Aura Mason vs Carver digital photo frame – do they have free storage?

Aura Mason vs Carver digital photo frame

With a product lineup exquisitely crafted from premium materials built for any home, Aura is the leader in digital frame design. Easily Send 10,000+ photos from your phone to any digital picture frame in your Aura network with unlimited cloud storage. The Carver Intuitive software dramatically presents landscape photos full-screen or intelligently pairs two related portrait photos side-by-side. Which is worth investment – Aura Mason vs Carver digital photo frame?

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Pros & Cons – Aura Mason vs Carver digital photo frame

Aura Mason digital photo frame

Pros

  • Gorgeous high-resolution screen
  • App controls image posting and other features
  • Compatible with Apple’s Live Photos
  • Integrates with Google Photos and iCloud

Cons

  • Ambient light sensor can be finicky
  • Does not play videos
  • No ports or internal storage

Aura Carver digital photo frame

Pros

  • Gorgeous high-resolution screen
  • App controls image positioning and lighting
  • Integrates with Google Photos and iCloud
  • AI-based app automatically groups and pairs photos

Cons

  • Does not play videos
  • No USB/SD ports
  • No internal storage

Specs – Aura Mason vs Carver digital photo frame

Aura Mason digital photo frame

Resolution: 1600 x 1200
Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.6 x 1.9 inches
Wi-Fi: Yes
Touch screen: No
Remote: No
Built-in storage: No
Motion sensor: No
Music player: No
Video: No
USB/SD slots: No/No
Cloud Services: iCloud, Google Photos

Aura Carver digital photo frame

Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.5 x 2.6 inches
Wi-Fi: Yes
Touch screen: No
Remote: No
Built-in storage: No
Motion sensor: No
Music player: No
Video: No
USB/SD slots: No/No
Cloud Services: iCloud, Google Photos

What is the key difference – Aura Mason vs Carver digital photo frame

Price

The Aura Mason Frame, at $199, comes in two neutral colors on a free-standing base design – Graphite or White Quartz, paired with a high quality braided cord, which together form a beautiful and artistic addition to any room. 

The Aura Carver Frame is a high-resolution desk frame with a low key, minimalist look that won’t detract from your images or call undue attention to itself. It comes in neutral White Chalk Charcoal or Charcoal with White Mat color schemes. At $179, it’s on the high end side of the price spectrum, but offers great flexibility in a widescreen presentation. 

Resolution

Aura Mason digital photo frame

At a relatively small nine inches, the Mason’s 4:3 aspect ratio and 1600 x 1200 pixel resolution set this frame apart. Viewing your images on it is like the difference between non-glare and clear reflective glass — what it lacks in pop is replaced with depth. Colors are vivid, but realistic and details are exquisite. Viewing angles are as good as it gets, where even at 80 degrees, images look clear and bright.

Aura Carver digital photo frame

 It does not artificially punch up colors but shows the most accurate rendition, consistent with your memory. Not only does the Carver frame display images naturally in ambient light, the frame’s 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution lets me view pictures at extreme angles with very little color or image distortion. 

What is the similarities – Aura Mason vs Carver digital photo frame?

Design

The frame’s structured back and sturdy platform saves space by sitting directly on its own solid edge and is heavy enough not to budge, which is a good thing, as the frame is not wall mountable. 

Sensor

The frame’s ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness, while an auto function switches the frame off after the room goes dark. While you can schedule when the frame turns on or off, it will not play in a room where the lights are out, which is kind of an oversight if you wish to observe your images in a darkened room.

A Smart Suggestions feature, which you control, helps choose images from your gallery, if you set it up to sync with your photo library via its secure server. It did not choose anything for me that I did not choose for myself, but your mileage may vary.

Storage

There is no internal storage, nor a memory card slot, the Aura Carver Frame must be connected to Wi-Fi to display photos and automatically downloads software updates to the frame, as needed.

Privacy

Images are stored on Aura’s cloud server, which is powered by Amazon Web Services and protected by AES-256 encryption. It can also be programmed to work with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.

Photo orientation

The Aura app lets you change the orientation of photos so you can transform a horizontal image to a vertical. The software will intelligently pair vertical photos via its time- or content-based algorithm, but you cannot manually pair images. You can also disable the pairing mechanism altogether.

Alternate of Aura Mason vs Carver digital photo frame

Nixplay 2K Smart Digital Photo Frame

Specs
  • Dimensions: 248 x 199 x 31mm
  • Built-in storage: No
  • Video: No
  • USB: No
  • Touchscreen: No
  • Resolution: 2048 x 1536
  • Display: 9.7in
  • Wi-Fi: Yes
  • Remote: Yes
  • SD slots: No
  • Cloud services: Google Photos
Pros

+High resolution 

+Flexible positioning 

+Reasonable price

Cons

-No battery option

If you’re looking for the best digital photo frames with Wi-Fi, this is the model for you. The picture quality is superb, thanks to the pin-sharp 2K resolution, deep blacks, and bright, vibrant colours. The 9.7 inch IPS screen comes with a flexible stand that can be placed in either portrait or landscape position, and mounted to the wall if you choose. 

You can load up images from your smartphone, Google Photos, Dropbox, Facebook and Instagram, and the free app makes it easy to share photos with friends’ and family members’ frames too. A motion sensor turns the frame on/off automatically, there’s support for Alexa, and there’s a remote too. 

All this at a reasonable price makes the Nixplay 2K our pick as best digital picture frame overall. Do note, however, that this device is only mains powered and there’s no battery option.

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