With its Carver connected photo frame, Aura relies on ease of use and unlimited storage in the cloud to appeal to families. And if it is not cheap, it has a nice screen and is very easy to use.
Appearing in the mid-2000s, digital photo frames had their heyday before slowly slipping into oblivion, along with other household gadgets. It must be said that with the development of smartphones, tablets and online photo sharing services, these small screens placed on a piece of furniture or a desk which were content to display photos stored on a memory card have lost their interest. . To attract consumers again, manufacturers have equipped them with new functions by connecting them to the Internet. By integrating into connected homes like other objects, next-generation photo frames are thus more dynamic, even allowing images to be automatically shared with loved ones.
This is particularly the case of the Carver, the entry-level model from the Aura company – nearly 200 euros all the same… – which works via Wi-Fi and which is now evolving in an improved version, with a new design. To stand out from the competition, the manufacturer has relied on easy handling – in order to be accessible to everyone, including those who are not tech-savvy – and sharing, thanks to a mobile application and user-friendly functions. . All family members and friends can add photos in seconds.
Aura Carver: an elegant design that fits into the furniture
The Carver comes in a stylish blue box, which contains a power cable, two adapters – for the UK and the US – and a user manual. No need to carry around unnecessary equipment. The connected photo frame has a fairly minimalist design, with a 10-inch screen and plastic edges imitating a traditional photo frame. It is available in two colors, white and black. It measures 27 cm wide by 18.9 cm high and 6.6 cm thick, with a weight of approximately 1.75 kg, and is only positioned in landscape format – portrait photos are flipped for display at the vertical and, if the option is activated, the frame selects a second image to display next to it.
If the edges are quite thin – much more than for the Luxury version – the connected frame still has a certain depth since the screen is tilted a little backwards. There should also be room to plug the power cable into the back of the device – so be sure to place it next to an outlet. Note that it is not possible to hang it on a wall – which would not be very nice anyway with the wire. At the back, there is a speaker discreet enough to be able to sound the videos – which should not exceed 30 seconds. The Carver only works via Wi-Fi – everything is stored in the cloud – so there’s no slot for an SD card or USB cable. In any case, seen from the front, the Carver really looks like an elegant classic picture frame and fits very well with the rest of the furniture.
The device has a fairly discreet touch strip on the top to control it if there is no smartphone at hand – a good idea that avoids fingerprints on the screen. It allows you to change a photo – by moving to the next one or by returning to the previous one –, to “like” a photo and to put the device on standby. However, it is a bit approximate and, at the beginning, you sometimes have to try several times.
Aura Carver: an intuitive application that serves as a remote control
Installing the Carver is quick and simple. Plug it in and the device turns on automatically. Then, install the Aura Frames application on a mobile phone – available in French on the Play Store and the App Store, but also on the Internet via a web browser – and follow the instructions displayed on the smartphone. It is this application that allows you to control and configure the photo frame. You must create an account, then enter the Wi-Fi code to connect the frame to the Wi-Fi network and activate Bluetooth. A very quick tutorial explains how the Carver works. Once this configuration is complete, you can import photos from the application, and you’re done! It really only takes a few minutes.
Aura’s app is very intuitive and straight to the point. It has two tabs: an activity feed that lets you see each person’s latest additions – you can like and comment – and a gallery with all the photos imported to the company’s cloud – we’ll come back to this. A yellow button at the bottom of the screen – impossible to miss – allows you to add photos very easily. By selecting a photo, you can choose whether or not to include it in the slide show that scrolls over the frame, adjust the photo and share it. Finally, you can configure the frame from the settings, by choosing the photo scrolling mode – random or chronological –, the time interval between each image – between 15 seconds and 24 hours –, by activating the automatic playback of videos, managing power-on schedules, etc. We regret that it is not possible to create different albums, and that it is necessary to select and deselect each time the photos to be displayed. By pressing the image of the frame at the top of the screen, you can use the smartphone as a remote control, manually scrolling through the photos – note that there is a latency time of around ten seconds –, adjusting them or excluding them from the slideshow. Overall, the application is very successful, functions are interesting and the photos are downloaded quickly.
Aura Carter: a user-friendly connected framework with unlimited cloud storage
The app is central to the concept of the Carver Framework, which is usability. You can add members who can in turn send photos to the frame, from anywhere in the world. However, they have a bit too many rights since, in addition to importing images, they can also delete them, see all the photos in the gallery and even modify the settings.
With Aura, all photos and videos are stored on the app for free and unlimited. It’s rather practical, even if we can regret the absence of a USB socket in order to leave an alternative to those who would not like this system for security or confidentiality reasons. Any photos you want to appear in the frame must be uploaded/imported via the app or website beforehand. You can add snapshots stored locally on the device, but also synchronize with Google Photos. Aura ensures that no photos are shared with third-party software, and that the cloud has an encryption system to protect the data.
Aura Carver: Convincing Image Quality
As we have seen, the Carver only displays photos in landscape mode – for photos in portrait mode, it will be better to choose an Aura Mason frame, which is a little more expensive. For portrait shots, the frame displays them side by side. The 10-inch screen offers a nice image quality, with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels – slightly more than Full HD – with a pixel density of 224 ppi. The rendering is clean, and the fairly high brightness reproduces colors and contrasts well. Moreover, speaking of brightness, a sensor allows it to be adjusted automatically – we can however regret not being able to adjust it manually. The screen turns itself off when there is no more light and turns back on when it is back.
Finally, the Carver is really user-friendly and easy to use. We appreciate its elegant design that blends in with the decor, the image quality, the quick configuration and the intelligent functions. The unlimited storage means that you don’t have to worry about the number of images you want to share, even if you would have liked an SD card type alternative, as is done for other competing models. The mobile application is really very practical and really offers a community dimension. In addition, it is possible to configure the device in advance to offer it as a gift. However, despite its undeniable qualities, this type of product is essentially aimed at an uninitiated public who simply wishes to take advantage of shared photos, by placing the frame on a piece of furniture because geeks will obtain an equivalent result and an application displaying slideshows…