GiiNii ArtForme 7 inch Digital Picture Frame (model GN-705W) Specifications:

• 7″ LCD with 16:9 viewing ration and 480×234 resolution
• 128MB installed memory
• 5-in-1 card reader (SD, MS, MS Pro, MMC and xD)
• USB port
• Auto Rotate: photos automatically adjust to the orientation of the frame
• Programmable transitional effects
• Built-in clock and calendar
• Supports up to 20 megapixel photo size
• Adjustable backstand
• MSRP: $59.99

Build and Design

The GiiNii GN-705W is perhaps the very definition of a basic digital picture frame. This is a frame displays your photos with little fuss and features just enough bells and whistles to make you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. The design is extremely simple. The wood frame and plastic matte insert surround the 7-inch display and provide a touch of simplistic style that will fit in with just about any home décor.

Built around a 7-inch, 480×234 display, the GN-705W certainly doesn’t give you that space-age, “high tech” look common to many digital media frames. In fact, the matte-textured screen isn’t even protected by an additional piece of glass, the LCD is simply surrounded by the plastic matte and frame and is ready to be plugged in and used. While the this frame certainly isn’t the best looking device we’ve reviewed, I have to give GiiNii credit for keeping it simple with a frame that will work in almost every home.

Unfortunately, the GN-705W suffers from extremely lightweight construction. Not only does this frame feel fragile, but it’s so light weight that I imagine it would easily fall off a shelf or table with the slightest accidental tug of the power cord. The extendable support/backstand features a nice swivel mechanism that makes it easy to rotate the frame for landscape or portrait orientation. The automatic orientation sensor also works perfectly and keeps the photos displayed in the correct direction.

The GN-705W utilizes an impressively simple array of eight menu navigation buttons on the back panel. In fact, the controls for the GiiNii frame are so simple that changes are you will never need to push a single button other than the power button. That said, if you want to manually scroll through images, change the display setting, view the clock or calendar, or keep the frame set to a single image then it’s very easy to do so using the buttons on the top back edge of the frame.

Memory/Picture Sources

In keeping with its minimalist overall design philosophy, the keeps the back of the frame extremely simple in terms of memory media support. Connections include single USB port (for connecting a USB flash drive or external hard drive), a power jack and memory card reader slots for SD/SDHC/MMC and Memory Stick/Memory Stick Pro and xD cards from your digital camera.

Per its specs, the GN-705W lacks any slave USB connectivity options, so you cannot connect this frame directly to your computer via a cable or Wi-Fi. You have to insert a USB storage drive in the USB port on the frame or insert a memory card from your digital camera. The opposite side of the frame lacks any ports, but I would have liked to see a single mini USB port here to allow the frame to function as a slave device … just in case someone wants to connect the frame to a PC and transfer photos that way.

The GN-705W sports 128MB of internal memory, providing only enough space to store a handful of high-resolution images or a ton of extremely low-resolution images. Granted, the GN-705W is really designed to read your photos off of a USB drive or memory card, so the built-in memory isn’t a major deal breaker.

Display Modes

The GN-705W is primarily a slideshow device. Power on the frame and it will immediately begin displaying images loaded into the memory if no card or flash drive is inserted. Plug in one of these external memory sources and after a few seconds of buffering (depending on the file sizes of your shots) the frame will jump to a slideshow of these images instead. By default, shots are shown in the sort order they appear on the card or USB drive.

Viewers can opt to manual pause, advance, or reverse the slideshow by pressing the appropriate navigational button on the back of the frame. However, it would have been nice if GiiNii included a basic wireless remote control so that users can control the image playback from across the room.

Menu System

The menu system on the GN-705W follows the same philosophy as the rest of the frame: Keep it simple, stupid. In fact, the GN-705W is designed to function without you ever needing to see the menu system. The only time the menu system appears is if you insert a USB drive or memory card that is oddly formatted and the frame needs assistance locating the images. If your memory card or USB drive use a standard format then the frame will automatically locate the images and begin displaying them on the screen. There are also options for a simple clock and calendar, though these are extremely basic (no integration of your photos) and aren’t likely to be used by most of the people who purchase this frame.

Display

A 7-inch, 480×234 display is a rather unfortunate choice for this GiiNii frame. Before I go into detail about the display I should point out that the typical resolution of a 7-inch widescreen LCD is 800×480 pixels. In short, the GN-705W has basically half the resolution of a typical digital photo frame … and it shows. Images shown on the display appear blurry and lack any real edge definition. Horizontal lines in your photos will suffer from “jaggies” (jigsaw-like edge lines) due to the limited screen resolution. While the color saturation and contrast are both perfectly fine, I just couldn’t overlook the fact that none of my images looked crisp or detailed. This is all part of the cost trade-off though; a higher resolution panel is more expensive.

A series of menu options also allow you to fine-tune the display’s saturation, hue, and contrast, and while the interface is fairly intuitive (it’s easy to adjust the display settings), there’s really nothing you can do to overcome the limited resolution of this LCD. Even when I stood six feet away from the picture frame I could still see the individual pixels that make up the display. You simply can’t expect to see the fine details in your images with this frame.

Conclusion

Although there’s something good to be said for a digital photo frame that keeps things simple and just works, simplicity should never replace quality. The GiiNii GN-705W Artforme 7-inch Digital Picture Frame is remarkably easy to use and features a design that feels right at home in any home, but the poor resolution of the LCD ruins what would otherwise be a fantastic value among digital picture frames. For $50-60 you get a frame that’s very easy to use, but you also get a frame that displays blurry, low-resolution photos. Bottom line, if GiiNii used a higher resolution LCD I would have given this frame a 4 out of 5 rating despite the lack of advanced Wi-Fi and multimedia features. Unfortunately, the poor resolution of the screen ruins what is otherwise a perfectly functional frame.

Pros:
• Easy to use
• Nice imitation wood frame
• Low price

Cons:
• Extremely low resolution display
• Few extra features and no remote
• Only 128MB of built-in memory

Rating – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Sungale Cyberus ID700WTA Specs

• 16:9 Widesreen LED-Backlit Touchscreen Display
• Resolution: 800×480
• Supported File Formats: JPG, TIF, PNG, BMP, WMA, AVI, TXT, PDF
• Online Features: YouTube, RSS News, IP Radio, Gmail, Picasa, Weather
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi B/G, PC Connection
• Internal Memory: 1GB
• Supported Memory Formats: SDHC
• Speaker, Headphone Output
• 2-Hours Battery Life
• MSRP: $229.99

Build and Design

I knew the Sungale Cyberus ID700WTA was going to special when I opened up the box and was presented with a picture frame that included its own leather slipcase. Most frames I see are models that are placed on a desk surface; not something with its own battery and travel case. Inside its leather holster the Cyberus ID700WTA looks pretty nice. The entire frame is covered by a thick leather border, leaving only an opening for the LCD and page controls. The sides are trimmed with leather as well, with openings for the memory slot, power button, and connectors on top. From a design standpoint the picture frame looks very nice with good attention to detail.

The frame feels pretty solid in your hands and the leather case seems to protect the body just in case you accidentally drop it. The top cover has magnets on the edges to keep it secure in storage and it has either cardboard or plastic inside the leather that keeps it pretty stiff. The frame itself feels durable when removed from the case and has no plastic creaking or flexing.

Controls

Controls on the Cyberus ID700WTA are limited to page transition buttons on the front cover and an on/off switch on the top. The power switch and page buttons require deliberate action to use so they shouldn’t be accidentally triggered in your briefcase or backpack. The main way to handle user input and device navigation is using the touchscreen itself. The screen is responsive using your fingertip to tap the onscreen keyboard and pop through the menus. If you don’t want to put smudges on the screen the frame also has a small pen inside the bottom corner. The main controls are all sized appropriately for a pointer finger so the input pen never really has to be used.

Display

The high resolution display is average compared to other frames I have reviewed. Colors and contrast seem pretty good, although with the resistive layer over the LCD, it does have a “muted” look to the display. This is common for most touchscreen devices. On this review model I did notice something weird with the backlight, where one perfect band of the screen was darker than the surrounding sections. It is hard to show in a picture, but if the screen was divided into four segments from bottom to top, it would be the one right below middle. You could only notice this on black screens and it wasn’t a problem in other display modes. The backlight level was fixed with no adjustment in the settings area. The display setting was limited to how images were rendered (optimal and original) and nothing else. If you let the frame sit idle it would dim until you pressed the screen but you have no direct control over that.

Memory Sources

This frame included 1GB of internal storage for loading images off a computer as well as an SDHC card slot to view images directly from a camera. Both memory sources were easy to navigate to when viewing images or trying to load movies. The menu layout made it appear that you could copy images to move them between memory sources, but no matter how I tried it, clicking anything loaded the file instead of just selecting it.

Display Modes

The Cyberus ID700WTA is limited to a basic slideshow for viewing images. You have three basic settings to adjust the way images are shown; display mode, slideshow mode, and slideshow time. The display mode lets you change how the images are shown on screen; either full-size or zoomed in. The slideshow mode adjustment gives you photo transition options. The slideshow time let you adjust how long each image was displayed; 5, 10, or 15 seconds. When viewing images, including the sample photos, the time to load each image was 5 to 10 seconds. Even with no special transition between pictures it still look a long time to render each one. Some of my larger uncompressed photos directly out of the camera look over of 10 seconds to load. The only way to really navigate photos is if you remembered the name of each one, since going through one by one would take forever with a large folder. No option to rotate the screen was given in the menu, so rotated the frame by hand for each picture.

Menu System

The Cyberus ID700WTA had lots of potential on paper but you find yourself letdown once you turn it on and start playing with it. When you first power the frame on it has a very modern look and feel with the boot screen, but once that finishes it drops you into something that looks very mid-90’s Prodigy-era. The interface could use a great deal of refining and it was frustrating at times since it required you to repeat the same steps each time it was powered on. On every boot it prompts you to enter the main menu or to connect to the Internet. With most network-enabled devices after the first time you connect to a network it doesn’t prompt you again. The ID700WTA goes through this entire process each time, which takes about 30 seconds going through each prompt. After doing this a few times I tried to see what would happen if you just skipped the process and it turned out it actually did save the information, but it never says that anywhere.

Almost every application is text based with very few images or artwork. In many ways it reminded me of stepping back in time to DOS-based computer. Once inside an application it was confusing to get back to the main menu. Each new screen would load up on top of the previous and to move back you clicked the X at the top corner until you reached the main menu again. If an application opened 10 new windows, you had to close each one to get back to where you started.

The flow of each internet-enabled application felt awkward with a “network loading” popup each time you opened one. After a few seconds the application would load into its very minimalistic interface. The YouTube app for example was frustrating as you could only view lists of top videos, but you couldn’t search for anything even though the frame uses an onscreen keyboard elsewhere.

Conclusion

The Sungale Cyberus ID700WTA looked great on paper but once you sit down and try to use it, it leaves you frustrated and disappointed. From a design standpoint the frame is compact like an eReader and feels very well built. The leather slipcase is a nice freebie since it protects the screen and gives it a professional appearance. All of this changes though after you power it on. The interface feels very dated and clunky with endless menus and no simple transitions between programs. Closing out of each application is a lengthy process depending on how far in you are, as each transition screen needs to be closed by clicking the X at the top. Overall I think the frame has a great deal of potential with the features it supports but it really needs a software overhaul to become useful.

Pros

• Nice design
• Good build quality
• Nice leather slipcase

Cons

• Prodigy-era interface
• Clunky navigation
• Slow image loading

Rating – 2 out of 5 stars

Digital photo frames aren’t just for viewing photos anymore. Today many of the digital frames we see are “digital media frames” designed to view photos, video, play music, or even access content over the Internet. This is exactly what the new 8-inch Toshiba DMF82XKU tries to do for about $180. Does this Wi-Fi enabled multimedia frame deliver a genuinely unique experience, or is it just another photo frame? We took a closer look to find out.

Toshiba DMF82XKU 8″ Digital Media Frame Specifications

• Widescreen Aspect Ratio (16:9) 8.0” LED-Backlit Display
• Resolution: 800 x 480
• Supported File Formats:
  • Image: JPEG, BMP, TIFF, EXIF 2.2
  • Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4
  • Audio: MP3, WMA
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 108.11b/g, USB 2.0, PC port (mini USB)
• Internal Memory: 1GB
• Supported Memory Formats: SD/SDHC/MMC, xD, MS/MS Duo
• Stereo Speakers
• Remote Control
• MSRP: $179.99

Build and Design

The Toshiba DMF82XKU features a rather attractive glossy design that combines black and clear plastics to give the frame a modern look that fits in nicely in a typical family room. The back of the frame body is glossy black plastic just like the front, so fingerprints and dust are an issue if you’re a neat freak. Do yourself a favor and buy a microfiber cleaning cloth so you can keep this frame looking as new as the day you bought it. Heck even the speaker grills on the back are glossy.

In terms of durability the plastic feels solid in all areas except the very center of the back of the frame … which will flex under firm pressure. Compared to other modern multimedia screens such as HP’s DreamScreen, the 8-inch Toshiba DMF82XKU looks and feels equally cutting edge.

The back of the Toshiba DMF82XKU (Doesn’t that name just roll off the tongue?) features a place to screw in the included stand which supports the frame in either portrait or landscape positions. While the stiff, antennae-like stand does a great job of supporting the weight of the frame, it looks pretty basic and almost looks out of place on the back of the frame. Since the stand is rigid and has to be screwed into place it isn’t collapsible for easy transport or storage. Toshiba also includes two mounting holes on the back of the frame in case you want to hang the frame on the wall.

Toshiba includes a nice little remote control with the DMF82XKU, but the frame lacks a holding slot for the remote … something many frames have nowadays. When you are done using the remote control you’ll have to keep it somewhere memorable or risk losing the tiny remote somewhere in your home.

The remote itself works exactly as advertised and you shouldn’t have much difficulty understanding the picture-based icons and text for each button. Navigating some of the menus isn’t completely intuitive, but after some trial and error I figured out how to jump from one feature to the next and how to setup the Wi-Fi connection and FrameChannel account.

The left side of the frame primarily contains the power button and memory card slots. The right side of the frame features the USB and PC ports, power jack, and the location for connecting the stand. All of the controls and ports are easy to reach, but the USB port in located close enough to the side of the frame that large USB flash drives might stick out and be visible from the front of the frame.

Display

The widescreen display on this frame features a standard 16:9 ratio with 800×480 resolution. Although there are some digital cameras on the market that record images in 16:9 format most cameras shoot in either 4:3 or 3:2 ratio. This means you’ll have to either crop your images or there will be some unused area on the screen.

The 8” display on the Toshiba DMF82XKU looks gorgeous despite the 16:9 screen ratio. The display is colorful and has very good contrast. The glossy finish will cause some reflections under bright indoor lighting, but the glossy screen does help boost color saturation and contrast. Backlight bleed around the edges is minimal with the screen surface having very even backlighting. Viewing angles in landscape and portrait mode were good with colors staying accurate to about 20 degrees tilted forward or back and nearly 90 degrees side to side.

Unfortunately, unlike most modern digital media frames in this price range, the Toshiba frame doesn’t always recognize the correct orientation of images, so you’ll frequently have to manually rotate images in order to get them to display correctly. If you flip the stand into portrait mode you need to manually rotate landscape image as they load. Likewise, if the frame is in landscape position and a portrait appears you will have to rotate the image or rotate the frame. I am not even sure why Toshiba didn’t include the software needed to read the image orientation from the image EXIF data and automatically display images correctly.

Memory Sources

As mentioned in the specs, the Toshiba DMF82XKU can read from multiple memory card sources. Memory card support includes SD/SDHC/MMC, xD, and MS/MS Duo. I would have liked to see a Compact Flash card slot as well, but only professional DSLRs and old cameras still use that memory format. The frame also includes two USB ports; one to attach USB flash drives (memory sticks) and another to connect the frame to a computer. To save images from outside sources Toshiba included 1GB of internal storage, which can be accessed directly when the frame is connected to a computer.

Menu System

The menu system is very basic, giving you access to local settings, system information, the Wireless setup wizard, and the ability to reset to factory defaults. The menu layout lacked some of the polish I have seen in other picture frames, but it was still perfectly usable.

Thanks to the frame’s built-in Wi-Fi the DMF82XKU can access images, video, and other data directly from the internet via a linked image account or FrameChannel. As many consumers may already know, FrameChannel is something of a mixed blessing. On one hand FrameChannel is a free service that lets you add multiple “channels” to your digital media frame so you can pull in pictures from online galleries, see weather updates, get the latest news, or even see how your stocks are doing.

Unfortunately FrameChannel has its own problems that make the usability an issue. Whether it’s a hardware issue or a failure on the part of FrameChannel, it simply isn’t as easy as it should be to use FrameChannel to put content on your frame. For example, after linking a SmugMug gallery and multiple news channels to my FrameChannel account the frame kept displaying multiple “broken frame” icons on the screen when attempting to display the channels. I found that I usually had to limit which channels I selected on FrameChannel because the frame would present the error icon if I tried to use too many channels (more than three) or if I tried to jump back and forth between channels.

This is simply unacceptable … regardless of whether Toshiba or FrameChannel are to blame. Consumers expect to be able to use all the advertised features and if they can’t see images from their online gallery or get the latest news then that means the product doesn’t deliver.

Granted, this is Toshiba’s first digital media frame to be released in the United States, and we’ve seen other issues with FrameChannel on other frames, but I’d like to see Toshiba deliver on the features that are listed on the box. HP’s DreamScreen does a fantastic job of delivering all kinds of content to users thanks to home-grown software. I don’t know if Toshiba needs to create their own content management software or simply work more closely with FrameChannel to make it work, but Toshiba needs to make sure that the advertised features work as advertised.

Conclusion

The Toshiba DMF82XKU is another digital media frame that looks fantastic on paper but simply doesn’t deliver on the promise of all the advertised specs. To put it mildly, if I spent the full retail price of $180 to purchase this frame then I’d be preparing to return it.

