How to Upload Aura Photos From One Frame to Another
The research
- Why you should trust u.s.a.
- How we picked
- How nosotros tested
- Our choice: Aureola Mason
- Flaws but not dealbreakers
- Upgrade selection: Aureola Mason Luxe
- Upkeep pick: Aeezo Portrait 01
- Other adept digital photo frames
- What about a smart display?
- (Potentially) free alternatives
- What to expect frontward to
- The competition
Why you should trust us
Nena Farrell has covered engineering and connected abode products since 2016, originally at Sunset Mag (where she was an associate home editor) and now as an updates writer on the sound, visual, and smart-habitation team at Wirecutter.
Brendan Nystedt contributed to an earlier version of this guide. He's been an enthusiast photographer and a writer covering consumer electronics and tech for the better function of a decade. Nystedt has worked for Wirecutter, Reviewed, and Wired, and he has written for numerous other outlets.
While preparing this guide, nosotros consulted reviews both from owners and from trustworthy outlets, such as Wired and PCMag. Unfortunately for the layperson shopping for these devices, there are many SEO-driven clickbait blogs offering hands-off reviews. We ignored those websites.
How nosotros picked
Before I started the 2021 update to this guide, I did about v hours of research on sites similar Amazon, All-time Buy, and B&H Photo to see what new models were available. I went through owner reviews, looked for peak sellers in the category, and generally tried to suss out which frames and manufacturers were worth a closer await.
Previous research indicated that Wirecutter readers were nearly interested in digital frames measuring 8 to 11 inches diagonal. This display size makes the most sense because it's significantly bigger than the average phone screen even so small enough for yous to tuck the frame away in a corner or to ready it atop a bookcase. Fashion is subjective, but information technology was also a factor, albeit a minor one, in our conclusion-making process.
A display's aspect ratio is of import to consider. For example, 16:ix frames are frequently too narrow to show almost digital photos without pillarboxing the image (installing black bars on either side). A 4:3 ratio is the ideal ratio that we looked for in frames. Additionally, we looked at each screen'south resolution: When even most smartphone cameras can shoot at least 10-megapixel images, information technology hardly makes sense for united states of america to examination annihilation below a 1080p display (which equates to a beggarly 2 megapixels). In that location are too a number of frames with 2K, or 2048p, displays, which nosotros considered besides.
How we tested
We put each digital picture frame through a battery of tests. While examining everything from the setup process and brandish quality to the design, ease of utilize, and even the quality of automated brightness adjustment, I took notes on each frame's strengths and weaknesses. I and then uploaded to each frame an identical set of 74 photos from my library. These photos included professional ones from my wedding ceremony, likewise as older and newer smartphone and digital-camera photos.
In my own abode, I installed the frames in several locations to gauge clarity, brightness, and glare in different ambient lighting. I likewise made sure to view each frame direct-on, every bit well every bit at increasingly oblique angles, to see whether the dissimilarity decreased or if any of the colors shifted. This process also helped me gauge the ease of installation and whatever possible snags related to the required ability adapter. After narrowing the initial pool of contenders, I installed the peak three at a family member's dwelling across town. I did this to test my remote control of the frames and to record their experience using the frames in dissimilarity with my own.
Our pick: Aura Mason
Our choice
The Aureola Stonemason combines attractive hardware and uncomplicated software to create a digital photo frame that is the easiest to set up up and operate. We plant the quality of its screen to be on a par with that of bigger, pricier frames, and the Mason was a clear comeback over many cheaper options. Yous go through the unabridged procedure on your Android or iOS device, no clunky remote required. And setup gives you the choice of inviting family unit members and friends to view and upload pictures. If you're primarily a phone photographer, you should take your pictures upwards on this frame in a relatively short amount of fourth dimension.
