@xobzoo the idea behind it is literally a shitty 5x7 analog picture frame

@brainmist

@awk I suspect that first bit is to address those slim wallet phone cases that hold a card against the back of the phone.

@werehatrack buy this, 3d print a melted chocolate bar that snaps into the picture frame, ???, profit.

@weatherseed As a former Windows Phone user, that kind of stuck out at me too.

Microsoft ended all support in 2019.

@narfcake @weatherseed Narf is literally the only person I have ever met that had a windows phone.

And I’m on the internet so you know I’ve met a LOT of people.

@therealjrn They were the most usable phones for the price. And by price, a couple were less than the price of a catshirt. Brand new.

@narfcake @therealjrn @weatherseed I had one. Actually it was great. Fast, build quality far exceeded its price competitors. Not a whole lot of 3rd party interest but I actually liked the UI. It wasnt just another iPhone copy. Oh and the camera… was great.

@narfcake @qazxto @therealjrn @weatherseed

I second that. Mine was a good size too. I like a smaller phone. I thought it was all around pretty slick. Too bad it failed as I’d welcome some competition.

@narfcake @qazxto @therealjrn @weatherseed I was surprised with 3rd party support. ESPN fantasy football, Evernote, Crossy Road, Twitter… I can’t remember them all, but it was easy to make do. Pretty fast hardware. I liked them.

Iirc Microsoft paid through the teeth to get companies to make those apps, but it worked for me. /shrug

@weatherseed What year? As something posted below only lists iphones through the XS is has been a while.

@PooltoyWolf That could be fixed with a paper/laminated guide for the room - with critical information like wifi credentials, but shaped like a phone that you would leave in the picture frame between guests so they would then obviously see the charging port in the bottom of the frame. (Or is it a wireless charger? The photos and feature description are ambiguous…)

@psantora Brilliant, that’s perfect! (And yes, this is a wireless charging pad, but for some reason they included that weird 5th photo that is confusing a lot of people. There is no charge connector between your phone and the frame - totally wireless!)

@PooltoyWolf @psantora I was wondering about that picture.

@PooltoyWolf @psantora @therealjrn What you see there is an Apple accessory battery and case which can be wirelessly charged separate from the phone.

@scilynt That’s a great use case I hadn’t thought of! A charger used expressly for overnight charging. Nobody will see the picture frame in the dark, and during the day, it’s an unassuming framed photo that looks better than a loose cable or charging pad.

@PooltoyWolf only issue, at least based on the product images shown, I’m not sure if the photo frame screen shuts off while a phone is charging and if not, a bright screen next to your bed might suck

@scilynt The only screen is the one on your phone. The frame itself is just a traditional paper photo.

@PooltoyWolf wait, really? How did I conclude it was a digital picture frame?! . Even more glad I didn’t order lol

@scilynt Considering this is definitely an…unusual product combination, that’s an easy mistake to make. LOL!

@PooltoyWolf @scilynt How’d you make that assumption? Because it would have made sense if they had done that since they were already having power, etc. attached to the frame. This picture frame is the dumbest idea ever.

@Kidsandliz @scilynt As far as the device being wireless, and not having a charge port in the frame base? It’s glaringly advertised as a wireless charging pad on their website and in the copy here, and all the tech specs list the specifications for the wireless charging protocols. Additionally, none of the reviews I read mentioned anything at all about a charge connector anywhere. I honestly think that 5th photo is a marketing fluke.

As for the frame itself not being a digital LCD display, again the marketing copy talks about placing your own paper photo into the frame, behind the glass. The website also goes into detail about artsy ways to line up a photo in the frame with a picture displayed on your phone screen.

@PooltoyWolf @scilynt Ah contraire. Though it’s a dumb frame, there is an annoying light apparently.

From an Amazon review (and confirmed in the specs, above):

The only issue I have is that once you place the phone on the charger, a bright blue light on the back turns on. There are ventilation holes in the back that are arranged in a circle. So when you turn the lights off in the room, you have a bright blue light pattern on your wall that resembles sun rays. I covered the light with black electricians tape, but because the bulb is partially recessed, it still shines out of the ventilation holes. And I’m reluctant to cover too many of the ventilation holes and cause overheating.