I eventually gave up and settled for only getting a few FrameChannel features to work after spending hours trying to get all of my selected FrameChannel channels to show up. The SmugMug and Photobucket RSS feeds never worked properly, and I consistently found that the frame didn’t like it if I streamed more than three or four channels packed with content via the FrameChannel service. After a full day of trying to get the Toshiba frame to live up to its advertised potential I gave up and just stuck a USB flash drive loaded with photos into the USB port on the back of the frame. If that’s all you want then there are many 8-inch digital media frames on the market that cost less than $80. While the Toshiba DMF82XKU looks very nice l find it hard to recommend this picture frame over other Wi-Fi digital media frames currently available in stores.

Pros

• Beautiful 8” widescreen display
• Attractive frame enclosure

Cons

• Too difficult to setup Wi-FI features and make them work
• Limited image orientation support
• Overpriced if you can’t make the additional features work

Rating – 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Not so long ago, if you wanted a touch screen in your digital photo frame, you had to settle for the fact that said frame would be bigger and bulkier than its touch-free brethren. As a rule, it was reasonable to expect that a frame would either have lots of novel tech, or that it would have the sleek look of a traditional photo frame – but finding both in the same package was usually too much to ask.

Pandigital is just the latest manufacturer to buck this trend in 2009 with the launch of the ultra-thin, touch-screen equipped Pantouch Clear series. With gift giving season upon us, could the Pantouch Clear be the sleek melding of form and function that you’ve been waiting for?

Build and Design

Baby brother of the 10.4-inch Pantouch Clear that garnered a fair bit of tech buzz when it launched earlier in the year, the 8-inch Pantouch Clear (officially, the less than elegantly named PAN8000DWPCF1) sports the same innovative touch-screen technology as its larger sibling.

While nothing about the frame screams “touch screen” at first glance, it’s hard not to notice just how thin this device is. Like many newer frames, the Pantouch Clear models utilize a display unit that’s complete separate from the actual frame – in much the same way that a picture sits inside a traditional photo frame. And with the Pantouch Clear’s display components coming in at well under half an inch thick, this frame looks appreciably less awkward than most of its digital counterparts hanging on a wall.

In theory, thumbscrews that retain the display unit in the frame mean that the Pantouch Clear should allow users to swap out the supplied dark brown surround for a different version. In practice, however, sensors for the device’s touch system are embedded into the frame itself (which explains the Mini USB connection from frame to display unit), meaning that if you want the touch controls to work, not just any frame will do.

The Pantouch Clear’s specific touch implementation is unique in the digital picture frame world: rather than using touch-sensitive borders or mats (a la Kodak) or even the touch-responsive LCDs seen on some other frames, the Pantouch Clear allows the entire display area to respond to finger input by building touch response into the glass panel that covers the display itself. As noted, a series of sensors built into the frame itself collect touch data from anywhere on sheet of glass that sits above the mat. This unique approach allows this device to incorporate full-screen touch technology without compromising the look and feel of a traditional glass-over-photo picture frame.

Stylistically, the decision to incorporate touch technology in this way also allows the Pantouch Clear to boast interchangeable mats. The box comes stocked with three choices: a conventional “full coverage” cream-colored mat, as well as cream and grey half-mats that leave a strip of clear glass between the mat and the edge of the frame.

The only potential downside to this more modern look, however is that the clear strip allows you to see through to the frame’s power cord connection and card slots.

A rotating, retractable stand makes the Pantouch Clear ready for desktop use, and a supplied stand extension allows further adjustment of the frame’s viewing angle (especially important for using the device in portrait mode, where the attached stand is barely long enough to hold up the device even when fully extended). Nail recesses allow for wall mounting in either landscape or portrait orientation. There’s also a Mini USB connection on the back of the device, allowing direct-to-computer connections with the supplied cable.

The Pantouch Clear sports touch-screen as well as remote control, but that didn’t stop designers from including a slate of five control buttons for basic function access on the display unit’s top panel.

The right-hand side of the device hosts most of the frame’s connections, with a multi-card slot supporting the common smaller media as well as a separate Compact Flash reader, and a full-size USB port for directly connecting flash drives to transfer images. On the opposite side, you’ll find the frame’s main power switch and volume wheel.

Memory/Picture Sources

With a pair of card readers, dual USB connections, and even optional Wi-Fi, the Pantouch Clear gets serious about getting images, videos, and music from wherever they currently live onto this device. The smaller multi-card reader supports the standard formats – SD/SDHC, xD, and Memory Stick – although it should be noted that Memory Stick support is limited to the larger MS formats: you’ll have to provide your own adapter if your camera shoots on Sony’s smaller “Duo” Memory Stick formats.

DSLR users will also be happy to learn that Pandigital has thoughtfully supplied a CF slot – an increasingly unusual touch in photo frames these days. Of course, pulling files from USB flash drives is also an option, and the Pantouch Clear seemed to have little trouble finding supported files regardless of where they resided in the drive’s file structure. Likewise, connecting the device to a computer via the supplied USB cable worked flawlessly: the Pantouch Clear appeared as a mass storage device, allowing me to directly manipulate the contents of the frame’s memory to my liking.

When it comes to memory, the Pantouch Clear packs in a lot of it. A full gigabyte to be exact, which Pandigital claims is enough to store more than 6,000 images. Assuming you leave the frame set to its default automatic resizing option (which converts all imported images to screen resolution before saving them) this should be a fair estimate of the Pantouch Clear’s capacity, and even if you opt to copy over full-size files instead, 1 GB should permit the storage of hundreds if not thousands of shots. Of course, given that the frame also handles video and audio formats, that extra bit of storage space is a nice plus.

Display Modes

The Pantouch Clear sports five basic functions in its main menu, with playback for photos, videos, and music, as well as a clock/calendar function and a unique if unusual “Recipe” mode (more on that in a later section). Of course, most users will spend most of their time in the photo playback mode, which works very much like similar modes on other devices. The Pantouch Clear utilizes a slideshow approach to photo playback by default, though users can opt to view all photos on a particular memory source as thumbnails instead by clicking the “Manage” option.

Overall, the frame offers a nice array of options for slideshow presentation, including the ability to add background music, select from a dozen or so frame-to-frame-transitions, and set how long each image holds on the screen.

In another nice touch, users can also put the slideshow on a time-specified schedule by selecting the “Run Program” option in playback mode – a great option for commercial or retail use. There’s also a separate sleep mode option for powering off the frame automatically. Conversely, I found the slideshow options a bit difficult to configure: the frame’s touch interface requires you to click through each option in a list one at a time (rather than providing a drop-down menu), meaning simple tasks like changing the transition style or shot-to-shot interval can become more involved than they should.

Video and audio playback are equally intuitive, though the demarcation between the playback and management areas in these two modes is somewhat less clear. The Pantouch Clear had not problem smoothly playing back MP3 audio loaded to its internal memory, and even handled common-format video files from an SD card without concern. As expected, audio quality is a little “canned” in both cases, and can sound extremely muffled with the frame hanging on the wall. The Pantouch Clear’s physical volume control dial is also somewhat inconveniently located for quick access – especially when the frame is wall mounted.

A basic but attractive clock/calendar mode rounds out the Pantouch Clear’s complement of mode choices. Options for changing the look and feel of this mode are somewhat limited, but users can set alarms or reminders via the touch interface – a nice addition for desktop or bedside use.

Menu System

Although the frame has physical controls as well as a remote, navigating the Pantouch Clear’s menus mostly requires dealing with the frame’s touch interface. Compared to other touch screens we’ve reviewed, Pantouch’s system is innovative in design, but somewhat less functional in practice – often requiring several attempts to get a press to register. This, combined with a slight but apparent lag, hardly makes the frame unusable, but can be a bit obnoxious if you’re wading deep into the menus.

On that note, the menu system itself also proves to be a little clunky (there’s no direct way to get from a running slideshow straight to the main menu, for instance). For quick access to basic functions, the back-mounted physical controls or the frame’s remote are actually easier to deal with than the touch interface. Moreover, the menu is multi-layered and circular at times, though to Pandigital’s credit, it’s also attractively laid out with relatively clear options. In short, the menu system is a mixed bag: it’s certainly not among the most difficult interfaces I’ve dealt with, but it does lack the polish and careful planning that tends to separate good devices from exceptional ones.

Display

Beneath its glass touch-responsive layer, the Pantouch Clear sports an 8-inch conventional LCD. At 800×600, resolution is par for the course in this class of devices, and the Pantouch Clear opts for the familiar 4:3 aspect ratio common to shots from most consumer digital cameras as well.

Colors are bright and vibrant, although I did note that contrast wasn’t as strong – even after making some adjustments – on this frame as on some others we’ve looked at. Having a touch-responsive glass panel over the top of the display is also a mixed blessing: I, for one, prefer the more traditional look of a frame with a glass overlay, but it’s undeniable that the sheet can cause severe glare depending on viewing angle and room lighting conditions. Plus, there’s the added concern of fingerprint smudges, which proved distracting after even moderate use. To the Pantouch Clear’s credit, the display features user-adjustable brightness, contrast, tint, and color. But with slightly soft colors and relatively poor viewing angles, the Pantouch Clear’s display is a mixed bag at best.

Extra Features

If we gave out awards for “Strangest Extra Feature” on a digital photo frame, the Pantouch Clear might well be in the hunt with its built-in cookbook. That’s right: the frame comes pre-loaded with recipes from several popular magazines, and you can add more by – how else? – purchasing them online. Of course, the recipes themselves are nothing more than image files stored in a special folder on the frame’s memory, and while this seems like one of those things that few users would ever have the desire to take advantage of, it’s conceptually interesting, at least.

In the same vein, the Pantouch Clear also features optional Wi-Fi – via a wireless radio module that can be purchased from Pandigital. Unfortunately, our test unit didn’t come so equipped, so I couldn’t say how well the frame’s wireless implementation works, or whether the USB adapter is worth the roughly $30 you’ll have to shell out for one.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the Pantouch Clear is a solid option for anyone looking for touch-screen functionality in a digital photo frame. Neither the most tech-loaded device on the market, nor a bare bones model, Pandigital’s latest shows off a good slate of technology that actually makes sense for most users. The device itself is attractive, modular, and easy to configure, and the few minor nits with the interface’s polish are relatively easy to overlook. In short, it may not be the absolute best touch-screen photo frame of 2009, but the Pantouch Clear has enough nicely implemented nifty-ness to justify the price.

Pros:
- Unique touch-screen approach
- Flawless video and audio playback
- Plenty of memory (and a CF slot too!)
- Configurable with included mats, optional Wi-Fi

Cons:
- Interface can lag at times
- Menus circular, not always clear
- Image quality isn’t top shelf

Rating – 4 out of 5 stars

HP 8” Smart Wi-Fi Display Specifications:

• Standard Aspect Ratio (4:3) 8” LED-Backlit Display
• Resolution: 800:600
• Supported File Formats: MPEG1, MPEG4, Motion JPEG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, MP3, WMA, WAV
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi B/G, USB 2.0, PC Connection
• Internal Memory: 512MB
• Supported Memory Formats: CF, SD, MS, MMC, xD
• Stereo Speakers
• Remote Control
• MSRP: $179.99

Build and Design

The 8” Smart Wi-Fi Display from HP has a rather basic design that greatly contrasts the DreamScreen. The body is matte black plastic in a slight wave form with speaker grills formed into both sides. Directly bordering the screen is a silver frame, also matte plastic, which sits slightly in front of the body. Compared to the sleek and desirable design of the DreamScreen, the 8” Smart Wi-Fi looks like something out of the 90’s. Normally I am not always a huge fan of glossy finishes for how much attention they need to stay clean, but this model really needs something to help it stand out in the crowded digital frame space. It’s pretty obvious that the DreamScreen design team is different from the team that designed the sd828.

The lightweight plastic body doesn’t help my initial build quality impression. The plastic body feels hollow when you pick it up and even echoes when you tap your fingers on it. In terms of durability the plastic feels solid in all areas except the speaker openings and has a steady footing when placed on a desk surface. The matte plastic finish resists smudging and scratches, but does seem to attach dark prints if you handle the exterior with oily fingers.

The back-side contains a built-in extending stand for viewing images in portrait or landscape positions. In the landscape position the stand stays collapsed, and when viewing in portrait mode you rotate the hinge 90-degrees and extend it by pressing the release button. While the stand does a perfect job of supporting the weight of the frame, it is very thin and flexible. 1-2lbs of pressure to the top edge of the frame will bend the stand out an inch. When fully extended one fear I had is if someone pressed down on top of the frame, the stand might snap off entirely. If the stand is collapsed when in landscape viewing mode it is much less bendy.

One handy feature on the side of the frame is a holding slot for the remote. When you are done using the control you simply slide it into the slot about half-way and it stays hidden and secure until the next time you need it. I personally think this should be a feature on every digital picture frame.

Controls

I usually don’t have much trouble understanding most remote controls but HP threw me a curveball with the picture-labeled buttons on this one. Each button is labeled with a picture of what the button controls. Some of the buttons are easy to understand off the bat (direction arrows, play/pause, clock) while others are not (cascading pictures, power icon inside a monitor). After some trial and error I figured out cascading pictures with a play buttons equals memory source and power icon inside a computer monitor means sleep, but why not label them with something simple like a word?

HP mounts the primary controls to navigate the menus, directly access a slideshow, and start/stop current slideshows. These buttons are near the top of the frame, slightly recessed on the rear. The buttons are clearly labeled with text, but their hidden position means you need to look behind the frame to use them.

Display

The 4:3 display on this frame is the default picture size from basically any camera on the market. For example if you have a 16:9 display and view images straight off a digital camera you will have bars surrounding the image. The 8” display on the HP Smart Wi-Fi is colorful and has very good contrast. The matte finish helps to reduce reflections compared to a glossy display. Colors seem to be saturated very well and the difference between light and dark colors is excellent. The 800×600 resolution is perfect for a display of this size, keeping images looking sharp and high in detail. Backlight bleed around the edges is minimal with the screen surface having very even backlighting. Viewing angles in landscape mode were good with colors staying accurate to about 20 degrees tilted forward or back and nearly 90 degrees side to side.

Compared to other frames on the market the HP 8” Smart Wi-Fi doesn’t detect which mode it is displaying in. If you flip the stand into portrait mode you need to manually rotate each image as they load. There is no menu setting to switch the frame from landscape into portrait mode permanently. I am not even sure why HP included a pivoting rear stand if they don’t include a simple software modification to flip the orientation of the screen. It is even stranger when HP clearly labels the hinge on the back “Portrait” and “Landscape” so perhaps it was a software feature they overlooked and might include down the road.

Memory Sources

The HP Smart Wi-Fi Display can pull images in from multiple sources. Memory card support includes Compact Flash, SDHC, Memory Stick, MMC, and xD. The frame also includes two USB ports; one to attach USB memory sticks and another to connect the frame to a computer. To save images from outside sources HP included 512MB of internal storage, which can be accessed directly when the frame is connected to a computer.

Utilizing Wi-Fi this frame can pull in pictures from a linked Flickr account. To use this you setup an account on HPFrame.com and link it to your personal Flickr account. Images in your personal account can be added into sets which can be viewed on the frame. Unlike many of the other Internet-enabled picture frames that support Flickr, this HP frame doesn’t support channels. Channel support I feel is one of the best features for digital picture frames that can connect to the Internet. You gain access to an almost unlimited supply of pictures which can be used for slideshows. I really hope HP brings channel support to this frame in the future.

The 8” Smart Wi-Fi frame supports streaming radio which is linked through the HPFrame.com website. You can search by country, city, genre, and language. I found a mix of AM and FM broadcast channels that streamed online in the cities I was interested in. Each city I looked at brought up 10-20 results, so changes are you should be able to find some that interest you. In all but one case the stations I added worked without a problem and played with reasonable quality.

Users can also add a number of other online-content features to the picture frame through the HPFrame.com website. These features include weather information for up to three zipcodes, shared YouTube videos linked through your account, email photos, Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket, Picasa, Snapfish, Twitter, and MMS. In the case of streaming video from YouTube the processing capabilities of the frame were tested and the results were highly compressed and pixelated video samples.

Display Modes

The 8” HP Smart Wi-Fi display offers two display modes, single image and quadrant. Single image displays one image at a time while quadrant displays two images with the clock and calendar on the screen as well. If you just leave the frame to display pictures at the interval that you set it seems to work without any problem. If you intend to skip forward through images you definitely notice a delay as the system tries to process the request.

Menu System

The menu system is very basic, giving you access to local settings, system information, the initial setup wizard, networking settings, and the ability to reset to factory defaults. The menu layout lacked some of the polish I have seen in other picture frames, but it wasn’t the worst either. As mentioned in the display section I feel some needed features such as an orientation setting were missing, so it could use some improvement.

Conclusion

The HP 8” Smart Wi-Fi Display looks great on paper but once you start to use it, it falls flat and comes to market six months late. The extra time didn’t help, in fact it probably hurt given the release of HP’s much better DreamScreen product. The interface is lacking basic features like the ability to change the screen’s orientation. This requires you to manually rotate each image as they appear during a slideshow. The online Flickr integration lacks channel support, so instead of adding a few popular channels to supply your images, you need to manually add your own pictures them to sets on your account. Compared to the DreamScreen which only costs a little more, the design seems dated, especially for a frame with an MSRP of $179. Overall it is hard to recommend this picture over other HP models currently on the market.

Pros

• Supports Flickr and streaming radio
• Nice 8” standard aspect display

Cons

• Lacks basic features
• Limited Flickr support
• Overpriced compared to DreamScreen

Rating – 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Digital photo frames can usually be separated out into two categories; basic but affordable and high-end with interesting features. The Sony DPF-V1000 takes the digital picture frame one step further, showing pictures not only on its 10.2” screen but on your HDTV through a HDMI port. Sony has you covered if you like to have a picture frame showing off a gallery of pictures throughout the week, but also if you want to show off slideshows during parties on the big screen. Priced at $250 this model costs quite a bit more than competing models making us wonder if the features justify the price.

