For the most part, when you think of e-ink displays, what comes to mind is the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook—small tablets that aim to make reading a digital display more convenient by using electronic ink instead of brighter, more common LCD and LED displays.
Now there’s a new competitor on the block. A company called Daylight Computer
(shared by 9to5Google) recently announced the Daylight DC1, a 10.5-inch Android tablet that features a screen the company calls Live Paper.
The Live Paper display is a monochrome screen that does not produce blue light, which is widely denounced as harmful to your sleep and overall health. Many smartphones now offer an option to turn off blue light, and companies like Gunnar sell glasses designed to block blue light.
The Daylight DC1 is touted as a healthier alternative to brighter tablets that produce blue light, but it’s not without its own luminescence. The tablet has a backlight for evening and night use that emits a “pure amber” light, according to daylight, without the alleged PWM (pulse-width modulation) flicker seen in other displays.
Amazon and others have attempted a proper e-ink tablet, but most e-ink displays tend to be slower and more prone to stuttering or display errors than the best tablets. This is partly why some of us at Tom’s Guide prefer to read comics on an iPad rather than a Kindle.
Introducing the Daylight PC It does less… So you can be more 🍃Order now: https://t.co/MWYzSM4534 pic.twitter.com/NyRy4rKEwXMay 23, 2024
According to Daylight, the DC1 runs on a custom Android operating system called Sol:OS. It’s meant to be minimally distracting, with notifications turned off by default. The company advertises that the Daylight tablet aims to reduce our “addiction” to screens and phones. However, the tablet is designed to run normal Android apps and comes with pre-installed apps like Audible, Kindle, Google Docs and more.
The tablet also comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage with an 8000mAh battery powered by the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset. This battery, combined with a minimal operating system, can mean that this tablet can run for several days on a single charge.
The tablet also comes with a passive Wacom stylus. You can currently pay $729 for the Daylight DC1, but it looks like the company is releasing the tablet in batches. The first three have already sold out, and at the time of writing, wave 4 won’t ship until November 2024.
Daylight was founded by Anjan Kata, a Stanford graduate, and from what we understand, he’s been working on this device for over six years. His goal with the Daylight PC is to make a “healthier” computer, and in various interviews, Kata has said he wants his device to fight eye fatigue and distraction while redefining our relationship with gadgets.
He has said in interviews over the years that whatever device Daylight makes will be aimed at “writers, thinkers and knowledge workers.” Many of the podcasts we’ve found him speaking on are crypto-related or specifically about talking to “eclectic” thinkers.
Based on various podcast interviews we could find about Katta, the DC1 is not the company’s ultimate goal. Katta wants to see Live Paper display in all kinds of devices like monitors, laptops and watches.
Is the Daylight DC1 a technological blip or will we see a wave of Live Paper devices in the future? It will be interesting to see how this device actually performs once it’s in people’s hands.
