DAKboard Review

Are you finding it hard to stay on top of the tasks that need doing? Do you find it exhausting having to keep track of paper lists or juggle multiple apps to organize the different aspects of your life or business?

It is precisely these pain points that DAKboard aims to solve. But is it just another tool making lofty promises it can’t keep? What functionalities does it provide? Will purchasing the software cost an arm and a leg? What’s the user experience like?

In this DAKboard review, you will get answers to any pressing questions you may have about this innovative piece of technology and what you can expect from it.

By the end, you’ll have all the information you need to decide whether DAKboard is the right tool for you or a vanity product you’re better off without.

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What Is DAKboard?

DAKboard is a customizable digital wall calendar that displays pertinent information like your personal and shared calendars, weather reports, news updates, and photo memories.

It eliminates the stress of manually updating each calendar you use every time a new event is added. With DAKboard, all you have to do is enter the information once and it’ll automatically reflect on all the calendars connected to the device.

DAKboard syncs with all the major calendar services including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and more.

This smart wall calendar is designed for both home and office use to help you stay on top of your schedule and manage your time more efficiently. It allows you to see your daily, weekly, or monthly agenda at a glance, so you’ll always know what you’re meant to be doing hour by hour.

Beyond its functional value as a tool for streamlining tasks and busy lives, the DAKboard also serves a decorative purpose in any space you place it in.

DAKboard offers ready-to-use displays that you can put up on your wall or position on a desk or counter using a support stand which is sold separately.

If you’re a DIY-er, you can build your own DAKboard using any kind of monitor and DAKboard CPU or a standard Raspberry Pi and TV/monitor and DAKboard account.

Setup and Installation

The setup process for the DAKboard differs based on the display setup you opt for. The ready-to-use display is the easiest to get up and running as it only requires minimal steps and takes a few minutes.

You just have to plug in the power cable, wait for your DAKboard to boot, follow on-screen instructions to connect to a WiFi or ethernet network and hang for a moment while the configuration completes.

Once your device successfully connects to your network, you can link it with your dakboard.com account and start adding calendars or taking advantage of all the other features.

If you’re going the DIY route with a ready-made Darkboard CPU and your TV or existing monitor, you’ll need to create a DAKboard account to generate a URL for your smart display build.

What comes next is installing the Raspberry Pi OS on your Raspberry computer build using a micro SD card and an imaging program.

Then you can connect your Raspberry to your monitor with an HDMI cable and start customizing your newly minted DAKboard display.

DAKboard provides extensive setup guides with detailed instructions that you can follow whether you’re working with the pre-built DAKboard display, standalone DAKboard CPU, or standard Raspberry Pi and external monitors.

So if you get confused or run into issues along the way, you can check out the product’s knowledge base for solutions.

What’s more, DAKboard works in both portrait and landscape orientation so you can mount it in whatever mode is convenient for you and the other users.

Also Read: Hearth Display vs DAKboard

What Can You Do With the DAKboard?

DAKboard isn’t just another fancy hardware with a fairly high price tag that doesn’t do much. It provides a host of useful features that you can benefit from to drive productivity and efficiency in your household or workplace.

Let’s take a look at some of this device’s distinctive features:

Calendar syncing and optimization

You can sync your DAKboard with any online calendar services that you use to enable you to manage your schedule and view all upcoming events and tasks in one glance. It also allows you to import or program your existing to-do lists and other custom lists for things you want to remember like groceries, chores, and more.

You might be thinking, can’t I just use my mobile phone and computer to manage my calendars instead of buying a whole other device?

Well, yes. The difference is that you’ll have other pages and actions competing for attention on your computer and phone, so it’s easy for your calendar to get drowned out in that chaos.

The DAKboard, however, can sync all of your calendars in one place to create a single feed so you’re not jumping from one service to the other or entering the same information multiple times.

Also, DAKboards are dedicated to displaying the exact information you want them to, be it calendars or to-do lists, all day, every day. You won’t have to worry about the information getting lost in the shuffle or overshadowed by other content.

You get to choose how you want to view your calendar—a few days at a time or upcoming events for the month at once. Additionally, DAKboard lets you select a preferred layout and colors for each calendar to create a unique vibe for each one.

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Smart home management

DAKboard acts as a smart hub for your home, so you can integrate it with your favorite home automation tools. You can use it to control your thermostat, doorbell, speakers, security camera, and other gadgets in your network.