Sony 10.2” DPF-V1000 Specifications

• Widescreen 10.2” LED-Backlit TFT Display with HDMI-out
• Resolution: 1024 x 600
• Supported Image Format: JPEG, TIFF, BMP, up to 48 megapixels
• Built-in Memory Capacity: 1GB
• Memory Card Types: SD/ SDHC, MMC, MS, CF, xD
• USB flash drive support
• Bluetooth support with optional adapter

Build and Design

Compared to other digital picture frames on the market, Sony really nailed the design of the DPF-V1000. The front is completely flat with a lexan cover over the LCD panel. This protects the LCD and makes it easy to clean fingerprints off the front ifthe need arises. The outer edge of the display is trimmed with chrome, adding a dash of elegance to really bring the design together.

Viewing from the back, the side panels slope to the front edge of the display, to keep the profile looking thin. Sony gives you with two covers that close off each side, further cleaning up the design. One of the nicer elements to finish off the looks is a single chrome rod sticking out the back of the frame that acts as the stand in both its horizontal and vertical positions.

The build quality is superb with a rugged front cover over the LCD, solid metal stand, and covers to close off any unused ports. The unit as a whole feels solid when you are holding it and sits firmly on a flat desk surface when you place it out for viewing. The only real complaint you could find with the body of the frame is the stand which is fixed, making it impossible adjust for viewing angle.

Controls

The Sony DPF-V1000 uses buttons on the frame itself and an IR remote to the various functions of the frame. The primary keys such as viewing mode, menu, back, select, and direction pad are in both areas. This allows you navigate through albums without needing to break out the remote. The controls on the side of the frame are very intuitive. They are designed to be triggered with one hand, using your thumb to rest against the front of the frame and your pointer or middle finger controlling the buttons. To use the side controls you first press the menu button which then loads up an on-screen guide.

In the center of the display you see the current tab of the menu directory you are using and on the right side Sony programmed an overlay to show you how the buttons on the frame function. The overlay also lines up with the height of the buttons so you know where to find them without looking behind the frame.

The remote is rather cluttered but in a way I think it turned out great. Sony gives you all the needed buttons in a small form factor, which means it’s easy to slip into a shirt pocket or store behind the frame when not in use. They don’t worry about ergonomics which might get in the way of keeping the remote as small as possible. The buttons are clearly laid out and a different background texture helps to separate the higher function keys from the normal controls.

Display

The 10.2” LCD looks very nice when displaying pictures. Excellent color saturation and deep black levels really help make images pop. The glossy surface seems to improve the color and contrast of the images but increases the amount of glare and reflection off the screen. If you have the frame near a window or lamp the reflections can partially or fully obscure the image being shown.

Viewing angles were good, although you do notice some color shift when you are viewing images in the vertical viewing position. Since most screens have weaker viewing angles when tilted forward or back, when you rotate the screen on its side, moving side to side starts to show this color shift. Backlight levels are fine for brightly lit rooms, but not enough to overpower bright objects like the Sun or lights reflecting off the lexan cover.

One really cool feature I need to give credit to Sony for is the white LED-backlit logo on the front of the frame. The frame senses which orientation it is in, so when it is positioned vertically it turns the logo off. This might not seem like much, but it really helps polish off the look of a stylish photo frame when the company’s logo isn’t on sideways.

To display your images on the big screen Sony includes an HDMI port to connect the frame up to an HDTV. Image quality was perfect on my 1080P display and the scaling of the menus also looked great. One of the features I didn’t notice until I had plugged the frame into my TV was that it outputs music during slideshows. The slideshow menu is rather basic and the “BGM” setting was actually the background music. Sony gives you three options, BGM1, BGM2, and OFF… I chose the off option.

Memory Sources

This Sony picture frame can handle multiple input sources to pull images from. It offers 1GB of internal memory that you can use to store individual images copied off of memory cards. You also get a multi-card reader that can handle every memory card format under the sun, including Compact Flash, Memory Stick, SDHC, and xD memory. If you prefer loading pictures from your computer onto a USB flash drive, Sony offers USB port that will be read just like the memory card readers.

Display Modes

The Sony DPF-V1000 offers a few display modes that are handy no matter how you use the frame. As a dedicated picture frame you can chose the one of the preset slideshow templates (including images plus borders or other background) or the single image viewing mode. If you have the frame sitting at a desk it can act as a colorful clock or calendar only, or a combination clock and image viewer. There are more advanced viewing modes which can be used to display entire folders of images on the screen in a large grid or even EXIF information modes which display camera settings next to the current picture.

Menu System

The menu structure was intuitive and nicely displayed. If you load up the menu while viewing images, the menu shows up on top of the image in a semi-transparent form. This contrasts with other photo frames which load into screens with black backgrounds when editing menu settings. The menu system was split up into two areas, one used to edit pictures or frame settings, and the other used to select the current viewing mode. The settings were split up between editing photos, selecting the memory device, and frame settings. Besides the background music confusion mentioned in the display section, every menu option was easy to understand.

Pros

• Simple to use
• Looks great
• Lots of refined features
• HDMI out

Cons

• Pricey

Bottom Line

If you are looking for an easy to use digital picture frame that looks classy and don’t mind spending a bit more, the Sony DPF-V1000 is a great option. The 10.2” display looks great and will auto sense which orientation the frame is in. The clear lexan cover gives the front a cleaner look and also protects the LCD from fingerprints and scratches. If you host a lot of parties the HDMI-out might come in handy to show of pictures to a larger crowd without getting a computer involved. Overall if you can get past the steep MSRP of $249 this frame is worth adding to your list.

Rating 4.5 out of 5 Stars – Editor’s Choice

Editor’s Note – Kodak makes two frame in this series, the D830, which we have reviewed below, and a 10″ model, the EasyShare D1030. Aside from the size of the display, all other specs are the same.

Kodak’s EasyShare D830 is a basic 8-inch digital picture frame that’s perfect for users seeking a great display, easy-to-use photo viewing, and no frills. As the D830 demonstrates, though, “no frills” doesn’t have to mean plain, ugly, or boring. With classic, go-anywhere styling, a nifty touch interface that succeeds in combining form and function, and an innovative approach to interchangeable frames, the EasyShare D830 is a solid option for photo enthusiasts and general consumers alike.

Build and Design

The Kodak EasyShare D830 is a traditionally styled photo frame with a faux double mat, a replaceable dark wood surrounding frame, and an 8-inch LCD. With the supplied wood surrounding frame, the D830 is stylistically versatile enough to blend in in most home or office settings.

Traditional not your style? No problem. With the D830 Kodak has finally hit upon an interchangeable-frame concept that doesn’t require users to purchase specialized surrounding frames from the digital frame’s manufacturer. Instead, the D830′s display unit is thin enough at the edges to accomodate fitment into most standard 8×10 picture frames.

I tested the device with several frames, and in most cases, users should be able to fit the digital display to the standard 8×10 frame of their choosing – though it’s often a tight fit. Still, kudos to Kodak for rethinking the whole idea of interchangeable frames.

Like the recently review Kodak S730, the D830 does away with all visible controls on the front of the device, and sports a single control button on the back. In their place, the S830 utilizes Kodak’s Quick Touch Border system – a series of touch-responsive “soft” buttons (indicated by LEDs) that appear in the frame’s inner mat area, and correspond to options in bottom and sidebar menus that pop up on the screen when the border is touched.

The system’s operation is unchanged from previous versions that we’ve reviewed in the past. Tap the control area of the frame and the buttons’ LED indicators appear next to a list of on-screen options that varies depending on which display mode you’re in. A pair of arrows at the bottom of the display also appear when the touch system is activated, providing dedicated scrolling controls. As before, this arrangement is easy to figure out, easy to use, responds quickly, and generally performs quite well. My only (minor) complaint is that the frame’s Quick Touch Border interface means the silver and white inner and outer “mats” that surround the display itself are not replaceable/interchangeable as well.

On top of the display unit itself, you’ll find the D830′s sole control button – used to cycle the device through its various display modes – as well as the display’s main power button. Particularly astute readers may notice that compared to the S730, the D830 lacks a dedicated volume rocker switch: that’s because unlike Kodak’s higher-end frames, the basic D830 doesn’t support video or slideshow audio playback.

On the frame’s lefthand side, you’ll find all of the device’s connection options. Two separate card slots – one for SD/SDHC and xD card types, the other for Sony Memory Stick variants – cover all of the current camera memory formats except the larger CF cards still used in many advanced cameras. A single USB port can be used in host mode, allowing users to pull pictures directly from USB flash drives.

The D830 features a plastic kickstand-style support, which clips into an adjustable bracket on the back of the display unit. The stand locks in solidly, and can be rotated 90 degrees to allow for portrait-orientation viewing in addition to the default landscape mode. Similarly, the frame’s display unit provides nail recesses for wall-mounting the device in either orientation. Overall, the D830 display unit’s mostly plastic construction is good to excellent, evidencing the kind of quality we’d expect from an established player like Kodak. The included user manual is, like the frame itself, fairly basic: essentially it’s just a quick-start guide. Given that this frame doesn’t pack in a slew of functions and options, though, it’s probably more than enough for purchasers with basic tech knowledge.

Memory/Picture Sources

As noted, the D830 sports a pair of memory card slots and a USB port. Kodak doesn’t supply a USB cable (or, for that matter, any file management software) with this frame, but if you can scrounge one up, the D830 can also be connected directly to a computer; the frame appears as a mass-storage device, allowing users to directly manipulate files stored on the internal memory.

Speaking of memory, the D830 sports 512MB of built-in image storage. In order to make the most of this space, the frame is set up by default to resize pictures to screen size when you transfer them from USB drives or memory cards into internal storage. Hence Kodak’s claim that the D830 can store 4,000 images, give or take. (If you’d rather the frame leave your shots at their full, unaltered size, automatic resizing can be disabled via a menu option.)

When a card or flash drive is inserted, the D830 automatically jumps into slideshow mode, displaying pictures from the new memory source first. Easy-to-use single and multiple select options make pulling files from external to internal memory a relatively quick and painless process.

Display Modes

Like the similar S730, the D830 features four basic display modes: slideshow, collage, clock, and calendar (plus the ability to view single pictures and videos). If pictures are loaded into the internal memory or an external memory source is inserted, the device defaults into slideshow mode. Several options exist for tweaking your slideshow, including the ability to choose transitions, set how long you want each image to stay on the screen, shuffle the order of playback, and set images to play back in chronological order (newest to oldest, or oldest to newest, based on each shot’s EXIF data).

The D830′s multi-shot automatic collage mode is identical in this implementation to the function on other current Kodak frames. It’s a nice, visually interesting display mode, and a feature that sets Kodak’s frames – even basic ones like the D830 – apart. As before, you can’t change the layout of images within the collage, but you can adjust how frequently new shots are transitioned in.

The D830 also provides basic but attractive clock and calendar modes that use a split-screen display arrangement.

As noted previously, there’s no provision for either video or audio playback on this device.

Menu System

Having reviewed several Kodak frames in the last year, I’ve become familiar with Kodak’s Quick Touch Border interface. Having spent a fair amount of time with this control arrangement, I can say with some certainty that it’s a system that grows on you the more you use it. As an interface, it’s far from perfect: the soft buttons can be laggy or completely unresponsive at times, and the icons used in the sidebar menus are occassionally confusing. All of that said, the system is a vast improvement over the majority of photo frame interfaces out there, and once you get beyond it’s few quirks (you press the “Menu” icon to go up a level in the system, for instance), it’s a very functional control system.

Ditto the menus themselves, which are thoughtfully laid out and relatively condensed compared to the menus in many competitive devices. One press of the main menu icon provides access to the majority of the frame’s options, allowing you to switch modes, select a limited group of photos for playback or copying, change the memory source photos are being pulled from, or configure basic frame options. Equally appreciated is the fact that the settings sub-menu contains all of the frames ten or so setup parameters in a single list, eliminating the need to wade through submenus to track down a specific option. With the D830, what you see is what you get.

Display

The D830′s display is an 8-inch TFT unit. The standard 4:3 aspect ratio display touts some solid specs, including a 500:1 contrast ratio and 270 NIT brightness. Controls are more limited, however, with the D830 providing the option to adjust the display’s brightness only.

In terms of performance, the D830′s screen stands up well other devices in this class, providing excellent side-to-side viewing angles, and better than average up-and-down viewability as well. Colors are bright, deep, and appropriately saturated by default, and can be further enhanced by enabling Kodak’s trademark “Perfect Touch” color enhancement option. Overall, when it comes to the task of displaying photos, the D830′s screen turns in a solid performance that should please serious photogs and family snapshooters equally well.

Extra Features

As has been alluded to throughout, the D830 doesn’t have a lot to add in this area, and if you’re looking for the latest flashy technology or connectivity gimmickry, the EasyShare probably isn’t the right choice. In fact, besides the aforementioned Perfect Touch system and collage mode, the only “extra” feature that really distinguishes this frame is its ability to fit the display unit to standard 8×10 frames.

Conclusion

Without a long list of bonus features and sophisticated technology, you might be led to believe that the D830 fails to impress. When it comes to the basics, though, this frame excels in the fact that it doesn’t surprise. Frames that promise a lot often fail to impress when they don’t live up to their bold claims. The D830 is just the opposite: it doesn’t promise much in terms of features, but it won’t give a user headaches trying to perform basic tasks like loading new photos, deleting old ones, rearranging slideshows, and. It’s this “set it and forget it” simplicity, in fact, that makes the D830 one of the more straightforward, pleasant, and appealing frames out there. For a frame with few advanced features, the D830′s $140 price tag may be a little steep, but even so, I’m betting many users will think the EasyShare’s versatile styling and straightforward simplicity justify the extra expense.

Pros:

- Couldn’t be easier to use
- Display works with most 8×10 picture frames
- Crisp, vibrant display
- Nice collage mode

Cons:

- Few extras for the price
- No audio/video playback
- Quick Touch interface lags at times

Editor’s Rating – 4 out of 5 stars

HP has launched a new platform in the digital display space. I hesitate to call the DreamScreen just a digital picture frame, although it does do that. It also has a Pandora application, plays video, streams content from a networked computer, connects to thousands of Internet radio stations, interfaces with Snapfish and Facebook and has both wired and wireless Internet connections. So it’s more than a frame – it truly is a new platform.

HP DreamScreen Specs

• DreamScreen 100 – 10.2″ Display – 800×480 pixel resolution
• DreamScreen 130 – 13.3″ Display – 800×480  pixel resolution
• 2GB internal memory (1.5GB available)
• Contrast 350:1
• Stereo Speakers
• Headphone out jack
• USB Host and USB mini
• Media cards supported – CF, MS, MMC, SD, xD
• Video formats – AVI, MPG, MP4
• Photo formats – BMP, JPEG, PNG
• Audio formats – MP3, PCM, WMA, AAC
• Touch screen button
• Remote control
• Ethernet – WiFi

DreamScreen Setup

The DreamScreen packaging is thankfully minimalistic, with just the things you need, all nicely packaged. The DreamScreen can operate entirely on its own, but configuration is a little easier via the included PC software. Through the software you can configure username and passwords for the applications like Pandora, Facebook and Snapfish. The same interface can be used to drag and drop photos onto the frame – more on that later.

PC Screen

As noted though, the frame doesn’t need a PC to get setup. Screw in the metal stand, connect the power cord and you’re ready to roll. Once it’s powered on, you can go straight to photo/video viewing via memory card or configure the wired or wireless network to immediately gain access to the Internet-enabled applications.

Data entry is handled with an onscreen keyboard and the remote control. The system is easy enough to get along with – it’s not like you’re trying to craft detailed emails here. Using the keyboard to enter my wireless security code took a few seconds and I was quickly connected to the Internet.

From a build perspective, the DreamScreen looks great. The high-gloss black back, rounded edges and the way it all blends together makes the unit feel complete and well thought-out. It’s not uncommon in this space to see a display panel that was designed for no particular purpose, being jammed into a shell to make a digital frame. HP definitely designed the DreamScreen with a purpose and it shows; the end result is polished and clean.

DreamScreen Interface

We often ridicule digital frames because they have dreadful user interfaces. Because HP is viewing the DreamScreen as a platform, they spent a lot of time thinking about how users will want to interact with the product. And it shows – at power on, users are presented with an easy to understand scrolling list of applications. Using the remote or on-screen buttons, it’s easy to scroll through the list of options to pick what you want. They’re all clearly labeled with a launch icon for each.

Once in an application, there’s generally a brief setup screen. Users can also access settings via the options button on the remote. Navigation is generally very intuitive though. The only hiccup we’ve had is that to get back to the home screen to select a new application for instance, it takes a press and hold of the back button. It would have been nice for HP to add a clearly labeled home button on their remote. At this point users know what to expect when pressing a house-shaped button, manipulating a back button isn’t fluid.

We’ve talked a good deal about the remote already, and in terms of being able to do everything you need to do, it’s great. The 12 buttons do it all, including turning the frame on and off. When you’re done with the remote, there’s a little caddy on the back of the frame to house it. This is a small touch, but nice, as most frames just have you leave the remote nearby, adding clutter and a higher potential to lose the remote.

Aside from the remote, users can manage the frame with touch sensitive controls in the lower right corner of the frame. The controls remain hidden until your hand activates the sensor to light the buttons. The eight buttons handle all of the frame’s tasks – so in the event you lose the remote, you won’t lose any functionality. The buttons are responsive and it’s great that they fade away when not in use. However, they don’t always light up right away and it’s easy to make an accidental button press. I had to login into Pandora online a few times to remove accidental thumbs down ratings.

