Things just had to change. When COVID lockdown began, we had been putting up with the same old goggle box for over 15 years. With its grainy resolution and clunky remote, it wouldn’t even play free-to-air (True! I’ve been completely denied the salacious car crash of MAFS, and any other recent reality shows, for that matter).
We knew that if we were going to survive this time indoors with our sanity intact, we would need to upgrade.
Add to this fact that in our new home, we don’t have a lot of room in our living space for a television. The couch actually sits in a thoroughfare between the dining room and kitchen so, ideally, it would hang on the wall out of the way. I’ve also never been a fan of the big black TV box dominating the room. I want my décor to take center stage.
Of course, all this in mind, it just had to be the Samsung Frame. For the uninitiated, The Frame is a stroke of marketing and technical genius: a TV disguised as artwork. It comes with a variety of frames (or bezels, as they’re called) and the screen changes to an artwork or photos (of your choosing) when your TV is off. To save power it even senses when no one is in the room and switches off completely.
I had read a few blogs about The Frame so I knew how versatile it was in terms of the art. It comes with a variety of great options built into it: photography, abstracts, landscapes, you name it, and you can also subscribe to the Art Store and access artworks from the V&A Museum, The Tate Gallery, and more. You can upload your own digital artwork or photos onto it. There are even stores on Etsy that sell digital art resized to The Frame’s specifications for a few bucks.
So it was a no brainer. We decided on the 55-inch with a beige bezel to work back with our Scandi décor. When it arrives, we discover it has a no gap wall mount so it can sit flush with the wall. We are even able hide the clear cord and OneConnect Box in the wall cavity behind which is actually accessed through our pantry, so it really does look like a painting hanging on the wall. We add a few plants underneath and hang a clock above it with matching frame. (This is actually to cover up some wiring from a past tenant’s stereo, but it works.)
From the moment I flick on the remote, it is love. Not only is the Ultra 4K LED display crystal clear (wow it’s true! Some actors actually have pores and fine lines!), it’s just so damned intuitive. Beyond Netflix and Stan it was an endless selection of viewing apps all built into a quad-core processor, which makes it seamless and super speedy to browse. Watch something with your favourite actor then click on their name to bring up all the other films they’ve starred in. You can even use voice control too if you can’t be bothered using the remote.
It also has mobile-to-TV mirroring so you can wirelessly display whatever is on your device on the big screen, great for viewing photo albums with your family and friends.
To ensure the display always tip top, The Frame also has a sensor to detect ambient light, adjusting the display settings as needed.
We’ve even fooled some guests into thinking it’s artwork. I downloaded some leaf art of Etsy to match my plants and also some of my family photos with the kids. The box frame around the pictures is pretty realistic when you glance at it and it’s not until the light darkens at the end of the day that a faint glow can give it away but you can turn that down to minimise it.
All in all I couldn’t be happier with our new tech addition, and the best part is that when it’s off it doesn’t feel at all like a piece of tech.