Digital photo frame

The minimalist design of this wall display adds a modern and sophisticated aesthetic to your space.

If you don’t want to use the traditional white background to display your calendars, DAKboard provides an album of generic photos to pick from.

Alternatively, you can import your photo albums and it’ll cycle through them, essentially turning your display into a digital canvas.

DAKboard supports most of the major photo-sharing services like Dropbox, Flickr, Google Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, Apple iCloud, and more. You can set it to pull from specific albums, showcase your latest photos, or change the display photo at any interval you like.

Also Read: Echo Show 15 Review

Custom signage

DAKboard makes for an excellent digital display for your business. You can use it to create custom signage for welcome messages for visitors and company advertisements, or news updates to keep employees in the know.

Your DAKboard can serve as a building directory, helping people easily find their way without asking for human assistance. Hang it outside your conference room to display meeting schedules and avoid double-booking and other scheduling conflicts.

With the built-in editor, you add your business logo and colors to your DAKboard display for branding uniformity.

DAKboard for Business supports unlimited staff accounts and a single master account with role-based permissions so everyone in your organization can edit and update different parts of the display.

Fully customizable interface

Part of the appeal of the DAKboard is that it offers ample customization options and more granular control compared to other digital displays.

It comes with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor to help you design the perfect layout showcasing the content that’s most relevant to you.

You can customize everything from fonts to color schemes, widget sizes, and on-screen text. DAKboard provides ready-made themes and templates you can use if you prefer not to start from scratch.

There’s also an easy-to-use web app that lets you configure your DAKboard remotely using your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

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Third-party integrations

DAKboard integrates with a ton of apps, extending its functionality and use cases. Connect it to Spotify, Sonos, YouTube, and Vimeo to stream audio and video content, or use it to track your health and fitness data with Nutrislice and Fitbit.

You can add your favorite task trackers, project management apps, and news/RSS feeds to DAKboard. It even lets you view Slack messages, monitor the delivery status of your packages, calculate travel times, plan your commute, and navigate from one location to another.

Dakboard can also help you keep an eye on your stock portfolio and the latest currency exchange rates, and deliver current weather reports and forecasts, to enable you to plan your movements better.

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Pricing

There are different versions of the pre-built DAKboard digital wall calendar, so the cost is determined by the model you choose. However, prices for DAKboard wall displays start at $399.95.

You can save money by opting for the DAKboard CPU and pairing it with any monitor you have. Prices for DAKboard CPUs start at $79.95.

The software subscription package you select for your DAKboard will also factor into the final cost of your setup.

There’s a free forever version that comes with all the essential DAkboard features—calendar, photos, weather—but you’ll be limited to using one predefined screen layout and DAKboard’s branding

If you want the capability to create multiple custom screens, DAKboard gives you three paid plans to choose from: Essential for $5/month, Plus for $10/month, and Pro for $30/month.

These plans also provide additional functionalities such as templates, custom branding, screen loops, content scheduling, API access, media library, staff accounts, priority support, and more.

Also Read: Skylight Calendar vs Echo Show

Pros and Cons of the DAKboard

Like most things, the DAKboard wall display is not without its strengths and downsides. Here are some characteristics that can make and break the product’s viability based on your preferences and needs:

Pros

• It’s a versatile display with abundant features and multiple use cases.
• Can be managed remotely.
• Automatically updates over WiFi.
• Extensive customization capabilities.
• The user interface is very easy for anyone to use.
• Seamless integrations with lots of apps and services.
• Works flawlessly with Orange Pi 3 LTS, Raspberry Pi3B+, and Raspberry Pi4B.

Cons

• It doesn’t include a smart assistant.
• The combined cost of the hardware and software makes it more expensive than a lot of its counterparts.
• You have to pay monthly subscription fees to access all features and integrations.

Also Read: Echo Show 8 Review

Wrapping It Up

There’s no denying the functional and aesthetic value of the Dakboard wall display. It’s an efficient tool for organizing your busy schedule and displaying relevant information for your business or household.

It’s relatively easy to set up and you have the freedom to personalize it however you want. Anyone looking for a powerhouse digital organization device can certainly benefit from owning one.

Although the price may raise eyebrows, the benefits it brings to the table seem to justify the investment.