Picture Perfect: High

Elegant displays to easily showcase your ever-growing picture collection

By John ElliotOriginally Published June 6, 2023

Photo: Aura

Photo: Aura

In the market for an amazing present? Perhaps there is a dad or grad in your life deserving of celebration. Give the gift of memories with the latest in smart photo frame technology.

From voice-controlled displays and picture frames that pull from your entire family's digital photo collection to devices that double as TVs or smart-home hubs, today's high-tech frames are multitasking machines that give your ever-expanding photo collection the attention it deserves.

Here are our picks for the best digital pic displays.

Nixplay

Want an easy way to display your digital pictures while maintaining that classic photo frame feel? Look no further than the QHD (2K) Smart Wi-Fi Digital Frame from Nixplay. Available in silver or gold, this stainless-steel frame will automatically showcase photo playlists you create in the accompanying Nixplay app. Portrait or landscape doesn't matter for the Nixplay, thanks to its proprietary niX-SmartFace Framing software which automatically positions people's faces in the center of the frame for optimal viewing. And if you want to switch from your vacation photos playlist to your wedding photos playlist, it's as simple as speaking the command, as the Nixplay is compatible with Amazon Alexa.

The Nixplay QHD (2K) Smart Wi-Fi Digital Frame is available for $299.

Nixplay

Nixplay

Aura

Aura

Aura

Sleek, simple and suffused with smart features, Aura frames are perfect for people who want to keep tabs on their family and friends. Using the accompanying Aura app, owners can invite friends and family to share their photos directly to the Wi-Fi-connected frame, ensuring an endless rotation of the latest happenings from those closest to you. And no storage limits, no subscription fees and no memory cards required, you can be sure that your pool of photos will be deep and fresh. But it's not just an easily accessible and near endless supply of photos that the Aura offers—it also makes sure they look great too. Thanks to meticulously calibrated color and brightness settings, your Aura-displayed pics will have the look and feel of real print photos.

Aura frames are available for $149 to $399, depending on size and style.

Samsung

The Frame by Samsung is elegant and hiding a pretty smart secret. When it's not displaying your hand-selected digital photos—in a stylized format that makes them indistinguishable from professionally framed portraits—The Frame is a top-of-the-line QLED 4K smart TV. Yes, no longer does a massive black mirror need to dominate your family room. With The Frame, when it's not time to watch the game, you and your family can enjoy images of your latest adventures in full, rich color. The Frame is also available in a variety of bezel options, ensuring that the Frame's frame is a perfect match with your home's decor and other less-intelligent picture holders.

The Frame is available for $1,499.

Samsung

Samsung

Google

Google

Google

The perfect photo frame for the multitasker. The Google Nest Hub Max is a smart-home hub that can help you organize your life, play your favorite songs and podcasts, stream your favorite movies and TV shows, serve as a video calling device, and give you live updates on news, traffic and weather. Oh, and it's one fantastic digital photo frame. Pulling directly from your Google Photos library, the Hub Max will give you an endless rotation of your latest and greatest photos, whenever you’re not using it for one of its many other talents. Want to see a specific photo? It's as simple as saying "Let me see my Paris pictures." thanks to the built-in Google Assistant integration. The Hub Max even has an Ambient EQ feature that allows it to sense the light and color of the room it is placed in, and adjust photo brightness accordingly so you always see your photos at their best.

The Google Nest Hub Max is available for $229.