I want to set up and send a few photo frames (<5) to a few family members and have the ability to remotely upload/show pictures on them.
There are thousands of "digital photo frames" out there but I have a very hard time trusting what I'm finding. If folks here wouldn't mind sharing their good & bad experiences, I would really appreciate it!
Specs:
- powered from AC/USB (ie it doesn't have to run from a battery)
- wifi
- extra bonus points if I could setup the wifi in advance (in the case of one network, I know the SSID & password)
- there might be one case where the person receiving the frame will have to setup the wifi - I'd love for that to be extremely painless
- probably not eink - I want to show photos and ... photos would not be as ... photo-y as on a regular LCD/LED display, right?
- I'd love to be able to email photos, or use some app on my iOS device to "share" photos? Or maybe upload photos on a site? Obviously, the easiest/less friction-less the better.
- actually it would be great if multiple people could email/use an app to share photos ie 2 people could upload photos to 3 frames.
- it would be neat to verify that the upload/sharing worked ie to know which photos are actually shown on the digital frame
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Anti-specs:
- I'd rather not use something iCloud-based - I'm never 100% sure if it's not going to share all of my phone's photos or do a weird unexpected sync. Unfortunately, I don't trust it.
- something very DIY - I've setup dozens of Raspis and love them deeply, but I'd rather not have to tailscale/ssh into a cluster of digital photo frames
- something deeply dependent on a seemingly fly-by-night company..? (I feel like I'll have to be flexible here)
Also wondering if there's a way to buy/setup an iOS/Android tablet and use that? Is that a good/bad idea? Or do I want a thing that has a frame and a little "leg"..?
Thanks a ton!
Avoid the Skylight frames and calendar, lots of cloud lock in and even though they’re Android powered, you can’t modify to remove the paid for cloud requirement bits.