Digital photo frame with Wi-Fi makes great Mother’s Day gift [Review]

The GPX Capture 7″ Wifi Photo Frame is ready to display pictures sent from your whole extended family. It’s so easy to use it makes a great gift for the non-techie mom in your life.

The touchscreen looks great, whether it’s showing images or short videos sent in from a free app.

I put digital photo frame in my home office for hands-on testing. And I love it.

GPX Capture 7″ Wifi Photo Frame review

My elderly mother-on-law missed the computer age completely. She’s never been on Facebook and doesn’t use email. She doesn’t even have a mobile phone.

But she has a digital photo frame that her family sends their pictures to. She gets up every morning looking forward to seeing what fresh images of her grandchildren and great grandchildren have been added.

With a GPX Capture 7″ Wifi Photo Frame, that could be your mother, too.

• Internet-connected digital photo frame looks great
• So easy to use
• Let’s get technical
• GPX Capture 7″ Wifi Photo Frame final thoughts
• Pricing

Internet-connected digital photo frame looks great

A digital photo frame must include a beautiful display or it’s pointless. And the one GPX built into its product delivers. It’s bright enough that the colors aren’t muddy. And the screen offers wide viewing angles so you don’t need to be right in front of the frame for images to look good.

To be clear, the display isn’t spectacular. My iPad looks a bit better, for example. But it’s quite good enough for a screen your mom will look at occasionally, not stare at for hours.

Admittedly, 7 inches isn’t the largest display around. You can certainly find larger digital photo frames. This one is small enough to fit easily on a bedside table or a crowded desk, though.

It’s not battery powered. The device needs a connection to a power socket.

So easy to use

When testing the GPX Capture 7″ Wifi Photo Frame, I was always considering whether I’d be willing to give it to my elderly mother who has minimal skills with computers. And I absolutely would … after I set it up.

If the device is going to someone like my mom, you should handle the setup. It’s not difficult, but it’s also not something you want to walk them through on the phone. But that’s also true for every digital photo frame I’ve ever used.

Once it’s set up, the device couldn’t be simpler. It automatically flips slowly through all the images and videos it has stored. And there’s a touchscreen so the user can move back and forth through the collection at their own pace.

Pictures will come in from the family with either a portrait or landscape orientation. You can switch the digital photo frame between these just by flipping it. And the image viewing software is smart enough to fill in around images in the different orientation.

Let’s get technical

The person using the GPX Capture 7″ Wifi Photo Frame doesn’t need any technical skills but whoever is adding the images does. At least enough to use an app.

The best way to add these is with the free Frameo application, either on iPhone or Android.

The process is simple enough. Use the app to go through the collection of pictures on your device, picking out good ones and move them to the digital photo frame over the internet/Wi-Fi.

You can not easily dump your entire photo library onto the frame, which is a good thing. The device has about 10GB of free space so it will not hold the 20,000 images you carry everywhere on your iPhone. You’ll need to go through and pick out the best — think of it as part of the gift to your mother.

Besides, the real highlight of this product is sending your mom new pictures and videos when you take them. She can see the ones from today’s ballet recital or baseball game immediately.

Multiple people can share images with the frame. You and all your siblings can send your mother pictures of her grandchildren.

Alternatively, you can copy pictures from a microSD card to the GPX digital photo frame. This is more of a hassle but it might be the best option if there’s no Wi-Fi network available.

GPX Capture 7″ Wifi Photo Frame final thoughts

Seeing how much my mother-in-law loves her digital photo frame makes me a fan of this type of device. And the one made by GPX looks great and works well.

But it’s a bit small and not the lowest cost option on the market. That said, don’t cheap out on an item you’re giving as a gift. In my testing, GPX’s product has been 100% stable. That bargain basement one you find online might cause problems for your mother — problems you’ll have to deal with.

★★★★☆

Pricing

The list price for the GPX Capture 7″ Wifi Photo Frame is $99.99. A quick search found it available from a variety of retailers for as low as $79.

Buy it from: GPX

GPX provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out more in-depth reviews of Apple-related items.