Aura's software helps you easily set up the Aura Bricklayer as a gift. Using the app, scan a QR code on the box to pair information technology with your business relationship. That lets you invite family members to contribute photos before the recipient unpacks the frame and plugs it in. You tin also have the frame shipped from Aura direct and use the company's email-setup procedure to acquaintance it with your account while the frame is in transit. Though we didn't try the gift-setup method ourselves, we do appreciate Aura's focus on the gift angle. This is a feature other frames don't have (to replicate the experience, yous have to ready the frame yourself manually and then give it every bit a souvenir afterward).
In one case you lot download the Aura app, pair your phone to the frame, and connect information technology to your Wi-Fi network settings through your telephone, you're all gear up. Based on our experience with the Aureola platform, you won't have to await for updates to install (any updates occur overnight or when the screen is off for an extended period). In improver, you lot won't have to do anything on the frame itself with a remote command because there isn't one (something that competing frames tend to require).
The Mason'south 1600×1200–resolution, viii.57-inch screen (which Aureola sometimes rounds up to 9 inches in spec sheets) looks sharp, has excellent contrast, and displays colors well. Its automated light sensor worked surprisingly well in our trial runs, cranking up the screen'due south brightness to combat sunlight. Using Aura's "presence sensor," the Mason as well reliably turned the brandish off at night and when no one was around—a task that other frames struggled to manage.
Compared with a lot of other frames in this category, the Mason has an aesthetic that combines grade and function quite well. The frame has nifty features, such as touch-sensitive strips that let you marking favorite photos and go forward and astern with a swipe. Yet the grooved, textured plastic makes the Mason expect like a overnice frame you might buy for a print photo. Instead of relying on a flimsy stand to prop itself up, the Mason has weights on two sides that allow you to position the frame in either portrait or landscape mode.
Once the Mason is upwardly and running, there are many display options to choose from. Working with its default settings, you become behavior that's more suggestive of a real picture frame than a digital one. You'll find no cheesy animations betwixt photos, but simple fades and swipes. The Mason does a remarkably better job than competitors at automatically cropping photos that are in the incorrect orientation for the frame. And if it gets things wrong in that regard, a link in the app displays the photos it cropped automatically. So y'all can re-crop them if you desire (but, based on my experience, y'all will need to do this very rarely).
A nice surprise I discovered while testing: Dissimilar every other brand of frame we tested, the Mason and other frames in the Aura family are compatible with Apple's Live Photograph feature. So you'll meet such images come to life for an instant when they beginning announced on the display.
Flaws but non dealbreakers
The list of web-based services that Aura's platform connects to is awfully short, limited to Google Photos. You can hook up a Dropbox folder in an officially sanctioned fashion using IFTTT. But that can feel similar a bit of a hack and can go far difficult to get photos onto the frame from other sources. For instance, to upload photos from my Flickr business relationship, I had to download them from the Flickr app into my phone's photo library, and from there I uploaded them into Aura's library.
Upgrade pick: Aura Mason Luxe
Upgrade pick
The Aura Mason Luxe has everything nosotros similar virtually the Stonemason, simply with a college-quality display that'due south slightly larger (9.five inches versus viii.75 inches) and an ability to play videos. The Mason Luxe has a smaller border, to suit the larger screen size, and a 4:iii screen ratio, which is ideal for most photos.
The 2K (2048×1536 resolution) screen is a clear improvement when you place the 2 models side by side. Smaller photo details showed up much more conspicuously on the Stonemason Luxe'due south 2K screen, and different colors and editing styles were easier to see besides. Viewing wedding ceremony photos and other loftier-quality snaps on the Luxe frame was especially overnice.
But fifty-fifty though the upgrade was appreciated, it doesn't seem necessary, and not everyone wants to see every petty item. One of my family members who helped test the frames said they sometimes wished for less detail on photos of themself, and they found the resolution of the original Mason more flattering. By comparison, a different family unit fellow member immediately recognized the Luxe equally being a meliorate screen, and they preferred that screen overall for its higher quality.
