Amazon’s First Digital Picture Frame Adds Alexa and Voice Notes
Has released the Alexa Photo Frame, a 10-inch touchscreen device with Alexa built in. It pulls images from Amazon Photos, picks the best shots with Alexa Plus…
Amazon has launched the Alexa Photo Frame, Amazon’s first digital picture frame with Alexa built in, and it is on sale from October 28. The device costs $199.99 with a black frame, or $229 with a birch or walnut wood frame, according to The Verge.
It competes with digital frames from companies such as Aura. Unlike Amazon’s Echo Show and other smart home hubs, the frame only displays photos, and The Verge reported that users will never be served an ad.
A 10-inch screen built to look like a print
The frame has a 10-inch touchscreen with a semi-matte, anti-glare finish meant to mimic physical prints. A light sensor adjusts brightness through the day, and the unit sits on a detachable stand. CNET, which saw the frame at a launch event in New York, said photos looked more like a physical print than a screen and showed clearly from almost any angle.
Design is a selling point. CNET pointed to the textured, soft-white matting and real wood frames as a welcome change from the drab black plastic common among digital frames, even if the wood costs more.
Alexa Plus picks the pictures
The frame pulls images from Amazon Photos, which offers unlimited storage for Prime members. Beyond that, The Verge said, the frame does not require a subscription. Engadget reported that each device includes 90 days of free Alexa+, after which a Prime subscription is needed for features that depend on it.
Users can choose specific people or albums, or let Alexa Plus curate. It selects images based on lighting, smiling faces and the current season, so October may bring more Halloween costumes. It also skips receipts and screenshots.
Alexa can show related photos side by side, such as a child doing the same activity years apart. Voice commands work too. Engadget gave examples such as asking to see photos from a last trip to Italy or the latest photos of the kids.
Chosen subjects sync automatically as new pictures are taken, Engadget said. Amazon’s pitch is that “Grandma can see the latest pictures of the grandkids right away.” Friends and family can also add images directly to the device.
Engadget added a note of caution: people should be careful about which pictures they keep on Amazon Photos if they sync them to a frame they plan to give away.
Voice notes and what is missing
Users can attach voice notes to photos through the Amazon Photos app, and the notes play through the frame. Recording them on the frame itself is coming later. Buyers who purchase through Amazon as a gift can preload photos or albums with voice notes that play once the recipient sets the frame up.
CNET’s reviewer called the feature perhaps the strangest on the device and said he could not think of many cases where it would help.
Amazon Photos can back up pictures from Android and Apple devices and import from iCloud Photo. Importing from Google Photos is not supported yet, The Verge reported.
CNET has not tested the frame, so it could not say how well the automatic curation works. “We’ve tested generative AI frames before, and most left us wanting more,” the outlet wrote, adding that it had not seen a hybrid approach like Amazon’s before.
Source: theverge.com
