Aura Launches $499 Cordless E-Paper Photo Frame With 3-Month Battery Life

[MacRumors]

Aura, known for its digital photo frames, today announced the launch of the $499 Ink Frame. The Ink Frame is Aura's first color e-paper display, with all other models using LCD displays. According to Aura, the Ink Frame is meant to show photos with a softly lit, vintage look that more closely resembles a printed picture than a digital screen.

The 13.3-inch frame features an E Ink Spectra 6 display with a resolution of 1600 x 1200. Spectra 6 supports six colors, but Aura uses a dithering algorithm to create the appearance of millions of tones. Like Aura's other frames, the Ink Frame supports uploading an unlimited number of photos to Aura's cloud service. Aura users can also have friends and family members send photos directly to a frame with the Aura app.

Because the Ink Frame uses e-paper, it uses little battery, so this is also the first Aura frame that is cordless. The Ink Frame provides up to three months of battery before it needs to be recharged with the included USB-C port and cable. The Ink Frame does not have a backlight, and it instead includes a built-in front light that adjusts to the ambient lighting in the room and turns off in the dark.

Aura says that the Ink Frame automatically transitions to a new photo overnight to maximize battery life, and when rendering each photo, the frame rearranges millions of capsules, causing the screen to flash. It is meant to show just one photo per day, and more frequent updates will impact battery life. Photo transitions take approximately 30 seconds.

The 0.6-inch frame is much thinner than Aura's other frames. It has paper-textured matting and a glossy finish for the image that's displayed, which Aura says makes it look like a classic frame and not a piece of tech. Brightness adjusts automatically to match the ambient lighting of the room that the frame is in.

The Ink Frame can be positioned in portrait or landscape orientation, and it comes with hardware for tabletop or wall mounting. It features a graphite frame with a white paper-like mat.

Aura's Ink Frame is available from the Aura website for $499.

Article Link: Aura Launches $499 Cordless E-Paper Photo Frame With 3-Month Battery Life

 

[Plutonius]

I wish they had the option to cycle the pictures more than once / day.

 

[Boeingfan]

That’s all we need, lounge rooms that resemble Times Square 😄

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

The day we get a spectra like screen that's optimized for faster refresh rate than 60 frames per day , I'll buy it in a heartbeat . I'm tired of screens

 

[contacos]

I am surprised it doesn't require a subscription

 

[joeblough]

I wish they had the option to cycle the pictures more than once / day.

from the website:

Designed for calmer living, Ink automatically updates to a new photo overnight, or you can set the frame to update more frequently in the app. The photo transition takes approximately 30 seconds and includes flashing on the screen as each color pigment shifts to create the updated photo. You can also use the on-frame buttons to cycle through your photos in real time.

i'd be all over this but i hate the fact that it's tied to their cloud. company goes away, your pictures go away.

 

[Martin Bland]

One more unnecessarily cloud dependent device. A brick in waiting when the company loses interest in supporting it.

 

[ricketysquire]

I am surprised it doesn't require a subscription

I literally read "3-month battery life" as "3 month subscription".

 

[Just_Kevin]

Yup, cloud based makes this a hard pass from me.

 

[jz0309]

wow, $499
for that price you can probably get a 65" 4kTV on Black Friday ...

 

[tech_enthusiast_]

I was just looking at my mother-in-law’s standard Aura frame this weekend and thinking that I would love one but I don’t want another screen glowing in the living room. This is a really neat idea. Hopefully the price will come down once there’s more interest and competitors.

 

[lk400]

For that price, why not just get an ink jet printer, some photo paper, and a frame? It may not be perfect quality, but it’s got to be better than 1600 x 1200 with 6 colours. Don’t need to charge it, one less screen and less ewaste when the device breaks or support ends.

I suppose some people like to have their photos cycling regularly, but I prefer a bit of permanence.

 

[hieranonymous]

I’m pretty sure you can get Spectra 6 picture frames on AliExpress for a fraction of the cost.

At that price point, at least use Kaleido 3 or Gallery 3.

 

[ChrisA]

Too bad about the cloud. I'd accept a cloud connection if the frame worked without it and the cloud only added some optional features. Or if the seller offered an iron-clad guarantee of support for the next 15 or 30 years. But you know for sure that the cloud backend will vanish as soon as they sell the last of these frames.

