Is the Atatat digital photo frame the best?
The Atatat digital photo frame is very new to the digital frame market – especially when compared to the current industry leaders like Pix-Star, Aura, Nixplay, and Skylight.
The Atatat digital frame seems like a steal on paper. Premium features and functionality for a price tag barely higher than what mid-range digital frame cost.
What could go wrong? A lot, unfortunately.
Firstly, Atatat digital photo frames don’t offer cloud storage. Instead, you get internal storage and USB/SD card support. Like some top digital frames such as the Pix-Star, Atatat frames let you play slideshows directly off connected USB/SD cards – but it’s very slow. Oftentimes, only a handful of photos will cycle, with most remaining photos never displaying.
Atatat’s digital photo frames can only play 15-second video clips and cannot play them alongside photos. There’s no internal file explorer for selecting which files and folders to include in slideshows. You don’t have much – if any – control over the play order of slideshows or the frequency at which photos show up.
Additionally, there are no advanced features like remote configuration and photo imports from social media. These are features that Pix-Star’s digital frames do best – without costing much more than the Atatat digital photo frame.
Another common complaint about Atatat’s digital photo frames is their poor build quality. It’s part of the reason why they can afford to offer a lower price for a similar display resolution and relatively robust feature set.
When you break it down and compare the features with what Pix-Star offer, you quickly realize that Atatat’s frames don’t offer great value for money – despite their lower price point.
Build quality and image quality both drastically misses the mark. Photos often don’t display if they are larger than a specific size (almost all smartphones take quite large photos) which negates much of the mobile app’s purpose.
We recommend going with an established digital photo frame brand like the Pix-Star. There are also other options like Nixplay and Skylight, though they charge monthly subscription fees (something we also recommend avoiding).
How to send photos to the Atatat digital photo frame?
You can send photos to the Atatat digital photo frame by email, mobile app, and USB/SD card. The mobile app is the most preferable of these methods – but comes with strict limitations.
Large photos (like those commonly taken on most premium smartphones) won’t display on the frame. You’ll get a pop-up message saying the file format isn’t readable. Since there is no re-sizing feature on the frame, you need to do this manually before sending the photos.
There’s also email support that lets you send pictures and small video clips to the Atatat digital photo frame over email. Note that the same size restrictions apply to both video and photo files. You can only send video clips with a maximum size of 25MB – and the frame only supports video clips with a maximum length of 15-seconds.
The final photo-sharing method that Atatat supports is via USB/SD card. Plug & Play is supported, meaning that you can play slideshows directly off the inserted USB/SD card (maximum size of 128GB). You don’t need to copy any of the photos or videos to the frame’s internal storage.
Note that video files can’t play alongside photos in slideshows, even when played directly from USB/SD cards. A common complaint against Atatat’s USB/SD card feature is that its often unusably slow. Photos take forever to copy or load. Additionally, Atatat’s frames are known to only pay a fraction of the available photos, cycling through them repeatedly.
Does the Atatat digital frame offer cloud storage?
The Atatat digital frame does not offer cloud storage. It relies on internal storage and USB/SD card support to store photos for both online and offline access.
Cloud storage is typically a feature offered by only the best digital frames. For example, the Pix-Star digital frame offer free-for-life cloud storage for each of its frames. You get access to this cloud storage when you register the frame via the web interface.
Even among the best digital frames, some require monthly subscriptions to unlock and expand upon features like cloud storage. For example, both Skylight and Nixplay frame offer cloud storage but lock most of it behind their “Plus” subscription paywall.
Atatat digital frames don’t have the cloud features necessary to allow cloud storage. That being said, you can store photos externally on a USB/SD card. Use the plug & play feature to start slideshows directly from the connected USB/SD card without having to copy anything to the frame’s internal storage.
While this may seem like a great feature, most of the top digital picture frames offer it to some extent or other. Pix-Star’s frames, for example, offer unlimited USB/SD card support; whereas Atatat digital frames limit their maximum size to 128GB.
Can the Atatat photo frame mount on the wall?
The Atatat photo frame can mount on the wall – but with limitations. There’s no way to mount the frame in portrait on the wall and it doesn’t come with a standard VESA mount. The result is a less-than-ideal wall mount in terms of sturdiness.
Another common complaint is that the Atatat digital frame has an extremely narrow viewing angle. You need to stand almost directly in front of the display to see the image. Just a couple of degrees off to the side or top-bottom and you’ll struggle to view the picture.
Note that the Atatat digital photo frame doesn’t support portrait orientation when rested on a flat surface using the frame’s stand.
Does the Atatat digital photo frame play videos?
The Atatat digital photo frame only supports playing videos with a maximum length of 15-seconds or a maximum size of 25MB. Note that you can send video clips to the frame through both the mobile app and via email.
Unlike top digital photo frames like the Pix-Star, Atatat frames don’t let you include videos in slideshows alongside photos and other media. While you can play music over slideshows, you still have to choose between videos or photos for each slideshow.