Memory/File Sources

HP has included just about any conceivable way to get files on the DreamScreen. There are two multi-card readers. The first handles the small cards including SD, MMC, MS and xD. The other slot handles CF and micro drives. If you have files on USB drives, no problem, there’s a USB host port for that.

The DreamScreen has 1.5GB of internal storage, after you delete the setup videos and stock art that come on the frame. Files can easily be transferred to the frame by copying from a memory card. There’s also the drag and drop method on the PC. Lastly the frame can be connected directly to a computer, where it will show up as an external storage device. The DreamScreen supports foldering – so it’s very easy to sort files by folder and control which ones are viewed in a slideshow for instance.

The ability to drag and drop files using the PC application is no small thing, this is only the second time we’ve even seen this method attempted. When setting up my frame, I took my 2009 folder of photos and just dropped it on the application. It took a while to move 700MB, but the job got done with minimal effort. Right now HP takes the entire files as they are, but I wouldn’t be surprised if along the way they add a feature that re formats the files for use on the frame. Loading full-sized images is a waste of storage space, but many users don’t know how to, or take the time, to re-size their images for a digital frame. You can also use the desktop software to manage your account information for the Internet-based applications.

If you want to take full advantage of the Internet connection, the DreamScreen can also stream files from a connected device on the network. The only trick here is there’s a little work required to enable file sharing on a computer and router. HP includes good documentation on how to enable this, but any time users have to edit router settings, there’s a certain percentage that will be frustrated. Even so, if you have a media server, this option is definitely nice to have and gives the DreamScreen a tremendous amount of flexibility.

DreamScreen Applications

Out of the box, the DreamScreen comes with several applications that are both geared toward sharing life’s memories and entertainment. HP is off to a great start with their application library. While there’s no public API that will let developers push the DreamScreen with new applications, HP fully intends to release more applications and firmware updates. In fact, our review unit has already found and installed a firmware update, which is good to see, we like HP being proactive about making the DreamScreen progressively better.

We’ll break down each of the applications below to give you a better understanding of what the DreamScreen can do:

Pandora

It’s easiest to start here because Pandora is easily one of the best applications on the DreamScreen. The integration is absolutely fantastic. The experience is similar to the PC or iPod flavors – users get access to all of their stations and songs play complete with cover art, track details and the ability to do thumbs up/down. Pandora is fully integrated with the user’s account, so thumbs up/down are recorded and saved, though it doesn’t appear that the DreamScreen application can show the thumbs up that users have issued through another interface. That’s likely just a bug that HP can resolve however.

The listening experience is certainly enjoyable, I currently have the DreamScreen on my desk and I leave it on Pandora a good portion of the day. The remote handles the volume, pausing and song ratings. Pandora will also play in the background as you run some of the other applications like photo viewer and slideshows.

HP SmartRadio

Access to thousands of Internet radio stations is promising. I was able to add some of my favorites like ESPN radio and Fox News, but not without issues. The way HP has you add stations is nearly unusable, unless you have a lot of time and patience. To add a station you can sort by location (country) or genre.  So if you want radio from Afghanistan, you’re actually okay, since there are two stations to choose from, but go try to find your favorite station from the US. You can view them by most popular or alphabetically – both are horrible options for finding something you know you’re looking for. There’s no way to search by station name and you can’t drill-down to state or city. This issue is fixable though, we’ll see how HP responds.

It would also be nice to have a more immersive experience. After looking at what they did with Pandora, the SmartRadio screens are pretty blah. Adding additional data like a station logo, what’s playing (artist info) and the like would be a nice touch.

Facebook

Like the Pandora integration, the Facebook application is pretty slick. While it’s not entirely full-featured, what you do get is a stream of status updates from your friends, organized chronologically. You can also browse their photo libraries by selecting a user. If you’re subscribed to events, there’s a tab for that as well.

The main downside is that you don’t get full access to the things friends post, only status updates. You also can’t issue status updates of your own, though you certainly could with the onscreen keyboard. Even so, the application looks good and is certainly a nice first effort.

Weather

HP has included a beautiful weather page in an integration with Weather Bug. The screen shows current conditions and a four day forecast. To select your city, just enter in the zip code or use the search feature to type in your location. The main problem with the Weather channel is that it only supports a single city, though the options screen leads you to believe there’s a way to enter more. In a future release it would be great to be able to view a localized video forecast. We’d also like to see a way to slice in the weather with other functions like the clock – especially in the morning.

Calendar

The calendar shows month views and users can page through by month to move forward in the calendar. We’re going to toss this feature in the useless category right now though. There’s no way to add or view events, they didn’t even include national holidays. There’s a lot more that can be done here, but for now it’s a total pass, unless you really want to know what day of the week October 13th is.

Clock

Beyond doing what you’d expect – display time, the clock can operate in a dual timezone mode, clock with calendar, or clock with slideshow. The latter is pretty useful, it makes for one of the better display options on the DreamScreen. The clock itself can be run in analog or digital mode, though there aren’t faces to choose from within those categories. The clock does shift from blue to red at 6PM however, to be a little more subtle in the evening.

If you’re using the DreamScreen bedside, you’ll be glad to know there are three alarm settings. There are a few sound options, but the frame doesn’t play a sample, so it’s impossible to know what they sound like unless you set the alarm, listen, then go back and repeat the process. You can also awake to music on the device. There’s not a visual indicator that an alarm is set and active, that would be a nice touch.

Video

The DreamScreen supports video playback of AVI, MPG and MP4 files. Unfortunately all the AVI files I moved over that were shot on a Canon digital camera struggled to play, often causing the frame to kick me out to the main menu after a few seconds. I know the DreamScreen can play video, the included videos looked great and played well. I’m not entirely sure why mine failed, but for now we’ll look at it as an isolated incident until more people experiment with video playback on the device.

Photo

Within the photo app users can browse their images by date, folder, view all or connect to the PC to see shared photos. From here users can also launch a slideshow, which has several options including 17 transitions and timing options from 3 seconds to 24 hours. Since the native resolution of the display is widescreen, there’s also an option to fit the images to screen, so there’s no black border. This option is on by default and I actually didn’t even notice my pictures were slightly edited, so I’d say HP did well here.

Music

The Music player supports a wide variety of formats including MP3, AAC and WMA. This is a comprehensive lineup, besting most other products in this class. Users can view their music by album, artist, genre or view a list of all songs. Along with songs stored on the device or attached media, the DreamScreen can stream music from the PC as well.

Snapfish

HP’s Snapfish integration is well done, users can easily log into the service on the DreamScreen to have access to their photos stored on their online service. Users can even launch a slideshow based on only these photos. There is however, no way to create a slideshow that includes data from Snapfish and photos stored on the device.

Setup

Not really an application on its own, but users can configure the device name, time zone, time and date format, brightness, network properties, time sync and the like. There’s also an option to set a time on and time off for the device, so it doesn’t run overnight. Users can also manually check for software updates, though the device can be configured to do this automatically, and there’s a self diagnostic routine to help users troubleshoot issues.

Display

The DreamScreen display is possibly the best we’ve seen on a device like this. HP has done well here to offer a high resolution display in both models, with vibrant colors and fantastic viewing angles. Users can control the brightness setting, the default is 10, the maximum. I’m actually surprised that at this level the colors look so good, they often get washed out at higher brightness levels. The blacks are held well and images with a lot of color aren’t over-saturated. Overall the display is very impressive.

The display panels are widescreen though, so users will need to edit pictures to get them to display properly in native resolutions, or let HP do the resizing work itself. As noted, we were pleased with the onboard editing the frame does on its own. The DreamScreen is also meant to be displayed horizontally, so it’s best to leave the portrait shots off.

Speakers

Generally we spend little time on the speakers in devices like this because they’re usually pretty bad. In this case though HP had to do better, with all the multimedia functions and all. The stereo speakers won’t blow anyone away, but they’re better than most notebooks and clock radios – and better than almost all other frames we’ve tested. I can listen to Pandora or the Internet Radio for hours and enjoy the experience, which is the key hurdle here. If you want more, there’s a headphone jack to add headphones or external speakers. Overall though we’re happy with the sound output.

Conclusion

There’s so much to love about the DreamScreen – the applications are generally very well done and HP is planning to offer more to expand the functionality of the platform. The display is fantastic as well. What HP is going to struggle with though to a certain degree is making the consumer understand just what exactly a DreamScreen is. They don’t want to call it a photo frame – it’s more than that. They can’t really call it a media player, that conjures up images of streaming Internet video with output to an HDTV.

It sits somewhere between, really trying to define that space generally referred to as the third screen in a home, the first two being the computer and TV. And if you look at that category and what’s out there now, HP has done a fantastic job of giving us something usable, something that adds value, in that third screen category. To this point, digital frames have attempted to accomplish such a thing, but they always fail on interface when they try to do much more than display photos. Even the online services like FrameChannel and Microsoft’s FrameIt fall well short in delivering a good experience.

So what HP has done with the DreamScreen is really define what the third screen can be. They didn’t just strap features onto an existing digital frame, the DreamScreen is new from the ground up. It’s what we said in the beginning, a platform. And it’s probably a platform that can finally get people to believe that the idea of the third screen is relevant.

Pros

• Fantastic display
• Great content integration from Pandora, Facebook, Snapfish
• Usable interface
• Future applications planned

Cons

• Some applications need help (Calendar, SmartRadio)
• Might struggle to get out of the shadow of “regular” digital frames

Bottom Line

The price point of $249 for the 10.2″ model and $299 for the 13.3″ model might give some buyers pause, but keep in mind that there are no service fees and all of the online content from Pandora, Snapfish and SmartRadio comes without cost too. Given what the DreamScreen can do out of the box, coupled with where HP is telling us they’re going to take the platform, the value proposition makes sense for those who want a screen that’s more than a digital frame.

4.5 stars out of 5 – Editor’s Choice

Kodak is hoping they’ve hit on the right formula with the new EasyShare S730, a 7-inch wide-format frame that spices things with options like video and audio playback, several unique display modes, plenty of internal memory, and a touch interface. Plus, a built-in battery lets you get the frame off the wall or down from the shelf and get an up close look at your favorite family photos. But will this combination of technology and simplicity spell photo frame perfection?

Build and Design

Sleek and modern, the S730 might just be the most visually appealing contemporary-styled frame I’ve reviewed. The compact but heavy S730 exhibits the kind of well-considered design that succeeds in looking high-tech without looking “techy.”

A dark red, plexi-covered surround extends a couple inches in every direction beyond the S730′s 7-inch screen, and a simple chrome bezel around the edge of the frame finishes the look. Obviously, this design means that interchangeable frame surrounds or other color/style customization options aren’t available for the S730, but the frame’s stylish, neutral appearance should blend in well in most home or office settings. Likewise, excellent build quality all around makes the S730 seem like a high-quality device–a clear step above many of the anonymous frames in this size group.

Like many frames, the S730 has no visible controls on the front of the device. Rather than relying on a touchscreen or remote, however, the S730′s front-side controls are integrated into the frame using Kodak’s slick Quick Touch Border technology.

The frame’s Quick Touch Border is made up of a series of touch-sensitive “buttons” built into the right-hand side of the frame’s surround. Tap this area of the frame and the buttons’ LED indicators appear next to a list of on-screen options that varies depending on which display mode you’re in. A pair of arrows at the bottom of the display also appear when the touch system is activated, providing dedicated scrolling controls. In general, though, the Quick Touch system provides a potentially infinite number of controls from its five right-hand buttons, and their location to the side of the screen keeps fingerprints off the display itself.

Of course, there are a few actual buttons on the display as well: a power button, volume control for music and video playback, and a button that shuffles the frame through its various display modes, are all found on top of the back panel. A pair of rear-facing speakers provide audio output from beneath the back panel as well. The speakers used in this case are larger than your typical photo frame speakers, face slightly sideways for better forward projection, and in general, produce realistic, TV-quality audio as a result.

A built-in stand firmly supports the beefy S730 in either landscape or portrait orientation, although the 15:9 display’s wider, shorter aspect ratio makes the screen awkwardly slender for many uses in portrait mode. There are also options for wall mounting the display in either orientation, but again, a total thickness of just over 1.5 inches by my measurement makes the frame look a bit odd hanging from a wall. Given its smaller display dimensions and substantial depth, it’s clear that the S730 works better in a shelf or desktop environment.

Building on this idea, the S730 is one of only a handful of digital frames to incorporate a built-in rechargeable battery in addition to its AC wall power source. When fully charged, the battery is good for about an hour of slideshow display (less if you incorporate music, or play videos), allowing you to show off snaps stored on the frame to family and friends.

Memory/Picture Sources

The S730 packs a healthy 1GB of internal memory. Per Kodak, this should be room for around 8,000 images–assuming, that is, you resize them to match the frame’s resolution first. To this end, Kodak’s supplied Digital Display Software takes care of as much of this process as you care to allow. Once installed, the software can be tasked with finding all of the pictures on your PC, resizing them, and transferring them to the frame–a process that Kodak calls “syncing”–all while leaving the originals unmolested on your hard drive, of course.

In a nice touch, frame memory management isn’t restricted to the supplied software. When connected via the supplied USB cable, you can opt to simply view the S730′s memory as a mass storage device–just like a connected flash drive or external hard drive.

Speaking of USB, the S730 has a pair of ports: a full-size one for hosting thumb drives, as well as a mini-USB connection that interfaces with the included cable for connecting the device to a computer.

On the other side of the frame, the S730 features dual card slots that support all of the common memory card types (SD/SDHC, xD, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro Duo) except Compact Flash. Regardless of whether the shots were coming from a USB drive or a card, the S730 had no problems finding images during our test. When a new memory type is inserted, the frame automatically jumps into a slideshow display of the images contained on that memory source; assuming you have MP3s stored on same external memory, the frame will even fire up some background music for your slideshow automatically.

The S730 gives you several options for copying files to the frame’s copious internal memory, and in each case the process is relatively intuitive. In typical fashion, you can select all images (as well as video and MP3 audio files) for transfer, or pick files individually using a multi-select option. To conserve memory, the frame downsizes all images stored in its memory to screen resolution by default. If you’d prefer to use the S730 as a storage device for full-size image files instead, this option can be disabled.

Display Modes

The S730 features four basic display modes: slideshow, collage, clock, and calendar (plus the ability to view single pictures and videos). If pictures are loaded into the internal memory or an external memory source is inserted, the device defaults into slideshow mode. Like most frames in this class, the S730 provides a nice range of options for tweaking your slideshow, including the ability to choose transitions, set how long you want each image to stay on the screen, shuffle the order of playback, or even find images taken on the same day as a specific shot and play only those (using the frame’s “Find Related” tool).

As noted, the S730 also automatically plays stored MP3s as background music during the slideshow. For even more involved slideshows, however, the supplied software lets you assemble and save a show composed of selected images and music using a PowerPoint-style interface, save these shows, and transfer them to your device for playback.

The automatic collage mode is equally nice, combining several shots into a visually interesting preset layout. The basic control options, including duration and transition style, are roughly the same as those found for the slideshow mode.

A basic but handsome clock mode, and a similarly designed calendar mode, are nice touches for desktop use in particular, and as before, the S730 gives a decent range of control over the image playback in these modes.

The S730 also supports video playback, and I had no trouble playing standard-def AVI and Motion JPEG videos from both a camcorder and a digital compact on the frame–even when playing directly from an SD card, the videos were rendered smoothly, and the Kodak’s excellent speakers are really appreciated when viewing videos.

Menu System

Clunky menus are a weak point on many photo frames, but the S730′s interface is carefully thought out and easy to navigate–once you get used to using the occasionally tricky Quick Touch Border, that is. Click on the menu icon from any screen and the S730 calls up a clear, to-the-point master menu.

From this screen, you can enter any of device’s playback modes (although, as noted, a mode button the frame’s top panel also cycles through these four modes). Likewise, this menu provides access to a thumbnail view that lets you view, select, move, or delete both images and videos, as well as a setup menu for configuring basic frame options. All in all, the layout, with its combination of text and icons, is easy to follow and organizes the S730′s options and functions into logical basic groupings.

Display

The S730′s 7-inch screen is a little bit smaller than the displays on most other frames at this price point, and owing to its laptop-style 15:9 aspect ratio (compared to the typical 4:3 ratio of most frames), a little bit wider as well. A two-position stand and a built-in orientation sensor allow the frame to be set up in either landscape or portrait orientation.

The combination of this auto-rotate function and the frame’s ability to interpret image orientation data means that, in most cases, landscape images show up in landscape orientation and portrait images in portrait orientation regardless of which way the frame itself is set up.

Kodak touts this frame’s excellent contrast ratio and vibrancy, and my experience with the device backs up these claims. Colors are bright and strong, with deep blacks and sparkling highlights. Viewing angles are good to excellent in every direction, and there’s an option to adjust screen brightness (though no controls for color or contrast) in the frame’s setup menu. A “Perfect Touch” option applies Kodak’s proprietary color processing technology to displayed shots as well, further amping up vivid colors.

Extra Features

The S730′s most significant bonus feature is almost certainly its built-in rechargeable battery. Those who tried out the S730 during my test of the device enjoyed the ability to pick up the frame, carry it around, and show off pictures to others without being “tied” to a power cord at all times.

Equally, Kodak’s Perfect Touch technology makes colorful snapshots look even better, and the “Find Related” tool provides one-touch access to photos or videos shot on the same day–pretty cool stuff for a basic photo frame.

Like most frames these days, the S730 also comes equipped with auto-on/auto-off options, set up via a timer in the frame’s date and time configuration area.

Conclusion

With a great design, straightforward menus, consistent performance, and some nice extras, it’s hard to find much to say against the Kodak EasyShare S730. A slightly larger screen at this price point would have been nice, and the 15:9 aspect ratio is a bit of an odd choice. Alternatively, Kodak has further refined its Quick Touch technology for even better performance, and the S730′s rechargeable power proves to be more of a nicety than I expected. A great screen, smooth video playback (with good audio as well!), and supplied software that actually adds value to the package, rather than simply compounding frustration, all make the S730 an excellent choice for tech-savvy users and general consumers alike.

