Does the Nixplay Smart 10.1 digital picture frame have a monthly fee?
The Nixplay Smart 10.1-inch digital picture frame has an optional subscription called Nixplay Plus. You can pay for Nixplay Plus monthly, quarterly, or annually.
Nixplay Plus grants access to most of Nixplay’s feature set. These features are typically locked behind the paywall. They’re either limited or not available when using the “free version”.
Nixplay Plus unlocks video and audio playback, letting you play 1-minute video clips. While Nixplay claims you can play 15-second clips without paying for Nixplay Plus, you’ll struggle to send them using the limited mobile app.
This premium subscription also grants access to Nixplay’s cloud storage. There’s a 10GB free allotment when you buy a Nixplay frame. Paying for Nixplay Plus expands this cloud storage to 50GB.
Multi-frame control groups are enabled by Nixplay Plus. Here you can manage up to 10 Nixplay frames from a single user account. For reference, Pix-Star’s frames (a top competitor) lets you manage up to 25 frames from one account – without paying any extra or recurring fees.
With Nixplay Plus, you can create up to 5 custom playlists. This lets you manage which photos and albums are included for specific slideshows. It’s a useful feature, but pales in comparison with competing frames like Pix-Star; which have an internal file explorer that lets you easily choose which files and folders to include in slideshows.
The main issue with Nixplay Plus is that it fails to deliver any sufficiently unique features that competing frames don’t.
For example, Pix-Star offers free-for-life cloud storage, 2-minute video clips, remote configuration support, social media imports, multi-frame control groups (with up to 25 frames), and more.
With Pix-Star, you don’t have to pay any extra recurring or hidden fees. All features come fully unlocked and are easy to set up.
Pix-Star also gives you full access to its mobile app (Pix-Star Snap); whereas Nixplay locks many of its features behind the paywall. You can’t easily share photos in bulk, send collections, or entire folders. Pix-Star offers all of these features – and more. You can share up to 250 photos in several frames at the same time.
We don’t recommend buying a digital frame that charges monthly or annual subscription fees. They can’t compete with non-subscription-based frames with similar feature sets. You’ll get less value for money and less versatile frames. Finally, in 2022, the last thing you want to do is add yet another subscription-based service to the ever-growing list.
Is the Nixplay Smart digital picture frame the best 10.1-inch frame?
The Nixplay Smart digital picture frame is a great 10.1-inch frame – but it’s not the best. There are too many glaring issues that hold Nixplay’s frames from taking the top spot.
For example, the Nixplay Plus subscription negatively impacts the frame’s overall value for money. It’s made worse since competing frames like the Pix-Star offer similar – and better – features without charging extra fees.
Nixplay’s frames have good build quality, a dependable interface, and a decent feature set. Quite a few features are missing, especially from slideshow customizations.
If you’re not going to buy the Nixplay Plus subscription, Nixplay’s frames perform more like mid-range frames with a good display. When you factor in the price of Nixplay Plus over the frame’s lifespan, Nixplay’s frames quickly become some of the most expensive on the market.
We recommend the Pix-Star 10-inch digital frame as arguably the best choice on the market at the moment. You get free-for-life cloud storage, one of the most robust feature sets, and unique features like remote configuration support and direct social media photo album imports.
Control and manage your Pix-Star frames from anywhere in the world using the web interface. They’re ideal for families, elderly users, and modern homes thanks to an intuitive interface and fluid mobile app. Pix-Star’s frames effortlessly cater to bulk photo-sharing and connecting with your loved ones in meaningful ways.
None of this is to say that Nixplay’s frames are bad. They simply lack some important features, that cheaper, non-subscription-based frames like the Pix-Star offer more robustly!
What aspect ratio does the Nixplay Smart digital picture frame 10.1-inch use?
The Nixplay Smart digital picture frame with a 10.1-inch display uses a 16:9 display. While this aspect ratio is better for families, it’s not ideal for displaying photos.
Most of our smartphones take pictures in 4:3; while most DSLRs are best used with 1:1, 3:2, and/or 4:3 aspect ratios.
Displaying 4:3 photos on 16:9 displays often results in black bars around photos, cropping, or even distortion in some cases. To avoid this, you’d need to manually edit and resize each photo before sending them to the frame.
Due to Nixplay’s heavy reliance on their mobile app, we’d expect an aspect ratio that better suits the photos we take on our smartphones.
This is why top digital Wi-Fi frames like the Pix-Star use a 4:3 aspect ratio. They display photos in full without needing editing or cropping. Slideshows are more immersive. You just need to hit send and enjoy your memories in full – just as they should be!
Does the Nixplay Smart 10.1-inch frame need Wi-Fi?
The Nixplay Smart 10.1-inch frame needs Wi-Fi to function properly. While Nixplay’s frames have 8GB of internal storage, this is only to temporarily hold photos when they’re synced from the cloud for slideshows.
Nixplay’s frames are primarily cloud-based. This means that they stream photos directly from the cloud for slideshows, holding them on the internal storage.
Nixplay claims to offer offline storage and access to photos. In practice, you’ll often be met with a “No network detected” notification when trying to access your photos without Wi-Fi.
Nixplay doesn’t offer USB/SD card support or a plug & play feature. For comparison, Pix-Star offers extensive offline functionality with its 8GB internal storage, USB/SD card support, plug & play feature, and unlimited USB/SD card size support.
Pix-Star lets you play slideshows from connected USB/SD cards without Wi-Fi – or needing to copy this content to the frame’s internal storage first.
