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Best digital photo frame 2018: Show off your favourite photos

The biggest complaint some people have about digital photos is that you never get to see them. Some make it to a photo printer, others to a sharing site or social media feed, but many end up sitting on a cloud storage service or a hard drive, unappreciated and never seen. Where the old prints might have ended up in albums or sitting in a frame on the mantelpiece, their digital successors never get their time in the spotlight. Digital photo frames have fallen out of popularity, but they’re actually a great way to bring your shots out of storage and into the home. What’s more, the best models are a vast improvement on the dull, awkward to use early frames of a decade ago, with brighter screens, smarter power-saving features, better interfaces and even – in some cases – Wi-Fi and cloud connectivity, so that you can publish photos direct from a PC or smartphone to your frame. Go on, get your stills back on the mantelpiece where they belong! How to buy the right digital photo frame for you What about the new smart displays?

Amazon, Google and Lenovo are all promoting new smart displays that play music, control smart home appliances and answer questions, much like their smart speaker cousins. The difference is that these displays can show you answers, web pages and videos – and also double up as a digital photo frame. Amazon’s Echo Show devices can play a photo slideshow from the Amazon Photos cloud photo-storage service, while Google’s Home Hub can play photos direct from Google Photos, which is where your shots tend to end up automatically if you use an Android phone. For this reason, they make excellent digital photo frames, although you’ll pay a fair bit more for them than for a stand-alone frame.

How much do you want to spend? And how big a frame do you want?

Choosing a digital photo frame is fairly easy; work out your budget then decide what size you need and whether you’re willing to pay for extra features or WiFi connectivity. What’s more, the best frames tend to come in a range of sizes, usually starting in the 7in to 8in range and moving up to 10in and beyond, with some models going as big as 18in. Whether you’re looking for something to place on a shelf or something to hang on the wall, you’ll have a few options. Just be aware that not all frames have a traditional 4:3 aspect ratio, with some smaller frames opting for a 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio which is great for landscape shots, but not necessarily so good for portraits.

Will my photos look good on any digital photo frame?

Beyond size, you also need to think about screen technology and resolution. Some models use the kind of Twisted Nematic LCD screen technology found in budget tablets, laptops and monitors, often resulting in low levels of brightness and contrast and narrow viewing angles; not ideal for something you’ll rarely look at precisely head-on. Others have moved to IPS technology, giving you much wider viewing angles and a brighter, more colourful image. More saturated colours isn’t necessarily a good thing – some frames exhibit the kind of brash, unnatural colour balance you’d normally find on a bargain-basement telly – but ideally you want something with a little punch.

As far as resolution goes, expect some mild disappointment. Digital photo frames lag behind tablets and smartphones when it comes to pixel density, and 1,024 x 600 and 1,024 x 768 screens are the norm even on larger models. Luckily, this doesn’t matter so much when you’re usually looking at a 7-inch to 10-inch display from several metres away.

How do you get your photos onto it?

This is the next big differentiator. Some have internal memory, and you transfer photos over a USB connection. Most now have an SD or micro SD card slot and read photos directly from the card. Others have a USB port for plugging in a USB memory key. However, a growing number now have built-in Wi-Fi, connecting to your home network or a cloud-based service, where you work through a Web-based interface to upload files. The great thing about this is that you can transfer files from your PC or your smartphone, not to mention popular picture-sharing or social networking services. You can even send photos to your frame while you’re away on your holidays. These models are even adding social features, enabling you to send photos through to friends or relatives while you’re travelling or just making the most of life.

Is there anything else you should look out for?

Many frames have additional features, including clocks, calendars and video and audio playback. Most recent models also have motion-sensing and other power-saving features, so that the frame isn’t using energy when there’s nobody to see it. It’s hard to find a frame without slideshow features, and the more flexible these are the better. A clear user-interface is clearly helpful here, making it easy to get photos on the device, add them to playlists and control how they look.

How much do I need to spend?

Frames start at under £40 with the larger 15in and cloud-enabled models reaching price points between £150 and £200. Inevitably you’ll pay for sheer size and extra features, but you can get a great frame for well under £100 as long as you’re prepared to compromise on one of those two.