Pros:

• Stylish design and robust build
• Unique, easy-to-use interface
• Excellent display
• Supplied software adds some nice features

Cons:

• Display is a little small, and oddly sized for 4:3 images
• No interchangeable frames/mats

4.5 out of 5 stars – Editor’s Choice

If you’re among those who share this sentiment, who feel like digital photo frames have been running away from where you’d like them to be–in terms of price, features, and level of complexity–in the last year, you’re exactly the kind of user ViewSonic is hoping to reach out to with their new simple and affordable TrueView series. A familiar name among display manufacturers with a growing presence in digital picture frames as well, ViewSonic announced nine new frames at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Along with its 7- and 10.4-inch siblings (the VFD720 and VFD1020, respectively), the Viewsonic TrueView VFD820 represents the manufacturer’s new TrueView line–a series of no-frills frames designed to offer high-quality picture playback with easier operation and a lower price point than many current multi-function displays provide.

Build and Design

The core of the TrueView VFD820′s design and purpose can be summed up in one sentence: This is a frame designed to store and display your photos. That’s really all there is to it. Which is to say, if you were hoping to watch home movies, stream RSS feeds from the web, or pull pictures from your friends’ Flickr accounts, the TrueView frames aren’t the ticket.

Built around an 8-inch, 800×600 display, the VFD820 also eschews modern styling in favor of a classic, matted-photo look that should blend in well in home or office settings. This discreet design seeks to minimize the space-age, “high tech” often associated with digital frames, and with a dark wood surround (the VFD820′s frame comes in either black or dark brown) and a plate of glass over the actual display, the VFD820 is one of the more visually handsome and unassuming frames we’ve reviewed.

Incidentally, the VFD820 is also one of the more solidly constructed devices we’ve tested, especially considering its sub-$100 price point. Construction is dense and feels robust, and the VFD820′s relatively thin build (the display only extends about half an inch beyond the back of the frame surround) makes the device ideally suited for wall hanging. To this end, the TrueView is equipped with a pair of nail recesses, allowing the frame to be wall-mounted in portrait orientation only–which makes sense, given that there’s no automatic orientation sensor in this display.

The VFD820′s desktop stand is reasonably solid as well, attaching into a twist-and-rotate socket on the back of the frame. Getting the stand locked in was a little difficult the first time around, requiring more force than might be expected to twist the prop into position. Once you’re locked in, though, the stand provides solid support for desktop use (although the addition of some rubber pads to keep the VFD820 from sliding on slick table surfaces would have been appreciated).

Connections and controls include a pair of USB ports (a full-size one for flash drives, and a mini-USB socket for connecting the frame to a computer) and a power jack on one side, a single shared-slot SD and Memory Stick card reader on the other, and an array of seven menu navigation buttons on the back panel.

A slim wireless remote–which proved to be more useful than the clearly marked but hard-to-reach panel controls–as well as a mini to full-size USB cable, are included in the box as well.

Memory/Picture Sources

In keeping with its minimalist overall design philosophy, the VFD820 cuts to the chase on memory media support. Out back, you’ll find slots for common SD/SDHC/MMC as well as Sony MemoryStick formats; photographers who capture images to flagging xD format, or who use older or high-end cameras that still shoot on Compact Flash cards, however, will have to transfer files via the USB connection instead.

Per its specs, the VFD820 is capable of both host and slave USB connectivity (via the aforementioned full-size and mini-USB ports), meaning that you can pull images directly from flash drives in addition to transferring them from a computer using the supplied cable. In both cases, the TrueView’s performance was flawless: Images were pulled from several different USB flash drives without incident, and the VFD820 shows up as a basic mass storage device when connected to a PC, making computer-side management of the frame’s internal memory a snap for savvier users.

The VFD820 sports an impressive 2GB of internal memory, providing plenty of space for storing your photos. Images stored in the frame’s memory can be browsed from a thumbnail-display screen, and although the frame doesn’t automatically resize images that stored in its memory (note that it does, however, play back images at screen size rather than full resolution by default; this can be changed via a menu option), 2GB provides plenty of room for storing even your full-size JPEGs–easily more than 500 shots from your typical 12-megapixel digital camera.

Display Modes

The VFD820 is primarily a slideshow device. Power on the frame and it will immediately begin displaying images loaded into the memory if no card or flash drive is inserted. Plug in one of these external memory sources and after a few seconds of buffering (depending on the file sizes of your shots) the frame will jump to a slideshow of these images instead. By default, shots are shown in the sort order they appear on the card, but a “Shuffle” menu option seems to do a nice job of mixing things up.

Viewers can opt to manual pause, advance, or reverse the slideshow by pressing the appropriate navigational button, either on the back of the frame or on the remote. Additionally, a zoom button on the remote provides two steps of additional zooming that can be cycled through by pressing the button.

Like most frames these days, the VFD820 lets you dial in several parameters related to the slideshow. Viewers can select a per-image display time ranging from three seconds to a full hour. Similarly, the VFD820 supports a fairly typical list of nine “Powerpoint style” shot-to-shot transitions; a menu option lets you lock in a specific transition style (scroll from left for every transition, for instance), present a different randomly selected transition each time, or disable transitions altogether.

As mentioned previously, users can also turn on an image shuffle mode as well as set shots to display at full-resolution (rather than scaling to fit the screen) in the same menu. All in all, the options presented here are simple and straightforward. My only complaint is that you have to dig several layers down into the device’s menu to get to these basic slideshow presentation options.

As noted, users can also browse photos in either the internal memory or any inserted external source by selecting “Memory” (or “SD/MMC/MS” or “USB” for external sources) from the frame’s main menu. In addition to the previously mentioned thumbnail view, a complete list of all files found on each memory source can also be called up in this mode. Incidentally, this view is, as far as I can tell, the only one that allows you to copy files from external to internal memory; more on this process in the next section.

Menu System

The VFD820′s menu system is, like the frame itself, simple and generally well-designed. Options are organized into four main groups (Memory, Clock, Calendar, and Setup), though you’ll spend most of your time in either the memory or setup areas.

The VFD820′s submenus are equally streamlined and well-organized, though at times the labeling of options is (to put it politely) less than self-explanatory. My personal favorite? The mysterious “Auto Run” function, which provides a list of options (Main Menu, Clock, etc.), but doesn’t appear to do anything when selected. Unfortunately, the manual is often equally unhelpful–although it does amusingly warn users that the VFD820 doesn’t support certain “unpopular” memory card types. Take that, you holdout xD users!

On the whole, while the menus could probably be a little better thought out, everything is simple enough that even tech novices should latch on to accessing basic functions in no time. The one exception to this rule, it seems, is the great difficultly and lack of transparency involved in transferring files from USB drives or memory cards to the VFD820′s internal memory. In order to accomplish this task, you have to enter the somewhat daunting file-list view, and then press the right arrow to select each file you want to copy. Again, as best we can tell, there’s no way to batch copy an entire card’s worth of files.

Once the file is selected–and this is where things get interesting–you’ll have to reach to the back of the frame and press the “M” button (no, pressing the seemingly redundant “Menu” button on the remote will not, in this case, suffice), and then navigate a few more-confusing-than-they-should-be pop-up menus to get the file from point A to point B.

For transferring lots of files, this slow and unintuitive process simply doesn’t work, and I quickly resorted to connecting the frame to my computer when moving more than a handful of files. To ViewSonic’s credit, I like that you can not only move files from external to internal memory, but can go the other way as well–great for throwing a few shots stored on your frame onto a thumb drive to share with friends or family. It certainly would have been nice, though, if the whole process weren’t so laborious, and even more than that, hadn’t required a trip to the manual to figure out how to transfer files in the first place.

Display

An 8-inch, 800×600 display certainly isn’t anything unique to ViewSonic, as most frames in this class will get you these sorts of specs (though, it should be noted, the 10.4 VDF1020 steps up to a 1024×768 display). But the manufacturer’s experience in developing other LCD technologies has clearly paid off here. The display is bright and colorful with impressively wide viewing angles and very little loss of contrast until you get to the extremes of the viewable range.

A series of menu options also allow you to fine-tune the display’s saturation, hue, and contrast, and while the interface isn’t intuitive (it’s buried deep in a menu, and you can’t see the effects of these changes on the screen in real time), being able to make these sorts of tweaks is a nice bonus feature.

Extra Features

In addition to its basic slideshow function, the TrueView includes both clock and calendar modes. Both are extremely basic in their implementation; the only real “option” in each mode involves turning on or off the image display in these modes (and if you disable it, the VDF820 just leaves an empty black box in its place). Good enough for an office desk, I suppose, but not exactly thrilling stuff.

One truly useful inclusion is the frame’s auto power-on and power-off functions. While a motion sensor that powers on the frame only when people are around would have been even slicker, the ability to set up the frame to only display images for part of the day (in the evenings when you’re likely to be at home, for instance) is an obvious power-saving addition.

Conclusion

Okay, so the VDF820 didn’t exactly bowl us over with its features, and even given this simplicity, some aspects of the frame’s interface design and overall functionality could have been executed more cleanly. Even so, after spending time with a whole lot of multi-function frames that never quite live up to the hype of their whiz-bang features sets–and an equal number of budget single-function frames that leave a lot to be desired in the way of fit, finish, and functionality–the VDF820 is a breath of fresh air: stylish, simple, affordable, and functional. It’s certainly not the best frame–even the best single-function frame–we’ve ever reviewed, but given the VDF820′s nice construction, low price, and (generally) dead simple operation, it’s a solid choice if your sole interest is displaying photos.

Pros:

• Simple operation
• Excellent, vibrant display
• Low price

Cons:

• Few extra features
• Some menus and options can be clunky

4 out of 5 stars

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

GiiNii Slope Specifications

• LCD Display: 8″ LCD screen (800 X 600 pixels)
• MMC/SD/MS card slot, CF slot; mini USB port for computer connection, full-size USB port for flash memory sticks
• Built-in speaker for music during slideshows
• Video playback (AVI, Motion JPEG)
• On-board FLASH memory 128MB
• Remote Control 
• Ener-GiiNii power-save modes to conserve energy when the lights go out

Build and Design

The design of the GiiNii 8” Slope is very basic with a black plastic border that has a matte finish. Contrasting the matte finish is a thin glossy edge directly surrounding the display to help break up the blending finishes between the matte border and matte texture display. To keep a clean look, all of the controls are hidden on the back side of the frame. The memory card slots are all located on the rear, mounted vertically through the lower half of the frame. This method keeps the cards hidden when inserted, but requires that you pick up the frame each time you want to put in a new card.

Build quality is average with a sturdy plastic body, but the finish leaves something to be desired. The matte texture easily scuffs from something as simple as a fingernail rubbing against it. After setting up the stand I found many little marks from my fingers that needed some elbow grease to wipe off. Although glossy finishes might scratch easier, they are not as prone to blemishes from something as simple as fingernails swiping it.

The plastic stand has three adjustment points, two for 90-degree mounting it vertical or horizontal, and one to have the frame lean back slightly. All three positions lock securely in place, giving the frame a solid footing on most surfaces. The rear also has two wall mounting points to hang the frame in either horizontal or vertical positions.

Display

The 8” 800×600 display is very good even though this model is considered part of the budget or value line. The matte texture helped to reduce glare in bright rooms, something that glossy displays have a problem with. It is bright enough to be viewable in bright conditions like a living room with sun shining over it through a window. Colors were bright and vibrant, and contrast was great for viewing darker detail.

Viewing angles were average, with great horizontal viewing spans, no matter where in the room you are located. Vertical viewing angles could have been better, with colors inverting and getting darker the lower you went. If you were sitting in a chair with the frame sitting somewhere higher than your eyes, most detail in the image would be lost as the screen distorted. Overall though, the screen quality is well above what we expected in this price range.

Picture and Memory Sources

The GiiNii Slope has four methods of bringing photos in for viewing, which include memory card slots on the back, a USB port for memory sticks and camera connections, and internal storage accessible through a mini-USB port. As soon as you insert image source the frame looks through it for any viewable content and automatically starts a slide show.

While playing content you have the option to copy the image between memory sources, such as pulling a picture off the card from your camera and saving a copy of it to the internal memory for later viewing. As soon as you give the frame power and turn it on, you can plug in any memory source and it will start playing it with no other user input.

Display Modes

The GiiNii Slope offers two main viewing modes; slideshow (in order or random with transitions) and collage mode using preinstalled templates. I used the slideshow mode almost entirely while I was reviewing the frame, since it shows the entire image without any cheesy backgrounds. The slideshow mode has random or in-order playing modes with customizable transition effects and interval times. Some of the transitions include horizontal blind, fade, wipe, split, and melt. You can chose one transition if you want, but I think random mode looks best. Interval times include fast, medium, slow, half hour, and hourly. Medium or slow were fine, but half hour or hourly were way too long for normal photos.

The collage mode worked by rendering two or three images inside another graphic, but the included collage modes were very cheesy. GiiNii included templates for Mother’s Day, Baseball, Golf, and Fishing, with each looking pretty weird. Collage mode also seemed to lag, as it took time to render each image inside the template.

The Slope is also capable of playing back audio with a slideshow and can handle video as well (AVI, Motion JPEG). The quality of the playback is about what we expected, a bit middling as most frames are, but still to have these features at all in a value-oriented frame is a nice touch.

Menu System

The menu system is easy to navigate using the supplied remote control or the controls mounted on the back of the frame. The menu is clearly laid out and when you press one of the navigation buttons a screen overlay pops up so you can use the buttons of the back of the frame without needing to look at them.

The menu layout felt clunky at times if you wanted to change certain settings during a play mode, having the exit back to the first screen, then entering the setup area. Almost all of the settings are self-explanatory so you don’t need to worry about digging out the manual to figure something out. Overall it wasn’t the best looking interface, but since most people won’t need to adjust something on a daily basis, it didn’t need as much effort put into it.

Extra Features

The Slope has a power saving “Ener-GiiNii” mode that can be set to automatically turn the frame on and off at set times in the day or using a light sensor to turn off when the lights go out. This helps cut down on power usage in the long run and if nothing else means you don’t have a screen shining in the middle of the night in your living room. Every frame should have an auto shutoff feature and we love that GiiNii included it with the Slope.

Pros

• Nice high-resolution screen
• 4:3 format won’t crop your pictures
• Power saving modes are helpful if you won’t want to manually turn the frame on and off each day
• Sturdy stand with secure locking positions
• Built-in speaker great to play a little music along with your photos

Cons

• Matte plastic trim scuffs easily
• Collage modes look cheesy

Bottom Line

The 8” GiiNii Slope doesn’t bring all of the fancy Internet features some of the newer Wi-Fi enabled picture frames do, but it does have a high resolution screen and simplistic interface. Most online retailers currently sell this frame for around $80, which works well in most budgets. The build quality was pretty good, having some faults like the scuff prone plastic trim, but overall it was a solid device. If you are in the market for a frame that’s easy to get along with and doesn’t skimp on the display, the GiiNii Slope would be a good option to consider.

4 out of 5 stars

Aequitas iGala Specs

• 8″ LCD (800×600, 4:3 aspect ratio) touch screen
• 1GB internal memory
• Supports SD/SDHC external memory
• USB connection for flash drive hosting
• WiFi (802.11b/g) with Gmail, Flickr, and Windows Live FrameIt integration
• Built-in speaker for MP3 playback

Build and Design

Before I ever fired up the iGala, this frame didn’t exactly get off to a good start with me. In my mind, the only thing more obnoxious than Apple’s smugly marketed line of “i”-prefixed lifestyle gadgets are the millions of knock-offs that they’ve spawned. A new product from an unknown manufacturer with a name like iGala really didn’t bode well for this frame in my mind.

Taking the iGala out of its (rather unattractive) packaging, the frame itself did little to dispel this idea. Although rival frames from Samsung and Sony may not pack in the well-integrated Internet features found in the iGala, they take this frame out back and beat it senseless on design and construction quality.

The real shame in the iGala’s construction is Aequitas’s choice to put a thick, cheap feeling clear plastic bezel around the outside of the frame’s display. Had they left the inner black surround alone and called it a day, this would have looked like an anonymous but inoffensive desktop frame. As it stands, I’m afraid that many people may not be willing to take a chance on the iGala as a home or office decor item simply because it looks so low-budget (never mind that it’s impossible to get fingerprints off of that clear surround). And given how much neat stuff the iGala has going for it once you get past its looks, it’s a shame.

On the reverse, the iGala keeps things simple. You’ll find nail sockets for hanging the frame in landscape or portrait orientation and a flimsy but serviceable “kick stand” for desktop support. Again, build quality is a little thin here as well, but on a positive note, the iGala is appreciably thinner than most frames of this size that we’ve looked at.

Inputs are basic as well, with an SD card reader, a USB host connection, and a headphones jack sitting on top of the frame. The positioning of the USB port means that most thumb drives will visibly extend well beyond the frame’s bezel, and there’s no connection for hooking the iGala directly to your computer for batch file transfers. I also would have liked to see readers for other card types, but while no Memory Stick or CF slots may turn off some potential customers, if Aequitas had to pick one format to support I’m glad it’s SD.

Since the entire interface is handled through on-screen menus using the iGala’s touch screen, the only button you’ll find on the entire frame is the power switch, which sits next to the power supply connection on the frame’s left side.

Memory/Picture Sources

With both 1GB of built-in memory and wireless Internet access, the iGala is well stocked for getting photos either directly from the web, or for viewing or saving entire libraries of your images from memory cards or flash drives.

