Are Tenker digital photo frames better than Pix-Star’s frames?
Tenker digital photo frames and Pix-Star’s frames are found on opposite ends of the digital frame market. Tenker’s frames are cheap and simple frames with very limited feature sets and below-average build quality. These aren’t frames you’ll keep around for a year or more – and they can’t cater to the needs of families & most elderly users. The software & technology feels very outdated and isn’t user-friendly.
Another key consideration is the Tenker digital photo frames have been discontinued. While they can still be found online (though rather inconsistently), they are out of production. They suffer from all the pitfalls of cheap digital frames such as cheap build quality, poor real-world performance, and limited functionality.
By comparison, Pix-Star’s digital photo frames are some of the most popular premium frames on the market. They’re known for their ease of use, elderly-friendly design, smooth interfaces, robust feature sets, free-for-life cloud storage, and extensive Wi-Fi connectivity. Pix-Star’s frames are available in either a 10-inch version or a larger 15-inch digital photo frame.
Pix-Star’s frames can send & receive photos, videos, and audio files from anywhere in the world. You can use the mobile app, email, web interface, and web album function to import photos to the frame. All received photos, videos, and audio files can be set to automatically backup to the cloud. They’re also automatically saved to the Pix-Star’s 8GB internal storage (including web albums) and are all available offline.
Pix-Star’s digital frames offer versatile slideshows that give you control over the play order & frequency at which photos play. Videos can be included in slideshows, and radio stations & music files can be played over slideshows. You can link up to 25 Pix-Star frames through multi-frame control groups and remotely control them to adjust settings, start & control slideshows, manage local & cloud storage, and much more.
We almost always recommend going for a more premium digital photo frame as the jump in versatility & functionality is far more significant than the jump in price. While this might mean you need to save up a little longer, you’ll get much better value for money – and digital frames that effortlessly cater to the needs of modern homes & families.
Are Tenker digital photo frames good for families?
Perhaps the most important feature to look for in digital photo frames for families is Wi-Fi and interconnectedness. These are essential as they let you send photos to other frames from anywhere in the world. It lays the foundations for advanced features like cloud storage and the ability to import photos directly from social media & photo-sharing sites.
Tenker digital photo frames aren’t Wi-Fi capable – meaning that you can only load photos to the frame by USB/SD card. There’s no way to remotely send media to your frames, and no way to connect the frames. Premium frames like the Pix-Star use Wi-Fi to let you send pictures from anywhere in the world, remotely control up to 25 connected frames from anywhere via the web interface, and have the ability to link web albums in just a couple of seconds.
Tenker digital photo frames aren’t great choices for families due to how isolated they are – though this is expected at this price point. The issue isn’t directly with Tenker’s frames, but rather with the common features (or lack thereof) at this end of the market. They struggle to find a place on the market due to essential features like Wi-Fi & cloud missing.
If you’re looking for a digital photo frame for families, look towards the higher end of the market. Make sure the frames can receive & send photos, videos, and audio files wirelessly. With many of the best digital photo frames, you can access a mobile app & web dashboard. These let you send several photos to multiple frames at the same time – but also pave the way for remote control functionality and web album support.
Can Tenker digital photo frames work without Wi-Fi?
Tenker digital photo frames are non-Wi-Fi digital photo frames. This means that they don’t support connecting to Wi-Fi networks, hotspot networks, or any mobile networks. Most cheap digital frames like the Tenker don’t support Wi-Fi connectivity.
Due to Wi-Fi connectivity not being supported, it means that you can’t connect to cloud storage services or any 3rd party services. Sadly, this also means that you won’t get any firmware updates in the future. Photos, videos, and audio files can only be loaded to the frame from an inserted SD card.
How do slideshows work on Tenker digital photo frames?
Slideshow controls are extremely limited on Tenker digital photo frames. In terms of play order, you only have the option to randomize the play order of photos saved on the inserted SD card. Due to very limited internal storage, it’s not an option to copy all of the photos from the SD card to local storage (which usually offers more slideshow controls).
There are a couple of different stylistic effects that you can choose for slideshows. While you can’t set photos to display as static images, you can set slides to change infrequently, letting you use the frame for displaying art and special photos. Aside from these very basic controls & settings, you have almost no control over slideshows. This is very common for cheap digital frames, so it’s nothing out of the ordinary here. It’s one of the key reasons we rarely recommend choosing a cheap digital frame over premium digital photo frames.
Can Tenker digital photo frames play videos & display art?
Tenker digital photo frames can play video and audio files, along with three popular photo file formats. Video files are supported in 7 different formats, though this is just on paper. In practice, you’ll have the best luck with common formats like MP4 – and the same applies to audio files. It’s worth noting that these frames have very limited internal storage space, so it’s not recommended to keep a lot of video & audio files.
Art can be displayed on Tenker digital photo frames, so long as they match the frame’s file format restrictions. Make sure that the artwork matches the frame’s native display resolution (1024×600) to avoid wasting the limited onboard storage space, and to reduce the chances of photos not displaying. You should also try to match the frame’s aspect ratio and orientation. While there is an auto-rotate feature, it seldom works as intended.
