During last year’s pre-Black Friday sales, I finally decided to buy something that I’d had my eyes on for quite a while – the Samsung Frame TV. I was a little nervous that it would be one of those purchases that I had hyped up so much in my mind that the reality could never live up to the expectation, but that has absolutely not been the case. It is still something that makes me smile every time I glance at it!

Since we’ve all been spending so much more time at home, I’ve been trying to refresh my space a little bit, and the Frame TV has gone a long way in that process. Not only do I love the way that it looks itself, but it also inspired me to hang some other art that I’ve been holding on to for a while. Everything just looks much more polished and makes me so happy to look at.

If you’re not familiar with the Frame TV, the whole point of it is that you can display digital art on the screen while you’re not watching, so it doesn’t look like a TV. It lays really, really flat against the wall to help keep it looking like a framed and matted piece of art.

So, a little bit more on what I love about it and how it works.

The Appearance

Obviously, the number one best part about the Frame is the appearance and the ability to display your own art. Now, of course – if you look very closely, you can tell it’s digital art. But from farther away and if you’re just glancing, it really is surprising how “real” it looks.

They have a store of digital art that you can choose from, but you can also upload your own photos to use as the art on display. You have to be mindful about sizing, of course, especially if you want to be able to add the (digital) mat around the art, which I think goes a long way towards making it look real. Since my friend is an incredible artist, she generously offered me digital use of one of her paintings for my use.

I have this platinum frame around the TV – they sell a variety of color options that you can swap out. They’re not cheap, but I think that it goes a long way towards making it look more like art. It’s super incredibly easy to swap out frames – it’s just magnetic and snaps right on, no tools needed at all.

Ease of Use

So, one of the reasons that the TV can lie so flat against the wall is the Connect One box used by the TV. It’s basically the same as a cable box – the Connect One is how the TV communicates with the remote/the app, but it’s just attached by a very very thin cord to the TV. You then connect everything (cable box, Apple TV, etc.) to the Connect One box rather than to the TV itself. I hid the wire in the wall so it’s completely invisible, but even when it was hanging it’s very thin and not very noticeable. You can even hide the Connect One box in the wall too if you choose, but that wasn’t something that I felt like I needed to do.

Since it’s a smart TV, it has lots of the apps that I use to stream already built in. I actually haven’t reconnected my Apple TV since getting the Frame because I haven’t needed to – all of the apps are available on the TV itself. It’s really simple to find and download apps that don’t come pre-downloaded with the TV.

I think the remote is great, too – it’s much smaller and sleeker than a “regular” TV remote, and is really intuitive and easy to use. There is an app that lets you control the TV from your phone, too, but I haven’t used it much so I can’t comment much on it.

Picture and Sound Quality

I am no expert, but I think the quality is really great. The picture is really crisp and clear, whether I’m streaming or watching live TV. And I’m most impressed by the sound quality – even without being connected to an external speaker or sound bar, the sound is really great.

A few more things…

One weird thing is that even though the whole point of the TV is to display art while you’re not watching, the default setting on the TV is to automatically turn off the display completely after a set period of time. It look me a few days to figure out how to turn off this setting completely. You actually have to do it in two separate places, so if you’re trying to figure this out, don’t give up!

Also, sometime last year, they came out with a newer version of the TV that has a slightly different mounting system. So if you’re searching YouTube for installation videos, make sure you’re looking for the latest model.

Overall, I love my Frame TV, and in my opinion, it’s totally worth it. I know what’s “worth it” differs from person to person, but for me, it’s a resounding yes.