Review: IPEVO Kaleido R7

Written on May 7, 2009 by Thomas S. and filed under Ipevo, Reviews

The IPEVO Kaleido R7 is a 7” Wi-Fi enabled digital photo frame that supports online image channels, RSS feeds, and local image playing capabilities. It offers a pivoting screen assembly to view images in vertical or horizontal modes and touch-sensitive user controls for quick access without needing to hunt for any remote. The Kaleido also supports being controlled in real-time through a software interface on your computer, so you can keep a constant eye on content served up on the frame, with the ability to pause or jump ahead as needed. In this review we take a look at this new picture frame from IPEVO, and find out if it is worth checking out.

IPEVO Kaleido R7 Wireless Digital Frame Specifications

• Widescreen 7” LED-Backlit TFT Display
• Resolution: 800 x 480
• Brightness: 350 cd/㎡
• Contrast Ratio: 400:1
• Support for Image and News RSS Feeds
• Supported Image Format: JPEG photo, up to 10MB JPEG files
• Built-in Memory Capacity: 512MB
• Memory Card Types: SD/ SDHC, MMC, MS
• USB flash drive support
• IEEE 802.11b/g w/ support for WEP, WPA, WPA2
• Size: 7.8 x 6.7 x 2.9”
• Weight: 2lbs

Build and Design

The IPEVO Kaleido has best digital picture frame design I have come across, looking modern and very suave. It is designed so the display can pivot in either vertical or horizontal alignment with the base platform staying in the same orientation. The finish is glossy black plastic with a white base, giving it a look that makes all other electronics on your desk jealous. The finish is covered with clear plastic out of the box to prevent light scratches during transportation, and while it doesn’t scratch as easily as other models, you should still be careful when cleaning dust off. The one odd feature that looks out of place is the power indicator light that is overly bright and too obvious when the frame is turned on. I think if the frame is on it is obvious, since the screen is turned on; I don’t need a green LED to tell me that.

Build quality is excellent with solid plastic construction and a nice weighted feel to the body of the frame. The base of the frame stays planted with the display in either orientation, so no worries about this frame tipping over if the kids run past it. The hinge mechanism clicks firmly to let you know it is in the correct position, another sign of good build quality. Besides pivoting back and forth, the hinge allows some tilting movement to point the screen up or down depending on where it is in relation to your view. Most frames are very limited in how far you can tilt them, and almost no frames allow it to be titled to a downward angle.

Controls

IPEVO puts all of the controls needed for menu navigation and normal operation on both the base of the frame and the remote control. The buttons on the frame are touch-sensitive, and when pressed the frame puts off a click sound to notify you that a button has been pressed. The layout works well on the front lip of the base, since you can press any button without worrying about sliding the frame along your desk if you don’t hold it in place.

The remote control looks very basic compared to the design of the picture frame, but works well for its intended purpose. One big complaint with both the remote and on-body controls is the delay when entering information on the frame. Typing in my wireless key took a very long time, since I would frequently overshoot the intended letter, since it would keep moving after I would stop clicking the button. Taking it very slow, pausing for a second after narrowing in on the intended letter solved the problem, but most frames don’t have this issue.

Display

The 7” LED-backlit display looks great, and doesn’t distract one bit from the good looks of the frame. Colors look bright and vibrant, contrast is excellent with solid black levels, and backlight bleed is minimal around the edges. Backlight brightness is more than adequate for viewing in brighter rooms with sunlight casting into the room, but the display will look washed out if sunlight is shining directly onto the screen. The Kaleido offers a graduated brightness scale to adjust depending on room conditions, so it doesn’t look too bright in a dark room, or dim in a brightly lit room.

Viewing angles are good, with minimal color distortion from normal viewing positions. The optimal viewing angle screen orientation is horizontal, since then side to side viewing shows minimal color inversion, whereas in vertical mode colors will tend to distort as you move to the side of the frame.

Memory/Picture Sources

The Kaleido can view images from a multitude of sources, including internal memory, USB sticks, memory cards, online RSS feeds, and galleries shared from your computer over Wi-Fi. To view images directly from your digital camera, pop out the flash memory and insert the card into the slot on the side of the display. The frame doesn’t automatically go into a slideshow mode when a card is inserted like other frames, but instead requires a few navigation steps to point it to the card, and then image folder you want to view. USB memory sticks interface in the same fashion, where you select that storage device and navigate to the intended folder.

Pointing the frame at different online photo channels is simple, and handled through your computer using the included IPEVO software. You can assign a feed from a website or even a folder on your computer that the frame will synchronize with to bring in new photos to look at. I think the ability to pull images directly off your computer (instead of using its internal storage) to view a constant stream of photos is a great idea. This eliminates any need to connect the frame directly to a computer, which is great if they are located in two separate rooms of your house or business.

The preset image channels that the IPEVO Kaleido supports out of the box are “Interestingness” and Landscape in Flickr, IPEVO.LIVE, Yahoo! News, and “My Pictures” on your computer once paired. It should be noted that streaming content online requires a constant computer connection over Wi-Fi, otherwise only local content can be played on the picture frame. This might be a problem a parent’s home where they might not have a computer running all the time (or a computer, period). On the up side, the computer interface gives you control over the frame in real-time with a small preview pane.You can skip slides on the fly, change channels, as well as a handful of other options.

Display Modes

The main display mode on the Kaleido is a basic slideshow with custom settings for delay between slides, transition effects, repeat mode, zoom mode (to crop to the widescreen display), and displaying date information. The time per slide is adjustable between 5 seconds and 1 day, with the sweet spot falling in at 30 seconds for my tastes. Transition effects include left to right, right to left, top the bottom, bottom to top, center to edge, edge to center, checkerboard, and random.
Unlike other frames on the market, the Kaleido isn’t cluttered down with calendar modes or even movie or audio players. It is designed to handle one task, showing pictures, and it does that incredibly well.

Menu System

The menu structure is easy to follow, but suffers from some lag issues when moving through the options. Using the remote there is about a half second delay from when you press a button to when it actually moves the indicator on screen.

The menu design is simplistic, with easy to follow paths from the main screen. You have access to Live Channels, My Gallery, Card and Memory, and Settings on the main screen. The display shows wireless connection strength and if the frame is currently connected to a computer. Since the majority of your input is handled from your computer, the only settings that are handled on the device are items such as screen brightness, auto standby depending on time of day, sound effects for button presses, shortcut keys, firmware update , pairing mode, playback options, and reset modes.

Pros

• Excellent build quality
• Great screen
• Excellent user interface on the frame and included software (PC and MAC)

Cons

• No music or movie playing capabilities (might be missed by some people)
• Requires constant connection to computer for Internet-based content

Bottom Line

The IPEVO Kaleido is a no-frills photo frame that looks great and works exactly how you would want a dedicated photo frame to work. The interface is simple to use and almost all controls can be handled through the remote, touch-sensitive device buttons, or through the included IPEVO software on your computer. Unlike many frames on the market right now, IPEVO didn’t load this one down with movie players, calendars, or movie players, instead they directed all their efforts into the build quality and software interface. The end result is one of the best digital photo frames I have had my hands on to date.

Editor’s Choice – 5 out of 5 stars

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