 

[ignatius345]

That’s all we need, lounge rooms that resemble Times Square 😄

I think that's the point of this being e-ink -- it doesn't look like a video display, it looks like a picture. BUT, I would really want to see this in person. I bought a color e-reader a while back and had to return it because the display contrast was not great at all without tons of backlight. Interested to see if this one has better display tech.

Also skeptical of the cloud back end. I bought a couple family members digital photo frames so we could upload kid pictures regularly. They love them, but the maker (Nixplay) started dramtically limiting photo galleries without a paid subscription. So the frames basically are held hostage to a yearly rental fee. Don't love it.

What *really* needs to happen is for stuff like this to use open protocols so you can plug it into whatever cloud service, NAS or whatever. But not holding my breath as the rent-seeking continues.

 

[nathanjbrown]

It bums me out that people aren't impressed by technology anymore. So depressing. I've been waiting for this tech since the digital camera became mainstream; some way to display photos on a "digital canvas" without a backlight and without the need for constant power. We're SO CLOSE! In another iteration or two, you won't be able to distinguish a print from a display. Incredible. I'll take one for the team and buy one, just so that all the cheap, unimpressed consumers in the world can have their boring, mind-blowing tech for $39.95.

 

[techfirth]

Too bad about the cloud. I'd accept a cloud connection if the frame worked without it and the cloud only added some optional features. Or if the seller offered an iron-clad guarantee of support for the next 15 or 30 years. But you know for sure that the cloud backend will vanish as soon as they sell the last of these frames.

You also know it would’ve been impacted by the AWS outage yesterday.

“Oh hey Chris - nice place! Out of interest, why have you framed a 404 error over there?”

 

[CouldBeWorse]

They should’ve just included a MicroSD card

 

[subjonas]

If this looks just like an analog photo/frame to a passerby, I'm very interested.

I've always wanted to put up a few digital photo frames around my home, but last I checked (a long time ago) they were all wired, thick, inconvenient to sync, and light emitting--so they was a no-go for me. I don't know if this Aura is the first of its kind, but finally this looks like something I actually want.

Except I'm not going to use their cloud service. I don't even want to trust Apple with my photos, definitely not going to give them up to a third party. So if Aura can/wants to open it up to iCloud sync, then I'll probably buy. If they can/want to open it up to Home Sharing, then I'll definitely buy.

Photo refresh more than once per day option would be nice, but I'm ok with once per day.

On a related note, I wish my TV could somehow have an e-ink to display to show photos too when it's off. I resent having to see a huge black rectangle in my living room throughout most of the day. Even just solid white to match my wall color would be better than black. Or I guess I could paint my walls vantablack.

 

[Cameront9]

Wait this thing is only a 13" frame?

For 1600x1200 resolution? That's the resolution of the pictures I took with my Mavica CD-1000. 25 years ago.

for $500!?

Do you know how many high resolution prints with frames you could make for that amount of money?

DOA.

 

[nathanjbrown]

DOA? Maybe. But an important stepping stone.

 

[ThisIsMike]

This is really cool in and of itself. Unfortunately-
1) It’s $500. Pass
2) It doesn’t allow an SD card, so you are completely dependent on the company, which is exactly what they want.
3) The photo cloud storage is free and unlimited. lol, right. Until it’s not. We’ve seen this story so many times before by now.

I’ll wait for a cheaper, better alternative from a competitor that allows for an SD card. And you’d better believe that’s going to come, just like there are way cheaper digital picture frames out there than Aura’s

(PS in the interest of fairness, Aura is generally well-reviewed for its quality and simplicity. I have family members who really like their frames. But I can’t personally invest in a frame that doesn’t at least allow the option to store photos directly on the device.)

 

[appleinsiderbro]

really looking forward to charging my photo frames around the house 🤣

 

[appleinsiderbro]

on a more serious note, they really should have solar charging.

 

[acorntoy]

I wish they had the option to cycle the pictures more than once / day.

“It is meant to show just one photo per day, and more frequent updates will impact battery life. Photo transitions take approximately 30 seconds.”

Looks like you still have the option to change it like the other frames it just isn’t recommended as it’ll hurt the battery.