Category: Customer Testimonials Page 5 of 9

Testimonials from Nixplay customers.

Review: Nixplay Seed Wave Wi-Fi Digital Photo Frame

On April 25, 2019

Digital photo frames are a great way to display all your favorite photos in limited space. The latest generation of Wi-Fi connected frames add the ability to wirelessly upload photos from virtually anywhere — no USB thumb drive or SD card required — and add the ability to give friends and family access so they can also upload photos to share. That sharing feature, in particular, makes Wi-Fi frames great gifts. I just wrapped up testing on a pair of Wi-Fi digital photo frames from Nixplay: the Iris and the Seed Wave.

The Iris and Seed Wave (more on that power adapter/cable later).
*H/T BRAD MOON*

Nixplay Features

Before breaking out some specifics about the two frames, I wanted to talk about the features they share.

Both use IPS displays that offer good color reproduction, plenty of brightness and wide viewing angles. A good display panel is critical to a good digital photo frame, and these do the job nicely. Nixplay also offers advanced features like the ability to tweak the color settings, and manually set brightness levels (or use the built-in ambient light sensor to adjust brightness based on room lighting conditions).

These Nixplay frames let you manually fine-tune the color levels.
*H/T BRAD MOON*

Local storage for the frames is 8GB, and Nixplay includes 10GB of free cloud storage. There’s no USB port or SD slot for side-loading, but once you’ve uploaded photos to these frames they are stored locally so you still see them even if the Wi-Fi network goes down.

Besides displaying photos, both can play videos up to 15 seconds in length.
Both frames use Nixplay’s woven cable-stand design. This is a very thick, woven power cable that connects to a very thick, bendable cable connector attached to the back of the frame. The result is a stand that keeps the frame securely at whatever angle you want, and in whatever orientation — landscape or portrait — you wish. It works well, and the woven power cable has a premium look, but it’s also very noticeable if you aren’t able to hide it.

Nixplay’s mobile app is full-featured and easy to use.
*SCREEN CAPTURE BY BRAD MOON*

Nixplay’s app for sharing and uploading photos is available for Android and iOS. Recently updated, it’s pretty easy to use. The expected functions are there — primarily the ability to select photos and share them with a frame. You can also do this with a computer and Nixplay’s website, and can choose to upload photos from your social media accounts like Facebook. The one thing you won’t find is photo editing capabilities.

The app doubles as an easy way to edit settings on the frame, but you can also do so locally. The frame displays aren’t touch-enabled (fine in my books, that just means fewer fingerprint smudges), but Nixplay includes a wireless remote for navigating settings and also has controls to skip forward or back in a photo playlist.

Nixplay Seed Wave

While the Iris does the job of sharing and displaying photos just fine — and looks like a traditional photo frame while doing it — Nixplay’s Seed Wave is a little more interesting.

The Seed Wave is a big, high resolution frame that looks a lot like a tablet.
*H/T BARD MOON*

It’s considerably larger, with a 13-inch widescreen display that has Full HD (1920 x 18080 resolution). The frame portion is black plastic, so it resembles a tablet more than a traditional photo frame. And the Seed Wave has an extra feature: hidden behind the display are a pair of drivers, each with 5W of amplification. That’s right, this digital photo frame does double-duty as a Bluetooth speaker. It actually sounds pretty decent as well, and Nixplay includes a rubber strip in the box that will help prevent the Seed Wave from jumping around on a smooth surface if you crank up the tunes.

The Seed Wave’s back hides this capable Bluetooth speaker.
*H/T BRAD MOON*

I’m not sure who asked for a combo digital photo frame/Bluetooth speaker, but it could be useful in situations where space is limited. Don’t get the idea that you could load up a movie on the Seed Wave and watch it in Full HD with booming stereo sound, though — like the Iris, Nixplay limits the length of videos you can upload to 15 seconds.