@scilynt @stinks That wasn’t related to what I spoke about above, though I did read that review. (The question was about light emitted from an LCD screen, a la digital picture frame, not an LED indicator.)

@PooltoyWolf @scilynt Yes, I’ve mostly used your post as an excuse to post the “bright light PSA/warning”.

/giphy Guilty as charged

@scilynt @stinks Hey, no worries! If it helps anyone, it’s a win

@stolicat yes it is a “dumb” photo frame. It would have made a lot of sense to have it be like a few of us first assumed (eg phone to show your electronic photos). You aren’t missing anything. Stupid idea that didn’t sell so we see it here.

@stolicat It’s a dumb photo frame concealing a wireless charging pad. The idea is that when the phone isn’t on it for charging, this is a conventional photo frame.

Personally, I find that wireless charging is not all that great. The phone gets a bit warm, and it takes way too long.

@stolicat As long as the trees harvested were some of the non-native ones that have infested New Zealand, the wood’s use as a tiny little carbon sink is probably neutral-ish.

@psantora (5th picture)

@psantora That is a weird picture. To my eyes, it looks like someone has placed a phone case in the frame…or perhaps it’s a framed photo of a phone or something.

@PooltoyWolf Oh, it’s probably some kind of empty iPhone battery case that can be recharged wirelessly but charges the phone directly though the lightning port so it can work with older phones too. Just a really odd choice of marketing photo for a supposedly wireless charger.

@psantora That was my first thought too, but I didn’t think they left enough space at the bottom of the case for the cable connecting the Lightning plug to the case’s internal battery!

@PooltoyWolf @psantora What’s going on there is that the wireless charger is charging an Apple accessory MagSafe battery and case combo, which uses that lightning connector to transfer power into the phone.

@PooltoyWolf @werehatrack sure, that is what I assumed above, but what kind of sense does a photo like that make for a wireless charger? It is needlessly confusing.

@PooltoyWolf @psantora You’re expecting something from the minds of Marketing people would make sense?

@psantora @werehatrack This is the correct answer.

@psantora @werehatrack 1,000% agree!

@Woody1 Someone’s clever way to try to salvage a bad idea. The picture frame is old based on the phone models listed (through the iphone XS for this photo idea). Hahaha I wonder if the company you listed will be shocked with a sudden uptick in purchases. Of course for this to work one would need to turn off sleep mode.

@Woody1 Those are scaled to work with certain old iPhones and 12South’s digital photo frame/charger. The background image is a digital photo which would still need to be re-scaled to fit these frames and match what comes up on the phone, and then the background would have to be printed on paper and inserted into the Meh frames. Possible? Yes. Worth the effort? That depends on you.

@Woody1 At least there are some nice retina wallpapers in there if you click to show the whole collection.

@GospelX “Super expensive” and “selling well” don’t always go together. Something tells me that these were a retail splat (worse than a flop).

@OnionSoup These are paper-photo frames, not e-photo.

@werehatrack really? That boxy and not even any electronics besides a charger. What an absurd picture frame… lol

@warpedrotors When tsundoku goes too far, and every flat space is occupied by a TBR pile…

@Goatcrapp Yup.

@warpedrotors I have a couple that are in use, scrolling photos I’ve shot over the years. Every so often, I have to reboot them.

@warpedrotors I’m actually astonished by the number of people in this thread who thought these were digital photo frames.

@warpedrotors @werehatrack I use one to display my best railroad photos. Got it at Goodwill many a year ago. It works quite well.

@PooltoyWolf I’m not one of those people. I was just surprised that so many people would’ve been interested if these were digital photo frames.

@warpedrotors I kinda didn’t think you were, just musing, heh. The concept of a digital photo frame is, at least in my view, still relevant. It’s an excellent way to showcase a picture collection when space is at a minimum.

@warpedrotors We gave an Aura frame to my mother-in-law and it’s actually great. Highly recommend.

@benriga You might have received a bad one; it’s worth asking the folks at meh.com/support if that’s outside the normal expectations.

@werehatrack Thanks for the tip. It was a 2-pack and both behave the same way. I think it’s a design flaw. I’m going to try and replace the coils with higher powered and magnetic ones. We’ll see.