San Francisco, CA—The Joy Photo Album, marketed as “the world’s first smart photo album,” is officially shipping to customers. The storytelling device is designed to connect family members whether they are at home or miles away. Joy is a user’s curated library of shared albums based around chosen events or groups. The device stores a user’s collection of memories automatically arranged in creative layouts.
Cofounders Alan Chan and Jacqueline Yuen, as well as a team with experience from Apple and Sonos, lead the company. The start-up recently raised a $7M seed prime round co-led by Obvious Ventures and investor David Heller—bringing their total funding to $9.5M.
Joy Photo Album
Employing proprietary technology such as StoryTime, a wireless magnetic stand with two charging surfaces and voice notes, the album is designed to make it easy to preserve and instantly share important moments. In slideshow mode, photos will rotate through, but family members can also page through photos and recount stories without the distraction of notifications and social media feeds.
Joy Key Features
The 13.3-inch Full HD touch-screen device displays photos and videos in predesigned layouts. It supports the following file types: jpeg, png, mov, mp4 as well as RAW files.
In addition, its StoryTime feature connects two Joy Photo Albums and initiates a real-time voice call with screen share. Voice notes also preserve the narrative behind the memories. Moreover, anyone can record a voice message on a specific photo or video by pressing down on the photo or video to begin recording.
According to the company, the digital album “is easy to set up and intuitive to use.” Users can create albums with the free Joy iOS and A
ndroid apps by uploading images from a camera roll or from photo services such as Google Photos, Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram as well as Flickr. Even if the user’s family doesn’t have a Joy album, they can upload photos via the dedicated app.
Furthermore, the photos and videos uploaded to the device are automatically backed up in Joy’s secure cloud. The Joy Photo Album has a suggested retail price of $499. joy.co
