Relive Sweet Memories with an Aura Frame

How many digital pictures do you currently own?  Too many to count? 

How many digital pictures did you print and display on your walls, bookshelves, and tables?  How many did you put in a scrapbook?  Scrapbooks are good, but they eventually sit on a shelf somewhere and are only enjoyed intermittently.  

I have well over 10,000 digital pictures that I have taken since both of my children were babies.  I feel blessed to live in a time where technology has made taking pictures easy and enjoyable.  No worries about buying film, remembering to turn the film in, and then be disappointed that half of my pictures include someone not looking into the camera.

We live during an amazing time.  To have a camera on my phone that is with me at all times is simply incredible.  But how does one really enjoy the 10,000 digital photos stored on a computer?  Occasionally my daughter and I sit at my computer and look through my folders of pictures, we really enjoy this time.

But this morning, we sat together reclined on the couch and watched our digital pictures while relaxing.  We set up an Aura Frame in our family room and have enjoyed going down memory lane together.

Aura Frames are the latest in digital photo frames.  They bring simple elegance and refinement to the digital frame industry.  With their numerous decorative frame designs, it’s the first time I have thought of a digital picture frame as part of my interior design rather than just a novelty.

Adding Photos to Your Aura Frame

Adding photos to the Aura Frame is pretty straightforward.  Your Camera Roll folder will automatically appear in the Aura app.  You can select which images you’d like included in your frame.  

Aura gets right to work on recognizing faces and pets that appear in your photos most often.  Select a person and press “ADD ALL” to send them to the Aura Frame.  As new pictures are added to your camera roll (and other imported places) those pictures featuring this person will automatically appear on the camera.

You can add as many people and pets as you want.  This means that when you go to an awards assembly for your children your pictures will already show up on your Aura Frame when you get home. 

Same thing with the vacation you just took, a concert you attended, your 20th high school reunion, etc.  Any pictures you take with your favorite people will show up on your frame.  This feature is pretty slick.

Sources

There are a number of picture sources you can connect to through the app and through the use of Aura’s ITTT.

You Can Import Pictures From Your:

• Camera roll (Android and iOS)
• iCloud
• Picture folders on your phone (think photo folders, Snapchat, Instagram, bitmoji, Pic Collage, Group Me, and many other apps where you save pictures
• Dropbox
• Google Photos

With Google Photos you can add either individual photos or select any albums you already have set up.  With any collection, Aura Frame gives you the option to hide photos, such as the picture of your son with his eyes clothes (probably more than one!) or the unflattering pictures you’d rather not see the day of light.

Aura Frames also uses an intelligent logic sequence to determine and show the best pictures in a collection – those that are focused, not grainy, or dark, so you don’t need to go through all of those pics.

The Aura Frame cannot display video but can play Live Photos captured by iOS.  Live Photos capture the 1.5 seconds before and after a picture is taken.  These are fun to see in the frame, like a Harry Potter picture.  Right now the Aura Frame does not support this feature found on Android phones.

With family sharing, you don’t need to be the only one who adds pictures to the Aura Frame.  You can invite others to join through the Aura app.  Once the family member accepts your invitation, they can begin adding pictures using the Aura app too.

You can also send pictures to other family member’s Aura Frames.  For example, if you gift Gramma an Aura Frame, you can send collections to her frame.  Identify people and pets in the Aura app and it will automatically send her the latest pics of events you just attended.  She’ll never ask you for pictures of the kids again!

You can also create a folder on your phone, the iOS cloud, Dropbox, or Google Photos which has all of your scanned in pictures of Gramma and Grandpa (together and growing up).  Send these to her frame too so she can relive and relish photos from their past.

Features:

• A 10″ x 11.75″ frame featuring a 9.7-inch ultra HD 1,536 x 2048 pixels display in a metallic/glass frame
• Bluetooth
• WiFi
• Sensors include a Light, Motion, and Gesture Sensor
• Energy conscious – turns off when the room becomes dark
• Private network – to share photos with other family members/friends
• Ability to send photos to family/friends’ Aura digital frames
• Unlimited photo sharing with no subscription fees
• Motion sensor on the frame that can be swiped with a hand motion to change pictures
• With auto setting, Aura takes cues from the environment to show a new picture when you walk in the room
• Ability to change the timing of picture slideshow or keep one picture still
• Multi-frame support – send same pictures to both frames or different pictures to different frames
• Pre-load pictures on a frame before it’s opened as a gift
• Watching for people – Aura makes collections of people you take pictures most often

Pros:

• It’s the most beautiful and elegant digital photo frame we’ve seen
• There are a choice of colors to choose from 
• The pictures are crisp and clear, simply beautiful
• Aura Frames is on ITTT for added options in adding pics to your frame
• It automatically displays pictures on your frame of people and pets you chose, almost instantaneously after you take them
• The gesture sensor is great for moving to or back to the next photo – no app needed
• The user (as in Gramma or Grandpa) doesn’t need to do anything, you can control everything from the Aura app remotely
• Goes to sleep at night to save energy (a BIG pet peeve of grandparents before when digital frames stayed on all night)
• The motion sensor can help you automate pictures based on movement in the room
• Connects to a wide variety of cloud services

Cons:

• No battery needs to be plugged in at all times
• The cord could be a little longer
• It’s pricier than most frames
• Cannot transfer files from your PC or Mac
• It does not rotate pictures
• Needs to be set up on WiFi if you want to send photos to the frame
• Cannot play video or sound but can play iOS Live Photos

A Mom’s Perspective