The best digital photo frames to buy from £50

1. Apeman 8-Inch Digital Photo Frame

Price when reviewed: £50

                        If you’ve got reasonable expectations and a £50 budget, you won’t get much better than this Apeman-branded 8-inch frame. The 1024 x 768 resolution is perfectly adequate at the size and colours are surprisingly clean and bright, making your pics look good even from an angle. What’s more, it has slideshow, photo, full-screen clock and calendar functions, it will play high definition videos and you can keep the time and date showing unobtrusively in the corner.

The design is more functional than fancy, with a single screw-in leg that keeps the frame propped up, but there are no garish logos, the controls are kept simple and the software is basic yet easy to use. You can’t expect wireless connectivity at this price, but with an SD card slot, USB and mini USB ports, you won’t have any problems getting photos on it, though the mini USB seems rather dated. The only other real annoyance is the lack of auto-rotation; you’re better off rotating any shots taken in portrait mode yourself before transferring them to your card or USB memory stick. Still, with a bundled remote and wall-mounting options, this is otherwise a fine entry-level frame.

2. Nixplay Advance 10-inch: The best 10in digital photo frame for around £100

Price when reviewed: £110

The Nixplay Advance range goes all the way from 8 to 18.5 inches, but the 10-inch version is particularly brilliant value, giving you a 10-inch, 4:3 ratio IPS display with a 1024 x 768 resolution. It’s a simple, well-built frame, standing on a bulging section at the rear where the power, USB and SD card sockets sit, along with a headphone/audio line out. The latter might be useful because the Advance’s party piece is 720p MPEG-4 video playback, complete with tinny sound from the built-in speakers, and you can cleverly mix video and stills within the same photo slideshow. While it hasn’t got the wireless connectivity or cloud capabilities of Nixplay’s pricier Seed series, the clean interface makes it easy to set-up slideshows once you’ve transferred your shots to the bundled 8GB USB thumb drive. There’s even a nice clock and calendar function if you’d like both overlaid. Most importantly, the Advance makes your photos look good, with natural colours, impressive depth of tone and cool transitions. If you’re just after a great way to present your favourite shots, this is the frame to buy.

3. Nixplay Seed 10: The best all-round digital photo frame

Price when reviewed: £170

Like its stablemate, the Advance, the Nixplay Seed does a fantastic job of showing off your photos, with better clarity than you’d expect from a 1,024 x 768 screen, and superb, lifelike colours. The IPS display has wide viewing angles, and there’s a depth of tone here you won’t find in many other digital frames. The Seed goes further, however, thanks to its superb Wi-Fi and cloud connected features. You can transfer photos wirelessly and set-up playlists, drag and drop shots from Google Photos, Instagram and Flickr or even send photos to your frame straight from an iOS or Android smartphone app. Beyond this, Nixplay offers basic photo-sharing and social messaging features, so that you can share photos instantly with Nixplay-owning friends or family. And while Pix-Star’s frame works with awider range of cloud photo services, Nixplay has the cleaner, more intuitive UI, making it easier to use these functions and customise slideshow timings and transitions. Throw in a great design, with a thick USB cable that functions as a stand, plus a choice of colours, and the Seed is the photo frame to beat.

4. Nixplay Iris: The best traditional-style digital frame

Price when reviewed: £170

If you want a showcase for your digital photos but prefer the look of a more traditional frame, the Nixplay Iris has you covered. Available in bronze, silver and copper finishes it looks like an old-school frame from the front but has the innards of the Nixplay Seed, giving you the same impressive image quality and natural colours, plus identical wireless features for transferring photos. You can still sync the frame with your social media and cloud accounts to make sure you have your latest shots on full display, and Nixplay even throws in 10GB of cloud storage space for you to use. Meanwhile, the sound sensor turns the frame off when nobody’s in the room. Otherwise, those with Alexa devices can turn it on and off with voice. You’re paying 10 to 12-inch prices for a small-ish 8-inch screen, but this is the best high-tech frame that doesn’t look high-tech.

Amazingly, you can get a smart display that does more for less than you’ll pay for many frames. Google’s Home Hub has a 7-inch 1,024 x 600 screen with rich and accurate colours and a superb automatic brightness control that makes your shots look like prints in a normal frame. It works in tandem with Google’s existing Photos app and storage service, and because it’s smart you can just ask to see photos from your recent holiday in Cornwall or your trip to Scotland, and the Home Hub will find them and put them on show.

What’s more, you get YouTube Video playback, Google Music and Spotify music and all the benefits of the Google Assistant, answering questions, telling you the temperature and letting you know what you’ve got scheduled for the day.