This is a picture frame! It’s a speaker! No, it’s…a speaker frame.Since Samsung first showed off its new products Music Framework at CES, we’ve been dying to spend time in its presence to see if it would surprise us, or give us a peck on the cheek.After check out Samsung’s latest TV, we briefly sat in the audience in front of two 13-inch square frames, equipped with a surprisingly powerful speaker system at the back.While we were impressed with its volume and quality, it was clear $399 Music Box This is just the first iteration, and over time it will hopefully become a more fleshed-out product.
If your first thought is that this is a smart photo frame that can display pictures from your phone’s gallery and drop beets from your favorite Spotify playlist, put that thought out of your head. The simulated picture frame connects to a speaker that can be connected to a Samsung or other brand of smart home system. You can pre-order Music Frame now, but you should know exactly what you’re getting before you buy.If you want Samsung’s larger smart photo frame, the company’s got you covered The Frame TV 2024 Update.
What is Samsung Music Photo Frame?
The Music Frame is a speaker disguised as an old-fashioned picture frame. You can place your favorite artwork or photos behind the front panel, then connect it to your TV or phone to start listening. Although it connects via Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi, you’ll need to use Samsung’s own IoT brand SmartThings connectivity and Q Symphony to get full Dolby Atmos quality. It also requires a wired power connection, so unless you can hide the power cord, you won’t trick anyone into hearing weird noises coming from the wall. The cable is white by default, so as long as you don’t want to drill holes into the wall to hide any unsightly cables, then at least it won’t look too weird snaking down the bookshelf.
You can easily pop in photos, which is good because that’s the only reason you’d buy this disguised speaker.It will also act as Intelligent Things Center For those who really need it. You should be able to use it with Google Assistant, Alexa, and of course Samsung’s Bixby. Samsung says it should connect Chromecast, AirPlay, and Tidal Hi-Fi to play audio, but we’ll have to test it out ourselves to see how well it works in different settings.
But how does it sound? From what I could tell in my very limited demo, the musical framework was surprisingly loud and clear. There are six speakers and two woofers on the back, so the sound is on par with a soundbar of comparable quality, and when you combine it with another music frame and soundbar, you get the same in all parts of a small speaker sound quality. We were allowed to test it in a square room.I’m most curious to test its bass characteristics, since even at its loudest, we couldn’t hear any real hiss from Camila Cabello Havana.
The 2024 ‘Frame’ is for those who want a more artsy TV
photo: Artem Golub/Gizmodo
While wandering around Samsung’s secret lair, the company showed off its New version of TV framework Along with the musical frame. If you’re looking for a Samsung-branded smart photo frame, this is closer to what you’re looking for (though you’ll have to make sure you’re okay with sizes 43 inches and above). It’s still called “The Frame,” which we think is a rather confusing and somewhat pretentious moniker, and it’s still essentially a full QLED, 4K screen, but that doesn’t mean it’s actually very powerful. image quality. Of course, you have to pay a pretty penny for that monitor.frame starts with 43 inches for $1,000 until The 75-inch version costs $3,000.
One of the big advantages of the new Frame compared to the old version is that modern thin TVs support dynamic refresh rates on models from 50 inches up, which can reduce the refresh rate to 60 Hz when enabled in Art Mode. Samsung still has an art subscription service that you pay for separately, but now the company will start offering users a taste of art for free. The company says it will rotate 20 pieces of art each month for you to display on your frame, which is a nice change of pace, even if you still have to pay a tithe to Samsung to choose your favorite.
Still, the Frame has some of the best highlights of Samsung’s QLED lineup, and has a matte display that doesn’t show much glare from ambient light. We spent even less time with the Frame than the Music Frame, but this TV refresh is still a more substantial product overall than the speaker, with different color bezels and size options available. This is an example of where Music Frame ultimately went.
How do music boxes and TV boxes connect to your smart home?
photo: Angel Fajardo/Gizmodo
If you have a supported TV, Music Frame can connect via Q Symphony to share audio between Samsung devices. The Q Symphony system essentially synchronizes the audio from your TV and soundbar simultaneously. If you want a low-key surround sound environment, you should be able to use the soundbar to play the sound from your TV and place up to two music frames on the far wall. Unfortunately, Q Symphony only supports up to two devices connected to a Samsung TV. This can be a Samsung-branded soundbar plus a music frame or two music frames at the same time. While you can go into your TV’s options to tell it the position of your frame, this is quite limiting for those who think they can enhance their sound setup with more hidden speakers.
Beyond that, the Music Frame definitely feels like a first-generation product. There is only one size to start with. The frame itself measures 12.9 x 12.9 inches and extends 1.7 inches from the wall. The first version supports 8 x 8-inch pictures or artwork, so you might want to consider getting out the scissors and fitting a family photo in there. Although Samsung advertises that you can change the bezels to different color options, there’s also one color available, and that’s black. You can hang it on the wall or prop it up on its own stand, allowing it to hang among your other trinkets and photo collections. There are a few buttons on the side to control it, and a small LED light to let you know the frame is active.
But at $399 it’s still a hard sell. Obviously, you’re not going to buy the Music Frame just for a nice speaker to hold your 8 x 8 photos on, since you can get both for far less than the Samsung version combined. The limited size and wired power requirements also limit where you can place it in your home, so here’s hoping we see it in time.