Is the Sungale digital photo frame any good?
On paper, the Sungale digital photo frame seems to have many of the same features found on more expensive and premium digital frames like the Pix-Star. Unfortunately, the reality is very different. The Sungale frame has one of the worst ratings on platforms like Amazon, with countless one-star ratings. It seems the product suffers from consistent quality control issues and doesn’t offer much real-world performance.
The aspect ratio and display are immediately noticeable poor. The wide and short display means that almost no photos from our smartphones and cameras display naturally on the screen. Almost every single photo needs to be stretched, distorted, or surrounded by a black box. This makes the already poor viewing experience even worse. To add to this, you can’t view the screen from an angle without severely ruining the image, making it non-feasible for most rooms in the average house.
The setup process is slow and a little complicated, with severe freezing and non-working issues. While the frame claims to be elderly-friendly, this is nowhere near functional for grandparents. It’s even tricky for tech-savvy individuals to set up and use. Slideshows are started through the web interface but offer very little control. They’re difficult to set up and result in significant distortion and altering of images displayed on the screen.
Large weather banners and other notifications constantly take up large portions of the screen – with no simple way to remove or reduce them. Connection notifications also plague the display area, further ruining the already poor viewing experience.
The combination of an outdated and clunky user interface, a complex and sluggish web interface, and a poorly designed mobile app leave little to be desired with the Sungale digital photo frame. Considering how close the price is to most premium digital frames, it’s rarely worth choosing this frame over a premium model like the Pix-Star – but more on that below! The Sungale frame doesn’t offer good enough value for money, quality, or longevity to compete with the top digital frames on the market.
How do the Pix-Star and Sungale digital photo frames compare?
The Sungale and Pix-Star frames appear very similar when you look at their features and functions – but this doesn’t paint an accurate picture of their real-world performance. Pix-Star’s frame is one of the top-selling digital frames on the market, with real-world functionality and reliability to back it up. On the other hand, although the Sungale frame has all the features on paper, its real-world execution is terrible.
Pix-Star was the brand that created and developed the idea of the digital photo frame with an email address. This has been refined and expanded on for over a decade, bringing you one of the most versatile and durable premium frames on the market.
You get free-for-life cloud storage, extremely versatile slideshows, Wi-Fi connectivity, a web interface, and a mobile app. Slideshows can be started remotely or in person, and pictures display perfectly on the 4:3 aspect ratio screen. This naturally matches most of the photos we take on our smartphones and cameras, so there’s no need for photos to be cropped or distorted. Slideshows on the Sungale frame are awful and are plagued by issues.
Pix-Star’s multimedia support, smooth user interface, and super-functional mobile app makes sending photos from anywhere in the world effortless. You can sync your frame with a multi-frame control group (up to 25 frames) and manage them all remotely through the web interface. Here you can also link photos from your social media and photo sharing sites, manage cloud storage, and remotely control & manage your frames.
All in all, while these frames appear similar on paper, Pix-Star’s stellar real-world performance and functionality outshine the Sungale frame. Sungale frames simply have too many quality control, usability, and durability issues to be practical. Pix-Star’s frame offers far better value for money and is a frame that everyone in the family can use.
Can I play videos and audio on the Sungale digital photo frame?
While the Sungale digital photo frame claims to support multimedia playback, this doesn’t carry through to the real world. Videos are very often non-compatible and will play on only a small portion of the display. The narrow viewing angle and awkward aspect ratio worsen this issue to the point where it’s not even worth sending videos.
Internal storage is severely limited on the 7-inch model (space for around only 15 photos), with the 10-inch version offering more. Videos take an exceptionally long time to load to the frame when sent through the web interface. In many cases, they simply won’t load or will load and not play.
Can the Sungale digital photo frame be wall-mounted?
Sungale digital photo frames don’t have wall mounts built into the frame. Unlike the Pix-Star which has support for a standard VESA wall mount built-in (plus additional hanging holes), the Sungale frame doesn’t have any. You can only rest the frame using the stand.
Alternatively, you can DIY build a frame to house the Sungale, but this is likely to block access to the power inlet and ports. Additionally, when you consider the super-narrow viewing angle, wall mounting isn’t a good idea. You have to stand directly in front of the frame to view the photos (which often only display on a small portion of the available screen space).
How to view photos from Facebook on a Sungale digital photo frame?
You can link your social media and photo-sharing profiles directly to the Sungale digital photo frame – at least on paper. Unfortunately, this seldom works in practice. The slow and sluggish frame has many usability and interface issues that prevent you from connecting to external profiles. Even once connected, slideshows are so limited that it’s not a practically usable feature.
You don’t have much control over the play order and frequency of photos and don’t have much choice in which photos are chosen for displaying in slideshows. These usability and connectivity issues make this feature more of an attention-grabber than a practical and functional feature you’d use in your home.
If you want a digital photo frame that connects effortlessly to social media and photo-sharing accounts like Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Google Photos, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., Pix-Star is arguably the most versatile choice. You can link multiple albums to multiple connected frames at the same time, making sharing your favorite memories with your loved ones effortless and stress-free.