The downside(s) of going big? First, while that widescreen looks great with many photos, with others it’s more of a mixed bag. Most cameras don’t natively shoot photos in that aspect ratio. Some of my photos ended up with black bars on the side (even when Pan & Zoom are enabled), although you can choose to replace the black with a blurred background based on the photo being displayed that’s less noticeable. You can see that effect in my photo of the Seed Wave displaying a shot of the Chateau Frontenac.

The second issue is the power adapter. It’s big. Larger than some laptop chargers, but the brick plugs directly into an electrical outlet, so it takes up a lot of space. You can see that in several of my photos — there is 3-inches between the bottom of the power bar and the top of my test bench, but that’s too little space for the Seed Wave power adapter and it had to be rotated so the power cord sticks out the top.

Seed Wave Key Specs:

13-inch widescreen Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display
8GB local storage, 10GB free cloud storage
Ambient light sensor, activity sensor
Cable-stand display
2 x 5W drivers Bluetooth audio
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
Includes remote control
MSRP $249.99

Recommendation

Connected digital photo frames make great gifts, especially for friends and family who may live far apart. Nixplay has the most comprehensive collection of frames I know of, with tons of options including a range of panel sizes and resolutions, and different colors and materials for the frame itself. Both the Iris and Seed Wave are good frames, although I suspect most people would end up preferring the Iris — it’s smaller with a more traditional aspect ratio, has a much more compact power adapter and costs less.
Something to keep in mind with Mother’s Day approaching!

Read the whole article at Forbes.com.

The Nixplay Gift Guide Series: 10 Brilliant Last-Minute Gift ideas For Everyone On Your List

By Mars Salazar

On December 14, 2018

In Customer Testimonials

Christmas might be the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also easily be the most stressful. Dealing with the crazy December traffic, jostling with crowds everywhere you go, hopping from one party to another, and trying to politely answer your nosy relatives’ questions can take a toll on anyone. Add to that the stress of finding the perfect presents for those nearest and dearest to you, and you’ve got a holiday headache waiting to happen.

As much, as we’d like to help make your Christmas experience easier, we’re sorry to say that we have no control over the traffic situation, nor can we ask your aunt to stop badgering you about when you’ll have kids. We can, however, help your search for the right gift a bit easier. If you’re stuck in a gifting rut, here are 10 gift ideas guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face.

Share the love this season and start shopping!

1. Plants

Got a loved one with a green thumb?
A small succulent in a cute pot or an indoor plant that’s easy to care for will make them smile.

2. Handmade coupons

Print out a bunch of coupons for things or activities you can grant when your loved ones cash them in. They don’t have to be expensive–your coupons can allow the recipient to avail from you simple joys like a 30-second hug or a favorite cocktail.

3. Baked goods

Homebaked cookies, baked with love, will always be a hit.

4. A fruit basket

They’re always a good addition to the recipient’s pantry.

5. A Nixplay Frame

Share the love and remind your friends and family of all the good times you shared.
PS: Get up to 35% off, only until December 17!

6. A Spotify or Netflix gift card

Let them enjoy some music (or their favorite guilty pleasure TV series).

7. Wine

A fail-safe gift for your party’s host (As long as they’re of legal age).

8. A gift card for a spa visit

A manicure or a massage at a great spa will always be appreciated.

9. A staycation

It’ll be a well-deserved break from the holiday madness.

10. A subscription to their favorite magazine

Give the gift of knowledge this holiday season.

Mars Salazar

Marianne is Nixplay’s Web Content Editor. Her hobbies include exploring new places, playing table tennis, and cuddling puppies. Send her a message at marianne.salazar@nixplay.com.

8 People Share Why Memories Make The Best Presents

By Mars Salazar

On December 3, 2018

In Customer Testimonials

Still thinking of the perfect gift?

For your loved ones, especially your family, your presence is the best present.

But what if you can’t come home for the holidays?

With a Nixplay Frame, you’ll always stay close to your loved ones, no matter the distance.

Take it from these eight satisfied customers.