Another new feature of the Mason Luxe is its built-in speaker and ability to play videos. At the time of writing, we were able to test only a demo unit of measurement that had pre-loaded videos (instead of our ain). The demo unit showed that videos slide onto the screen (similar to photos); the Luxe and so activates and plays the video and then turns information technology into a still. I wasn't able to adapt the sound or any features, but it was a pretty seamless experience, and the videos sounded skilful. (We programme to re-test with our ain photos and videos very soon.)
With all of the video-capable frames I tested, a frequent downside was that if you left the sound on, the frame would occasionally burst into sound and video—when you were least expecting it. My husband is an earlier riser than I am. And one morning he woke me up to say that one of my frames had been playing sounds randomly all morning. I had to make up one's mind which frame it was and mute it. So while this is a fun feature, you tin decide whether you lot want to employ information technology. If yous aren't interested in playing videos on your frame, yous can also choose to but upload photos.
Upkeep selection: Aeezo Portrait 01
Budget pick
The Aeezo Portrait 01 is about half the price of the Aura Mason, and it was at least $30 cheaper than any other frame we tested. Fifty-fifty with that toll point, the Portrait 01 has a iv:3 ratio, and the frame looks similar a existent frame (something we didn't find with many other affordable frames). The Aeezo also has a unique characteristic that lets you adjust the positioning of a photograph on the frame with just a few taps. Merely for those who aren't tech-savvy, the uploader is difficult to employ (and it's fifty-fifty a bit frustrating for those who are).
The Aeezo Portrait 01'southward frame is a elementary, matte black, and though information technology doesn't expect like a designer slice, it besides doesn't look cheap. Rather, it looks more similar a true unproblematic photograph frame you would buy at your local home-goods store. Several competitors (including Aeezo'southward own Dream Plus frame) often had shinier frames that looked like a tablet was sitting on the tabletop, versus a matte photograph frame. The Portrait 01 was quick and piece of cake to put together, with a small stick for a stand (which was stable and easy to rotate from landscape to portrait). This frame has no clunky remote; instead it has a touchscreen, and in our tests we didn't discover that the screen was easily marked with fingerprints.
The Aeezo Portrait 01 has a 4:iii ratio, an ideal ratio for nearly photos. Nosotros too found that pillarboxing rarely happened with this frame because it zooms in and crops photos that don't fit properly in the screen. The frame does this by focusing on the "important office" of the photo (which it asks y'all to identify when you upload pictures). It'south also like shooting fish in a barrel to adjust the photo'southward arrangement: You tap on the frame and choose "Conform" on the pop-up menu, and so drag the photo around with your fingertips. Although this frame cropped some photos a little too much, overall I institute the lack of pillarboxing preferable to seeing every border of every photo. This frame'due south 1280×800 resolution is of solid quality, so y'all can enjoy photos in a diversity of styles. Only the quality certainly wasn't every bit well-baked as that of models like the Aura Stonemason.
The Portrait 01 also has a built-in speaker and the power to play videos (different the Aureola Stonemason), and the audio came through pretty clearly on the small frame. There's a sound icon on the screen that pops up and allows you to command the volume, and it saves your terminal-used sound preference (if you turned up the sound for a video, information technology will stay turned upward for all hereafter videos until you manually turn it back down). Video also appeared to be of a slightly lower quality than photos on the frame's screen.
The uploader, however, is the biggest downside of the Portrait 01 frame. It functions well-nigh identically to Instagram's. You click a little push on the screen (information technology looks awfully similar to Instagram'south Carousel push button for uploading more than one photo) after selecting a photo to toggle on, uploading more one photo at a time. And information technology allows only x photos to be uploaded per batch. The social-media-like experience is an immediate hurdle for anyone who'southward non tech-savvy or familiar with the interface. A family unit member who besides tested this frame told me (in reference to the uploader): "I would not take known what to do if you didn't testify me." At that place aren't instructions in the box, either; the app plainly expects you to just figure information technology out for yourself. The interface is very similar to uploading an in-feed post to Instagram, so frequent Instagram users will likely get the hang of information technology apace. The frame'southward uploader then asks yous to choose the of import parts of a photograph and then add a caption to the overall upload.
