Aura Aspen digital photo frame review: a mid-range frame with top-end features

Aura is well known as one of the foremost makers of upmarket digital photo frames, and the Aspen joins the ranks of the extra-large Walden and popular Carver frames. Like those frames, it uses the intuitive Aura app to manage the photographs and other content displayed, which is stored on the Aura's servers rather than the frames themselves, effectively offering unlimited photo storage, as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection.

It sits in the middle of Aura's range, yet has the highest density display that Aura offers, showing off your shots in all their glory.

Aura Aspen: Specifications

Aura Aspen: Price

The Aura Aspen costs $229 / £219 (Australian pricing was unavailable at the time of writing). This places it firmly in the middle of Aura's range when it comes to pricing, sitting between the smaller Carver frame that costs around $149 / £149, and the larger Walden retailing at $299 / £299. It's worth noting that Aura occasionally offers discounts on its frames, so be sure to check for the latest offers.

In terms of the wider market (see our guide to the best digital photo frames for our top picks), Aura frames are undeniably at the top end, but they are well-made and stylish, and offer great functionality. This is due in no small part to the companion Aura app, which is particularly intuitive and offers the ability to preload images for gifting, going a long way to make the entire range worth their premium price.

Aura Aspen: Design & Handling

The Aura Aspen is available with an outer bezel that comes in two colors, Ink and Clay (black and gray, to you and me), surrounding a deep white inset that is textured to look and feel like the heavy-duty card you'd find on a traditional photo frame. Indeed, Aura has made great pains to make this as close to a physical picture frame as possible, with sleek minimalist looks. Although it's made of plastic, it does not come across as plasticky.

It is Aura's slimmest frame to date, with an edge thickness of just half an inch (1cm). The frame can be propped up in horizontal or vertical orientation, with the display auto-rotating to suit. There are no noticeable physical controls, aside from an on/off button tucked around the back. That's not quite true: although you can't see them (once you're removed the protective transit stickers), the top and side of the frame house Touch Bars, which have a slightly smoother feel than the rest of the surround, that you can tap and slide your finger along to activate certain functions, saving the display from getting covered with greasy fingermarks, as is often the case with competitor frames.

There is a slight bulge at the back of the frame around the speaker grille, but this is hidden well out of sight and makes no difference to its overall depth when it's supported by the supplied stand. However, it does mean that the back of the frame would no longer be flush if set against a wall, and as a result, there is no option for wall-mounting it. That said, I've never been tempted to wall-mount any of the digital photo frames I own, as I feel the aesthetic would be spoiled by the trailing power cord needed to keep the frame powered up.

Aura Aspen: Performance

The 12-inch diagonal display houses a 1600 x 1200-pixel high-resolution display. This is the same pixel count as the larger Aura Walden 15-inch frame, but it packs them into a smaller space and thus has a higher 170ppi (pixels per inch) density for an ultra-crisp display.

Images are stored on Aura's servers rather than built-in memory on the frame itself, thereby providing an effectively unlimited capacity (provided your Wi-Fi network doesn't go down). Images are managed by Aura's bespoke app, which I really like. It is easy to scroll through your phone library and add images, with the facility to search for specific people. As the frame matches the aspect ratio of most smartphones, they are generally displayed natively, but it's an easy matter to crop and rotate individual images from within the app, should you want to remove any distractions at the edge of the frame, for example.

You can also grant access to friends and family so they can add their own images, no matter where they are in the world, ideal for keeping abreast of thier travels without having to wait until their return. In addition to this, and one of my favorite features of Aura frames, is that you can preload images onto a frame by scanning a unique QR code on the outer packaging. This makes it perfect for gifting; when the recipient sets their frame up, your selected images are downloaded. It makes it a truly fabulous and thoughtful present for doting grandparents.

The app also has a scanner function, enabling the quick and easy digitization of prints; point your phone at a photo, hold it steady, and it does the rest. You can edit in the app to straighten edges if needed and convert images to black and white, among other features.

The only controls on the frame itself are the aforementioned (and unobtrusive) Touch Bars. Sliding right displays the next photo in the sequence, left the previous one, a tap brings up image information, a double-tap gives the image some "love", and a long-press brings up a menu that allows you to exclude images that you'd rather not be seen.

A light sensor automatically dims the brightness to suit the ambient room lighting – or switch the frame off altogether after dark – thus avoiding the excessive glow of some frames. While it's still clearly a backlit image on display, it still looks pretty natural.

Aura Aspen: Verdict

Underneath the Aura Aspen's minimalist, unfussy looks is a very well-specced photo frame. Its 12-inch screen area is a little larger than the 10 or so inches of the majority of photo frames, but not overly dominating, as some of the really big frames can be. It packs a lot of pixels into those 12 inches, with its 1600 x 1200 resolution displaying images beautifully clearly. Auto-dimming means that the brightness is never at eye-searing levels, so while the photos are clearly backlit, they look natural.

Aura's trademark Touch Bars are another nice feature, enabling you to scroll through images on the frame and perform other basic functionality, without getting grubby fingermarks all over the main image area, as can be the case with touchscreen displays. But most of the functionality is via the intuitive and powerful Aura app, which enables sharing between family members (or gifting the frame with pre-loaded images) super easy.

It costs a little more than some frames, sure, but the ease of use and top-quality display makes it worth it.

Alternatives

Lexar Pexar 11in photo frame
For even greater resolution, the Lexar Pexar packs a huge 2000 x 1200-pixel 2K display into an 11in frame, and has a 100% Adobe sRGB color gamut. With SD card, USB and wireless connectivity, it supports uploads from multiple users and has inbuilt storage for around 40,000 images.

Aura Walden
For the same Aura functionality (including cloud-based storage and the ability to preload images), the Walden has the same 1600 x 1200 resolution as the Aspen but spreads them across 15 inches of screen real estate, for a true showstopper of a frame.