Well, I should say that the iGala pulls photos from flash drives in theory. In practice, I was one for two in making flash drives work with this frame. Using two identical 512MB sticks with images loaded onto each, the iGala found the images on one, but couldn’t locate shots from the same camera on the other. All in all, it seems like a one-time glitch involving this particular flash drive, but if you’re considering the iGala, it’s worth keeping in mind that it may be finicky where flash drives are concerned.

SD cards were a bit more forgiving, with the iGala successfully and reasonably quickly finding images in multiple folders on my memory card. In order to pull files over to the iGala’s built-in memory, simply select the image and click Save at the bottom of the screen. In order to save space on the internal memory and speed up the saving process (which can take up to a minute per image with a high-res file), I’d recommend resizing your photos and resaving them to your SD card before putting them onto the iGala. Also, it’s frustrating that while you can select more than one image on the screen for simultaneous copying, there’s no option for batch copying the entire contents of a card.

So the process for getting photos to the iGala from local memory leaves something to be desired. But what may be more important for many users is how easily the iGala makes use of its wireless Internet connection (for more on Wi-Fi setup with this frame, see the next section) and integrations with Flickr, Gmail, and FrameIt. Forget the confusing processes for adding Flickr photos that other frames with this integration use. This one’s done right on the iGala’s screen, and requires only that you know the Flickr user name of the person whose photos you’re trying to add. Punch it in using the on-screen touch keyboard, select which photo sets (or all of them) you want to see, jump into slideshow mode for a few minutes to let the iGala start caching images, and the frame will automatically throw photos from Flickr into the mix with those on internal and external memory sources.

It’s not often that we get to say this with digital picture frames, but this function really is so easy to use that even your Grandma (yep, the same one who thinks TV remotes are high-tech) could handle it. If Grandma wants to see photos of the grandkids in real time, all she’ll need to know is what to put in when the iGala asks for your Flickr ID – you won’t even have to try to explain what Flickr is to send family photos her way.

Ditto the “photos from email” function. The iGala can sort through current emails to your Gmail account, assuming you have one, and download any attached images directly to a special cache in its internal memory and adding them automatically to your slideshow rotation. If your friends are like mine, enabling this feature may mean that you spend a lot of time deleting ostensibly cute pictures from forwarded joke emails and chain letters, but it sure makes it easy to shoot small batches of one or two images over to your frame from another computer or to keep Gmail-connected family members up to date with your latest vacation photos while you’re away.

While the iGala provides direct access into photo sharing and emailed images through Flickr and Gmail integrations, respectively, what it doesn’t offer is direct RSS feed reading/image downloads. For that, you’ll have to work through the iGala’s third web-based integration: Windows Live FrameIt. I’ve looked at enough FrameIt-enabled frames at this point to have a pretty clear sense of how it works, and while it will definitely get the job done for compiling and distributing your RSS feeds (and do better than the FrameChannel alternative, in my opinion), having to work through FrameIt’s clunky, buggy web interface is a bit of a downer. In typical Microsoft fashion, FrameIt keeps getting better by degrees, but in order to make the iGala a true all-in-one news and media center for your kitchen or office desk, let’s hope for direct RSS access in iGala v.2.0.

Display Modes

In spite of all its high-tech abilities to pull photos from the web, the iGala really only has one display mode: slideshow. And with just a couple of options, it is, depending on your perspective, either the most refreshing simple or the most incredibly crippled slideshow mode on the planet.

Basically, the iGala automatically randomizes image playback from all of its sources (SD/USB, internal memory, cached Internet sources, RSS feeds), meaning there’s no way to tell it to stick to one type of media short of physically removing the pictures from the frame – either by deleting them from the cache if they’re Internet-sourced, or by removing the card or USB stick in question.

The full extent of your options for customizing the iGala’s slideshow can be found under the Setup tab in the main menu, within the Display submenu.

Basically, you have five options for how long each image holds on the screen during playback. Sadly, with this abbreviated list, I think many users may miss the ability to have their frame change images more slowly: once an hour, or once a day even. The only other display option specifies whether the frame is oriented in landscape or portrait mode – important, as the iGala auto-rotates any image with orientation info in the EXIF data to fit the orientation you’ve selected.

Besides more timing controls for the slideshow, what’s really missing here is the ability to specify slide-to-slide transitions. The iGala’s default (and apparently unchangeable) setup is to automatically use a different effect for each transition, randomly selected from a list of four or five. The transition effects are not particularly graceful (the fade, for instance, is slow and stuttering), and some are pretty cheesy. It would be nice to be able to specify a consistent slide-to-slide transition effect for use each time, but even just the ability to turn effects on or off altogether would be an improvement.

Finally, you can also add MP3s into the mix for background music. Other than a volume control and the ability to pause/stop music playback, the user has little control over MP3 audio either. Put your favorite tunes onto the iGala, add some photos, and you have an instant multimedia slideshow with no need to “build” one as on some other frames. But without a sophisticated slideshow interface, there’s also no way to make sure that your favorite Turkish pop music always plays behind photos from your recent vacation in Istanbul.

Having used a lot of frames with complex or confusing mode controls, I can see both sides of this coin. On the one hand, users who are more gadget-savvy will probably miss being able to control exactly what’s going on in slideshow mode; not to mention that the iGala doesn’t support video playback. If you’re a little more wary of technology, however, the iGala makes seeing your photos in a slideshow – with background music, no less! – as easy as putting your SD card into the frame or emailing them to your Gmail account.

Menu System

The iGala features a two-layer menu system, driven entirely by touching icons that appear on its touch-sensitive display. Tap the display once and the basic control menu pops up.

The icons used in this two-row menu aren’t particularly clear at first, but it’s easy enough to figure out with a little exploration (and without resorting to the manual). Basically, the top row of icons provides access to the main and picture sources menus, and gives controls for jumping forward or backward in the slideshow, removing an image, or manually rotating a picture that doesn’t have in-file orientation data.

The bottom row allows you to pause either the slideshow or just the music, adjust the music volume, safely disconnected attached cards or USB drives, or call up information about the device’s firmware and build.

Call up the main menu from the control screen and you get an on-screen pop up with six labeled icons. Most of the choices are self-explanatory. For instance, the Photos and Music tabs provide access to lists of picture and music sources, while the FrameIt button lets you set up you associate the frame to your Windows Live account. Slide Show takes you directly back to the rolling slideshow playback.

The setup menu is simple as well, providing a series of touch-tabs for setting up Wi-Fi, configuring Gmail and Flickr access, changing the display settings as seen above, or configuring the auto power-on/power-off function.

Wireless Internet access might just be the iGala’s biggest selling point, and when it comes to Wi-Fi setup on a photo frame, you really never know what you’re going to get. We’ve had some real winners in this category, that made waltzing through getting wirelessly connected easier than it’s ever been on your computer. At the same time, we’ve also seen some setup processes that are so arcane and involved, they make me wonder if anyone who doesn’t review frames for a living is ever actually willing to spend the time it takes to figure out the steps involved.

Although its firmware was an unknown, the iGala’s wireless setup sits closer to the “extremely easy” end of this continuum. There are frames that are easier to setup for Wi-Fi access, but not many. Basically, the process – accessed under the Setup area of the main menu – is just like what you’re probably used to from a computer: select your network from a list of the ones detected by the frame, type in your security key (which, using the on-screen keyboard, is much easier here than on any frame without a touch screen), and you should be good to go.

The only slightly technical hitch is that you’ll need to know in advance which security protocol your network uses. Ask your teenager, or that kid from down the block, to check for you if that last question went right over your head, but beyond this, if you can use a microwave, you can get the iGala connected to your home network.

Display

The iGala’s 8″, 800×600 display is of average quality. Colors are fine if not particularly strong. Contrast is a little subpar as well, and viewing angles really aren’t that great either – though they’re better from the sides than from the top. At this price, I would have liked to see some controls for color, contrast, and brightness as well, but there are none to be found on the iGala.

The touch screen works flawlessly, with large icons that are simple to press without overlap. Touching the screen directly, however, leads to an obvious problem: fingerprints. Additionally, the screen’s top layer has the slightly dull, slightly rippled finished common to touch screens on other electronic devices.

Extra Features

In addition to the wireless-driven features outlined above, the iGala provides a few other special tools and options. My personal favorite might just be the auto power-on/power-off function, which allows you to specify a certain time of day for the frame to come on or go off – so you can set up the iGala to only be on while you’re home in the evenings, for instance, without ever having to touch the frame’s power switch. Why every frame doesn’t offer this option is truly beyond me.

For bedside or desktop use, the inclusion of a simple alarm clock is also handy. I only wish that there was a calendar or clock mode to go with it.

Pros

• Simplest wireless system in a digital picture frame
• Gmail, Flickr integrations work seamlessly
• Touch screen means clean lines, no buttons
• Slideshow couldn’t be easier to manage

Cons

• Build quality not in line with price
• Touch screen means lots of fingerprints on the display
• Copying images from SD/USB sources not smooth
• No direct access to RSS feeds

Bottom Line

In reviewing digital photo frames, it’s typically pretty easy to come to a decision as to whether a frame is recommended or not. The iGala goes against all of this, being at once one of the better (quite possibly the best) internet-integrated frame I’ve looked at while simultaneously performing poorly for basic functions like pulling pictures from a USB drive or SD card to the frame’s internal memory. There’s a lot that’s not so well sorted about the iGala, but when it comes to getting content from the web to your frame, this one checks all the right boxes. Could some of the iGala’s functions, and especially its design, use a bit (ok, a lot) more of the old spit and shine? Absolutely. But Aequitas has been good on providing firmware updates to smooth out the interface, and with the iGala generating a lot of buzz in the photo frame world, maybe a redesign won’t be far behind.

With a steep asking price for an 8″ display of $239.95 directly from the manufacturer, I would be inclined to pass on the first-generation iGala and see what else Aequitas is up to. They deserve commendation for making wireless frame interaction as clear and straightforward as it should be, and I hope that other manufacturers will sit up and take note – as the iGala is in basically every respect a model device when it comes to Wi-Fi integration. With some design clean-up, a few bug fixes, and just the slightest few more controls and options, the iGala easily go from a good wireless frame to one of the best all-around frames out there.

3.5 out of 5 stars

eStarling Impact7 Specifications

• LCD Display: 7″ LCD screen (480 X 234 pixels) with built-in high speed JPEG decoder/rendering engine
• Communications: Internal 802.11b/g (WEP64, WEP128, WPA1, WPA2)
• Interface: MMC/SD/MS card slot; USB 2.0 client port
• On-board FLASH memory 256MB
• Remote Control for PC-less easy setup
• Touch Border design for easy navigation
• RTC-powered automatic shutdown feature for increasing reliability and saving energy
• Retail Price: $99.99

Design and Build

The eStarling Impact7 has a modern picture frame design with a glossy black front with a seamless layer of plastic covering the trim and display. It doesn’t exactly fit in with traditional picture frames, but on its own it looks very sleek on an office desk. The body is no frills with no exposed ports and memory slots, giving it a great clean look. The SD-card slot and mini-USB port located on the top edge underneath a rubber cover. The first time I had the frame out of the box, it actually took a few spins before I located them. The stand pulls double-duty as a holder for the remote, which is a great feature few frames offer. It has a notched out section that firmly holds the remote, so you don’t lose it when it isn’t in use.

The frame feels solid in your hand but the display could have been covered with a more durable layer of plastic or glass. Most of the frames on the market use a small sheet of glass over the display to get them a clean look, which protects the screen and resists scratching. The layer of plastic over the display on the Impact 7 started to show fine scratches the first night when I went to carefully wipe off fingerprints. The built in stand gives the frame a solid footing on the desk surface, making it hard to tip over if the table gets knocked into. The downside to the stand design is it offers no tilt adjustment.

Display

The widescreen display on the Impact7 leaves a bit to be desired in regards to the lower 480×234 resolution. Most frames offer 640×480 or 800×600 resolution displays depending on the aspect ratio, which gives image a cleaner and sharper appearance. Depending on the complexity of the image being displayed, lines and other intricate detail were sometimes blurred in the scaling process. Screen resolution is the biggest compromise to get the low price on the Impact7.

Colors were saturated and contrast was deep enough to give good separation between black and white. Viewing angles were adequate, with little color degradation at steep horizontal angles, and only minor color inversion at steeper vertical angles.

Touch sensitive controls are located on the right side of the display which light up when you glide a finger them. They don’t fully replace the remote, but can assist with quick navigation changes if you don’t have the remote handy.

Memory/Picture Sources

The eStarling Impact7 has three sources for images, including Wi-Fi, internal memory, and the SD-card slot. Using a wireless connection you can setup the frame to pull in images from RSS feeds and social networking sites. These sources automatically update on a regular basis.

The Impact7 is also setup with its own unique email address through the Seeframe website. Users setup their own login name, which is then used for the email address. This way it is much easier to remember what the address is to send emails to, instead of hunting through the menus to find it anytime someone wants to send a picture to the frame. Images received over the Internet are stored in internal memory with a first in, first out storage system so you never run out of available memory. You can also setup the frame to backup images to Photobucket.com, so they are mirrored instead of being deleted.

One problem I see with the default way emails are handled is it is setup without any filtering or confirmation. This could lead to some humorous spam or unsightly pictures being sent to your frame without your permission. On the Seeframe site you are given the option to allow email from only specific email addresses, but I feel this should be the default way out of the box to prevent any “mishaps.”

I never realized what I was missing until I setup RSS image feeds to a digital picture frame. After roughly 5 clicks on the Seeframe website I was pulling in the top 20 New York City pictures, top 20 dog pictures, top 20 skyline pictures, and top 20 moon pictures. If you just want a picture frame for nothing else than displaying cool pictures this is really the route to go.

Another great benefit is you can set one of these up at a parent’s house or even a friend’s house, and remotely update pictures for them to enjoy. All of the online services are free to use, so there are no subscription fees of any kind after the purchase of the frame.

The Impact 7 includes 256MB of onboard flash memory that can be used to store images from your computer using the supplied mini-USB cable as well as storage for online media. Considering how cheap flash memory is these days, it was a letdown to not find 512MB or 1GB of storage in this frame, especially since it pulls in online media on a regular basis, but again, we have to remember that this is a Wi-Fi enabled frame under the $100 barrier.

The standby SD-card slot is great if you want to view images you have just taken on a digital camera or if you have a large collection of images you want to display on the frame. Given the price of high capacity SDHC cards these days, I tend keep most of my photo collection on a regularly updated card for viewing in picture frames.

Display Modes

The Impact 7 has online and local viewing modes depending if you are connected to a wireless network. Local mode is for viewing images stored on internal memory or external card, and online mode enables viewing of pictures sent through email or RSS feeds.

Both display modes are controlled through the same slideshow setting. You are given 3 delay options, including Normal (10 seconds), Slow (30 seconds), and Fast (3 seconds). The transitions can be set to random, just one style, or none. While viewing images you can pause to rotate, zoom, or even delete a selected image from the internal memory.

Menu System

The menu system is very basic and easy to follow without needing to pull out the instruction manual. From the picture frame itself your settings are fairly limited, with most of the hard work handled on the Seeframe website. Using the username and password you setup originally to handle email, you log into your account to manage online storage, RSS feeds, and images sent through social networking sites.

Although you lose some control without a computer, the hard work of typing in addresses or other complicated tasks are handled with ease with a computer. From the frame with the small remote it would be quite a hassle to accomplish the same thing.

Pros

• Sleek design
• Stand acts as remote holder
• Pulls in email and RSS feeds without subscription fees
• Simple setup out of the box
• Touch sensitive controls on front
• Affordable

Cons

• Low resolution screen
• Glossy front scratches easily

Bottom Line

The eStarling Impact7 packs quite a punch for a digital photo frame that only costs $99. It offers Wi-Fi integration to pull in images from email, RSS feeds, and social networking sites, while still including an SD-slot for local viewing. Setup was painless, with the bulk of the work happening in front of your computer screen. The display resolution is limited at 480×234 which shows when viewing pictures if you look closely, but cost cutting measures were expected given the price and features. Overall decent frame if you want something with Wi-Fi built in on a budget, but if you don’t care about the wireless connection you can find better displays for the same price.

3.5 out of 5 stars

HANNspree SD7021Specs

• 7″ display (480×234 pixels)
• 16:9 aspect ratio
• SD, MS, USB sources
• 8MB internal memory

Like its bigger sibling the SD80M4MB, the SD7021 comes with a simple one-part rotating stand, USB and SD card options, and a rotation sensor to automatically switch between portrait and landscape modes.

Unlike the SD80, the SD7021 has almost no features beyond the basics: no speaker (circular grille notwithstanding), remote, CF card slot, or any of the other stuff beyond basic picture playback and desk-clock functionality. This does mean that unlike the easy, remote-driven navigation on the SD80, you need to use the buttons

Video playback and a remote control weren’t the only corners the SD7021 cut to hit it’s price point. The 7-inch LCD is lower than normal resolution, just 480 x 234 pixels compared to 800 x 480 on its bigger brother and 800 x 600 on other similarly sized frames. 

The low resolution screen is simply a killer. From a distance it’s passable, but up close it looks pretty rough. Sharpness and clarity are lost, and the brightness of the photos is substantially decreased. (To correct for this, you’ll need to go into the internal menus and bump up the brightness at least 5 notches.) Even the menus look dotty and unappealing.

I used the same set of photos, on the same SD card, to test out the SD7021 as I’d used on the more larger and more robust Hannspree SD80 frame. It’s no competition. While some people might look at both frames and think that the SD7021 would be a deal at this price point, the bare facts are that the added clarity is more than worth the extra cash of a better frame, even apart from any added features.

The other issue is that it’s widescreen. That means images will need to be edited for this frame or they’ll be cropped or zommed in on, altering their appearance on the frame. We’d prefer to see standard aspect ratios in most frames, even more so in this value-oriented class.

Truthfully, I don’t really have a lot of other issues with the SD7021. The design is simple and reasonably robust, the frame is simple and attractive, albeit high-gloss and as such very prone to catching fingerprints. 

