With the advent of NFTs, member communities and subscription services, the market for high quality aesthetically pleasing digital art frames to display work obtained from these channels has been thriving.
The three main players in the market are:
These three actually aim at slightly different markets, so nicely cover three separate categories. Samsung The Frame is actually a high spec 4K TV available in 43, 55, 65 and 75 inch sizes. It has the familiar Samsung TV interface and smart assistant compatibility, but is also optimised to faithfully replicate digital art. The Frame has a clever sensor so that it knows when no one is in the room and can therefore power down to conserve energy. It can be wall mounted and easily changed from landscape to portrait orientation. So all in all a great option if you’re looking for a TV and digital frame hybrid with a stunning QLED display. Apart from being the most expensive frame, its main weakness is its subscription art package. With only 2000 images, it is at present somewhat sparse. However, what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality, as many of the pieces come from renowned institutions such as V&A, Magnum Photos, The Tate and Saatchi Art.
The best allrounder is Netgear’s Meural. The most popular of the digital art frames, it costs less than Samsung’s product and comes in 7.5, 24 and 29 inch sizes. Art displayed on Meural looks as real and textured as it would on a traditional canvas or print thanks to its patented TrueArt Technology. The screen also has anti-glare properties and unlike its Samsung competitor, hand gestures can be used to navigate through art playlists. Meural can effortlessly be moved from landscape to portrait. Purely designed as a frame, it cannot be utilised as a TV, but for art lovers its membership plan is easily the most comprehensive and feature packed with access to 30,000 expertly curated artworks worth over $3 billion and amazing channels created and managed by third parties. A recent software update has also enabled users to display NFTs by connecting their MetaMask wallet. Meural frames are at present considered the market leaders.
The last of the frontrunners is Canvia. Another beautiful product built solely as a digital frame, it uses proprietary ArtSense technology to display masterpieces and photographs in lifelike detail. It can also detect a room’s ambient lighting and automatically adjust the frame’s brightness to give a vibrant appearance at any hour, in any setting. Canvia comes in a single 27 inch size, with multiple frame colours to choose from. It has versatile display options for vertical and horizontal viewing as well as zoom and captions capabilities. As with the Meural, Canvia’s frame can also display NFTs by connecting a crypto wallet. The subscription based library has over 10,000 artworks worth over $500 million and boasts pieces from leading contemporary artists and photographers. The Canvia has fewer options and a smaller subscription library, but it is most certainly a fantastic package at the lowest price point out of the three leading manufacturers.
There are of course other options available, but most don’t come with subscription based access to high quality curated collections. They are also usually focused solely on NFTs, such as with Tokenframe.