I often laugh at myself because I view life through my 3″ x 5″ Note 4 phone screen. I love capturing moments and I have stockpiled so many of them on my phone and computer, they are bulging at the seams! I have documented nearly every awards ceremony, sports match, amusement park adventure, acting performance, you name it, I’ve got a picture for it.
And while I do post a few of the pictures and share some with friends, a bulk of these pictures remain on my phone or computer, hardly ever viewed again. Yes, I keep saying one day I’m going to organize my pictures and make a slide show, but if you think about it, with thousands upon thousands of pictures, this would surely be an overwhelming task, resulting in hundreds of slide shows!
In theory, a digital picture frame makes sense, it’s a great way to see and enjoy your pictures. But digital picture frames of the past have underwhelmed most of us due to the fact they take a bit of time to update the pictures, the frames were rather small, and they were always on, which means constant energy consumption when not being watched.
I know because my mother-in-law received a digital picture frame as a gift and she never had it on. She didn’t want to waste electricity. It wasn’t long before the picture frame disappeared from their main living area.
I’ll be honest, when the idea of reviewing a digital picture frame came up, I was hesitant. Would we really use it or would it be a fascination for a week and then die off?
Here’s what changed my mind about digital picture frames…well at least the 13 inch WiFi Cloud frame made by nixplay*…
- The picture quality on this HD frame is fantastic.
- It has a nice horizontal frame, perfect for landscape pictures.
- Nixplay uses an inherent motion display which gradually moves up vertically displayed pictures so you can see more of the picture.
- It utilizes playlists – now this is cool – so you can categorize which playlist of pictures you want to display or all of them at the same time.
- Nixplay utilizes a motion sensor, so the pictures only display when the digital picture frame detects movement – brilliant!
I have to say, the playlist feature I found fascinating. Why not have playlists of pictures, we’ve been using music playlists for years! And a motion sensor digital picture frame? That only makes sense!
See how nice the nixplay digital picture frame looks in our family room? When I get within 4 feet of the picture frame, it turns on. If you prefer, you can have it always on too, it’s a setting you make in your online nixplay account.
How the nixplay Digital Picture Frame Works
The nixplay Edge comes with easy instructions to help you get your frame online. You will need to have your WiFi password handy to connect your nixplay digital picture frame to your home network. Once your frame is connected, you set up a cloud account on nixplay.com to activate your frame and begin adding pictures.
Albums
You can create as many photo albums as you like. Here are the initial ones I made:
- Main
- Odyssey of the Mind
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Past
- Growing Up
- New Year’s Eve
- Family Heritage
The Main album I made shows pictures from this past year. I found that I could select individual photos from folders on my computer…or transfer over an entire folder by dragging and dropping it in. How easy is that?
We have gatherings at our house every year for Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and the Superbowl. Every year, we invite the same family members/friends. So I added pictures from these events from year’s past and will use these playlists at the next respective event. Using the nixplay digital picture frame, it will be a fun way to relive memories and reminisce.
I also added a Family Heritage album which shows old pictures of my parents and my in-laws growing up, including their parents and siblings.
The Family Heritage playlist is a fun way to introduce my kids to another side of their grandparents they haven’t seen as well as encourage family childhood stories when our kids’ grandparents visit.
Playlists
After you create your albums, you can drag and drop albums into playlists. You can add a number of albums to one playlist. For example, I can add my Christmas Eve and Christmas Past albums together to one Christmas playlist if I want. Or I can just play my Christmas Eve playlist. There are so many possibilities and combinations you can create. Right now, my playlists follow my albums, but I will be changing that as I add more pictures.
nixplay Edge 13″
Features:
- 1080p Full High Definition
- 13-inch display
- Motion-sensor – turns on when motion is detected
- Add as many playlists as you desire
- Any number of people can email your device to show pics
- Frame can be displayed in a horizontal or vertical position
- Watch pictures from your camera right away by adding a SD/SDHC card or USB drive in the digital picture frame
- You can also watch videos from your USB drive or SD/SDHC card with sound on your nixplay after plugging it in
- Comes with a remote control so you can turn the frame on or off, change playlists, move faster through your photos, and more
- Easily add pictures from your computer to various playlists through your nixplay account
- Uses the cloud to deliver your pictures to your picture frame
- Comes with 10 GB of cloud space to store your photos
- You can manage up to 10 picture frames from one nixplay account
Pros:
- The pictures look fantastic on the 13″ HD screen
- It is super easy to add photos from my computer into albums and playlists
- The account on the nixplay website is easy to use with drag and drop functionality
- I love the playlists – depending on your mood or gathering, you can easily change what pictures are shown
- I have a bunch of family videos on the SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive we have, this is another great way to view them using nixplay
- The motion detector is perfect – it’s only playing pictures when it senses someone near
- It has a long power cord
Cons:
- The nixplay digital picture frame is not a touchscreen, which would make it easier to enter your wireless password and use the menus
- It does not have a rechargeable battery, you have to keep it plugged in all the time
- Every time you move the nixplay frame and plug it in, it has to reboot
- It’s a bit pricey
The nixplay Edge sells for $249.99 directly from nixplay or Amazon with free shipping in the US. There is also an 8 inch nixplay Edge from nixplay or Amazon available for $129.99, also with free shipping.
