“From a technology standpoint, and from an Evolv standpoint, everything we’ve done from wattage, in the beginning, has layered one thing on top of another,” says Brandon from Evolv. “Our goal is to solve the e-cigarette. We’re different from cigarettes in that way. Cigarettes are an agricultural product these are engineered products, and with engineered products you can change them. Problem? Oh great, we can fix that.”
So, here it comes: the Evolv DNA75C. It’s another layer on top of the products produced by Evolv, to take out the glitches and add in more usability & ease of function. The C in DNA75C stands for “colour”, obvious from the first glimpse at the large new colour display, but there’s more to it than that. “I almost wish we hadn’t put ‘colour’ in the name,” Brandon explains. “That’s not what’s really cool about this. We listen, we listen carefully.”
What Evolv heard was that no matter how much people liked the DNA chips, they wouldn’t recommend them to new vapers or users looking for a simple experience. He added: “We wanted to take all the power and functionality of the DNA, which people love because it does temperature control extremely well, and make it simpler to use.”
The big changes Evolv has made are all “under the hood”, according to Vape Droid. The old 75 proved itself to be “a reliable, consistent and accurate chip. You can’t ask for much more than that.” So, rather than reinventing something, Evolv has implemented a series of tweaks to make what was good even better.
“It took the industry a long while to come over to wattage. It took them a lot less time to come over to temperature,” continues Brandon.
This is a massive leap forward in form and function that raises the bar for all boards. Power delivery has been improved, temperature control is more accurate and efficient. All of the chat on the Evolv forum points to the board being suitable for a single battery device, like the DNA75 before it. The board will have enough energy storage to preserve the clock through quick battery changeovers, but the device monitor will also correct the chipsets time whenever it connects to a device. Also, according to an Evolv forum admin, “if you use ECigStats, it will correct the time after it synchronizes with the device (if you have made one or more puffs since the last time you plugged in).”
What we have ascertained, although no data has been released on the Evolv site yet, is that the screen is 160x80px. It will be able to operate in both orientations. At any time, it can hold up to three background images of any dimension. The chipset will accommodate any font; up to three different sizes, and they can be from different font families.
Escribe was recognised as being a brilliant advance at the time, but some didn’t get on with it – and Mac OS users didn’t have the option unless they ran it in a Wine app or a virtual engine. Casual vapers weren’t keen on hooking up to a PC either. Now the functionality has been put onto the board, so vapers can adjust settings on the mod itself.
Evolv’s “Theme Designer” is a second piece of software, separate from Escribe, designed to make simplicity the operational byword. It places the functionality on the device itself rather than by hooking it up to a computer, and everything is customisable.
It will allow everyone to adjust the background image, the fonts, the colours, logos, screen appearance all on the fly. While this will appeal to many, it doesn’t cover all of the advantages offered up by the new chipset. Should you wish, you can now change all of the menu systems so that you can change screen content, order, how they interact with each other and you can upload you own gauges to identify things like temperature, battery level and so on. It means the mod can have a menu that is as simple or as complex as the user desires – rather than being laid down by the chip manufacturer. Also, this means that individual mod producers can design devices with a unique experience for their customers.
Some vapers will be saying to themselves “hang on, this doesn’t sound simple at all. It sounds like I’m going to have to do a load of design work.” Good point, but no. Evolv are going to open up something they call ‘The Theme Park’. It will build on all of the work and community sharing that took place following the launch of the DNA200. Generous souls who want to show off their themes can upload them to Theme Park where others can look at them and, if they wish, download them in their entirety for use on their mods.
It comes with an extra select button, which can be seen in operation on Vape Droid’s prototype. While some might see this as added bulk, the Evolv admin explains: “It really does need an extra select button, when you get your hands on one you will see how easy it is to use, being able to change your resistance and preheat when you are out and about is awesome.”
VapnFagan demonstrates a Lost Vape Therion prototype utilising the new Evolv DNA75C below:
