Digital Picture Frames Show Off Your Photos

Screen capture courtesy of Aura

For many of us, our smartphones are also our digital cameras. We use them for taking family snapshots, selfies, holiday and vacation photos, and others. Many people share their pictures over social media. Another highly desirable option is viewing your pictures on a larger screen without scrolling through photo apps on a phone or tablet.

With a digital picture frame, you can curate your collection of hundreds or thousands of pictures and videos and display them as a slideshow on a tabletop or wall-mounted screen. Some frames have a companion mobile app, allowing the frame’s owner and anyone with permission to share pictures from their smartphone or tablet to the frame.

How do digital picture frames work?

A digital picture frame is a dedicated device for displaying photos and videos. You can copy your pictures and videos to the frame’s internal storage, a memory card, or the cloud to load your frame. Some frames support content-loading using wireless protocols like WiFi, Bluetooth, or infrared. Some frames have a dedicated email address for sending photos and videos to the frame. The method for adding content depends on the frame. Typically, you only need to turn your frame on to view a slideshow of its pictures.

Types of Frames

Digital picture frames have been available for several years, and there are numerous frames from which to choose. Newer frames have touchscreen interfaces and companion apps that make connecting your frame to WiFi and adding content from your smartphone or tablet easy. Some newer frames, like the Aura, have cloud-based storage and require WiFi and internet to view your content. You cannot load pictures from a USB drive or SD card on Aura frames.

Older picture frames may have limited internal storage but often accept USB flash drives and SD cards for additional storage. Some may not be capable of showing videos, and may not support content in newer formats like Apple HEIC. Older frames may not support higher-resolution photos and videos. Downloading photos and videos to a computer and loading them onto the picture frame is more complicated than using a frame with an app.

Choosing a Frame

There are numerous digital picture frame options from which to choose, priced between $30 and $200. Desirable features include:

Easy setup and ease of use.
Unlimited cloud storage.
Touchscreen.
App-based content loading.
Supports newer content formats (HEIC).
Photo and video compatible.
Tabletop or wall-mounted options.
Large format frames – 15” (38 cm) and larger.

Popular and highly rated frame brands include:

Aura
Skylight
NexFoto
Frameo

There are also options for displaying your digital photo and video collection on a TV with devices like Google Chromecast, or smart displays like Amazon Echo Show. However, for ease of use, the least complicated way to view your pictures and videos is to choose a WiFi and internet-connected picture frame with an app or email address for content loading.

A version of this post will be my final column for Prime Time News. Thank you to publishers Bill and Debbie Watson for your kind support and generosity.

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How do digital picture frames work?

Types of Frames

Choosing a Frame

Published by Patrick Baker