Full story
Aura’s e-ink photo frame
Aura introduced the Aura Ink model, an e-ink based photo frame designed to present images that look like a real photo printed on paper rather than a digital screen.
“The best digital photo frames offer a great way to showcase your favorite photos”
The device uses e-ink technology that is described as almost indistinguishable from matte paper in appearance, and it is positioned as a way to avoid the bright screens and conspicuous cables associated with earlier digital photoframes.
Aura’s Ink frame features a 13.3-inch screen and is managed via a dedicated mobile app that lets users remotely upload photos from their smartphones, iCloud, or Google Photos services.
The company’s founders established Aura ten years ago with the aim of creating such a product, and the sources say color e-ink only reached a sufficient level for commercial use recently.
In comparison, Aura also offers the 12-inch Aspen model with a traditional LED screen, which is described as premium due to an anti-glare coating and a paper-like frame.
How the colors are made
The sources say color electronic ink panel manufacturers are forced to work with a limited number of colors—red, blue, green, yellow, white, and black—creating difficulties in reflecting complex portraits or nature landscapes.
To address that limitation, Aura engineers developed a special dithering algorithm that blends the limited color palette so the human eye perceives smooth gradients and rich colors.
TechCrunch quotes Aura co-founder and CTO Eric Jensen saying, "E-ink is definitely next level," and describing how people asked, "How did you print that picture so quickly?"
TechCrunch also says Aura’s dithering algorithm is designed for portraits of people, since users tend to highlight family photos, and it describes the testing process as being done with "a lot of testing with a lot of people in a lot of different spaces and different lighting conditions."
In the product description, Aura Ink is said to lay out the image into six e-paper colors—red, blue, green, yellow, white, and black—using the dithering algorithm to convey the image closer to the original.
App features and pricing
Aura frames are described as syncing via the Aura app, where users can upload photos from a phone, the web version, email, iCloud, or Google Photos, and the sources say the process is straightforward even for less tech-savvy users.
“What’s the most cliché possible gift you can give a relative”
The app also includes social features, including the ability for family members to add a new photo to a shared library so it immediately appears in the frame at home.
The sources say that by default Ink changes the image once a day, usually in the middle of the night, and that if a user changes a photo through the app, the dithering may take about a minute.
Pricing in the sources lists $499 for Ink and $229 for Aspen, and the product comparison describes Aspen as having soft backlighting and an anti-glare display while Ink is framed by a paper-like matte bezel.
Digital Camera World’s guide describes the Aura Aspen as a 12-inch display with a 1600 x 1200 resolution and says it offers unlimited photo and video storage by backing up content to Aura’s servers rather than storing it on the frame itself.
