We dive into the photo frame electronic world to show you how everything works. From learning about the best electronic photo frames, to what you should look for – we help you get the best value for your money. Learn what features matter most, how they work, and which frame is the best fit for your home. Let’s get started!
What is the best photo frame electronic model for 2021?
Pix-Star’s electronic photo frame is arguably the best on the market in 2021 – both for its price and features. You get full Wi-Fi and cloud capabilities and functionality, along with free-for-life cloud storage, a mobile app, and an intuitive web interface. All of these elements come together to bring you a great value-for-money frame that effortlessly tops most other premium digital frames.
Unlike competing frames like the Skylight and Nixplay frames, Pix-Star doesn’t charge any extra subscription or hidden fees to unlock specific features and functions. With both Skylight and Nixplay (and several other top frames), the subscription fee unlocks various features like video playback support, cloud storage (and expanding your allotted storage), and the use of the mobile app/web interface. These features are all offered to a greater extent and completely free on the Pix-Star – giving it an innate edge over most other competing frames.
Slideshows can be customized to suit almost every scenario with fine control over transition type, speed, and style. You can control the play order and frequency of photos in slideshows and can select specific folders and albums to start slideshows from. This ensures you always see the photos your want to depending on the situation. The Pix-Star digital photo frame can play music or radio stations over slideshows too. Read here to learn more about digital photo frames with music.
Perhaps Pix-Star’s most unique feature is the mobile app and web interface. They let you send and import photos to your frame from anywhere in the world. The Pix-Star Snap mobile app lets you send photos, videos, and audio messages directly to multiple frames at the same time. The web interface lets you import photos and albums from social media, photo-sharing, and online storage platforms including Facebook, Google Photos, Dropbox, Instagram, Flickr, and more.
You can control any connected frame remotely via the web interface from anywhere in the world. Here you can change your Pix-Star frame’s settings, start and change slideshows, manage both internal and cloud storage for any connected frame, and much more. It’s an excellent feature for elderly users that want to get involved with the rest of the family but don’t have the technical know-how to do so. It’s also a fantastic feature for big families – especially those that are spread all over the state/country/world.
Pix-Star’s balanced performance and ultra-competitive price point make it a top pick among premium electronic photo frames. It gives you great value and is one of the most robust and complete feature sets on the market. An elderly-friendly design and extensive offline functionality make the Pix-Star a great pick for almost any home and situation – making sure you are never more than just a few moments from your loved ones and most precious memories.
Can an electronic photo frame play videos and audio?
Some electronic photo frames can play videos and audio files, but it’s not a widely offered feature. It’s generally only limited to a handful of the top digital photo frames like the Pix-Star. Even among these top electronic frames, video playback is often locked behind a subscription paywall (as is the case with Skylight, Nixplay, and several other top frames).
Video playback is almost always limited by its maximum length and format. At the shorter end, some frames like the Nixplay only offer 15-second video playback support. At the other end, electronic frames like the Pix-Star offer video support for clips up to 2-minutes.
Videos usually need to be sent to the frame by USB/SD card and saved to the frame’s internal storage before they can be viewed. In some rarer cases as with the Pix-Star, videos can be sent for free using the Pix-Star Snap mobile app. While other electronic picture frames like the Skylight have mobile apps, you have to pay for the premium subscription fee to unlock the ability to send photos to the frame through the mobile app.
How to send pictures to a photo frame electronically?
Not all electronic photo frames support sending photos wirelessly. The vast majority of cheap to mid-range digital frames can only receive pictures by loading them to a compatible USB/SD card and copying them across to the frame’s internal storage. Some electronic frames have a plug-and-play feature that lets you play slideshows directly off the USB/SD card without having to copy the contents first.
With leading frames like the Pix-Star, you can send pictures to your photo frame electronically in multiple ways. One of the most convenient is with the Pix-Star Snap mobile app. You can send videos, photos, and audio notes (up to 250 pictures at the same time) to multiple frames at the same time.
The web interface is used to import photo albums from external sources like social media and photo-sharing profiles – or directly from your computer to your frame. These web albums are saved to internal storage and can be viewed offline.
Photo-mail is one of Pix-Star’s strongest and best-established sending methods. Pix-Star created the idea of the digital frame with an email address. Simply add the pictures as attachments to the email and send them to your frame’s dedicated email address.
Finally, Pix-Star supports some less common methods to get pictures to your frame, including RSS Feeds, Samba, and a few others.
Are electronic photo frames battery-powered?
Battery-operated electronic photo frames are not nearly as common as you’d think. This is because battery life and longevity are major issues – especially as digital frames are meant to display photos for most of the day. This results in the battery quickly wearing out or requiring frequent recharging; which in turn negates the benefit of going battery-powered.
Almost all premium electronic photo frames run on normal power, not batteries. This enables more power-intensive features like Wi-Fi and cloud connectivity, bigger and brighter displays, and feature-rich functionality – something that battery-operated frames struggle to achieve. Learn more about battery-operated digital picture frames here.
Should I buy an electronic photo frame with a touchscreen?
We usually advise you to avoid buying an electronic picture frame with a touchscreen if the display size is 8-inches or larger. This is due to the reduced longevity and durability of touchscreens when compared to non-touch panels. Fingerprints leave oil residue on the display which can be very tough to remove, especially on matte finish displays.
Scratching is another area for concern and touchscreens are significantly more expensive for display panels larger than 7-8-inches. All in all, it’s not worth paying all that extra money or sacrificing features for the sake of having a touchscreen.