“We bought for my mother-in-law’s Christmas present—some family was going out of town on a trip over the holidays and we thought it would be fun to have her interact with her granddaughter through the frame…If you’re looking for a fun way to share photos, this is lovely.” – Babs P

“I’m sending this as a Christmas gift to my girlfriend, so we could share and update photos all the time. This is a good investment.” – Kevin

“We got this as a Christmas present for my mother in law who lives out of state and we don’t get to see as often as we like. She loves photos and is always asking to see more of my wife. When we explained what it was she started crying with joy…I recommend you get one for your parents, they will thank you for it.” – Appleee

“I got this as a Christmas gift for my parents, my brother and his wife, and also for my fiancé and I. As soon as I explained exactly what this frame can do, we were all hooked. Since we all live in different cities…it’s so easy to share photos instantly. We no longer have to download large files in email, or burn a disc and wait until we see each other next. The website and app that come with it are very easy to learn after you get used to it. My parents (who are tech challenged) were able to figure it out after a little tutorial from myself. It’s awesome to be staring at pictures on your frame, and all of a sudden your notified of an incoming picture. Great idea and execution with this frame!” – matticharlie23

“We got this for Christmas for my parents who live in Ohio but have kids and grandkids who live in Iowa and Texas. Now we can send them pictures from Texas and Iowa in an instant directly to their Nixplay Digital Photo Frame. It is an amazing invention!” – Rozanne Frazee

“We recently purchased this as a gift to our children’s grandmother who lives in another state. We had no problem setting everything up for her and adding tons of photos before we shipped it off for Christmas. We actually were so impressed by it we plan on buying one for ourselves!” – Amy Milam

“Our kids gave us this frame for Christmas. They set it up and added initial photos. We’re thrilled with this gift!
Wi-Fi setup was easy, adding a Facebook album was easy, and watching new photos appear as our kids upload them is so much fun!
Kids—seriously, your parents will love this gift. Adding new photos [throughout] the year will be like sending gifts directly to their home. Our daughter lives over a thousand miles away yet it feels like she’s home when I see her photos appear. Easy to recommend and encourage this purchase.” – YaymeeT

“My daughter gave this to me for Christmas and I love it! I don’t live close to my children or grandchildren, and it’s so great to follow their lives through pictures. I now over 500 pictures on it. I love the motion sensor, which you can set to your liking. I have it set so that when I go to bed at night it will turn off so it doesn’t bother my sleeping dog. Recently I had a question regarding sending pictures to friends and their online chat, specifically Joey, was there to help me through the process. So great to have the chat feature in case you have any questions. I highly recommend Nixplay!” – Debby L.

This Christmas, delight your loved ones and share the joy with a Nixplay Frame filled with all their dearest photos. Take advantage of our Early Christmas sale and get up to 25 percent off select Nixplay Seed Wi-fi frames, only until December 12!

Mars Salazar

Marianne is Nixplay’s Web Content Editor. Her hobbies include exploring new places, playing table tennis, and cuddling puppies. Send her a message at marianne.salazar@nixplay.com.

The Nixplay Digital Frame: A Digital Picture Frame for the Modern Age

By Andi Willis

On November 24, 2018

In Customer Testimonials

This review is written by Andi Willis of Good Life Photo Solutions, a digital photo organization service dedicated to preserving and protecting your family’s memories. Read the original post and join their Nixplay Frame giveaway here.

Fifteen years ago when my children were very young, I gave Mema, my mother-in-law, a digital picture frame. At that time we did not live close by, and it was a way for my in-laws to see a variety of photos of my children and other family members.

However, there was a catch: They could only see the photos that I had pre-loaded onto the frame. And because we lived far away, I could only update the photos once or twice a year.

After a few visits, I noticed the frame sat on my mother-in-law’s desk, unplugged and unused.

Fast forward to three years ago. I was working as a personal photo organizer and in love with everything photo-related. Sitting with a group of colleagues at a photo organizing master class in Nashville, I wished out loud for a Wi-Fi enabled digital frame. That’s when one of my colleagues said there was such a magical picture frame that she loved. It was called Nixplay. I wrote the name into my notes, to be researched later when I returned home.

