By Scott Kramer

 

Remember those digital picture frames that were all the rage five or six years ago? Well, they’ve been modified for the 2017 crowd. In some cases, they connect way beyond your family photos.

One that really makes my head turn is Meural. It’s a gorgeous, high-quality 32″ x 21″ x 1.5″ frame that features bright-white matting surrounding a brilliant, no-gloss glass “canvas” that’s actually a Full 1080 HD LCD screen. The frame comes in your choice of black, white or lightbox. Plug it in and you have instant access to more than 30,000 artworks, from classic museum paintings to beautiful, professional photographs. There are many galleries to choose from, and you can also display your own digital images. But why would you do that? Each month, the company makes available new collections curated from one of its partners, including new artists, The New York Public Library, websites such as Sedition and Retronaut, and more. And each work of art looks simply spectacular on the screen, from nearly viewing angle. Step up close and you’ll see actual brush strokes. It’s seriously like browsing through an art museum, in your own living room. The frame has built-in gesture control. When you see a painting you like, just wave an open hand upward about two inches in front of the bottom of the canvas and information about the art and artist appears superimposed over the work. Wave down and it disappears.

 

You can also control the screen’s brightness level. When you want to change images, you wave your hand left and right. In fact, if you want to change the frame orientation between portrait and landscape, you also control that via hand-gesturing — before physically turning the frame. I’ve had some trouble getting the frame to respond to my hand waving, at times. Sometimes it’s completely receptive, other times it’s sluggish.

 

I love that Meural is connected. I often get tired of looking at the same photos and artwork on my wall. I even used to make my computer screensaver a slide show of all of my children’s school artwork. That way, it would page through the drawings and paintings so that I’d rarely see the same thing twice in a week. This product takes that premise and puts it on a much larger, better-looking scale.

 

Meural is a quality piece of substantial technology. It’s relatively heavy, weighing about 20 pounds. But it’s simple to set up. A French cleat hanging mechanism kit is included, letting you set the frame in either orientation. The hanging process reportedly takes about five minutes, and the company website offers a video instruction link.

But remember you’re going to have to plug it in. And that 8-foot cord will hang below. Having just a test unit, I put mine on top of a desk for a few days and ran the plug behind the desk, hiding it from view. It instantly classed up our home. I can definitely see it quickly becoming the visual and discussion centerpiece of a living room or family room, or even an office or restaurant. Each Meural will set you back $595 or $695, depending on model.

 

 

Scott Kramer is veteran, Southern California-based writer primarily versed in golf and personal technology. Studying Computer Sciences in college, and then working as a programmer/software engineer for about a decade, triggered my passion for today’s high-end, high-tech gadgets. I can’t help myself whenever I see any kind of cool new personal technology. I feel compelled to further check it out and see what it’s all about. And even if I have no use for it personally, I’m always thinking who it might best suit. There are exciting new innovations emerging daily that are shaping the future and simplifying life. And I hope to be your eyes to that world, through the words of this column.

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