So, the tablet above is the TRMNL (OG). So, why would I buy a 7.5 inch low resolution (800x480) display? The answer is that I love tech, read through my blog for details, so when I saw the many things this device can do, I was in. I should mentioned that it was $129 and I paid $25 for what they call the Clarity kit. This was close enough to my "curious... so why not" range...more on that later.
I thought I would use it to cycle between Apple Photos, Stock tickers, and weather, if I did not see any other plug in (and there are numerous plug ins to chose from) that I might find entertaining (they have an "Office" quote plug in that is pretty fun.
That being said, I tried a few of the above, but just found that I liked to display black and white photos from Apple Photos on it the most (they have a plug in for Dropbox photos, but I have not tested it).
I thought I would use it to cycle between Apple Photos, Stock tickers, and weather, if I did not see any other plug in (and there are numerous plug ins to chose from) that I might find entertaining (they have an "Office" quote plug in that is pretty fun.
That being said, I tried a few of the above, but just found that I liked to display black and white photos from Apple Photos on it the most (they have a plug in for Dropbox photos, but I have not tested it).
But isn't it low resolution?
Yes it is, so you want to be careful where you display it. On a mantle over the fireplace, a bookshelf, etc. You don't want to have it less than a foot away where you can see the fuzziness of the display. At a distance of a couple of feet, it gives off a film type of look. The grainy E-ink display works in the favor of the B&W photo in many cases.
I was also really sold on the fact that it is battery operated. Now, I can just pick it up (it is very light) and set it anywhere. I have it in my office, but not on my desk most of the time. However, I have also had it on the fireplace mantel in the living room. It only needs to be charged once every couple of weeks or so. I have it changing the displayed photo every 15 minutes, so my battery may burn faster than those that change it every 60 minutes.
The web interface is quite helpful for tracking the battery power left (I can just pop it up on my iPhone). The front page has a battery symbol up in the right corner (below):
I was also really sold on the fact that it is battery operated. Now, I can just pick it up (it is very light) and set it anywhere. I have it in my office, but not on my desk most of the time. However, I have also had it on the fireplace mantel in the living room. It only needs to be charged once every couple of weeks or so. I have it changing the displayed photo every 15 minutes, so my battery may burn faster than those that change it every 60 minutes.
The web interface is quite helpful for tracking the battery power left (I can just pop it up on my iPhone). The front page has a battery symbol up in the right corner (below):
Apple Photos
To set it up, you set up a shared album and then use their instructions to connect them. I should mention that this doesn't have all the features as a true photo slideshow frame (not cropping the photo to fit the frame, for example), but there is a charm to the low res photos that I like and not having to plug it in, is worth the price of admission.
Below is the shared photos on my iPhone. Once you see them on the display, they might not look very good due to how the frame crops them, but it is easy to move photos in and out of the folder, so you can curate on the fly. Also, I could just crop the photos so they can fit in the frame perfectly, but I haven't got around to that just yet.
Below is the shared photos on my iPhone. Once you see them on the display, they might not look very good due to how the frame crops them, but it is easy to move photos in and out of the folder, so you can curate on the fly. Also, I could just crop the photos so they can fit in the frame perfectly, but I haven't got around to that just yet.
The Price
As I mentioned, the price of around $150 was a big selling point (though, a bit higher than I would usually spend just to mess around with a gadget). Not saying it is worth it for everyone, since I don't think it is a needed gadget. It is fun to mess around with the plug ins and once you find one you like, you can just hang or sit it where you want it and not mess with it for a couple of weeks.
That being said, they just came out with a new Trmnl (X) that is very attractive. First off, it is bigger and higher resolution. It's 10.3 inches with a 1872x1404 resolution. It is $219 + $25 for the Clarity kit (that gives it a bigger battery, developer edition, charging cable, and cleaning cloth). I was able to find a 10 percent off coupon (I think Snazzy Labs Youtube page had a link) on my first TRML, so I would definitely hunt down another.
For me, this is outside the "fun to play around with price", so I am not sure if I will get one. That being said, 10.3 inches would look so much better on our fireplace mantel. This would free up my old TRML for just messing around with plug ins. That being said, I am in no hurry, so I will just see if I still want it around Christmas.... I can always get myself one as a gift if I still care enough about it (I will often do this wait and see with products just to see if it isn't just a Flavor of the Month thing.
That being said, they just came out with a new Trmnl (X) that is very attractive. First off, it is bigger and higher resolution. It's 10.3 inches with a 1872x1404 resolution. It is $219 + $25 for the Clarity kit (that gives it a bigger battery, developer edition, charging cable, and cleaning cloth). I was able to find a 10 percent off coupon (I think Snazzy Labs Youtube page had a link) on my first TRML, so I would definitely hunt down another.
For me, this is outside the "fun to play around with price", so I am not sure if I will get one. That being said, 10.3 inches would look so much better on our fireplace mantel. This would free up my old TRML for just messing around with plug ins. That being said, I am in no hurry, so I will just see if I still want it around Christmas.... I can always get myself one as a gift if I still care enough about it (I will often do this wait and see with products just to see if it isn't just a Flavor of the Month thing.
Wrap Up
Personally, I don't think this device is for everyone. It requires some setup that would be outside the scope of a lot of people. It's a bit geeky! That being said, I have enjoyed messing around with it and I like moving around the house to new locations before we have guests over. For me, it was worth the money, but I would recommend going through some of their plug ins to decide if it's worth the money for your use case. For photographers, I would probably recommend the new more expensive model (site unseen) due to the bigger size and better resolution, but if you just want something small and portable, this may be for you.
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