The Portrait 01 does allow you to upload when you're away from the frame, as long as you have the "Friend Code." The Friend Code is a scrap of a misnomer, since fifty-fifty the primary owner of the frame will need that code to kickoff using information technology. Too, y'all can only upload photos via the Frameo app, which works with a number of digital frames sold primarily overseas. The app has minimal functionality and is solely focused on photo uploading, with a page for new uploads, a page for your by upload history, and then a page to see all your connected frames. Information technology doesn't have any further controls for the frame itself, beyond sending photos.
Other good digital photo frames
If you want a nicer-looking frame: The Nixplay 2K Smart Photo Frame, our previous also-swell pick, is now sold simply with its large, silver mirrored frame. Its design is beautiful, and the screen is fantastic. And the NixPlay experience is easy to navigate, with app and email uploading options. But the thick frame leads to a worse motility sensor, so this model is off mostly, and it uses a remote. The shiny silver frame too easily shows fingerprints. And this frame is expensive, though information technology'southward often on sale for effectually $265.
If you lot don't listen side-past-side photos: The Aureola Carver has all the software features of our main option. But instead of physically rotating to bear witness both landscape and portrait modes, it sits on landscape mode only. To balance this, the Carver places 2 portrait-mode photos adjacent when it shows them, or shows a landscape photograph full-screen. This frame has the same touch bar on the peak as the Aura Bricklayer, and the side-by-side photos looked nice on the large screen. The Carver retails for the same price every bit the Mason but is ofttimes on auction for around $180.
If you want a less-expensive 2K frame: The Aeezo Dream Plus is a 2K frame that currently retails for just $170—cheaper than annihilation else we recommend, except for our budget choice (which is besides made by Aeezo). Like the Portrait 01, the Dream Plus has an annoyingly Instagram-like uploader just besides an easy-to-use frame, which tin rotate and allows you to customize a photo's organization on the screen. The Dream Plus has a conspicuously nicer frame, yet it too has a shiny border, which looks a bit more than similar a tablet than the matte frames of our other picks and recommendations.
What about a smart display?
If you have smart products in your dwelling, you might ain—or be interested in owning—a smart brandish powered by Amazon Alexa or Google Dwelling house. Smart displays similar the Amazon Echo Bear witness or Google Nest Hub permit y'all to have photos every bit the main screensaver, resulting in something similar to a photograph frame. Our smart brandish picks are nearly all cheaper than our digital photo frame picks, but the tradeoff is a smaller screen.
Also, the experience isn't completely similar, and at that place are certain sacrifices when you swap a smart display for a digital photo frame. All of our photo frame picks have higher-quality screens than the smart displays. And (with the exception of existing Google Photos users who ain a Google Assistant–powered smart display) you won't discover smart displays whatsoever easier to upload to and use than a digital photo frame.
(Potentially) free alternatives
People have many screens in their lives. Some of them are large and some of them are small, but if you lot've recently upgraded to a newer tablet, yous might consider using your old one every bit a digital photo frame. For this purpose, I'd recommend using an older Retina iPad, since Apple's displays offering good viewing angles and are bright enough to fight glare. The iPad's born Photos app has integration with iCloud and volition remain synced to your phone's pictures, if you cull to apply iCloud. Plus, the iPad has a overnice slideshow manner that shuffles, crops, and animates your pictures.
You might be tempted to use i of Amazon's inexpensive Burn down tablets as a makeshift picture frame, merely our advice is not to bother. Even though these tablets take IPS screens and are certainly affordable (especially around the holidays), their screens are too dim and offering poor viewing angles. I currently have a seven-inch Fire stuck to my fridge every bit a persistent weather display. When the dominicus is out, I have to become actually close in order to run across what'southward on the screen.
Skylight at present offers a product called Skylight Digital, which also offers to plow an existing screen into a digital photo frame. But the compatibility is limited—it's offered only for Philips, Sony, TCL and Burn down TVs, or tablets (both Android and Apple tree).