By this time, my father-in-law had passed away and my mother-in-law’s memory was starting to fade. I didn’t want her to forget our faces since we now lived even further away. A Wi-Fi picture frame seemed to be the answer.

Sharing Photos with a Nixplay Digital Frame

Let me tell you that I loved what I found out. I quickly bought a frame to give to my mother for Christmas (she’s always my guinea pig). I created a Nixplay account, loaded photos through the website, and voila, there they were on her frame! The Nixplay frames were so much easier and so much more convenient to use than their predecessors. This was definitely a digital picture frame for the new age.

Since that day, I have given a variety of Nixplay frames to many family members, in addition to setting them up for several of my clients. Everyone loves them.

Let me share with you how I use the Nixplay frame for my mother-in-law. Several years ago I convinced my husband and his siblings to give his mother a Nixplay Seed 10-Inch frame for Christmas. I had the frame shipped to me and I went through the setup process, including adding her frame to my personal Nixplay account. This allows me to have complete control of the frame, down to even the smallest settings like how long a photo is displayed on the frame and when the frame goes to sleep at night. This is helpful in case of a technical glitch when the frame is 300 miles away.

Using digital photos that I already had, I created a playlist for her and uploaded the photos onto the frame using the Wi-Fi connection. The frame was repacked, wrapped, and mailed to my mother-in-law to be opened on Christmas. On the other end, my brother-in-law was responsible for connecting the frame to her assisted living home’s Wi-Fi network.

After just a few minutes of setup, Mema’s frame was up and running and she was enjoying her family photos. Even today, the frame sits on the table next to her recliner and she spends a large part of her day watching the photos.

My Favorite Features of Nixplay Wi-Fi Cloud Frames

One of the features that I really like about the Nixplay system is that I am not the only one who can add photos to the frame. Within my Nixplay account, I can add or invite family members to become friends. Friends can either set up a Nixplay account (it’s easy, quick, and free!) and send their own photos through the app directly from their phone. They can also simply send the pictures to a special email address that is generated specifically for your account.

When inviting your family members, you also get to choose which playlist the photos go to. This is helpful when you have several different frames on your account. The best part is that there’s no more messing with SD cards and USB drives. The photos show up almost instantly, depending on the Wi-Fi connection.

This has worked out well for our family. In addition to me, my husband, my sister-in-law and her sons and their girlfriends/fiancees all share photos with my mother-in-law. Now Mema can keep up with the activities of her children and grandchildren.

Recently we had a little snafu when the girlfriend of one of the grandsons was sending some photos to my mother-in-law. Somehow the photos ended up in my playlist. I was sitting on the couch one evening when I happened to look at my frame to see a picture of Jake and his girlfriend Brandy, who was flashing an engagement ring. That was how we got the news of their impending nuptials. How exciting is that!

Another feature that I really like is the ability to add captions to the photos when they are uploaded. For someone like my mother-in-law who has memory issues, it’s very helpful to have a name and description on the photos when they show up on her Nixplay frame. These little notes help jog her memory or clarify points of confusion, like the fact that all the males in their family look alike when they hit a certain age.

Another one of the greatest features of the Nixplay frames is their ability to quickly change out the photos on the frame. For example, at the beginning of December, I will remove my main playlist of favorite photos and replace them with my “Christmases Past” playlist for my own Nixplay frames. I love seeing holiday pictures throughout the month, and using my Nixplay frame for this is perfect. I also change the photos in my mom’s Nixplay Seed at the same time to display the same Christmas playlist. I have even surprised a client who had just returned from an African safari with a new playlist of their great animal photos. She hasn’t stopped talking about it yet. What fun to revisit those older photos again and again!

In conclusion, when I am asked for a unique gift idea, I always suggest the Nixplay Wi-Fi Cloud frames. They are truly a gift that keeps on giving every day.

You can get your own Nixplay frame from the Nixplay online shop.

