Smart photo frame company Skylight launches a new version of its Skylight Calendar, a smart family calendar. He Cal Max Skylight It works identically to the current model but has a more elegant and updated design as well as a huge 27-inch screen. It's available for pre-order today starting at $599 and will ship in June, according to the company.
The Cal Max nearly doubles the size of the existing 15-inch Skylight Calendar, which is dedicated to displaying multiple calendars in a familiar layout and syncing with online services to keep everything up to date. An upgraded 27-inch touchscreen with a higher resolution (2560 x 1440 QHD compared to 1920 x 1080 HD) provides more space and better quality to easily see everyone's schedules at a glance.
A new etched anti-glare screen and interchangeable frames are designed to help the device fit better into your home decor. Options will include a classic white or black frame and a shadow box frame in aluminum and charcoal. The frames can be changed if you want to change things up and will go on sale in June when the device ships. The shadow box option adds $129 to the cost of the calendar.
I have been testing the current one 15 inch version of the Skylight Calendar – which has the same features, just a smaller, squarer design and no anti-glare screen – and so far I've found it to be the best solution I've tried to have a place where everyone in the home can see and manage all the schedules. .
Over the years, I've tried many solutions to this problem, including giant dry erase wall calendars, digital calendars built into my refrigerator, smart speakers that read my kids' schedules for the day and set notifications on their phones. smart for events. But for various reasons (too much maintenance, lack of support for one calendar service or another, being too easy to ignore), none of them have worked reliably.
However, since I place the Skylight Calendar on my breakfast counter in view of the family while they eat each morning, we have had much more success keeping our schedules in order. While smart displays like the Echo Show can show your calendar, the Skylight trick that works for us is that fair shows the calendar, all the time.
This is not a multipurpose smart display, like an Echo Show or Nest Hub, which means no one can watch Teen Titans Go! on it instead of reviewing the day's events. It is a dedicated device for your calendar. There are a few other related features (to-do charts, meal planning, and to-do lists), but the calendar is the main event. You can also have a screensaver with a photo if you want, although it requires a $39 annual subscription after the first year.
Beyond visibility, another feature I like about Skylight Calendar is that you can edit and add events right on the device's touch screen. You can also scroll through the day and week and see everyone's calendars simultaneously. The interface looks a lot like the Google Calendar web interface and similarly allows for color coding for different calendars.
Skylight works with most major services – I've successfully imported calendars from Google, Apple and Outlook (Yahoo and Cozi are also supported), or you can create your own calendars using their service and also manage them in the Skylight smartphone app .
While the $300 15-inch model I've been testing can show five to seven days and about an eight-hour day in time slots, I can see the larger version being useful for large families or those still finding themselves in that stage of multiple later. -school activities.
The sleeker look also appeals to me; I wouldn't want to mount the model I'm testing on the wall. It's too bulky and the screen can be distracting (even with auto-brightness enabled). The 27 inch would be too big for my kitchen counter. You can only mount it on the wall anyway, but if you mount it vertically you'll be able to see all day at once, and the anti-glare screen might make a better photo frame when not in use.
At $599, the Cal Max is expensive, and since there's a 10-inch version for $159.99 and the 15-inch is $299.99 with the same functionality, you're paying a lot more just for the larger screen and nicer looks. However, Skylight says the updated hardware will enable new software features later this year. That worries me a little. Based on my time with the original device, its simplicity is its best feature – too much functionality and you could lose that great focus.
The Skylight Cal Max is now available for pre-order for $599 or $629 for the shadow box frame option. It will begin shipping to customers in June.