What to look frontward to
Aureola has also introduced a new version of the Carver frame, the Carver Luxe. Similar to the Mason Luxe, the Carver Luxe has a speaker and video capabilities, and it volition start aircraft in mid-October for the same cost equally the Carver. We plan to examination it as presently as it's available and update this guide.
The competition
Nixplay'southward Smart Photo Frame x.1 inch is a larger model of the Nixplay blueprint. Unfortunately, nosotros've establish that the display is noticeably worse on this model and previous 10.one-inch Nixplay widescreen frames. Not only does the screen have a less-natural aspect ratio for traditional photos, but its lower resolution (1280×800) and less-punchy colors get in less compelling.
The Touch Frame is a impact-screen version of the Nixplay x.one-inch frame. Sadly, this model also has a noticeably worse display, and it has the aforementioned effect of an unnatural attribute ratio (16:x) for nearly photos, leading to a big amount of pillarboxing. This frame was also the least responsive to light, and information technology needed to be manually turned on and off each day.
The Pix-Star 10-Inch Digital Photograph Frame has a ton of overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon, and its features are impressive: In add-on to photos, it displays weather and email, and it even plays internet radio. But its ugly blueprint, clunky software, distracting transitions, and low-res, 1024×768 screen negate anything expert. Information technology also has the nearly sensitive sensor of any frame we tested; that meant it usually turned dorsum on correct after we turned information technology off (I had to identify the remote in an surface area of the room where it would turn off the screen without being able to run across me move). Just put, this frame'south toll just doesn't seem aligned with what you go.
Aura'due south Sawyer sports a larger, higher-res (ix.7-inch, 2048×1536) screen, with a design that's more subtle than that of our tiptop pick, the Aura Stonemason. However, along with the Sawyer's bigger size comes a significantly bigger price tag: The Sawyer frames commencement at effectually $100 more than the Mason. Nosotros remember that makes the Stonemason a far ameliorate value for what essentially amounts to virtually the same overall experience. If the toll isn't a problem for you, this model is ane to consider.
Fifty-fifty though the cheap Aluratek 7-Inch Digital Photo Frame was labeled "Amazon'due south Pick" at the fourth dimension nosotros tested it, we strongly recommend that you steer clear of information technology. This frame is fabricated of cheap plastic and has a dim, depression-res (800×600) LCD with terrible viewing angles. Different some of the other frames we tested, which have IPS screens, this Aluratek display uses TN technology, and it is nigh unviewable unless you lot put information technology right at eye level. Even at its usual impulse-buy cost of less than $40, this frame is just not worth information technology.
Aluratek's 8-Inch Digital Photo Frame likewise isn't worth it, based on our testing. It has a four:iii ratio, and while nigh mural photos fit nicely, there was a lot of pillarboxing on any photos that were not that orientation. Also, this model has clunky menus and a shiny frame, which made it wait more like a propped-upwardly tablet than anything else. Nosotros don't recommend buying information technology, despite the relatively moderate cost tag.
The Skylight Frame, which is highly rated on Amazon, is a mixed bag. It looks well designed from the forepart, and information technology has a touchscreen that makes setup a snap. And there'due south even an updated version that's nonetheless priced at an affordable $160 (at this writing). Even and so, we prefer other frames to this one. This is a landscape-oriented frame, and it doesn't place portrait photos side past side, so y'all see a large amount of pillarboxing on any non-landscape photo. It has a 10-inch screen but a huge corporeality of frame, which brings the overall size to 14 inches; this seemed unnecessarily large compared with the size of other frames. Plus, at nearly every step of using the Skylight, you'll find yourself getting prompted to upgrade to the Skylight Pro service—nearly $xl a yr—for features like uploading videos or organizing your photos into albums. Using the app is too included on the listing of Pro-only features, simply we were able to use the app in our tests.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-digital-photo-frame/
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