What are the most important features to look for in a digital wall frame?
When you’re looking for a great digital wall frame for your home, you need to know your budget and available space beforehand. We always advise going for a higher-end premium digital wall frame as the increase in price is small when compared to the massive boost in versatility and functionality.
Perhaps the most important feature of a digital wall frame is the display. Avoid any frame under 10-inches (screen size) as they have quite narrow viewing angles and are often too small to see from across the room. 10-inch digital frames offer the best balance between price and performance, but larger 12 & 15-inch frames can be excellent if they’re within your budget.
The display should have a broad viewing angle of at least 100 degrees with at least 250cd/m2 of brightness. Resolution should be above 800×600 and have a 4:3 aspect ratio to avoid unnecessary image cropping, distortion, and annoying black bars around each picture.
Another essential feature of a digital wall frame is Wi-Fi and cloud capabilities. Wi-Fi lets you send photos to the frame through handy mediums like mobile apps & web interfaces, email, and by importing photos from external sources. Without Wi-Fi, the only way to send photos to the frame is by USB/SD card and relying on internal storage.
Cloud storage lets you back up and manages your photos and store them remotely. This is the case with frames like the Pix-Star as you can log in to the web interface to make changes to your frame’s storage, start slideshows remotely, and much more.
One feature worth avoiding on a digital wall frame is a touchscreen. Fingerprints on digital photo frames are like the plague was to 14th-century Europe – something you just can’t get rid of. This is especially bad for digital frames as fingerprints can ruin the viewing experience and make it tough to see the screen at a distance/angle.
Touchscreens are more expensive than non-touch panels in sizes larger than 8-inches. They’re more prone to scratches and less durable overall.
Is the Pix-Star 15-inch digital wall frame worth it?
Pix-Star’s 15-inch digital frame is one of the most versatile large frames on the market. There aren’t many digital wall frames to choose from in the 15-inch range and up. Pix-Star’s frame supports a standard VESA mount to securely mount the frame on the wall in either orientation. Full Wi-Fi connectivity and free-for-life unlimited cloud storage make the Pix-Star a very capable frame.
You can send photos to the frame in just a couple of seconds using the mobile app. Additionally, you can link your favorite photo albums from popular social media and photo-sharing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos, and more. These are directly linked and synced to your frame; they’re also saved to internal storage so you can use them offline.
The Pix-Star’s 4:3 display uses a sharp and color-accurate 1024×768 screen to bring your photos to life. You can adjust the hue and saturation of the screen to further enhance or balance your photos. When you mix in multimedia support, the Pix-Star frame can fit any theme, mood, room, or scene comfortably.
There are no recurring fees or subscriptions to unlock the mobile app, video playback, remote control, or cloud storage. Everything comes free and ready to go the moment you buy the frame. Setup is quick and simple and just requires you to connect to Wi-Fi. Even if you’re not in a Wi-Fi area, the Pix-Star digital wall frame can work without Wi-Fi through a combination of 8GB internal storage and USB/SD card support.
How to mount a digital wall frame?
Digital frames that have been designed to support wall mounting come with either dedicated hanging holes or support a standard VESA mount. Many premium frames like the Pix-Star support using a standard VESA mount as it offers a very secure and versatile mount that doesn’t restrict access to the USB/SD card ports or power inlet. It also lets you mount the frame in either landscape or portrait orientation.
Before mounting the digital frame on the wall, make sure you test the common viewing angles for that room. You want to avoid reflections from windows from angles you’ll most commonly look at the frame. Make sure to keep the frame out of direct sunlight and far enough from the window to gather dust. You should also avoid placing the frame in a humid spot like a bathroom or a hot place like the kitchen.
If it’s possible, run the power inlet cable through a hole in the wall to achieve a clean and minimalistic look. It’s slightly harder to do, but well worth it if done right. You can also clip the cable to the wall to get the setup looking clean.
Can I remotely control a Pix-Star digital wall frame?
Pix-Star’s digital wall frames can be remotely controlled through the Pix-Star web interface. Once you’ve logged into your dashboard, you can remotely control any connected frame. You can change settings like brightness, hue, saturation, start and manage slideshows, make changes to web albums, view and create folders & albums, change slideshow styles, and much more. You essentially have the same level of control over your frame that you’d have if you were using it in person.
What’s the best way to send photos to a digital wall frame?
The best and simplest way to send photos to a digital wall frame is via the mobile app. For example, the Pix-Star Snap mobile app lets you send up to 250 photos to multiple frames at the same time. You can natively record and capture photos, videos, and audio inside the app. Alternatively, you’re able to send entire folders and collections from your phone’s gallery directly to your frame.
Mobile apps are arguably the easiest way to send photos as they have fewer restrictions than other methods (email for example) and offer the convenience of sending from a smartphone – which we carry with us almost all the time. You’re far more likely to capture special memories on your phones than you’d be to get them on a camera.
