The latest digital photo frame from Aura lacks a swiveling mount that lets you turn the frame from landscape to portrait mode, but it makes up for the missing feature by adding a new one: AI-powered photo curation that pairs similar portrait photos together.
On sale now for $199, Aura’s just-announced 10.1-inch Carver photo frame boasts a 1920 x 1080 image resolution, a “sleek” and “minimalist” bezel, and a “sturdy” base that’s ideal for placing the frame on a table or a shelf.
Available in both charcoal and “white chalk” flavors, the Wi-Fi-enabled Carver frame is designed to show photos in landscape orientation only.
Carver says it’s solved the problem of displaying portrait images in a landscape frame with “Intelligent Photo Pairing,” an AI-powered feature that pairs similar portrait photos (such as those taken at the same time and place) and displays them side by side.
Aura
The Aura Carver’s Intelligent Photo Pairing feature is designed to display a pair of similar portrait photos in the landscape-only frame.
It’s a trick we’ve seen used to great effect on such smart displays as the Google Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max, and it’ll be interesting to see whether the Carver can top Google’s smart displays when it comes to picking appropriate pairs of portrait-oriented snapshots.
Besides its AI photo-pairing abilities, the Alexa- and Google Assistant-compatible Carver comes equipped with an integrated touchbar that lets you swipe through your snapshots and view details about a photo, while an ambient light sensor adjusts screen brightness depending on the surrounding light in the room.
You can upload an unlimited number of photos to Aura’s free cloud storage service using an iOS or Android app, and you can invite friends and family members to share your photo collection. You can also sync your Aura photo gallery with Google Photos or iCloud. The Carver, however, doesn’t come with any internal storage or memory card slots.
We’ll have more to say about the Aura Carver photo frame once we check out a review unit.