Everblog E1 Digital Wall Calendar Review – it’s a fantastic family organizer

REVIEW – Digital calendars for the home have started to become the latest thing for busy households.  Most are geared towards homes with children and working parents who have multiple schedules and to-do lists to plan around.  Also, most of those digital calendars require a subscription to get the features you may be interested in.  In our home, it’s just my husband and me.  We are both working, with him owning his own business and often having a varied schedule.  I am always asking him what plans he has for the week.  When the Everblog E1 came up for review, and I saw that it could sync with multiple calendars and not require a subscription, I jumped at the chance to review it.  Read on to see if it met my expectations.

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $399
Where to buy: Everblog | | Amazon (17% off $332.49 $299.49 with instant coupon!)

What is it?

The Everblog E1 is a digital calendar that lets you sync with external calendars like Apple, Gmail, Outlook, or any calendar that supports sharing a URL. It lets you add profiles for every person in your family so you can organize chores, meals, shopping lists, and more, with no subscription required.

What’s included?

• 21.5″ Digital Calendar ×1
• Power Adapter ×1
• Hanging Strap ×1 plus safety strap
• Accessories Pack ×1
• User Manual ×1
• Hanging template

Tech specs

• Screen:21.5″ Touchscreen (16:9)
• Resolution:1920×1080
• FHDSize:21.4×12.7×1.3 inches
• Weight:13.7 lbs
• Storage:64GB
• Sound:20W quad speakers
• Indicator Light:Multi-color LED
• Power Input:AC port
• Power Supply:Built-in 12V / 4A power
• WiFi:2.4GHz/5GHz
• Certificates:CE,FCC,RoHS,MSDS,UN38.3

Design and features

The E1 comes in a crisp white color.  There is a one inch shiny white boarder aroud the 21.5 inch touchscreen.

In the back of the frame, four rubber foot gaskets cover the holes you would use should you choose to mount the frame on the wall with four screws.  There are also two speakers in the back.  The power port is on the left of that hole in the middle, where the power cord management also sits.  There are two channels you can run the power cord through, depending on whether you have the frame in portrait or horizontal mode.

On the right side of the frame, there are the plus and minus buttons to control the volume, and a power button.

On the left side above the power button, and on the right side of the screen, at the top and bottom, you will find three rubber gaskets covering the holes where the strap hangers can be inserted.  Indicators are showing you how to lock the hangers in place.

At the top and bottom of the screen, grill covers are cut into the frame.  The ones on the top are cosmetic, while the ones on the bottom have holes for the other two speakers in the frame.

As you face the frame, in the bottom-right corner is a button to activate voice input.  The two small holes above and to the left of the button are microphones.  The larger hole to the left is the ambient light sensor.

Assembly, Installation, Setup

The Everblog E1 is designed to be hung on the wall in landscape or portrait mode.  There is an included template you can use to hang it on the wall if you want to mount it using the four screw holes in the back of the frame.

The other mounting option is to use the included strap and hang it from a single point on the wall.  The main thing is to make sure there’s a power outlet within reach of the power cord, wherever and however you decide to hang it.

I decided to make sure the E1 could sync both my husband’s Apple calendars and my work Outlook calendar before hanging it on my wall.  So all of my testing was performed while it was sitting on my dining room table.

When I first powered on the E1, it asked me to connect to a Wi-Fi network.  I was able to connect it to my 5G network.  From there, it picked up my time zone, date and time.  You can choose to show time in AM/PM or use the 24 hour format.

I then had to give the E1 a name and pick the location where it would be hung on the wall.

Next, I had to create a unique email address for the E1.

The next step was to download the Everblog Calendar app from Google Play.  I created a username and password.  I then searched for the E1, and it was quickly found.  Every time I pulled up the app, it always connected to the E1 very quickly, no matter if I was at work, away from home, or on the same network.

After selecting my E1 from the main page of the app, I was presented with the home page for the E1.

Here is a screenshot of the calendar display on the app.  It shows the same information as the E1.  I love that the app lets you add information to the E1 directly without having to be at the frame.  You can quickly add events, chores, recipes, and goals in the app, and they appear on the calendar right away.

This is the chore page where you can add a chore for any profile on the E1.

This is the rewards page where you can give an award to any profile.

