What is Wirecutter’s best digital frame for 2022?
Wirecutter firmly places the Aura digital frame as its favorite frame of 2022. Aura’s digital frames have great displays, relatively versatile features, and an aesthetic design. Unfortunately, aside from their high-resolution displays, Aura’s frames are missing several key features required of any modern Wi-Fi digital frame – such as USB/SD card support, internal storage, video and audio playback, and more.
Aura’s digital frames are arguably one of the most expensive sub-15-inch Wi-Fi frames on the market. Much of this is due to the cost of the display panel. High-resolution displays on digital frames are very common, so they’re harder and more expensive to source. The issue here is that you won’t tell the difference between a 2K digital frame and a 1024×768 frame from across the room (but you will see slight differences upon close inspection).
The high cost of these panels leads to features being sacrificed. In Aura’s case, features like offline usage, USB/SD card, internal storage, and a sub-par mobile app. These are all key features that competing frames like the Pix-Star offer at a much lower price point.
Aura’s frames don’t interconnect well either. This means that you cannot control all of your Aura digital frames at the same time, remotely or otherwise. For comparison, Pix-Star lets you manage and control up to 25 Pix-Star frames from one account. You can adjust their settings, start slideshows, import photos from external sources like social media, manage cloud storage, and more.
Aura’s frames don’t work offline – and this is a big problem, particularly for elderly users. They’re 100% reliant on a constant connection with Aura’s cloud servers. If these servers go down, or your frame loses its connection (which happens often), you can’t view or manage your photos. To Aura’s credit, they don’t charge monthly fees as Skylight and Nixplay frames do (which we recommend avoiding).
If you’re looking for the best digital frame for 2022, we recommend looking elsewhere. Aura’s digital frame is just one of many premium frames worth looking at. If you want a digital frame for the family, Pix-Star’s frames are one of the most capable and feature-rich options. They’re also well suited to elderly users and fill in the spaces left by Aura’s sacrificed features.
Pix-Star doesn’t charge monthly fees and has a host of unique features like web albums (from social media) and remote configuration support. they’re available with either a 10-inch or an increasingly popular 15-inch display.
Are the digital frames recommended by Wirecutter worth it?
Wirecutter tends to take a very narrow approach to its digital frame reviews. Many of the frames are picked for their sensational aspect. For example, they highlight Aura frames due to their high-resolution display, yet they ignore the host of issues related to missing USB/SD card support, no internal storage, and no video & audio support. Wirecutter also highlights the Frameo digital frame for its modern touchscreen – but ignore the extremely limited feature set, no web interface, and heavily reduced longevity (due to the inherent issues with touchscreen digital frames).
This tunnel vision approach limits the effectiveness of Wirecutter’s digital frame reviews. Too much weight is placed on features and attributes that don’t pack enough power to cater to the modern home & family. We recommend spending some time browsing through the Wi-Fi digital frame selection on Amazon. Here you can read through hundreds of reviews, Q&As, and in-depth descriptions on each of the premium Wi-Fi frames.
Does Wirecutter recommend the Pix-Star digital frame?
Wirecutter glosses over many of the best Wi-Fi digital frames like the Pix-Star, Dragon Touch, and other top options. In turn, they highlight “paper power” digital frames like the Aura frame. “Paper power” here refers to their great feature set on paper, but underwhelming real-world performance. Wirecutter does this by focusing on a narrow set of features that seem impactful but create a host of issues upon further inspection.
When you directly compare Pix-Star and Aura frames, you’ll find that Pix-Star offers a lot more for a lot less. You can view slideshows from a connected USB/SD card, there’s 8GB of internal storage, and you can play 2-minute video clips & audio files. Pix-Star’s frames can include videos in slideshows, connect to external speakers, and send/receive videos via the mobile app.
Along with these features that Aura doesn’t offer, you get additional advanced features like free-for-life cloud storage, web albums, online access, and remote configuration support. Web albums let you import photo albums from a dozen social media, photo-sharing, and online storage platforms. They’re saved to the Pix-Star’s internal storage and are available offline.
The remote configuration feature lets you manage and control up to 25 Pix-Star frames from one account. Use the web interface to adjust their settings, start slideshows, manage local and cloud storage, and much more. It’s excellent for families, easy to use & set up, and lets you get grandparents effortlessly involved. It’s a surprise that frames like the Pix-Star doesn’t get more attention on Wirecutter – the value for money is hard to deny!
Does Wirecutter sell a digital frame?
Wirecutter doesn’t manufacture or sell digital frames. they are a tech-review site that discusses, reviews, and advises on technology and devices in different spheres of the tech industry. Digital picture frames are one of those categories – but are far from being their main focus. Wirecutter is by no means an expert review site for digital frames – a commonly misunderstood device with a lot of nuances.
There is some valuable information on popular digital frames if you’re new to the market – but take it with a pinch of salt. The reviews are rather narrow and ignore a ton of details that only become obvious upon closer inspection. By all means, you should read through what they have to say – but balance it out with what you see on Amazon’s digital frame reviews, FAQs, Q&As, etc.
Can I trust Wirecutter’s digital frame reviews?
You should read through Wirecutter’s digital frame reviews, but don’t put too much weight on what they have to say. It’s an affiliate site so there’s motivation to push more expensive frames. Wirecutter loves recommending the Aura frame, which just happens to be one of the most expensive in its size range. To do this, they ignore a lot of Aura’s issues and only focus on a couple of their best features, namely the display resolution and aesthetic appeal. There’s much more that goes into making a digital frame worthwhile, as you’ll find higher up in this guide!
