Aura introduces its latest model, the so-called $499 Ink Framewhich introduces a 13-inch color e-paper display to the company’s offer based on LCD displays. The technology, much like that used in the Kindle Colorsoft e-reader, uses a six-color ink system to create the illusion of tens of millions of tones. More importantly, the use of e-ink technology allows you to finally operate wirelessly.
This makes it ideal for hanging around your house in places where a wired display might look bad, similar to on a front room wall, in a stairwell, or anywhere else where a cable might break the aesthetics.
Founded by Twitter’s first employees, the company has desired to work with e-ink technology for some time, but has not yet risen to the challenge of sharing color photos taken with a smartphone. However, with the development of e-ink systems, Aura modified its mind.
The recent frame uses Spectra 6 technology, which delivers six primary colours – white, black, red, yellow, green and blue – with improved saturation and contrast, making it higher at displaying photos.
Additionally, Aura added a front light to the frame, taking inspiration from the Kindle Paperwhite. This helps improve contrast, notes Eric Jensen, co-founder and CTO of Aura.
“It’s a very subtle light compared to an LCD display. It’s maybe one sixth the brightness of an LCD display,” he told TechCrunch. “People often don’t even notice there’s a light in the room until they’re in a dark room and it turns off,” Jensen adds.
In addition to Spectra 6 technology, Aura has built its own proprietary dithering algorithm that uses error diffusion.
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“We had to go back to ancient dithering algorithms used in, for example, newspaper technology, where you had to figure out how to connect these dots to simulate other colors,” Jensen says.
While e-ink technology allows for cordless operation, the frame sometimes requires charging, which implies you’ll must remove it from time to time to power it up. However, Aura claims that the frame has as much as three months of battery life, so it is not a huge inconvenience.
To reduce energy needs, Ink uses motion and sensors to show off the lights when no one is around. In the included mobile app, customers may arrange their very own on and off schedule if they like.
Like other Aura frames, the Ink has an improved look and feel with a graphite-inspired frame, paper-textured mat, and glass front, making it feel more like a traditional picture frame than the low-cost technology you buy online. (As it should, considering the price.)
The frame itself is 13.3. inches, 1600 x 1200 resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio. The box includes wall mounting hardware, a stand, and a charging cable. Aura says the frame will be used in portrait or landscape mode, and the Ink measures 14.1″ x 11.4″ x 0.6″, including each the display and the frame.
The frame also includes a USB-C port, a status light, and controls for navigating between photos. If you don’t desire to manually adjust photos, you can rely on the frame updating to the latest photo in a pre-configured rotation overnight.
In tests, the frame was a more subdued color than existing Aura frames, but this made it higher match the printed photos on the wall. Depending on the image, guests from a distance may not even immediately notice that it is an e-ink frame. (We have not had the frame long enough to report on battery life at this time)
One thing that might put you off at first is uploading photos. This causes the screen to flash repeatedly in a yellowish light, which will be discouraging. However, Jensen says the frame updates its photos on a day by day basis, so customers don’t have to see the change.
“The transition is a little annoying. It’s definitely a trade-off with this technology,” he admits. “If you want, you can adjust it up to 12 times a day, but that comes at a cost to battery life. The more often it changes, the more battery it uses, of course.”
The company believes that as a result, customers will be more selective about the variety of photos added to a frame. Maybe they’ll add just one photo that they need to at all times show, and then change it when they’re ready for a recent one.
Aura raised $26 million in 2022 after reaching 1 million frames sold and the app used by 3 million users. (Families often use the app together, for example so as to add recent photos to a frame given to grandparents.) Today, the company has sold “double-digit millions” of frames and is profitable. A billion photos have also been shared on its app so far.
While founders Jensen and CEO Abdur Chowdhury trace their roots back to the early days of Twitter, Aura now focuses more on the private social networks built between friends and family who use Aura’s photo-sharing apps and devices.
“We think this space of sharing – not just photos, but also connecting with loved ones – is really undervalued. Advertising clearly doesn’t make much money on advertising,” says Jensen. “The combination of a hardware device and this space really works for business,” he adds.
The company still considers itself a startup because it continues to develop recent products and is considering updates to the Aura application that could go beyond frame management.
“We did a lot of prototyping of software that isn’t just related to frames,” he notes. However, the company fears that focusing on a private photography network on its own is probably not such good business.
“We sell a hardware product that has a very simple value proposition: no subscriptions, unlimited photos. This works really well for a private photo network. We’ve seen a lot of companies in the past try to use a private photo network on their own, but haven’t been able to find a business model for it,” says Jensen.
The Ink frame is available for purchase from today on the Aura website.