A very cool feature of the E1 is the AI import functionality.  You can import events and to-do tasks by taking a picture, using the microphone, or uploading PDFs, emails, and even photos.  You can also create recipes from scratch for your meal planning on the E1.   I found it easier to do these kinds of tasks on the phone rather than trying to make them on the E1 directly.

The photo sections lets you upload any image from the album on your phone.

Finally the app has a settings section that works exactly like the settings on the E1.

Now I want to go through the screens that display on the E1.  The E1 home page provides an overview of everything you have available on the frame.

Notice that there is an entertainment center on this screen.  This is the only page you can access to get to that screen.  It gives you access to tons of streaming apps like Hulu, Netflix, and Prime.  You only have to add your account information, and then you have another TV available for you to watch what you want.

This is a picture of the calendar screen.  The events are color-coded to match the colors of the profiles you created.  You will notice that at the top of the screen, you see three colored circles: one green L, one blue R, and a purple L.  The purple L was created when I synced my Gmail calendar.  The green L and blue R are profiles I made for my husband and me on the E1.  The three purple events came over from my Gmail calendar.  Even though I set up the Gmail calendar to accept events back from the E1, I never could get an event I created on the E2 for my Gmail account to show up in my Gmail calendar.

Here, I added an event for the profile I created on the E1.

The next page is the chores page.  You can create chores for any profile, including the synced profiles, but again, I never saw any chore I made for the Gmail account show up in Gmail.  I created a chore for my husband.  When he completes it, he can check it off, and a sound will play.  This should be a fun motivator for kids, but I don’t think my husband was too impressed!

Next is the goals page.  The goals are different from chores in that they don’t have an assigned date. You specify how many stars they have to earn to achieve the goal.  You can then give the person stars as they meet their goals.

Next, we have meal planning.  I think the actual meal planning is easier to do on the app in the phone.  You can import recipes with PDF’s or pictures.  Then on the E1, you can pick them.  The app can then generate a shopping list based on the ingredients for you.

This is the to-do page.  You can create custom to-do lists and add subtitles to each.  For example, I made a separate Costco shopping list and added a couple of items.  In the app this shopping list shows up, and I can check off each item as I pick it up in the store.

This is the photos page.  I kept a few of the default photos that came with the E1, and I added a few of my own.  If you mounted the frame in a horizontal position but your picture is vertical, you can see how it formats the picture to take up the whole frame.

Finally, this section covers all the settings available for the E1.

One complaint I have is that, in the screensaver, you can choose to turn the frame off during certain times or pick photos.  I wish you could use photos during the day as a screensaver and still have it shut off during certain time periods.

The last thing I wanted to cover was the E1’s ability to syncronize with outside calendars.  I ran into several issues with this feature.

1. My husband has two Apple calendars.  No matter what I did, the most I could get to sync with the E1 was the calendar with fewer events.  I could sync both of his Apple calendars with my Gmail account, but not with the E1.  I contacted support, and they even updated the firmware to no avail.
2. I could not get my work Outlook calendar to sync with the E1 at all.  In this case, I do not blame the E1, but blame the extremely tight security that we have that prevents the sharing of my work calendar.
3. I was able to sync to Gmail.  It was, however, in only one direction.  I could share events created in Gmail, but no event I created in E1 would ever be sent back to Gmail.

Performance

If you ignore the outside calendar syncing issues I had, the E1 was a great calendar for home use.  The touchscreen is very responsive and can be very bright when needed.  You can set up individual profiles for every member of your household quickly and easily. The app lets you add and remove things from the E1 on the fly.  You can let kids check off chores and goals and get rewarded for doing so. I love that it can show almost every streaming app out there, so it can act like another TV if you want it to.  It can also act as a digital photo frame.  It can be hung vertically or horizontally, but it does need close access to a power outlet. The icing on the cake for me is that it does not require any monthly subscription to continue working.

Final thoughts

If external calendar syncing isn’t important to you and you are interested in a household calendar for your family that won’t cost you extra money month to month, you need to check out the Everblog E1.

What I like about X

• No subscription fees.
• You can add a profile for every person in your household.
• Tracks events, chores, goals, and creates shopping lists.
• It can act as a digital picture frame and TV.

What needs to be improved?

• External calendar syncing to Apple and Gmail need to be improved.

Price: $399
Where to buy: Everblog | | Amazon (17% off $332.49 $299.49 with instant coupon!)
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Everblog. Everblog did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.