![]() ![]() ![]() It relies entirely on Aura’s servers, so if the company goes out of business and its servers are retired, the photo frame will mostly likely stop working. There’s also a potential issue for the future over how the Mason Luxe operates. We’re yet to get a video to play properly on the Mason Luxe, despite trying both clips taken with a test phone and downloaded sample videos formatted using the widely supported H.264 format. However, a lot of videos we took didn’t show up in the app, and others that did either would not play back smoothly on the frame, or caused the Aura app to crash. There’s even a speaker on the back for audio playback. Clips up to 30 seconds are supported and Aura says anything that should play on your phone will work on the frame. We had trouble getting video to work on the Aura Mason Luxe. ![]() Want the bad bits of the Mason Luxe? There are just a couple. Such things are always subject to change, but Aura says it does not “sell or share your photos or other personal data with other companies” or “use any of the content of your photos to target advertising, sell you things, or otherwise be nosy or creepy.” We also saw nothing too worrying in Aura’s privacy policy. At 13c per kWh, a rough average for the price of energy in the US at the time of review, this frame will cost you around $3.40 to run for a full year. However, in a room with what we consider normal living room lighting, the frame only actually draws around 4.5W, according to our power meter.Įxtrapolated across a year, the Mason Luxe active for 16 hours a day, this means it will use approximately 26kWh. It says its frames use 10W when awake, 2W when asleep. But according to our testing, the Mason Luxe actually uses less than Aura claims. (Image credit: Future) Power consumption and usabilityĪ photo frame you might choose to leave running all day raises the question of power consumption. A double tap on the side 'likes' the image – handy if a friend sends you a holiday pic right from the beach and is keen for some non-Instagram appreciation. Flicks on the side bring up info on image dates and locations, taken from the EXIF info. Swipes across the top cycle between photos. We’ve left the protective strip stickers on our photos here to show you where they are. You can also control the photo frame in a limited way using touch bars on the Mason Luxe itself. Will many people interact with your Aura Mason Luxe if you’re the only one to own such a gadget? Perhaps not, but that’s hardly Aura’s fault. But Aura’s execution of it is actually rather sweet, allowing for the sort of interactions people had on Facebook before it became the 10th circle of hell. This sort of thing could come across deeply naff, or a way to create a social network no-one asked for. These are shown in a simple Activity Feed screen. Within in the app you can change how often the image switches, from 15 seconds to 24 hours, and folks you have invited to add photos can comment on and 'like' your pics. They can use the app, or a bespoke email address – handy for any relatives who are not big smartphone users. Aura says you have 'unlimited' space for media, and the app lets you invite other people to send their own photos to the frame. You use the Aura app to choose photos to add, and the whole process is pretty quick and seamless. The Mason Luxe is constantly connected to Aura’s servers, which dish out photos as required. It doesn’t operate with a chunk of memory that you fill when photos are in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi range. So how do you actually get your photos on the Aura Mason Luxe? Here’s where things get a bit interesting. (Image credit: Future) How the Aura Mason Luxe works This semi-gloss approach seems to offer the best balance of color 'pop' and practicality. While glare is possible, you won’t see your reflection in the Aura Mason Luxe. The screen’s top layer has a semi-matte finish rather than the full matte expected, but we only noticed this when trying to pick up glare off a nearby window. ![]() There’s brightness loss when viewed from an angle, so that little extra hit of display power is unlikely to be distracting if, say, the Aura Mason Luxe is in your peripheral vision while watching TV. However, this is where one aspect of LCD displays usually considered a 'negative' becomes a benefit. It sits half-way between a printed photo and a Smart Display. It would be neat to be able to adjust the relative brightness level, as the Aura Mason Luxe can look slightly bright compared to some rivals. If you turn the lights off to go to bed, the Aura Mason Luxe will enter a 'sleep' mode to avoid unwanted power use and glow in the corner of your living room. The brightness of the screen also adjusts automatically based on the amount of ambient light in the room. ![]()
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