Is the Nix digital picture frame any good?
The Nix digital picture frame is part of the Nixplay family. They come in four sizes; 9.7-inch, 10.1-inch, 13.3-inch, and 15.6-inch. These are premium frames designed to compete with the best on the market. They all feature Wi-Fi connectivity and come with an optional monthly subscription that unlocks video playback and lets you send and play 1-minute video clips. This subscription also unlocks multi-frame control (up to 10 connected frames).
Perhaps the biggest issue with the Nix digital picture frame is the 16:9 aspect ratio. In practice, you’ll find that most of your photos will either be cropped or surrounded by black pillar bars. Most of the photos we take on our digital cameras and smartphones have a 4:3 aspect ratio. If you want these pictures to fill the screen of a 16:9 digital frame, you need to crop and adjust them before sending them to the frame.
The auto-rotate feature doesn’t work very well when sending photos from the app – especially with iOS devices. You’ll find that many portrait pictures are displayed in landscape mode, only taking up a very small space in the center of the screen. These frames can also wake up when you’re nearby, thanks to the inbuilt motion sensor. Unfortunately, this feature doesn’t work very well in low light.
Subscription models are quite a dividing topic as they often unlock features that are offered for free on competing frames. The Nixplay Plus subscription unlocks multi-frame control and longer video playback of up to 1-minute. Frames like the Pix-Star offer 2-minutes of video playback, and the ability to control up to 25 connected frames for free – no subscription.
Slideshow photo playback order is another area where the Nix digital picture frame could do better. You don’t have great control over the play order of the photos within slideshows, and the numbering system isn’t intuitive. You’ll find that it takes a lot of time to manually rename and organize photos before sending them to the frame to be viewed in a specific order. Randomized slideshows are also quite buggy and display some photos very frequently while ignoring many others.
There is also limited USB/SD card support as none of the Nix frames have card ports. This means that loading pictures to the frame without Wi-Fi is a lot more challenging. You can still view photos that have already been saved but can’t send new ones until you reconnect to Wi-Fi. Even then, many of the photos that were sent during the frame’s offline time will need to be resent as backlogged photos often aren’t downloaded and saved.
In summary, while the Nix digital picture frame is meant to compete against many of the industry titans, it doesn’t do a great job. With frames like the Pix-Star offering free-for-life cloud storage, no additional subscriptions, and free features that exceed what you get with Nix frames – it gets hard to justify spending more money for less functionality.
How to send photos to the Nix digital picture frame?
The best way to send photos to the Nix digital picture frame is via the mobile app. This lets you send photos and videos (if you have the Nixplay Plus subscription) to the frame from anywhere. They’ll be saved to the frame’s internal storage once received.
Nix digital frames don’t have card slots, meaning you can’t load photos to the frame while offline. There is also the option to receive photos via shared photos and albums from other frame owners in the family – but this feature also requires the Nixplay Plus monthly subscription.
You can download photos from the family cloud storage, though this storage (up to 50GB) is also locked behind the Nixplay Plus subscription paywall. Bear in mind that you need to add the sender as a friend before you can receive photos from their account.
How does the Nix digital picture frame compare with the Pix-Star?
Pix-Star’s frame is one of the best frames on the market at the moment. Offering extensive features and functions, an easy-to-use interface that suited to elderly users, no subscriptions or additional costs, and free-for-life cloud storage – Pix-Star’s frame has quickly become the “to-beat” leader.
You can send photos from anywhere in the world directly to your frame, or any Pix-Star frame you have the unique email address of. You can send via email, mobile app, via importing external albums through the web interface, and by attaching the photos to an email to the frame’s unique address. All received photos are saved to the Pix-Star’s internal storage and can be used offline.
Another great way to get photos on your frame is by linking them directly to your (or your family members’) social media and photo-sharing platforms and accounts. The selected albums in each account will be automatically synced and saved on your frame (and can be viewed offline). Each time new photos are added or removed from the linked albums; they’ll be automatically updated on your frame. It’s a great way to make sure everyone in the family can view all the photos without having to lift a finger.
Unlike the Nix digital picture frame, you can control up to 25 connected frames from a single user account without any additional subscriptions. Frames can be remotely controlled; whereby you can change settings, start and control slideshows, adjust brightness & color settings. You can also play videos up to 2-minutes in length without subscriptions either.
Pix-Star’s frame is a great choice for large families and those that want to include grandparents and no-so-tech-savvy loved ones. It’s very easy to set up and use, while still offering one of the most versatile and robust feature sets on the market.
Can the Nix digital picture frame play videos?
Nix digital picture frames can play video clips up to 1-minute long if you have the Nixplay Plus subscription. Without this subscription, you can’t send videos to the frame via the app. This also can be done via SD card as there are no SD card ports on the frame.
Can the Nix digital picture frame be wall mounted?
Nix digital picture frames have wall-mounting holes on the back of the frame. You need to remove the detachable stand first and make sure that there’s a power outlet very close to the unit. It would have been nice to see a standard VESA mount, though wall mounting holes gets the job done relatively well.
