nan measurement off.

Everything successful Daylight’s agency feels arsenic frantic and caller arsenic nan DC-1 does. There’s a feline outside, barefoot, putting tablets into mini writer boxes to springiness to group later successful nan day. There’s a array filled pinch plush cases for nan DC-1 and different pinch Patagonia slings for nan early buyers. There’s outdoors-focused creation everywhere. This institution seems to cognize precisely what it’s about, but possibly not precisely what to do astir it. After utilizing nan tablet for a while, I’m skeptical astir nan lawsuit for nan DC-1 astatine $729, but I’m beautiful bullish connected what a lineup of Live Paper devices mightiness look like. Maybe nan mediate crushed of iPad and Kindle tin beryllium aft all. In a world progressively mediated by screens, Daylight asks a nosy question: what if you conscionable changed nan screen? I deliberation it mightiness alteration a batch much than that.