Shortly after being disappointed at the Google Nest Hub Max in last week (particularly the low resolution of the screen and inability to use Nest’s camera because I had a G Suite Account), I decided to see what their competitor, Lenovo was up to – and was very excited to see that they will be releasing the Lenovo Smart Frame!

I’ll explain why I’m so excited, but first let me do a quick round up of my ownership of digital photo frames. What I own so far:

Lenovo Smart Display 10”
Lenovo Smart Display 8” (I own two of these)
Google Nest Hub Max
Lenovo Smart Tab M10 (with Amazon Echo Show).
Amazon Echo Show (1st Generation)
Kodak EasyShare 7” Digital Photo Frame

I’m only using the Lenovo and Google displays at the moment. The ones I’m not using, I’ll further explain why they aren’t very good. The Kodak frame simply sucked – the display is terrible and it’s not internet connected. I bought it under clearance for $17, and still regret paying that much for this none-useful device. The Amazon devices, at first, I was excited. However, soon after using them, I realized every little thing I wanted, Amazon wanted me to pay money to use (including the ability to display my personal photos)… which I refuse to pay a reoccurring fee just to view my photos.

Why I am so excited about the Lenovo Smart Frame is that I’m really interested in a larger photo frame, and this 21” display would eclipse my 10” screens. It’s internet-connected and will work with my existing Google Photos, so I don’t have to do any work in setting up images for the frame. They also stressed that the display will automatically adjust the brightness and colors of your photos / art to match the ambient light in your room. This is the key, since you don’t want a bright display when you turn off the lights. My existing Lenovo smart displays already does this, and I think it’s wonderful (when you turn off the lights the screen is very dim).

There’s speakers and ability to use touchless controls – so I am thinking they might incorporate music or video control playback… which is interesting, but I’m not sure if I would be interested in those features (but obviously would still be nice if they included it out of the box). The other feature I would just like to see is the local temperature and clock, even though you don’t see them on the website. Maybe just include an option for that, for those that wants it.

The retail price for the Smart Frame will be $299, however, if you support or pre-order through IndieGoGo, you can get it for $150… which I think is a much fairer and more attractive price. They took down the date, but the pending date I saw was August 2020.