Thoughts on Daylight Computer

I have one of these and I'm just about ready to give it away. The problem is it doesn't fit a use case that I don't have better solutions for. I've found that writing on the screen makes me prefer paper; reading on the screen makes me prefer books. I wanted to like the DC-1 but every time I use it something feels off. Maybe that's partly because I don't enjoy the Android experience.

I've had a DC-1 for several months now. My biggest fear is that the company won't make a second version. I think I can truthfully say this is the one digital device I've actually been excited to own!

I have two primary usecases - reading on the train and taking notes in meetings. On the first - being a full Android, I can use apps or a web browser, and it's extremely responsive and highly legible. On the notetaking side - hands down, the best experience I've had with a digital product - for comparison, I've got a Remarkable 2 tablet sitting on my desk, and by comparison, remarkable's writing delay is noticeably uncomfortable.

I wish they had an official cover (I've found an acceptable generic on amazon). For the retro-computing feel, there's definitely something surreal in watching a B&W movie on a B&W device.

I honestly don't miss the color spectrum, so unless you're doing some work that actually requires color, I would definitely recommend this device. Somehow, it gets the "less distraction" thing right. And the software support will improve with time.

One thing about the DC-1 that this piece doesn't mention is the graininess of the display. It's not resolution-related... on a pure white background the display looks slightly speckled, like it has some film grain. I find this impairs readability of small text. (Matte and nano texture displays on many devices often have some degree of graininess on pure white, but it's more prominent on the DC-1 than I'm used to.) Perhaps it's related to the Wacom layer rather than the RLCD tech itself, I'm not sure.

I've got one coming my way hopefully in next 2 months..

I kind of see it similarly to this review - a new category of device and not quite a 1-1 replacement of anything I have.

I have reluctantly owned Kindles & iPads since v1 of each, and don't particularly like either.

For me the iPad is always the 2nd (or 3rd) best device - if I'm seated indoors at a table or sofa, a MacBook is better.. if I'm on the go, a big iPhone is better.. if I am doing book length reading, a kindle is better. I can go a week or three without picking up my iPad. I find the OS annoyingly close to being a proper mini MacOS that never quite gets close enough in terms of multitasking/etc. It almost would be better by not trying to do so many things.

That said I find Kindles to be the worst tech product I regularly use, hands down. It's good for reading books in bed, thats basically it. But its so much better at that, I use it daily.

All the notetaking/highlighting/sharing functionality is garbage. Attempts to download/purchase more books on it are clunky enough I just wait til I'm back at phone/desktop. It also has the most bizarre ad targeting showing me content I would never read despite having nearly 20 years of my reading history.

I've even tried the Remarkable (v1) for a couple years as a work note-taking device.

So I'm hoping the Daylight solves the "3rd device" issue a bit better, but tbd. Light computing, mostly for reading, plus some light note taking, touch & keyboard, better battery life and a screen that works outdoors.

It reassures me that going with an Onyx Boox Tab Pro was the better choice. Full e-ink, not e-Paper, but still can switch to a mode where you could, if you want, watch a movie. Backlight is not crazy orange, it's what you want (warmth controlled separately from brightness). Ignores hand when you use the stylus, or at least, uses hands gestures for different things than the stylus and I never had the issue. Bluetooth keyboard works OK. And it's Android (that's a plus for me, you have good software variety), with Google Services.

About 9 months ago, they promised that they will unlock the bootloader so one can install and run linux on it [1]. Hoping this happens soon.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40459958

I really enjoy my DC-1 but after a quick skim, I didn't notice any mention of the screen's ability to scratch.

I took mine in a backpack up to my parents place and apparently something lightly caused a scratch on the screen so now I just have a permanent little gouge.

Thankfully I've learned to ignore it over time but yeah, don't assume it's as indestructible as a lot of screens.

The DC-1 does/did ship with a padded cover which makes me think it doubled as the engineering fix for when/if they realised that might be an issue.

> scrolling, panning, videos, gifs. It all feels as it should

Is it really that good?

Okay, I found a video... Wow! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHeIw9rXzUQ

Very expensive right now, too much to impulse buy, and the OS is not what I want. I would like a chunky little laptop with this display tech.

(not mine) was just checking what became of them and this review hit home

I have no use for an android tablet like this, but as soon as they make a PC screen (either laptop or desktop) I'm pretty sure I'd buy one fast! Keep it up folks!

I quite like mine, but I haven't done any work work on it. No typing or anything. I've read a couple of books on it, I've read some manga (perfect match for the monochrome screen), and I've taken some notes on some papers that I'm working through. I'm impressed with the battery, and I've been using it every single day since I got it. Mindblowing? No. Just a nice reading experience. Perfect if you want something larger form-factor than the kindle with more apps to side-load, if that's your thing.

As for the UI, etc, it's just Android with a non-standard launcher. They didn't even write the launcher, it's a launcher you can get off the app store. It's pretty vanilla except for the gestures for back/home. Whether or not this bothers you is probably a function of how much you like or dislike a pretty vanilla Android experience.

I've had a DC-1 for a few months now and this review sums it up nicely. The one thing I'd say was missed is that you actually can assign actions to the extra physical buttons with apps like Key Mapper

Regarding the comment about using the laptop in a hammock… I really wish I could have some sort of keyboard that was “good for typing” but that I could just hold onto in my hands. Many times I would like to type something up, but don’t want a computer on my lap.

