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MagyarDaylight launches DC-1 tablet with LivePaper display that looks like E Ink but refreshes at 60 Hz
Apple’s new M4 iPad Pro, with its tandem OLED technology, has clearly raised the bar when it comes to brightness and vividness. However, at the other end of the spectrum, we’re also seeing more interest in E Ink devices, like the Onyx Boox Palma and the Kobo's new colour e-readers that offer a pared-down, distraction free digital experience while being easy on the eyes. So it’s pretty great timing for Daylight Computer, which has just launched its first device – the DC-1 tablet – built around its innovative LivePaper technology.
Daylight’s LivePaper display is – at least on paper – the perfect love-child of E Ink and LCD technologies. It’s glare-free, highly readable outdoors, with a paper-like look and feel, yet with a faster refresh rate – 60 Hz, to be precise – and responsive touch like a regular LCD screen. To further its wellness-oriented credentials, the amber-coloured backlight (yes, it is backlit, unlike a Kindle Paperwhite) is blue-light free and uses flicker-free dimming, for more viewing comfort over extended periods.
To complete the paper-like experience, a textured matte finish is applied on the screen, which should make turning pages on an e-book or writing notes feel more natural. A 1600 x 1200 resolution on a 10.5 inch display gives us a pixel density of 190 ppi, which is lower than on most tablet screens (for reference, it’s 300 ppi on even the base Kindle model, and 326 ppi on the current iPad Mini). That said, 190 ppi is perfectly fine for reading, especially with the matte finish smoothing out any visible pixelation.
Underneath that display, the DC-1 runs Sol:OS, a custom OS based on Android 13 that’s designed to provide an uncluttered, distraction-free user experience while implementing the monochrome display. Despite its minimalism, you can still install pretty much any Android app, although the focus is on the reading and note-taking ones.
On the hardware front, the Daylight DC-1 is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 CPU, with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage, plus a microSD slot. The battery capacity is 8000 mAh, which Daylight vaguely claims is “enough battery to last you days on a single charge”. The tablet weighs 550 g (1.2 lb) and has customisable action buttons for turning pages, etc.
The DC-1 can be preordered from Daylight’s website for $729, and for a limited time comes bundled with a Wacom passive stylus and a fabric case.
Daylight says that its vision is “to build a whole ecosystem of healthier, more humane computers that respect our health, attention, and freedom”, and it seems to think that a switching to a better kind of screen is an important part of that. Lately the response to similar devices suggests that if the DC-1 tablet can get the basics right, it can be a real success. And if that happens, we can expect a slew of other devices, maybe the next minimalist phone, sporting LivePaper displays.
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