Meet A Photo Organizer: Marianne Behler of Lifetime Photo Solutions

By Marianne Behler

On November 14, 2018

In Customer Testimonials

We talked to Marianne Behler, the woman behind Michigan-based Lifetime Photo Solutions. Marianne’s in the business of helping people make sense of their photo collections, meticulously going through hundreds of images to determine which captured memories are worth keeping and preserving. In this exclusive interview, Marianne reveals how she became a photo organizer, shares some of her most notable projects, and gives some advice for folks who’d like to start organizing their own photos.

Marianne Behler

What made you decide to become a Photo Organizer?

I became a Photo Organizer and a member of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) after reading about and immediately contacting Cathi Nelson, who started APPO in 2010. Coincidently people were asking me to organize their photos, digitize their photos, organize their digital photos, and create photo books for them. People love their children and their families; they love taking photos and sharing their stories. But they have no idea how to do it, combined with little time and a sense of urgency.

I converse with people about their photos, their life, and what they might wish to do with their photo collection—their vision. The client I best serve has a lifetime of photos, possibly even of their parents, grandparents, and generations beyond. They are in shoeboxes and bins, in no particular order. Some are in albums of all types, [some are in] old scrapbooks or newer scrapbooks that they now want to reduce in number. They have digital photos on cameras, phones, and other devices. They want something created for their children and grandchildren that will highlight the best of the best of their photos and the stories that make them special—their legacy.

A sample of Marianne’s work

First, I complete a photo assessment of their photo collection, taking pictures and making notes. I prepare a report which includes my recommendation for phases to complete their work—organizing and scanning printed photos is typically the first phase. And that is where a Nixplay frame comes in! Because the sorting, organizing and digitizing of a photo collection takes time, the immediate “I love this” and “I love what you are doing” comes from getting their pictures back into their lives, when they see them again. Imagine seeing their parent’s photos, their own childhood photos, pictures of the home where they once lived, images of their travels, and school photos, all coming back into their lives after not seeing them for years. What a thrill!

Can you tell us about the most fulfilling project you’ve managed?

This is a hard story to tell. It is the story of John McAuliffe, a man who wanted to have his story told. Initially, we were going to tell his story and his wife’s separately, but his wife died. We then revisited the idea of John telling his own story. Unfortunately, John’s Parkinson’s disease had greatly diminished his ability to both remember and communicate. Each time I visited John, his story got bigger and longer. There were more and more pictures and memorabilia to sort through.

Finally, I enlisted the help of his family. And, his story became the story of John and his wife Annetta—both their families had immigrated to America and they had beautiful stories to tell. The long and short of it was that John lived “just” long enough to receive a copy of his book, with the pictures and stories of his life! He and his sons each received a copy of his book, and they also ordered 50 smaller copies for other family and friends. John died just three weeks after, and his life and story were proclaimed by the priest at his funeral because of his book. He truly left a legacy of their lives for his children, grandchildren, and the friends who knew him. Their family stories are being featured in Jackson, Michigan, in a gallery talk on immigration to America. They are using the book and pictures from the book for the gallery talk.

Marianne and her client, John McAuliffe

How has Nixplay helped your job as a legacy keeper?

Nixplay offers me a way to help get my clients’ photos back into their lives! Because a story of a lifetime takes time to curate and tell, Nixplay offers my clients a way to relive their lives immediately. The new stories being told can also be easily combined with my clients’ legacies because of the present-day technology offered by Nixplay. Our children, our grandchildren, and their daily lives and accomplishments can all meld into their Nixplay digital frame from anywhere and everywhere.

More of Marianne’s work

What advice can you give to our readers who’d like to start organizing their own photo collection?

Hire a photo organizer and purchase a Nixplay digital frame that your photo organizer can manage. Have your photo organizer import both your newly organized and digitized photos onto your Nixplay frame, and have your children and grandchildren add photos to your playlists so you can see and be part of their daily lives. This would be an awesome Christmas or holiday present for all the grandparents and parents on your list! The gifts that are so well appreciated are usually those that elicit memories, and a Nixplay frame can achieve just that.