For the most value-oriented digital frame buyer, it’s hard to find a frame at this price that’s 7″, so on a pure price per inch basis, HANNspree probably accomplished their mission. The retail is $40 and in some cases the resolution won’t be as important as price. 

Pros

• Relatively inexpensive

Cons

• Bad screen
• Few features
• Widescreen not ideal for most photos

Bottom Line

With a street price of under $40, the SD7021 is an ultra-basic frame intended for those who aren’t bothered by the lack of features. It might be ideal as a borderline-disposable setup for undemanding grandparents or relatives whose vision isn’t what it used to be, but anyone who’s serious about digital photos will definitely want to look elsewhere. 

2 out of 5 stars

HANNspree SD80M4MB Specs

• 8″ display
• 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen)
• 800×480 resolution
• 256MB internal memory
• MP3, AVI, MPEG-4 playback
• SD, MMC, CF, MS, mini-USB
• Speakers

Design and Build

The frame comes with several faceplates that can be used, or not, with a few seasons. The Christmas, Valentines, and candy-themed faceplates all struck me as being pretty too dramatic, so I simply left the frame bare. In that condition it’s an attractive flat black. Unremarkable yes, but suitable to almost any decor.

Mounting options consist of wall hangings or a simple single-prop stand that can be rotated to support either a landscape or portrait style orientation. If you rotate the SD80 to portrait, it automatically senses this and flip all your photos.

The interface, as far as it goes, is relatively simple. The frame defaults to its internal memory, but it can be ordered to read photos off of an SD or CompactFlash memory card, or even a USB hard drive via the (included) USB Host adapter.

Display Modes

Once you’ve got a lineup, you can “play” all the photos in a long slideshow, or pick and choose which ones; designate how long to wait before flipping to the next; what type of transitions to use; manually skipping forward, back, and pausing; and a bunch of other options to let you choose exactly what you want to see, and how. While you can get away with using the buttons behind the edge of the frame itself, the best and easiest way is with the included infrared remote control.

It’s a very simple and reliable little unit, I must say, with great buttons and a compact design.

Curiously, despite all those options, the SD80 lacks a couple things that one would imagine to be obvious: a simple shuffle feature, and any ability to organize photos into categories. It’ll only play in standard order, and if you want it to play certain groups of photos you need to either manually select them every time or maintain separate memory cards. Personally though I never really missed these while I was trialing the frame, I realize I might feel different if I were trying to organize hundreds or even thousands of photos, or if I had the thing running its cycle for weeks.

Multimedia

One of the SD80′s advertised features is the ability to play video. Presumably, this is aimed at the simple digital video files produced by some cameras, but in theory it supports a decent range of common formats.

Just as a random test, I grabbed a large-format XviD file and dropped it on the memory card. My expectation was that it would choke on the size and quality of the video, but that it might give me an idea where the performance ceiling was.

So it was very much to my shock that I pushed the play button and was greeted by glassy-smooth DVD-quality playback, in about the same quality you’d get showing it on a typical laptop screen. I was rather impressed–I’ve had computers that haven’t been able to do that. The standard speaker is a bit quiet, but if you’re really interested in the video features, it has a 3.5mm audio out jack, suitable for alternate speakers or even a pair of headphones. I’m not suggesting that you toss your DVD player by any means, but for a device not designed primarily to play video, the SD80 does it pretty well.

There’s a variety of other small, relatively standard features on the frame such as the ability to play back music, either in and of itself or as a backdrop while presenting its slideshow. An ability, in my opinion, very much wasted with the default speaker. Don’t bother, though with added speakers the right tunes might enhance your memories of that trip to the Grand Canyon.

It also offers a desktop calendar/clock mode, displaying the time and date in one of two views, alongside your photos, or superimposing the time on one corner of the screen during the slideshow. Nothing exotic, but useful.

The biggest disadvantage to the SD80 its aspect ratio. Although widescreen may be the standard for video and an increasing number of laptops, digital photos are still 4:3 by default. That being the case, you’re probably going to want to resize your photos so that they don’t have wasted space on the sides.

The more discriminating photo guru would want to process and crop their photos before loading them anyway, even on a 4:3 frame, for maximum use of the available space. But for the casual user, it just adds a layer of complexity that they shouldn’t be obligated to deal with, and it’s annoying if you have hundreds of photos you want to display.

Pros

• Nice screen
• Audio/video playback
• Multiple storage options

Cons

• Widescreen not ideal for most photos

Bottom Line

With the ability to a half dozen different things, the SD80 goes beyond simply being a picture frame and approaches the realm of being a digital appliance, while still being easy enough to figure out without needing to touch the manual. Combine that with a very reasonable price compared to similarly equipped frames, and the it’s relatively easy to forget the small blemishes of aspect ratio and a couple of missing sort options.

4 out of 5 stars

SmartParts SPX8WF Specs

• 8” LCD (4:3 aspect ratio, 800×600 resolution)
• 512MB internal memory
• Supports SD, MMC, MS, xD, CF external memory
• USB connections for photos stored on thumb drives
• 802.11B/G Wi-Fi for Windows FrameIt, RSS Feeds, and Picture Email
• Built-in stereo speakers
• MSRP: $149.99

Design and Build

The SPX8WF looks like a traditional picture frame with a thick black border, inner white cardboard trim, and a smooth glass cover over the picture (or in this case the screen). For the standard tabletop with an assortment of pictures the SmartParts frame blends in well, if not slightly larger than normal with the bigger screen. Cable management is not a problem since the power cord hides behind the border of the frame and with careful routing you can hide the power cable all the way off the desk. The supplied AC adapter could be slightly longer, for tables that might not have a wall outlet directly behind them.

The construction of the frame is in line with other models in the same price range. The paint on the frame takes mild abuse well, without chipping paint off. Smudges from fingerprints wipe away without discoloring the surface, and the glass cover over the display helps protect the LCD from wandering fingers.

The stand could be designed better since it doesn’t take much to push it off balance. The leg has a rounded foot, so if you knock it back slightly it has enough wiggle room to topple over. A flat tab might provide a more solid footing. The stand also lacks a wide range of tilt adjustment which prevents it from leaning back as far as other models.

Display

I am a fan of the 4:3 screen format since almost all digital cameras shoot images in that aspect ratio. Widescreen may be nice for movies, but on a picture frame that just means large black borders if the images are not properly cropped for the screen.

The display looks very nice with saturated colors and a bright backlight to overcome glare from open windows or lots of overhead lighting. Backlight evenness is average with some brighter sections near the edges, but this is only noticeable when viewing solid colors like the menu system, not when viewing pictures. Viewing angles were good with a broad horizontal range before the image was overcome with glare off the glass screen cover. Vertical viewing angles were more limited, with the screen starting to distort colors on steep lower angles. In normal use this would not be a problem unless your eye level was well below the height of the picture frame. Viewing from a very steep angle above the frame showed little color inversion, which is a plus if you normally have seven or eight foot tall guests in your home.

Memory/Picture Sources

The SmartParts SPX8WF offers a wide range of picture sources, including internal memory, USB flash drives, memory cards, online photo galleries, and emails sent to it from friends and family. Each source can be chosen from the menu in either the photo or music sub-category.

The internal memory is useful to store images sent through email, as well as loading on images from a computer. With this picture frame supporting email, the main use of the internal memory went to storing those incoming pictures. With 512MB of internal storage this frame can handle thousands of standard camera phone sized images.

A full-size USB port is included to read pictures off of a thumb drive, which is great if you want to take advantage of the low price of high capacity drives that are being sold today. Some sticks as large as 32GB are being sold for under $100, which can easily store every picture you have probably ever taken.
The memory card slots are used for viewing pictures directly from a digital camera, taking the need for a computer out of the equation.

The coolest picture source on this digital picture frame is the wireless connection that can be used to display Microsoft Live photo galleries, RSS feeds, and receive images sent by email. Each of these frames offer a unique email address that is used to send pictures directly to the frame. I gave the address out to a few of my friends and my family during the review and just had the send in random pictures. Being able to see pictures of household pets, holiday preparations, or even travel experiences really has a way of connecting you even if you live on the other side of the country. Only approved senders can email the frame though, so don’t fear frame SPAM.

Display modes

This frame only has a few basic display modes, including the basic slideshow, a screen saver clock and calendar, and an RSS feed mode which might display weather, traffic, or news feeds.

The slideshow is customizable, letting you change the length of time between pictures, then type of transition between pictures, and what order you want the pictures to display. The transition times span from 5 seconds to 60 seconds, with my preferred time at 30 seconds. The transition mode type lets you customize the type of transition between pictures, such as certain sweeping modes or other effects. I kept it set to “random all” to keep mixing it up.

This frame supports basic music playing capabilities during slideshows and in the background of other activities. Audio performance is good enough to fill a small room, but easily out powered by a small boombox. Bass and midrange are completely lacking with the small speaker size, leaving only high frequency tones. The best use is playing light music during a slideshow.

The clock and calendar come on as a screensaver option, where after a certain period of inactivity the mode turns on. I could not find any other way to display this mode outside of the screensaver option.

The RSS feed mode changes greatly depending on what the source is. The frame offers some presets which include a weather location for monitoring local forecasts, traffic conditions for certain regions, and local news clips. Of course there’s the integration with Microsoft’s FrameIt service as well, which offers customizable news, weather, traffic and other content.

Menu system

The menu system was very polished looking, with more thought put into it than some frames like the HP df1000. The layout was simple to follow with clearly labeled buttons and descriptions which led you to the correct area even if it was your first time setting the frame up. To access the menu you could use both the buttons on top of the frame or the remote, which is a step above some frames which require the remote to handle any setting adjustment.

Navigating the menu worked well enough under most circumstances, but if the frame started to lag you might find yourself stuck in an area you didn’t want to go into. This meant backing out of certain areas frequently if you were in a rush to change a setting.

The wireless connection setup was painless, with a simple process to find available networks. Once you chose the network you want to connect to it detects the type of encryption automatically if it is enabled, and gives you a full keyboard to entire the passkey. I was connected onto my home network within about a minute of powering it up for the first time.

Pros

• Great screen
• Can view pictures sent through email with the Wi-Fi connection
• Support for RSS streams to bring in weather, traffic, and news
• Support for Windows Live Photo Gallery

Cons

• Frame stand doesn’t provide that much support or adjustment range
• Menu system can feel laggy at times

Bottom Line

The SmartParts SPX8WF has a bright and vibrant 8” screen, a wide range of memory input options, and a wireless connection which opens up countless extra features. Without even attaching this frame to a computer it can accept pictures sent from a cellphone and save them to internal memory. For older loved ones who might not own a digital camera or use a computer, this enables them to enjoy pictures from family even if they are located across the country. The Windows Live support also lets this frame view weather or traffic conditions and stream the latest news headlines. With a retail price of $150, this frame is priced to fit into many budgets.

4 out of 5 stars

The 8″ Sony DPF-D80 (and nearly identical 10″ DPF-D100) bucks this trend, with a back to basics approach to features and functions that keeps image display front and center. Without built-in speakers, wireless Internet capabilities, or loads of internal memory, Sony has put all of its technological eggs in one basket with the D80 in an attempt to attract buyers who value great-looking images over all else.

Sony DPF-D80 Specs

• 8″ LCD (800×600, 4:3 aspect ratio)
• 256 MB internal memory
• Supports SD/SDHC, MMC, MS, xD, and CF external memory
• Mini USB connection
• Clock and calendar modes

Build and Design

Sony enjoys a reputation for building gadgets that are a cut above what you get from competitors in terms of design and construction. You’ll get no argument from the D80 on this score, as Sony serves up another great looking product that will feel right at home in a modern living room or on an executive desk.

Unlike many of its direct competitors, the D80 doesn’t try to hide its “digital-ness.” It’s not styled to look like a traditional print frame; in fact, the frame bezel can’t even be removed from the rest of the assembly. No interchangeable frames, multi-colored mats, or displays under glass here (although there is a clear plastic layer over the whole front of the frame that serves both functional/protective and aesthetic purposes). Just a straightforward device that looks more like a small computer monitor than a photo frame.

Unless you don’t care for modern styling, what’s not to like about the D80′s looks? The truth is, not much at all. Some may find the illuminated Sony logo on the frame’s front a cheesy touch, but you can turn off the logo’s backlight in the menu if it bothers you. From a design perspective, this is about the most serious criticism that can be leveled against this great looking frame.

The D80 is built almost entirely from black plastic. It’s a nondescript material, and comes across as a little bit generic at the D80′s price point, but you could alternatively call it part of the frame’s “intentional minimalism” if that sounds better to you.

No, that’s not an antenna at the bottom of the D80′s back panel. It’s actually the D80′s unique take on a stand. Flip the prop into its ball-and-socket joint’s locked position and it’s ready to support the frame in either portrait or landscape mode. Although it looks unconventional, with its strong joint and rubberized tip, it actually does a better job of keeping the D80 anchored in place than most built-in frame stands, and while it looks flimsy, this design actually makes this frame essentially impossible to tip.

Behind the trim ring on the right-hand side as you face the frame, you’ll find the D80′s power and four basic control buttons tucked neatly out of view. Three card reader slots sit farther inboard on the same side.

On the opposite face, you’ll find power and mini USB connections, with a single button up top providing quick access to view mode changes.

Multimedia fiends take note: You won’t find speakers anywhere on the D80. As costly as it is, this Sony supports neither video nor audio playback. Sony has also dropped out the HDMI output that was in some of their previous generation frames. 

Memory/Picture Sources

The D80 supports a full range of memory card types – SD/SDHC, MMC, xD, CF, and of course, every known type of MemoryStick as well.

Transferring files from an external memory source to the device’s internal storage space is simple. Call up the on-screen menu, select “Add to Album,” and the D80 transfers either a single image, a group of selected images, or the entire contents of a card to the frame itself.

You’ll also find a mini USB connection for hooking the frame up to your computer. Sony’s known for being a bit picky about drivers and controller software, but thankfully, the D80 is plug-and-play ready and shows up as a typical mass storage device whenever you connect it. Files are then easily transferred to or from the frame’s memory in the same way that you’d move them around on your hard drive.

I was disappointed to realize that the D80 doesn’t provide a full-size USB port for transferring files from portable flash drives. These thumb drives are cheap, seemingly everyone has one, and they provide a convenient way for moving files from computers to other devices. But alas, no such luck with the D80.

As for the frame’s internal memory, you get a somewhat underwhelming 256 MB of storage space. The D80 can be set up to automatically resize images as they’re imported, and it’s probably a good idea to go this route in order to make the most of what this frame offers in terms of storage.

Display Modes

Although it doesn’t have multimedia capabilities, the D80 features five basic image display modes: single, multi, clock, calendar, and a random setting that intersperses different view types. As mentioned above, a large button on to of the D80 can be used to cycle the frame through its various modes once images have been loaded to the internal memory or a card is inserted.

Single view mode is a basic slideshow setting, in which one image at a time is displayed. Although you can’t add background music, the D80 has a nice range of slideshow options otherwise, with six shot-to-shot transition types and an interval setting that lets you hold images on the screen anywhere from three seconds to 24 hours.

You can also have the D80 display images in order by date shot or randomly shuffle them.

Multi view mode has the same basic list of options as single view mode, but in this case images are displayed in arrangements of two or three at a time.

Clock and calendar modes on the D80 provide a nice option for desktop use. Both are stylishly presented, with white lines on a black background and space for a single image on the opposite side of the display (the clock and calendar will alternate from the left to the right side of the display each time the image changes).

As with single view mode, you can specify the interval at which images are changed in these modes.

You can also view thumbnails of all photos from a particular card, or all images in the internal memory, by selecting “Index View” in the main menu.

Menu System

The D80′s menu system is clear, easily accessed, and easy to understand, putting the D80 light years ahead of some of its competitors in terms of usability. Most settings are handled through the basic on-screen menu, which pops up whenever you press the “Menu” button.

The options here are largely self-explanatory, mostly related to the slideshow settings for whatever view mode you’re in when you access the menu.

A few more general options can be found by selecting “Various Settings” from the main menu, which brings up a menu that’s almost identical in appearance to the main menu.

Some of the options in this list (“Slideshow Settings”, for instance) are entirely redundant, but this menu also provides access to some general performance settings, allows you to set the date and time and configure their display to your liking, and lets you configure the frame’s internal memory.

Since the D80′s two basic menus are both linear, down-the-page arrangements, navigating them using the up/down arrows and select button found on the side of the frame is easy enough. The D80 also comes packed with Sony’s basic frame remote, which makes moving settings adjustments even easier to handle.

Overall, while it doesn’t look especially flashy and has a few idiosyncrasies of its own, the D80′s menu system is, at its core, one of the better ones I’ve seen on a digital photo frame. In this case, simplicity is the key to success, with the D80 avoiding page after page of settings and options in favor of a menu that puts the few controls you really need for a digital picture frame right at your fingertips.

Display

The D80 and its sibling model, the D100, are the first Sony frames to move away from widescreen 16:9 aspect ratios in favor of a traditional 4:3 arrangement. Widescreen is the hip thing at the moment, but since the D80 and D100 are built exclusively for displaying images (remember: no speakers, and thus no video playback), the choice to go to an 800×600 display makes these devices fit much better with the one kind of content they handle.

As for the screen itself, the D80′s display is a thing of beauty. Images are sharp and punchy, with colors that almost jump off the screen. Side-to-side and top-down viewing angles are superior as well, meaning you’ll be able to see what’s going on on the D80′s screen from just about anywhere in the room (so long as you’re not looking up from floor level, that is).

Dig in to the “Various Settings” menu and you’ll find an option for “Screen Settings.” In this submenu, you can tailor the D80′s backlight and brightness characteristics, as well as change image and display orientation settings (the D80 will auto-detect both by default). What’s missing are contrast and tint controls, but to be fair, the D80′s display looks pretty darn good without any adjustment.

