Glusine 15.6-inch Frameo Frame

Those offline routes change who can fill the frame. A neighbour can copy the church fete photos onto a USB stick, a son can push in the card from his camera, and a granddaughter can plug in her laptop on a Sunday visit and move a whole year of pictures across. None of that needs Wi-Fi or an app.

The frame itself pairs those import options with a large, bright screen:

• A 15.6-inch IPS touch screen at 1920 by 1080 pixels, with wide viewing angles and swipe control.
• 32GB of memory, which Glusine puts at more than 10,000 HD photos.
• Three offline routes: a FAT32 USB drive, a full-size SD card and a Windows laptop by USB-C cable.
• The Frameo app for everyone who does send from a phone.
• Auto-rotate and a stand that works on a desk or on the wall.

At 1.9 pounds it is one of the lighter 15.6-inch frames, easy to lift down when someone wants to plug in a stick or a laptop.

Importing from a USB stick or SD card goes like this:

1. Format the stick or card as FAT32 on a computer. Glusine asks for FAT32 on the USB drive.
2. Copy the photos into a folder on it.
3. Push it into the frame and open the import option in the menu.
4. Tick the photos to copy across, then remove the stick once it finishes.

The laptop route suits a larger archive. Connect a Windows laptop to the frame over USB-C, and the frame shows up on the laptop so whole folders can be copied across. Glusine names Windows for this, so a Mac owner should plan on the USB stick instead.

Video is the one area to understand clearly. Glusine mentions short videos of up to two minutes. In the free Frameo app, clips sent from a phone stop at 15 seconds, and longer ones come with the optional Frameo+ plan. Videos copied from a stick or card are not bound by the app's limit.

The memory card and storage guide explains FAT32 formatting and roughly how many photos each size holds.

That mix of routes suits families with different habits. The grandchildren send from their phones, a sister who prefers her camera uses an SD card, and Grandad himself only has to look up at the screen.

Once the photos arrive, the frame can be tuned to the room:

• Set a sleep timer so the screen goes dark at bedtime and wakes in the morning.
• Turn the brightness down for a bedroom, or up for a sunny lounge.
• Choose a slideshow speed, from a quick turnover to a slow gallery pace.
• Stand it on the desk stand, or hang it on the wall.

Auto-rotate turns each photo to match how the frame stands, so portraits of the grandchildren do not appear on their side. Glusine designs it for both the desk and the wall, and at under two pounds a single picture hook will hold it.

Only invited phones can send, which keeps strangers off the screen. Setting up those invitations is covered in adding photos to a Frameo frame, and the first start with Wi-Fi and language in setting up a Frameo frame.

Senders can also add a caption as they send, and Grandad can tap a heart on a photo he loves, which appears on the sender's phone. Small signals like that keep the conversation going between visits.

If the frame is headed for a home with patchy Wi-Fi, the offline routes still work, and photos already stored keep playing while the router is down.

The Glusine and Pastigio frames cover the same three import routes. The choice between them is mostly the look: plain black against a black frame with a white mat. BIGASUO's frame doubles the memory and plays video with sound, which suits a family that sends a lot of clips.

Axcedkee's 15.6-inch frame is a third option with the same idea: an SD card, a USB drive or a computer by USB-C cable. It suits a family who already owns Axcedkee's smaller 10.1-inch frame and wants a matching pair.

What the Glusine brings is lightness and simplicity. Under two pounds, a plain black border that suits an office as well as a lounge, and every way in that a non-smartphone household could need. For a grandparent whose family visits with photos on a stick rather than sending them from a phone, that combination is hard to improve on.

Before choosing the Glusine, check these points:

1. The computer at home. Cable transfer is described for Windows.
2. The warranty. Glusine covers the frame for 360 days.
3. The spot. A 15.6-inch screen needs a wide shelf or a wall near a socket.
4. The Wi-Fi band. With a new router, confirm 2.4GHz is switched on; the Wi-Fi help explains why.

For all the screen sizes side by side, see the Frameo size guide.