Share your Joy: First-ever interactive photo album announced by Joy, 13.3-inch touchscreen tablet

posted Friday, October 21, 2016 at 6:00 AM EDT

The world's first interactive photo album has been unveiled by Joy. Thanks to US$2.5 million in seed funding from Ev Williams' Obvious Ventures and others, Joy hopes to change how families and friends share their photographic memories with one another. The team, comprised of individuals from companies such as Apple, Sonos and Yahoo, has created a premium electronic photo album that is designed to be as comfortable on the coffee table as in your hands when the Joy Album launches in summer 2017.

The touchscreen sharing device can display both photos and videos in a user-customizable layout and pairs with a dedicated mobile app, which will be available when the device launches. You can integrate photos and videos via email, Facebook, Instagram and more using the app. Photos and videos are automatically backed up to the cloud for safe-keeping.

Joy co-founder and CEO Alan Chan said, "As new parents with tons of pictures and memories to share, we missed the days of sitting with family members and flipping through physical photo albums. The need for family members to connect in this way still exists, but our photos have become scattered across different devices and apps. We were inspired to solve this modern problem by creating one beautiful, easy-to-use device that allows users to curate and share memories with loved ones near and far." Chan has hit on something I've personally witnessed and heard people remark about, there's a definite desire for people to be able to sit together and easily view all of their photos.

However, the question remains if the Joy Album is the ideal solution in a world where tablets are so prevalent, especially given the Joy Album's obviously similar appearance to any number of tablets on the market today. However, despite predictions by InfoTrends that nearly 80% of all photos will be captured with phones next year, how people view and share photos remains fragmented. James Joaquin, co-founder of Obvious Ventures, says that he believes the Joy Album is the "first complete solution for family photos" he has seen in his nearly two decades of experience working in the consumer photo sharing industry. "As families take more pictures and videos across more devices," he continued, "Joy comes to the rescue with a seamless combination of software and hardware that makes private photo sharing easy again."

On the tech side of things, Joy Album has a 13.3-inch HD touchscreen; wireless charging; integration with your smartphone camera roll, Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox and Google Photos; support for file formats including HD videos, RAW files, GIFs, 360-degree photos and more; 10GB of free storage with optional upgraded plans; private sharing options; and StoryTime, a feature that allows families to share photos and stories in real time on their own personal Joy Album devices (this sounds very cool for families who live apart).