Is the Smartparts digital picture frame any good?
The Smartparts digital picture frame is a mid-range frame. It doesn’t feature any Wi-Fi capability and is offline. The only way to send pictures and other media to a Smartparts digital picture frame is via a compatible USB or memory card – and they’ll need to be left plugged into the frame at all times.
While the Smartparts digital picture is relatively cheap, you get what you pay for. Functionality is extremely limited and there are only a couple of basic features that are available; some of which don’t work well in practice. Build quality is average at best, though there have been some reports of the frame not lasting very long when it’s left turned on all the time.
USB drives and memory cards are used to load pictures onto the Smartparts digital picture frame, but compatibility is limited and you’ll often run into issues when trying to load media. The frame’s internal storage is tiny at 128MB. Compare this is higher-end frame like the Pix-Star that has 8GB of internal flash storage and it’s hard to justify the gap.
The 8” display is low resolution and photos/videos seldom appear sharp and clear. That being said, the 4:3 aspect ratio is a nice save and means photos don’t have to be cropped as often.
The biggest issue with the Smartparts digital picture frame is its outdated user interface and connectivity. It’s very difficult to connect to a Mac and only Windows XP and 2000 are supported. This is unfortunate as connecting directly to a computer is one of the Smartparts digital picture frame’s main selling points.
You don’t have a lot of control over slideshow speed (despite their claim) and can only choose between 3 very similar settings; slow, normal, and fast. It’s also very difficult to set the frame to display loaded photos in any kind of sequence or specific order. You have to manually rename, crop, and organize the photos before loading and viewing them on the frame – and it still frequently gets it wrong.
Pictures in .jpg format are often cut off at the bottom – even when you manually resize them to the frame’s native 800×600 resolution. Additionally, audio file compatibility is severely limited to .wma (which isn’t supported by Mac).
All in all, the Smartparts digital picture frame is rather outdated, difficult to use, and only offers the most basic functionality. Considering the price, you’d expect a little more from this frame. It’s hard to justify choosing this frame when premium frames offer seemingly infinitely more functionality and versatility, for not that big a step-up in price.
Is the Pix-Star better than the Smartparts digital picture frame?
Pix-Star’s frame is one of the best frames on the market. It has one of the most robust feature sets and is specifically designed to be as easy to use as possible for elderly users and large families. It features top-of-the-line Wi-Fi connectivity and a well-designed supporting mobile app and web interface. These can be used to send media to multiple frames at the same time, and even to link your Pix-Star frame to your social media and photo-sharing platforms.
The Pix-Star frame’s higher price is justified by the rich features and smooth user interface. Unique features like remote control capability and weather and radio apps give this frame more versatility. The display is higher resolution at 1024×768 and comes in either a 10” or 15” diagonal screen size.
Pix-Star frames have bright and vivid displays and offer you plenty of control over how photos and videos are displayed. You can choose from various transition settings and have a wide array of style and speed settings. Color settings like hue and saturation can also be changed through the settings.
These are all features that aren’t available on the Smartparts digital picture frame. When you consider Wi-Fi-enabled features like free-for-life cloud storage and web albums, it makes offline and non-Wi-Fi frames feel very outdated and superfluous.
That being said, every frame has its place and it’s not to say that you can find value from a Smartparts digital picture frame – you just get better value and functionality from the Pix-Star.
How to send media to a Smartparts digital picture frame?
There are 2 ways to send pictures to a Smartparts digital picture frame. The first is by loading pictures onto a USB drive or memory car. Make sure they are compatible and supported by the frame (which means you most likely can’t use Mac-compatible USB/cards). Insert them into the frame’s USB or memory card port. The pictures should automatically display within a couple of seconds – though you can’t control the order the slideshow plays in.
The second way to send photos to a Smartparts digital picture frame is by connecting directly to your computer. Be warned that there are several compatibility issues when connecting to Mac computers and Windows computers that don’t use either Windows XP or 2000.
There are no other ways to send pictures to a Smartparts digital picture frame as they are not Wi-Fi capable.
Can Smartparts digital picture frames connect to Wi-Fi?
Smartparts digital picture frame does not have Wi-Fi capabilities. The frames are completely offline and pictures can’t be sent through any online method like email or through a mobile app.
You cannot connect these frames to mobile hotspots either, and they have no cellular connection capabilities. Smartparts digital picture frames use a combination of internal storage (very small though) and an external USB/SD card with photos on them. The frame needs to be powered on to read and display the content of the USB/SD card.
Are Smartparts digital picture frames good for grandparents?
Despite being very basic and only having a couple of features, Smartparts digital picture frames are not easy to use. They have a very outdated user interface that’s not easy to navigate. There is also the added complexity of needing to connect the frame directly to a computer and handling all the related compatibility and troubleshooting issues.
At their core, these offline frames are meant to be simple “plug and play” frames that display the content of your USB or memory card in a couple of seconds. In practice, this isn’t the case and there are several compatibility issues with different USB types and sizes, and the operating system of the computer you’re connecting to. The frames don’t offer much control over the order that pictures are displayed during slideshows – or the time between transitions (only 3 similar settings).
It’s the combination of these issues that makes the Smartparts digital picture frames very difficult for elderly users. Far more capable digital picture frames like the Pix-Star offer loads of extra features and functions while being even easier to use – especially for grandparents.