Just something shaped like some cylinders to grip yet somehow are able to piggyback on existing touch typing knowledge sounds cool to me (but might be unreasonably heavy or something)

Whatever happened to the transflective lcds that were popular in carputers in the 2000s? They seem to be a perfect fit for a tablet and I have been puzzled that no one has jumped on using them in one.

from the transflective wikipedia page [1]

"A transflective liquid-crystal display is a liquid-crystal display (LCD) with an optical layer that reflects and transmits light (transflective is a portmanteau of transmissive and reflective). Under bright illumination (e.g. when exposed to daylight) the display acts mainly as a reflective display with the contrast being constant with illuminance. However, under dim and dark ambient situations the light from a backlight is transmitted through the transflective layer to provide light for the display. The transflective layer is called a transflector. It is typically made from a sheet polymer. It is similar to a one-way mirror but is not specular."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transflective_liquid-crystal_d...

From the picture, it has the low-contrast look of an older E-ink display. Here's a higher-contrast E-ink display.[1]

There are also emissive display laptops brighter than 1000 nits, which is about where they become sunlight-readable. Battery life might be a problem.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GKVM94N1F6E

Thank you for writing this up, I'm glad I'm not the online one with the Android issues. Being able to put any software on it is nice, but it comes with a cost. The default Android jank along with the custom home screen makes the product difficult to use. I only wanted to read ebooks on the device but even that experience is not great and the reader app that comes with the device seems to be limited to pdfs. Additionally, there is 0 hand holding during set up. The packaging is top notch, but the QR code with instructions was hidden at the bottom under the device. I did not notice it until days later.

That being said, the screen technology is amazing and I hope they're able to continue the business. Unfortunately the bar for products is very high now but I think they have something here.

> For some reason every bluetooth keyboard I have tried so far glitches every so often and sends double or triple keys or occasionally the same key a couple dozen times with no way to stop it from happening.

This would make the device unusable to me. I wonder if others have had the same issue? Fundamentally, I need typing to be reliable. I guess this probably doesn’t happen via USB keyboards?

Random idea: could someone make a display like this for the Framework laptop?

> palm rejection while using the stylus

Do you mean that it doesn't sufficiently reject palm touch while writing with stylus? I'm a long-time Onyx BOOX user and hoping that DC-1 writing experience is as good or better.

I have one and agree with the technical issues mentioned in this thread. This is my first experience with a writing tablet, although I have occasionally dabbled with an iPad with a stylus.

What draws me to use this device is that it creates a sense of "roominess," allowing me to lean back and consume, write, and engage in a non-aggressive way. This quality is something I miss in my other devices.

The monochrome display makes playing Wordle harder :).

I have the Fintie case he mentioned and it does work very nicely.

I love my Daylight so far but I received it right at the end of the season that I would want to be working outside. Spring is just around the corner here in Georgia so I am looking forward to putting it to work in the wifi-enabled woods behind my barn office.

It's very good though and latency is good enough to watch Broodwar videos on YouTube and still enjoy the content (though of course the colors are off).

rlcd display panels are coming this year. Looking foward to buy one.

Since I couldn't find a link anywhere, available for preorder for US$729:

https://daylightcomputer.com/

Do the orange buttons work for anyone? The Reader app mentions that they're supposed to be for sending feedback, but they've never done anything for me.

Ultimately, the first line is really resonated with me:

"When I get to write or read on a screen that’s reflecting the sun back at me instead of needing to be shielded from it, I get a dose of this feeling that this is what all computing could feel like. I want so much more of this in my life."

I have the DC-1, and where I've used it in direct sunlight, it's a great feeling. However... it's rare that this matters. But... it's winter. And so I'm inside because it's f*king cold out. I'm holding onto hope that this will bring me outside to read and note take a bit more eventually.

My iPad is still king for my "tablet computing". Especially note taking, drawing, design tasks (like CAD), casual gaming and entertainment consumption. I don't see the DC-1 replacing my iPad use any time soon. The app ecosystem, screen, sound, etc, are just not good enough to replace my iPad. Frankly, I just don't see anything that can really compete with the iPad, which sucks, because I feel like Apple continues to underestimate what the iPad could be. (It should be more like a mac and not like a phone. The hardware can do this, the software can not.)

... but anyhow, the DC-1 makes me excited to be able to, say, go to the park and read and note a design doc. Etc. Like, this device could be a lifestyle changer... when it's nice out. Or it might be a device I read documents on and take notes on the iPad. This is a second use case I'm just starting to figure out.

So I'm going to keep onto mine, and I'm optimistic and excited. But it's early.

this is awesome, thanks for sharing

Is it really computing if you’re just using it like a pad of paper? Is it worth all the noxious process to manufacture it?

I like a different tool as much as the next person, but I think before we jump to the most complicated to for the job we should align our priorities..

r/writerdeck

Every time I read something like this it strikes me as so incredibly odd that people are into sunlight.

For me, direct sunlight is a 100% negative experience. It’s physically dangerous to skin, generally unhealthy if you aren’t Vitamin D deficient, extremely bright, causes wild temperature flux throughout normal working hours, etc.

I have spent a lot of time and a fair bit of money making sure natural sunlight never reaches the places I regularly work and sleep. I would live deep underground if I could. The incessant changes in light, temperature, humidity (even indoors) are a constant annoyance that must be compensated for.

It’s a wonder to me that anyone enjoys such experiences.