You’d think making a good digital picture frame would be easy. All you need is a good screen and a seamless way to get images to the device. Combine that with an inoffensive, frame-like design and you’re good to go.
Despite that, Amazon is positively littered with scads of digital photo frames and I can tell you that many of them are awful. It’s basically the 2020s version of what we saw with knock-off iPods back in the 2000s. There are loads of options that draw you in with a low price but deliver a totally subpar experience that will prompt you to shove the thing in a drawer and forget about it.
The good news is that you only need to find one smart photo frame that works. From there, you can have a pretty delightful experience. If you’re anything like me, you have thousands of photos on your phone of friends, family, pets, vacation spots, perhaps some lattes or plates of pasta and much more. Too often, those photos stay siloed on our phones, not shared with others or enjoyed on a larger scale. And sure, I can look at my photos on my laptop or an iPad, but there’s something enjoyable about having a dedicated place for these things. After all, there’s a reason photo frames exist in the first place, right? I tested out seven smart photo frames to weed through the junk and find the best digital frames worth buying.
What to look for in digital picture frames
While a digital photo frame feels like a simple piece of tech, there are a number of things I considered when trying to find one worth displaying in my home. First and foremost was display quality and size. I was surprised to learn that most digital photo frames have a resolution around 1,200 x 800, which feels positively pixelated in 2024. (That’s for frames with screen sizes in the nine- to ten-inch range, which is primarily what I considered for this guide.)
But after trying a bunch of frames, I realized that resolution is not the most important factor; my favorite frame has a 1,280 x 800 resolution. More important than sheer pixel density are things like reflectivity, brightness, viewing angles, color temperature and so forth. A lot of these digital photo frames were lacking in one or more of these factors; they often didn’t deal with reflections well or had poor viewing angles.
A lot of frames I tested felt cheap and looked ugly as well. That includes lousy stands, overly glossy plastic parts and design decisions I can only describe as strange, particularly for items that are meant to just blend into your home. The best digital photo frames don’t call attention to themselves and look like an actual “dumb” frame.
Perhaps the most important thing outside of the display, though, is the software. Let me be blunt: a number of frames I tested had absolutely atrocious companion apps and software experiences that I would not wish on anyone. One that I tried did not have a touchscreen, but did have an IR remote (yes, like the one you controlled your TV with 30 years ago). Trying to use that to get on a Wi-Fi network was painful, and when I tried instead to use a QR code, I was linked to a Google search for random numbers instead of an actual app or website. I gave up on that frame, the $140 PixStar, on the spot.
Other things were more forgivable. A lot of the frames out there are basically Android tablets with a bit of custom software slapped on the top, which worked fine but wasn’t terribly elegant. And having to interact with the photo frame via touch wasn’t great because you end up with fingerprints all over the display. The best frames I tried were smart about what features you could control on the frame itself vs. through an app, the latter of which is my preferred method.
Another important software note: many frames I tried require subscriptions for features that absolutely should be included out of the box. For example, one frame would only let me upload 10 photos at a time without a subscription. Others would let you link a Google Photos account, but you could only sync a single album without paying up. Yet another option didn’t let you create albums to organize the photos that were on the frame — it was just a giant scroll of photos with no way to give them order.
I can understand why certain things might go under a subscription, like if you’re getting a large amount of cloud storage, for example. But these subscriptions feel like ways for companies to make recurring revenue from a product made so cheaply they can’t make any money on the frame itself. I’d urge you to make sure your chosen frame doesn’t require a subscription (neither of the frames I recommend in this guide need a subscription for any of their features), especially if you plan on giving this device as a gift.
How much should you spend on a digital picture frame
For a frame with a nine- or ten-inch display, expect to spend at least $100. Our budget recommendation is $99, and all of the options I tried that were cheaper were not nearly good enough to recommend. Spending $150 to $180 will get you a significantly nicer experience in all facets, from software to design to screen quality.
The best digital picture frames for 2024
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-digital-frame-120046051.html?src=rss
