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

[BigQJohnson]

I am surprised it doesn't require a subscription

For now.

 

[tonie walker]

why cloud? if i buy a product i should own it not tied to the company, if they go out of business then?

 

[kave]

Looks much larger that 13.3", let us use Homeassistant on it

 

[DB2k]

did they comment on thinking about changing their service not to just use one availability zone? Was great to look at my brick for a day with its 'temporary issue' screen.

 

[clg82]

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

At least they include a charger with their product.......

 

[iDento]

Interesting but, price aside, why can’t I just upload images using a usb or Bluetooth instead of using the cloud. I can’t trust my very personal photos up there.

 

[asiga]

[...] to Aura's cloud service.

The article was promising just until that bit. For me, online and/or subscription dependence implies no buy.

 

[iMac The Knife]

Awesome, just what I wanted...a digital photo frame I have to take off the wall and charge six times the first year (realistically), and more times the following years. No thanks.

 

[canadianreader]

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

Same here I read 3 month free subscription. Trauma reaction to subscriptions

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

The fact this is cloud based makes me wonder if the tech industry at large just forgot how to code stuff that works locally, it’s downright bizarre

 

[doelcm82]

That’s also not a thing.

Of course it's not a thing, but they say it works even if you don't believe in it.

 

[ignatius345]

First of all, forget the cloud dependency. Just add a 2GB memory and use the USB connector, possibly with an App that conforms photos to the requirements.

The reason for the wireless connectivity, though, is that for a lot of people the use case for this kind of device is sharing photos with family members remotely. I do this myself, and know several other families who do the same. It's a great way to push out new photos of kids, for example, without anyone having to open a phone, tablet, etc to view them.

Agree, though, the addition of a simple SD slot would future proof the device, and accomodate people who just want to use it for personal use and don't mind manually loading up pictures.

 

[CWallace]

I have two Aura frames (one 12" Aspen and one 10" Carver) and love them, but this one is a pass for me on a number of reasons: cost, size, fidelity, locked to the cloud, etc.

I'd rather spend the money on two more Aura Aspens or get a 15" Walden (which is wall-mountable) and save $200.

 

[Saturn007]

Cool idea at one level, but agree with those who question the reliance on the cloud, the company's own server. Raises privacy questions, too.

Let me ask something, though. Why not just repurposes an old iPad or iPad Mini — or just buy a discounted iPad 9, 10, or 11 or iPad Mini and hang it on the wall?

You could beam photos to it, right?

It'd be cheaper, in full living color, could be run off your own network, etc.

 

[zach-coleman]

I've wanted a product like this for ages but I want it to either be local network access or an SD card for pictures. The cloud thing is just a future avenue to charge a subscription, which will all be made pointless when they go out of business.

I've looked at throwing something like this together with a raspberry pi as a project, maybe one day. The screens are still very pricy.

Let me ask something, though. Why not just repurposes an old iPad or iPad Mini — or just buy a discounted iPad 9, 10, or 11 or iPad Mini and hang it on the wall?

You could beam photos to it, right?

It'd be cheaper, in full living color, could be run off your own network, etc.

It looking printed and not drawing your eye like a screen does is the entire reason I like the idea. Not sure about others.

 

[MareLuce]

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.

Exactly. Why is the cloud even needed for what they are doing?

 

[MareLuce]

I love the aura frame.


I have several in my family, and you can have people from halfway across the world upload photos to the frame or view the frame's entire photo album.

the app has never failed me and between our frames we've probably have over 12 different phones/iPads connected to our frames and not once has the app ever given anyone problems.

Agree with each point (had an Aura frame since 2022). I've tried ~ 2 different e-frames before and the Aura is much better in hardware, software, and design.

That makes me think Aura has a better chance of being 'around' than any other competitor.

If this frame didn't need the cloud I'd def buy it. That said, I love the product and the new effect.
I'll look at it again on Black Friday.

 

[Powerguru]

$499 is too expensive. $199 is a good starting point. IMO

 

[MareLuce]

For now.

For now, but since a long time ago also. (bought mine in 2022 but started looking at them well before that)

 

[v3rlon]

The reason for the wireless connectivity, though, is that for a lot of people the use case for this kind of device is sharing photos with family members remotely. I do this myself, and know several other families who do the same. It's a great way to push out new photos of kids, for example, without anyone having to open a phone, tablet, etc to view them.

Agree, though, the addition of a simple SD slot would future proof the device, and accomodate people who just want to use it for personal use and don't mind manually loading up pictures.

The device already has Wifi. You could share it like that. I share a photo with you, who, with the app, uploads it to your frame with no cloud service required. I mean not only is this NOT hard, but it would be EASIER to develop like this than the way they did.