The Daylight DC-1 is pleasant on the eyes, like e-ink, but refreshes at a 60hz clip, like a normal display. David Pierce has been using one for a few weeks and finds that while the tablet itself is nothing fancy, the display lives up to its promise and changes the experience of reading, sketching and taking notes on-screen.
Basically, the DC-1's screen isn't as good as a Kindle in ideal Kindle conditions or as good as an iPad in ideal iPad conditions. But there's a case to be made that Live Paper is actually a jack of all trades in just the right way. It's responsive and fast enough that I can easily type on the DC-1 or even watch a video (albeit in black and white). E Ink is often fine in a pinch, but you can get much more done smoothly on the DC-1 than on a Kindle or a Boox tablet.
The DC-1 is also much easier to look at in bed or any kind of bright light than something like an iPad. Personally, I'd most like this display in slightly smaller form — I'm on record for loving the Boox Palma as a pocketable Android device, and I suspect I'd like it even better with a Live Paper display — but if you're the type to use an iPad for reading, web browsing, and maybe journaling and crosswording, the DC-1 does it all really well. It's just not a good Netflix machine, you know?
Given the $729 price and "first try" imperfections in the hardware design (it's thick and has fingernailable gaps) I'm not sure it's for me, but the videos show they've accomplished something magical with reflective LCDs. I want to play Obra Dinn on it.
The writing setup (below) looks very nice, too. Does it come with the scotch?
Joshua Chang compares it directly to E-Ink in a video review, embedded below.
