Is a mid-range digital photo frame worth buying in 2021?
We seldom recommend buying a mid-range digital photo frame – especially for 2021 and beyond. The mid-range frames that offer the all-essential Wi-Fi or cloud functionality are priced so close to premium frames like the Pix-Star – yet they don’t come close to offering the same real-world performance, ease of use, versatility, functionality, and build quality.
Premium frames offer more immersive displays with higher resolutions. You can send photos, videos, and audio files from anywhere in the world in just a few moments. With premium frames like the Pix-Star, you get features like free-for-life cloud storage, 8GB of internal storage, automatic cloud backups, web albums, video & audio support, and much more.
While – on paper – mid-range digital photo frames seem to offer great value for money, their often sub-par build quality, clunky interfaces, and limited practical feature sets leave much to be desired. You get much better value for money by waiting a little longer, saving up a little more, and getting a premium digital frame.
Is Pix-Star’s frame a mid-range digital photo frame?
Pix-Star digital frames are not mid-range digital photo frames – they’re some of the most versatile and capable frames on the market at the moment. Pix-Star was the company that came up with the idea of a digital photo frame with a unique & dedicated email address that lets the frame receive photos from anywhere in the world.
Today, Pix-Star’s frames are Wi-Fi-enabled, offer free-for-life cloud storage with automatic backups, access to the Pix-Star Snap mobile app & web interface, the ability to remotely control any of your frames, multi-frame control groups (with up to 25 connected Pix-Star frames), and the ability to import photo albums directly from social media & photo-sharing sites.
Pix-Star’s frames use a versatile 4:3 aspect ratio and offer manually adjustable brightness & color settings. These can be adjusted remotely, along with the frame’s settings, you can start & manage slideshows, manage local & cloud storage, change slideshows sources, import web albums, and even update the frame’s firmware. All of these features can be adjusted from anywhere in the world via the web dashboard for each of your frames – or your multi-frame control group.
If you’re looking for a modern & capable digital photo frame for your home, family, or grandparents, Pix-Star’s frames are an excellent choice. Sharing is simple, quick, and intuitive. You have extensive control over slideshows, how and when photos are displayed, the ability to include videos & audio, and much more. They bring the family together effortlessly and make sharing special moments & memories more immersive and user-friendly than almost any other digital photo frame on the market.
What to look for in a good mid-range digital photo frame?
If you’re going to get a mid-range digital photo frame, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Cheaper mid-range frames don’t offer Wi-Fi or cloud functionality; whereas the more expensive mid-range frames do – but it’s almost always heavily limited in terms of versatility & functionality. With many premium frames being only marginally more expensive than these upper-mid-range digital frames, it’s seldom worth going for a Wi-Fi-enabled mid-range frame.
If you’re set on the mid-range, you’re better of getting a cheaper non-Wi-Fi mid-range frame. It’s not worth getting a Wi-Fi-enabled model as they’re priced too closely to the significantly more versatile and functional premium digital frames to be of any real value.
Make sure the display uses a 4:3 aspect ratio as that matches the aspect ratio in which most of our smartphones capture photos. Additionally, the display resolution should be at least 800×600. No less and you’ll find that most photos appear blurry and even pixelated. The display size should be 8-inches and above or it will be too hard to see from an angle or from across the room – especially in large, well-lit rooms like living rooms & dining rooms.
Can mid-range digital photo frames connect to Wi-Fi & the cloud?
Some mid-range digital frames can connect to Wi-Fi and offer limited cloud functionality – though the vast majority of them don’t. Most mid-range frames are primarily offline frames that work through a combination of internal storage and USB/SD card support. These offline frames are usually found at the cheaper end of the mid-range market, usually just offering better displays and interfaces than most cheap or budget digital frames.
For mid-range frames that can connect to Wi-Fi or the cloud, it’s usually rather limited. You can often send photos by email, but mobile apps and web interfaces are usually beyond the scope of what they’re capable of. If you spend any time browsing through the reviews for mid-range digital frames with Wi-Fi, you’ll find many negative reviews hint at real-world use issues related to sending photos over Wi-Fi.
How to send photos to a mid-range digital photo frame?
Most mid-range digital photo frames don’t offer Wi-Fi or cloud connectivity – while some of the pricier models do (but in a rather limiting fashion). For any non-Wi-Fi digital frame, the only way to send photos, video, and audio (if video & audio is supported) is by USB/SD card. This involved loading the photos to a supported USB/SD card in a compatible format and copying them to the frame’s internal storage.
Some mid-range digital frames offer a plug & play feature that lets you play slideshows directly off the inserted USB/SD card. It’s not a very common feature until you reach the premium end of the digital frame market. If you’re set on getting a mid-range digital frame, get one with this plug & play feature. Most of these frames have very limited internal storage space and often won’t have enough space for all of your photos (another reason why we suggest going for a premium digital photo frame).
For Wi-Fi-enabled digital frames, sending photos by email is possible. You don’t usually get the versatility that premium frames offer, meaning that more advanced features like mobile app & web interfaces are seldom offered. In the cases where they are, mid-range frames often don’t deliver as functionally as expected.
