Displio is a display using e-ink technology and WiFi connection promised to display various always-on information on our desk or other locations. It started as a Kickstarter project back in Feb 2015. According to its project page, Displio is capable to display customisable widgets (weather, calendar, stocks, new mail notifications, unread email count, live traffic conditions, FitBit leaderboard, Facebook likes and messages, Twitter mentions and followers, Basecamp todo and milestones, reminders, Paypal balance, shipment tracking, countdown and many more).
I waited long to finally receive the product. It comes in a simple box with black-white design, somewhat fitting with the fact that it’s an e-ink display. Before first use, we need to go to their site to start the initial connection and configuring WiFi. That includes creating an online account in their site because apparently our widget is cloud-stored.
My first impression upon holding the actual device is that it feels heavier than what I imagined. The design looks nice and elegant, the build feels solid. So I have no complain on the casing part. There is one micro-SD port for charging and one tiny button for factory reset at the back.
The actual display, however, was a bit of a letdown for me. I was expecting much higher display resolution. Displio’s display resolution maybe acceptable before the era of hi-DPI displays. But it looks rather mediocre for today’s standard. To be clear, I wasn’t expecting iPhone’s level of pixel density. I was expecting something along the line of Kindle Paperwhite 2015 display. Obviously I was dreaming too much here.
The next disappointment happened when I opened my online account and discovered the actual widgets there. So far, what I can see are widgets to display web page viewer, reminder, email, Facebook tracker, clock, Google Calendar, weather, Twitter feed, hacker news, stocks, get home fast, last unread message and daily quote. So far I haven’t seen anything for FitBit, Basecamp, Paypal, any shipment tracking and any countdown. The meeting room reservation they displayed in their main site is nowhere to be found. The weather widget looks crap. I am not sure where they get their weather data from, but it’s far from accurate to the point I always end up opening my phone to see an app that provides much better weather information.
To make things worse, the process of refreshing screen (happens periodically) is really slow and somehow had to make the screen blinked twice. I know e-ink display will have some refreshing moments (I’m a Kindle reader anyway), but seriously I don’t expect something this slow.
When I first received my Displio few weeks ago, I couldn’t even install a widget to be activated only on certain screen orientation. Thankfully they have fixed it now. I can install clock on landscape and weather on reverse-landscape. I finally can load 4 widgets at the same time and quickly switch between them just by rotating my Displio. So far I could only see 2 barely-usable ones though.
Battery life is another weak point of Displio. In my particular usage, displaying clock in landscape orientation and weather in portrait, one full charge only lasts less than 2 days. I expect a lot more from a e-ink display.
In conclusion, I’m not really satisfied with Displio as a product. At least not yet. Great idea, poorly executed so far. I am still hopeful because the poor widget are software (and UI) issue and that should be fixable, if they will actually put some time and attention to it.
While they are selling them to the general public, they still haven’t fulfilled their kick-starter obligations. Don’t trust them, don’t support them.
Not sure about selling to general public. I am a Kickstarter backer.
Thanks for the helpful review!