Is a digital photo frame with battery life worth it?
A digital photo frame with battery life might be an alluring choice, but how practical are they in the real world. Battery-operated digital photo frames are few and far between – there isn’t a broad selection of choices and almost all of them fall into the cheap digital frame range. This means most of them have no Wi-Fi capabilities, cloud storage, mobile apps, multimedia support, etc.
You won’t find premium digital photo frames with battery power for good reason – it severely limits their functionality and use. For example, while a battery-powered digital photo frame would be better for temporary outdoor events and the like, that’s about it. If you plan to have a frame that has no cables and appears more like a tablet – the limited battery life quickly dashes those dreams. You’ll need to leave the frame on charge for almost as long as it can go without. Battery life ranges from 2-5 hours and is seriously impacted by having the display on bright or being connected to Wi-Fi.
Standard (non-battery) digital photo frames can be wall-mounted and set up with no need to worry about issues related to short battery life. You can start a slideshow and head off to work or the shops, knowing the battery won’t run out. You don’t need to stress about charging cycles or having battery life prepared for dinner. You also don’t need to deal with the reduced battery life over time, or the degradation of ion-lithium battery cells.
Another important feature of non-battery frames is that they can be put to sleep without cutting their ability to receive and save new photos and media. With frames like the Pix-Star (a premium digital photo frame), you can receive photos any time and the frame has a smart on/off function.
Does the Pix-Star digital photo frame have battery life?
Pix-Star’s digital photo frame doesn’t have a battery – and it doesn’t need one. You can mount this frame on the wall or any flat surface. The power inlet cable is well-hidden thanks to the well-designed attachable stand.
Pix-Star’s frames are extremely versatile and functional. A lot of this comes from its extensive Wi-Fi and cloud capabilities that enable features like remote control, multi-frame control, and the stunning 4:3 display with adjustable colors and brightness. You can send photos from anywhere and the frame is always ready to sync and receive new photos, saving them to internal storage for offline use.
A lot of features including web radio & music, weather, remote control, web albums, and more, wouldn’t be available or as effective if the frame was battery powered. This is due to the natural limitations on battery life and relatively high power consumption by comparison.
Should I mount a digital photo frame with battery life on the wall?
Wall-mounting a digital photo frame with a battery isn’t a great idea as you’d be removing its main advantage – mobility. Unless you can build a casing frame for the digital frame that lets you remove it whenever you’d like – it’s not going to worth wall-mounting.
Another issue with wall-mounting a digital photo frame is having to run a charging cable nearby for frequent charging. Most people attempt to go for digital photo frames with batteries to achieve a minimalistic and sleek design – which is overruled by limited battery life and constantly needing to recharge the frame.
If you plan of showing photos and slideshows constantly, a battery-operated digital photo frame probably isn’t the best choice. You’d be better off with a frame like the Pix-Star that is still portable, versatile, and offers plenty of playback options, settings & controls.
Can a digital photo frame with battery life connect to Wi-Fi/cloud?
While the are a handful of digital photo frames with batteries that can connect to Wi-Fi networks, the vast majority of them only work through a combination of internal storage and USB/SD card compatibility. The only way to send photos is by loading them onto a supported USB/SD card, inserting them into the relevant port on the frame, and either viewing them directly off the card/drive or copying them over to the frame’s internal storage.
For battery-powered digital photo frames with Wi-Fi connectivity, it’s usually quite limited. You might be able to send photos via email, but the frame will still mostly rely on loading photos by USB/SD card. You will need to make sure the frame is on and has enough battery life to receive all the photos – otherwise, you risk losing photos that didn’t fully send before losing power. Wi-Fi capable battery digital frames are far less common and you don’t have much of a selection to choose from.
Do digital photo frames with battery life play videos and audio?
Video and audio support is a tricky feature for battery-operated digital photo frames to pull off due to higher power consumption and often low-resolution displays. The result is that most digital photo frames that rely on battery power can’t play videos and audio. If they do, the most common way to send them to the frame is via USB/SD card – and there are limitations on both file size and length.
Digital photo frames aren’t designed to focus on video and audio playback. That being said, digital frames like the Pix-Star do quite a good job at it. You can send videos through the mobile app by selecting previously recorded videos, or record a new video while still inside the app. These videos can be sent to multiple Pix-Star frames at the same time.
Unlike most battery-powered digital frames, Pix-Star’s frames can play video clips up to 2-minutes long and can play audio through the frame’s inbuilt speakers. Most battery frames can’t include videos into slideshows, especially when playing photos from a USB/SD card – but it’s something you can do with the Pix-Star.
In summary, video playback will drain the battery life of a digital photo frame much quicker – especially if it’s played alongside the video’s audio. This can cause the frame to heat up more and reduce the overall battery health and durability. If video playback is important to you, go for a non-battery-operated frame like the Pix-Star that offers extensive support and free-for-life unlimited cloud storage.
