Aura introduces its newest model, the $499 Ink Frame. It brings a 13-inch color e-paper display to the company’s LCD-based lineup. The technology is similar to that found in the Kindle Colorsoft e-reader, which uses a six-color ink system to create the illusion of millions of shades. More importantly, by using e-ink technology, you can finally make the frame cordless.
This makes them perfect for hanging in areas where a corded display wouldn’t look good, such as a living room wall, a stairwell, or any other place where a cord would detract from the aesthetics.
Founded by early Twitter employees, the company had wanted to leverage e-ink technology for some time, but had not yet reached the challenge of sharing colorful photos taken with smartphones. But as e-ink systems progressed, Aura changed its mind.
The new frame features Spectra 6 technology that provides six primary colors: white, black, red, yellow, green, and blue, increasing saturation and contrast for better viewing of photos.
Additionally, Aura took a cue from the Kindle Paperwhite and added a front light to the frame. This helps improve contrast, says Eric Jensen, co-founder and CTO of Aura.
“It’s a very subtle light compared to an LCD. It’s probably one-sixth as bright as an LCD,” he told TechCrunch in an interview. “People often don’t realize there’s a light on until they’re in a dark room and the light goes off,” Jensen added.
In addition to Spectra 6 technology, Aura has built a proprietary dithering algorithm that uses error diffusion.
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“We had to go back to ancient dithering algorithms, like newspaper technology, where we had to figure out how to blend these dots to simulate other colors,” Jensen says.
Although the e-ink technology allows you to go cordless, the frame still needs to be recharged from time to time, so you’ll need to take it down from time to time to power it up. However, Aura says the frame has a battery life of up to three months, so this isn’t a huge inconvenience. (Currently the frame is not long enough to report battery life.)
To reduce power requirements, Ink uses motion and sensors to turn off lights when no one is around. The accompanying mobile app also allows customers to set their own on/off schedules if desired.
Like other Aura frames, the Ink has an upgraded look and feel with a graphite-inspired bezel, paper-textured matte, and glass front, making it look more like a traditional photo frame than some cheap technology purchased online. (Of course, considering the price.)
The frame itself is 13.3. Resolution 1600 x 1200, aspect ratio 4:3 inches. The box includes a wall mount, stand, and charging cord. Aura says the frame can be used in portrait or landscape mode, and the ink size, including both display and frame, is 14.1 inches x 11.4 inches x 0.6 inches.
The frame also includes a USB-C port, status lights, and button controls for navigating between photos. If you don’t want to manually adjust your photos, you can rely on the frames updating overnight with the latest photos from a pre-configured rotation.
In testing, the frame achieved a more muted color than the existing Aura frame, which allows it to fit better next to a photo printed on a wall. Depending on the image, it may not be immediately obvious to your guests that it is an E-ink frame, even from a distance.
The photo loading experience may seem confusing at first. The screen flashes repeatedly with a yellowish light, which can be annoying. But Jensen said customers don’t need to see the changes because Frame updates the photos nightly.
“This transition is a little jarring. It’s definitely a trade-off with this technology,” he admits. “You can make up to 12 adjustments per day if you wish, but there is a trade-off with battery life. More changes obviously uses more battery.”
As a result, the company believes customers may be more selective about the number of photos they add to frames. You’ll probably add just one photo that you want to always display and change it when you’re ready for a new one.
Aura raised $26 million in 2022 after selling 1 million frames and having 3 million users using the app. (For example, families often use the app together to add new photos to frames given to grandparents.) Earlier this year, the company closed on a $60 million growth capital investment from the LAGO Innovation Fund. Today, the company sells “single-digit millions” of frames and is making a profit. To date, 1 billion photos have been shared on the company’s app.
Although founder Jensen and CEO Abdul Chaudhry come from the early days of Twitter, Aura is currently focused on private social networks built among friends and family who share photos using Aura’s apps and devices.
“We think this space, where people share not only photos but connections with loved ones, is really underserved, and it’s clearly under-monetized through advertising,” Jensen said. “The convergence of hardware devices and their spaces works very well as a business,” he adds.
The company still considers itself a startup, as it continues to develop new products and is considering updates to its Aura app that can extend beyond frame management.
“We’ve done a lot of prototyping of software that isn’t just tied to frames,” he says. But the company is concerned that focusing on private photo networks alone might not be such a good business.
“We sell a hardware product that has a very simple value proposition: no subscriptions and unlimited photos. This works very well with a private photo network. And we’ve seen in the past that a lot of companies tried private photo networks on their own and couldn’t find that business model,” Jensen says.
Ink frame sales start today It’s on the Aura website.
Updated to correct profitability from “double digit” to single digit million.
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