Wi-Fi & Regular Digital Frames

If you're thinking about purchasing a digital photo frame, you may be wondering whether you should buy a wireless digital frame or stick with a basic digital frame. They are both similar, in that they share pictures in a digital slideshow format. However, Wi-Fi photo frames make sharing your pictures even more convenient.

What is Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi is a cordless internet connection for your electronic devices. With this cordless connection to the internet, you can place your digital frame anywhere in the room as long as it can receive transmissions from the wireless router that connects to the internet.

The Difference Between Wi-Fi & Regular Digital Frames

If you have a digital photo frame that doesn't connect to the internet via Wi-Fi, you'll have to establish an internet connection with an Ethernet cable in order to connect to the internet. One of the beautiful things about being able to connect to the internet with your Wi-Fi photo frame is that it opens a door to many more photos you can add to your framed collection.

Suddenly, with access to the internet, you can email pictures to your frame, or you can pull pictures from your photo accounts online. Instead of copying all your photos from Picasa, Facebook and other websites to a memory device and then to your frame, you can link them directly, saving yourself a step. In addition to that, if you have a smartphone, you can take pictures on your phone and send them via email directly to the frame from anywhere in the world. It's a great way to keep others in the loop on what you're experiencing, whether you're just down the street or on the other side of the earth.

Will a Wi-Fi Photo Frame Work Without an Internet Connection?

Without the internet, you can't receive photos via email and you can't see pictures from Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and other photo-organizing sites. However, you can still see photos that are on the internal memory or those on a memory card that's inserted into the frame.

Some Wi-Fi frames allow you to play internet radio. Others simply have the capacity to play music, while others have no audio options. As you might guess, if you purchase a Wi-Fi frame but don't have Wi-Fi access, you won't be able to use the internet radio; however, you'll still be able to access tunes from the internal memory as long as your digital frame has audio capabilities.

Does Wi-Fi Mean No Cords?

Well, not exactly. Even though you're not going to have an Ethernet cable connecting your digital photo frame to the internet, you'll still have a cord connecting the frame to a power outlet. The best digital photo frames include the cord you'll need to plug your digital frame into the outlet.

Can You Use This Frame If You Are Computer Illiterate?

If you're thinking of buying a digital picture frame so you can send pictures to someone as a gift, it's important to consider whether they'll be able to use it. The wireless digital picture frames we reviewed vary in terms of the degree of computer interaction you will need to set up the wireless picture frame and use it fully. While some products require minimal or no computer knowledge to run, others require a firm understanding of computers and have software to download.

Summary

If you're thinking about giving someone a wireless digital picture frame for a present, you're probably going to want to make sure he or she has access to Wi-Fi. Otherwise, you might as well give them a basic digital frame that allows you to store images in the internal memory and view pictures that are on memory cards – but doesn’t have the ability to connect to the internet.

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