What is the best value for money frame to get at the moment?
Pix-Star’s 10-inch frames are arguably the best value for money digital picture frames on the market at the moment. You get free-for-life cloud storage, access to both a mobile app & web interface, the ability to send & receive photos, videos, and audio messages from anywhere in the world, and much more.
Pix-Star’s frames offer extensive offline functionality with automatic cloud backups and automatic local saves (except inserted USB/SD cards – though photos and videos can be effortlessly transferred to local storage). Pix-Star’s plug & play feature lets you play slideshows directly from an inserted USB/SD card, and offers tons of slideshow customizations.
These frames are cheaper than most other premium digital frames and outperform almost all competing frames in terms of versatility and functionality. There are no extra fees and they’re one of the only premium digital picture frames that cater to families, elderly users, and the tech-savvy individual – all at the same time.
How to find a value for money digital picture frame?
To find the best value-for-money digital picture frame for your home & family, start by writing down the most important features you need. Does your family like sharing short video clips & audio messages? Do you share a lot of pictures every week? If so, you’ll need a digital picture frame with video & audio support, along with cloud storage & automatic backups.
Wi-Fi connectivity lets you share photos from anywhere in the world. This is often done through mobile apps, web interfaces, email, and more. It’s an essential feature for families, which ties in closely with family-focused features like remote control functionality. Here you can remotely control & manage all your frames (often through the web interface) from anywhere in the world.
If you and your loved ones take most of your photos and video clips on smartphones, you’ll need a digital picture frame with a 4:3 aspect ratio. This ensures that photos match by aspect ratio, letting them use the digital frame’s full display. It enhances immersion and avoids common issues with cropping, distortion, or photos being boxed into the center of the display.
Are cheap digital picture frames good value for money?
Cheap digital picture frames might seem to offer great value for money on paper – though this is seldom the case in the real world. A horde of issues ranging from poor quality control and lack of essential features like Wi-Fi to tiny displays and next to zero control over slideshows, leave these frames with little to offer.
When you consider that many mid-range – and even premium frames – are often not a whole lot more expensive, it’s hard to justify buying cheap frames. They will only last a couple of months at the most and can’t cater to the modern home or family. There’s no way to interconnect them or remotely manage all of your frames.
We rarely recommend buying a cheap digital picture frame for many of the reasons listed above. We suggest saving up a little longer and getting a more premium digital frame. While the base price is higher, they more effortlessly connect you with your loved ones – no matter where they are in the world. It’s easy to share and stay connected, along with enjoying highly customized and immersive slideshows and viewing experiences.
Are large digital picture frames good value for money?
Large digital picture frames can offer great value for money when chosen well. They’re more expensive than another popular size like the 10-inch digital picture frame – but they serve a different purpose. While 10-inch digital frames can fit into almost setting, large digital picture frames (12-inches and up) are often better wall-mounted, used for families, and for showcasing professional art and photography.
Large digital picture frames often have all the same features as smaller frames – just with more screen brightness and larger displays. It’s essential to get a large digital frame with a 4:3 aspect ratio since that better matches the photos we take on our smartphones. Most cameras shoot in 3:2, which is far better displayed on a 4:3 aspect ratio than shorted and wider displays like 16:9 and 16:10.
Pix-Star’s 15-inch large digital picture frame is one of the best value for money options on the market today. You get free-for-life cloud storage, video support, web albums, Wi-Fi & cloud features, a 4:3 aspect ratio, versatile slideshows, and much more.
Do good value for money digital picture frames offer cloud storage?
Cloud storage is a feature that’s most commonly found among the best value for money digital picture frames – particularly those in the premium range. Top-ranking frames like the Pix-Star offer free-for-life cloud storage, though this is far from a universally offered feature. In many cases, cloud storage is limited in one form or another.
For instance, both Nixplay and Skylight digital picture frames charge an additional annual subscription fee to unlock and/or expand features like cloud storage and video support. We don’t recommend going for frames that charge extra recurring fees as the overall cost of the frame over its life is far more expensive than almost any other frame in the premium range.
As with Pix-Star’s frames, cloud storage is free and there are no hidden costs. Cloud backups are automatic and copies are also saved locally for offline access. This means that Pix-Star’s frames have extensive offline use, along with capable and versatile online connectivity.
Perhaps one of the best cloud-enabled features of Pix-Star’s frames is their remote-control functionality. Here you can manage and control up to 25 connected Pix-Star frames from a single user account from anywhere in the world. This includes adjusting their settings, starting and managing slideshows, making changes to local & cloud storage, updating firmware, and much more.
It’s a unique feature that adds massive value for money – especially when paired with web album support (the ability to import photos directly to your frames from external sources such as social media & photo-sharing sites).
If you’re going to get a premium digital photo frame, we suggest getting one with both cloud storage and automatic cloud backups. That being said, you don’t want a digital picture frame that needs a constant connection to the cloud or Wi-Fi to work. These are very limited and don’t offer much offline functionality. For example, Aura digital picture frames cannot function unless they’re connected to Wi-Fi and the company cloud servers.