Win It!
Now you can win a 13 inch HD nixplay Edge WiFi Cloud digital picture frame for your special someone – your spouse, your aging parents, your best friend, your sweet Valentine! You’re gonna love this great digital picture frame! There are so many possibilities with this frame with the types of playlists you want to display. We are super excited to give one away!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Contest ends on March 3rd at 12:00 am. US Residents only. Must be 18 or over to win. Good Luck!!!!
A Mom’s Perspective
The nixplay Edge WiFi cloud digital picture frame has been very enjoyable to use. I love coming into my family room and immediately see pictures of my kids displayed. Pictures from their babyhood to today…pictures I haven’t seen for years! Finally, all my efforts of living life through a 3×5 or smaller phone camera are being relived on a 13″ screen! Life has upgraded!
I have already uploaded nearly 1,100 pictures and have only used 2.45 GB o my free 10 GB allotted space. So I’m excited to load up lots more pictures – especially of my kids growing up.
We have been having fun reliving memories as a family or telling the kids stories about certain pictures taken of them when they were really young. These wonderful pictures bring back cherished memories and remind me how much my children have grown and how our family moments have helped shaped them. But most of all, these pictures remind me of how truly blessed I am.
*I was given a nixplay Edge WiFi Cloud digital picture frame to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.
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I would love to have this for my desk. I would have a playlist for my daughter and one for my husband, and one for all family.
I would have a playlist for my family and one for my friends
I would have a playlist for chilling out, working out and just every day music.
I would use this to create Holiday playlist of family, and always times of celebration photos. Oh and a playlist for my pets.
I would make a playlist of my friends.
I would make a playlist of my kids growing up
Probably our vacation pics! Thank you! 🙂
One of my lists would be Campfire because I have a lot of camping pictures.
I would make a playlist for the family. This would be fun for me to do.
I would have a playlist for all of the grandkids and their activites.
I would make a vacation playlist
abfantom at yahoo dot com
I would make a playlist of my kids having fun.
I would make a playlist of the vacations my family went on
I would create family chronicles
I would make playlists of all the weddings in the family including my cousin, my other cousin and my brother’s wedding.
I would have an adorable playlist of pictures of my dog.
I would make a playlist of family pictures – celebrations and vacations.
I would make a playlist of pictures of my kids from birth until now and I would give it to my mom so she could see them everyday and I could add pictures as I take them.
I’d make playlists for Vacation, Summer at the Lake, Holidays and more.
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I would make my playlist of some of my very missed Mom and Dad, 2 sisters gone before me, my children, grandchildren, and 5 living sisters.
I would create a playlist of family vacations. Thanks!
I would make a playlist of family vacation.
I could do Kids, Trips, Pets.
I would most likely use this is our cosmetology school salon by the reception desk to show off student portfolios.
I’d love to have a vacations and a kid milestones playlists.
I might create one of snowy scenes for winter, and one of people.
I would create a file for my daughter, who is four months old. I have so many pictures of her!
I would have tons of playlists. Pets, past gardens, family, vacations, need I continue? What a great digital display frame!
have all my kids from birth to now i think that would be neat
I would create playlists of the kids and of our pets and yard.
I would create a play list of the three kids and are siberian husky
I would love to do special moments in our lives
Some of my playlist ideas are: birthday pics, pics of the dogs, favorite pics of the kids, Christmas and other holiday pics, vacation pics, selfies, pictures of the kids school activities. I could go on and on. Would be amazing to win this!
I’d make playlists for holidays, family vacations, recitals, and sporting events, for starters.
Geoff K
gkaufmanss at yahoo dot com
I would create a list of my boys.
Playlists of our family vacations and get togethers
instagram ID gmrich22
Precious pictures of my granddaughter from birth until present combined with beautiful pictures of her mother, my daughter, from her birth until the present.
Family and pets
the years of my children growing up
I would just put family and friends pictures
I would make a playlists of my family vacations.
I have tons of pics I would love to make playlists with. I would do one with family, one with my pets, and one for beautiful pics from around the world.