Extra Features

Not much to say in this category. The D80 really only does one thing: display images. Other than the previously noted clock and calendar views, the D80 is all about the slideshow. The ability to pull web content via WiFi might have helped spruce things up, as would video/audio playback capabilities, but lacking either of these, the D80 feels a little short on fancy features for its price.

Pros

• Great design and build
• Easy to use
• Fantastic 800×600 display
• Simple slideshow device with no useless bloat

Cons

• No A/V playback
• Price seems a little high

Bottom Line

The DPF-D80 is a “one trick pony” among photo frames. If you want a frame that looks good, has a great display, and doesn’t get in the way of showing off your images with useless features or terrible menus, the DPF-D80 is a great choice. Using the D80 is painless to the point that you’ll probably never even open the manual, and the images it displays look great – even better now that Sony has subbed in a 4:3 aspect ratio display instead.

There’s admittedly a lot that the D80 can’t do. Those looking for a multi-function home news and information station like some wireless frames provide should look somewhere else. In the same way, the D80 doesn’t waste anyone’s time pretending to be a video player (something most frames do poorly anyway).

If you want a frame that’s all about the images and don’t mind paying a little more for ease of use and a great screen, the D80 should be on your list.

4 out of 5 stars – Editor’s Choice

HP df1000 Specs

• 10.4” LCD (4:3 aspect ratio, 800×600 resolution)
• 512MB internal memory
• Supports SD, MMC, MS, xD, CF external memory
• USB connections for PictBridge, thumbdrives, and internal memory access
• Supports printing direct through PictBridge
• Audio/video playback (MP3, AVI, MPEG-1, MP4, MOV)
• Built-in stereo speakers

Design and Build

The HP df1000 has a very simple design with a mahogany wood border and interchangeable mats to customize the look to best fit the pictures displayed. A protective layer of plastic covers the mat and LCD to help keep wandering fingertips from the screen as well as giving the front a cleaner look. From the side the profile is pretty slim, only extending about an inch beyond the wood trim (not including the stand). The electronic section of the frame is made up entirely of black plastic which helps it blend in with the background. The view from the side or rear isn’t as refined as other models, but it doesn’t really hurt the look too much.

From the rear the frame has thumb screws exposed which are used to secure the inner workings to the wood frame. By unfastening the screws you are able to swap out the interchangeable mats to give the frame a customized look.

Thumb Screws are also used to secure the stand in place, which when removed lets you hang the frame on a wall. The stand is secured to the back of the frame, which has notches to adjust the height. By adjusting how far up or down the stand is, you can change the tilt of the frame.

The build is average, with a solid feel to the wood surround and plastic body. The controls on the back of the frame feel kind of cheap and require a strong grip on the frame to activate a function. Softer buttons would have been a nice touch, perhaps not requiring so much effort to advance a picture or access the menu system.

Display

The 800×600 resolution 10.4” display is bright enough for a well lit room and even holds its own against glare from open windows. The protective layer on top of the screen doesn’t help well with reflections, but with the display on you don’t notice them as much. Colors are vivid and with the help of the picture adjustment controls you can even adjust the look to tone some images down or ramp up the saturation. One problem I have with the adjustments is the lack of backlight control, to dim the frame in a dark room, so it blends in without being a “beacon of light”.

The screen can be easily viewed from all angles around the room with a broad horizontal viewing range. Vertical viewing angles are more limited, tending to make images look distorted at steeper angles, but few people will be towering above the frame or standing under it.

Memory/Picture Sources

The df1000 has a wide assortment of possible image locations, including an outside computer to transfer images from, onboard memory, a USB memory stick, and 2 onboard memory card readers that handle all popular formats. All of the connections are located on the left side of the frame, tightly grouped into one section.

Card slots included SD, MMC, MS, and XD and another for Compact Flash. To easily handle the bulk of my images without hauling the frame over to my computer I used a USB memory stick to hold most of my images.

The df1000 is loaded with 512MB of internal storage, which is about the average for frames of this nature. For most people this could store a upwards of a thousand images if you resize and recompress the images, but if you are like me and keep the images in the original size the internal memory fills up quickly. While most functions of the df1000 could use external memory sources, you are limited to internal memory only when viewing pictures in the clock mode. This was a pretty big limitation, as you go from an almost unlimited source of images from external cards, to only a “handful” that you need loaded ahead of time.

Display modes

Users have two main display modes for viewing images; one is the main slideshow feature and the other is the clock mode which displays a calendar, clock, and two images.

The slideshow starts playing images as soon as it is opened and you can change the style of transition used between each image. Transition speed can be set to be as little as 5 seconds or as much as 24 hours. I found 30 seconds to be a good compromise.

You can pause the slideshow at any time using the remote and access a listing to quickly skip ahead to a particular image. While paused you can manipulate the displayed image, rotating or zooming in on a certain part. You can also copy the selected image to internal memory or delete it. Printing is another option available, if you happen to have a printer located in the same area as your frame and it also supports PictBridge.

In the slideshow mode you can set a digital border, with up to 6 different options. I didn’t find any to be appealing to use, and without descriptions in the menu indicating what each style was, I ended up guessing which was which. None of the options had a good look and felt as if they were a feature worked in at the last minute.

The clock mode displays a mix of images and screens in a 4 screen layout, pulling two images at a time off of the internal memory. On this screen you have a very basic calendar which displays the current date, a clock, and alarm indicator. Since I never seen to have enough clocks around the house, I kept the picture frame on this mode most of the time. With such a large screen the images were very easy to see and not squished.

If you are in a power-conscious environment, HP offers a hibernation mode which can be set to automatically shutdown the frame and fire it back up at a time of your choosing. I would have also liked to see automatic dimming or at least the ability to adjust overall back-light levels.

The df1000 supports some limited video playback as well as music playing behind slideshows. Heavy bitrate movies would stutter during playback, limiting you to low resolution and very basic movies. For the occasional clip from a newer digital camcorder it works fine, but don’t plan on watching feature length movies on it.

Menu System

The menu system has two layers of access, one which lets you switch viewing modes, and another that allows you to adjust settings. The top layer has a nice polished look, with pictures clearly showing what each selection was for.

The settings layer has no finishing touches and was confusing to understand. Many of the settings have the value “Mode 1, 2, etc” which doesn’t give the user a good idea of what it is supposed to represent. You had to pick a setting, go back to the main area to view it, and then decide if that was what you wanted.

Extra Features

The PictBridge printing feature is a handy option if you happen to have a photo printer within cable range to the picture frame. With any image that is currently on display, you can hit the print button on the remote to send it off to the printer. This is nice if you don’t want to have a computer in the area to print off images but you end up losing the ability to modify your image before printing.

Pros

• Great screen
• Nice traditional look
• Can pull images off of a ton of memory sources
• PictBridge enabled to print directly from the frame

Cons

• Poorly labeled menu settings
• Preset screen borders look cheesy and clash with most pictures

Bottom Line

The HP df1000 is an attractive 10.4” digital picture frame with good looking hardware but it has some quirks that make it difficult to use at times. The primary functions are easy to navigate for normal use but it is the detailed settings like screen borders or clock settings which offer no help in understanding which item does what. Quirks aside, if you really want a frame of this size, we think the df1000 is a good option.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Kodak’s newest entry, the EasyShare W820, has all of the latest conveniences and features common to premium digital frames: wireless network capabilities, multimedia support for pictures as well as videos and audio, and a movie-friendly 16:9 aspect ratio. Even with all of these advantages, however, a steep price tag means the W820 will have to work a little harder to prove its value to consumers.

It’s also worth noting that Kodak makes a larger version of the W820, called the EasyShare W1020. The W1020 digital picture frame is essentially the same frame as the W820. As a result, this review will will largely address the W1020 as well.

Kodak EasyShare W820 Specs

• 8” LCD (16:9 aspect ratio, 800×480 resolution)
• 512MB internal memory
• Supports SD, MMC, MS, xD, CF external memory
• USB and mini USB connections
• Wi-Fi connectivity, with content from FrameChannel and Flickr
• Kodak Quick Touch Border
• Audio/video playback (MP3, AVI, MPEG, MOV)

Design and Build

Right off the bat, I liked the looks of the W820. It’s somewhere between the modern-styled “gadget” frames like the Samsung that recently spent time on my desk, and more conservative digital frames that work hard to look like “old fashion” picture frames. The W820 embraces its high-tech nature in its styling without being completely dominated by it. Its wide aspect ratio and lack of glass in front of the display mean you probably won’t be able to pass it off as a regular photo frame, but it’s not going to stick out like a sore thumb in homes or offices that aren’t modernist or minimalist either.

One minor complaint about the W820 is that while the outer faux wood frame is removable/replaceable (although other bezels aren’t included), the plastic material used in this application does a less convincing impersonation of wood than many competitive models. Otherwise, though, the all-plastic frame is lightweight but reasonably well put together.

Kodak did a particularly nice job with the frame’s wide-based, rubber-padded swiveling desktop stand.

If desktop use isn’t your thing, the W820 provides three nail recesses, allowing either landscape or portrait wall-mount orientation in this mounting arrangement as well. There’s also a threaded socket on the back of the device that appears designed to receive a tripod or other stand mount – a great feature for commercial use.

In addition to its removable bezel, the outer area within the two-level mat around the W820′s display is designed to receive one of several available colorful inserts, creating a simulated “double mat” look around the frame. Kodak includes two mats that go nicely with the frame’s cream colored inner mat, and you can buy other colors from Kodak to match room decor or suit your mood.

Interestingly, the plastic accent mats have an adhesive backing for mounting to the display surface. This does raise some concerns about how easily they can be taken up and reapplied, but Kodak notes that if you store the mat on its provided backing paper when not in use, the adhesive should stay good and strong. And after nearly two weeks with one of the mats in place, it was still easily lifted up and left no discernible sticky residue. The concept of “mat stickers” is a little strange, but in practice everything seems to work fine.

One thing you won’t find on the W820 is many buttons. That’s because the entire inner mat surrounding the display is made up of a series of touch-responsive panels, which serve as “soft buttons” when accessing the frames menus and options.

I’ll discuss how, and how well, this control arrangement works momentarily.

Besides volume and power buttons on the top of the frame, rest of the W820 thin inner display area behind the bezel is covered with two memory card readers, mini and full-size USB ports, and even a pair of audio jacks – one for headphones, the other labeled “Audio In.”

I was never able to figure out exactly what purpose the Audio In connection serves, and the user’s manual doesn’t appear to provide any clues. Input for a karaoke microphone, perhaps?

Memory/Picture Sources

The W820 has enough internal storage (512 MB) to host up to 4000 compressed/resized images according to Kodak. Getting files to this memory is accomplished through the frame’s two card readers – a Compact Flash slot, and a multi-card reader for SD, xD, and MS memory – or one of its USB connections (one for hosting thumb drives, and a mini USB port for connecting directly to a PC).

Insert a memory card or connect a drive and the W820 begins playing the new images from external sources immediately. Tap the “Actions” tab at the bottom of the display and the W820 gives you the option to copy single, selected, or all images from a particular external source to the frame’s memory.

Images from the frame’s internal memory pop up quickly, but the whole device can lag more than a little bit when moving images from a card or making selections from external picture sources. Video playback from cards or drives is also dodgy, with lots of stuttering experienced when trying out some sample MPEG movies (as a note, the W820 supports MPEG, AVI, and MOV formats). MP3 audio for slideshows worked without a hitch, however.

With WiFi capabilities, the W820 can also find photos and other content from the web. Primarily, the W820 uses the FrameChannel service for its news feeds. The system itself works fine, and you can get news on a variety of topics pulled together by FrameChannel from several sources, including Reuters and the AP. As we’ve commented before about FrameChannel on this site, though, the news bits are short and often trail off in ellipses mid-sentence.

The W820 can also source other content from the web – photos from Flickr, images from RSS feeds, and lots of FrameChannel content beyond the four or five “channels” that come pre-loaded on the W820. In order to configure which FrameChannel content you’d like to see or add other external RSS feeds, you’ll need to install Kodak’s Digital Display software. The W820 prompts you to install the Mac or PC ready software as soon as you configure the frame’s wireless network, but if you skipped that step initially you’ll have to go back and perform before you can really dig into what the W820 offers in terms of web content.

The installation itself went off without a hitch on my computer running Windows Vista, and approximately five minutes after first inserting the install disc I was able to begin changing up the W820′s web content across my wireless network, without having to physically connect the frame to the computer or even be in the same room. Kodak’s software is easy to understand, allowing you to switch up FrameChannel content or associate the frame with feeds from Flickr users – those of friends and family, or even your own if you don’t want to bother loading images that you’ve already uploaded into the frame’s memory as well.

The W820 can even pull images from RSS feeds, though this is probably the frame’s weakest web-based technology. The frame can’t read full RSS feeds; it can only display the images from them. And even so, there seem to be some inexplicable issues with the feed reader, allowing the images from some feeds to go through without a hitch while others would cause the frame to hang up indefinitely, requiring a reboot to unfreeze it.

But that little snag aside, what really makes the W820 a winner is the Flickr feed integration. Flickr is almost certainly the most popular photo sharing site out there, and the W820 lets you take full advantage of that popularity by automatically uploading new images from any “Photostream” you’re interested in checking out as soon as they’re added. As I said before, if you’re an avid Flickr user, this may mean that you never have to actually load an image in the frame’s local memory again. Add them to Flickr and they’ll immediately show up on the W820. Obviously, you’ll need a Flickr account to take full advantage of these functions, but since basic Flickr access with a limited number of image uploads per month is free, getting connected there should be no big deal.

I do wish the configuration for all of the W820′s web “stuff” was completely browser-based like on Samsung’s newest Wi-Fi frames, instead of requiring installation of an additional piece of software. But everything else about setting up the W820 was to receive web content was so simple that I was able to quickly overlook this very minor headache.

Display Modes

Compared to what most of their competition is doing, Kodak has kept content playback simple, using the same basic interface for viewing pictures, videos, or web content. Starting up the frame to get there, however, takes more time than I’d like. The W820 has a long, video-style intro screen, and then takes nearly 20 seconds to populate web content before allowing access to the home screen.

The home screen provides single-point access to all of the W820′s display modes for various types of content, making it easier to get to and from playback mode than on most frames I’ve tested.

Once you’re in slideshow mode with images or web feed content, the W820 offers basic options for transitions as well as the duration of each slide. The choices here for slideshows are relatively limited, but this is where Kodak’s software again provides a solution. Digital Display lets you build custom slideshows and load them directly to the W820, providing some options not available directly on the frame itself for customizing your image playback experience.

Other than a stuttering problem when playing large videos from cards, the W820 is an excellent video playback device as well. It offers broad file-type support, meaning you’re unlikely to run into compatibility issues with movies, and audio playback from the W820′s rear-mounted speakers is exceptionally good for a device this size. With its 16:9 display aspect ratio, the W820 is ready for your HD movies as well.

Menu System

The W820, in spite of all of its advanced web content access, actually has fewer basic interface modes than your typical frame with this kind of features. As hinted at above, whether you’re playing videos, viewing web feeds, or looking at images, everything is driven through a variation of the frame’s simple slideshow interface, with a row of playback controls along the bottom of the image, and more global controls for returning to the home screen or accessing options on the side.

Other than power and volume buttons behind the bezel, the soft buttons on the frame’s inner mat – which correspond to changing options on the screen – are the only controls. Moving through lists is mostly accomplished by using the bottom row of buttons as a single slider, letting you slide your finger from left to right to move up and down in a list, for instance (and it’s really not as confusing as it sounds).

The illuminated touch areas disappear when not in use, lighting up only when you tap the edge of the frame to call up a menu.

Kodak’s touch-responsive inner mat is one of the better touch systems on the market. Because you don’t actually touch the screen itself, you avoid fingerprints on the W820′s display. The buttons are sensitive enough to pick up inputs consistently without registering many false double taps as some touch panels are prone to do. I only wish that the entire interface were a little faster. When playing images or videos from cards, especially, or accessing larger images from the web, the W820 sometimes takes up to two seconds or more to respond to inputs.

As I said before, the W820′s home screen provides a sort of “home base” for accessing all of the different kinds of content this frame can serve up. From here, settings changes can be made by clicking on the settings tab (duh!), which takes you to a short list of options. If you’re scared of technology, you needn’t be afraid of the W820, as everything about this device – even at its deepest settings adjustment levels – is clearly presented, brief and to the point, and easy to understand.

The only other particularly noteworthy menu option is the W820′s network settings panel. If the frame detects a wireless network on initial start-up, you’ll be prompted to enter this mode right off; if not, you can always access internet connection options from the settings menu.

Once you’re here, you’ll find another straightforward control panel that allows you to scan for in-range WiFi connections and choose the appropriate one. Assuming your prefered network has security enabled, you’ll have to go through the always arduous process of entering a passkey on a device without a keyboard, but with this hurdle crossed, there’s nothing (in my experience using the frame’s Wi-Fi functions) to suggest that things won’t connect right up without a hitch.

If you do need to do some technical troubleshooting, the W820′s manual configuration menu tab lets you dive into detailed networking configuration options.

Display

The W820 is advertised as an 8″ photo frame, but compared most comparable 8″ models, there’s something different going on with Kodak’s new model. Instead of the conventional 800×600 display, the W820′s pixel count measures 800×480, giving it a unique 16:9 aspect ratio that’s becoming more common among “widescreen” media.

Although it’s common for many media types, the W820′s 16:9 aspect ratio doesn’t always work so well for the 4:3 photos from most digital cameras. Depending on your settings, the frame can scale images to width, but this often cuts off important parts of the picture (like the tops of subjects’ heads). Alternatively, you can set the W820 to letterbox the images, preserving their original aspect ratio by putting putting black edge borders on the images. The trade off with this option is that you only get a 640×480 image displayed, instead of an 800×600 shot as on 8″ standard aspect ratio models.

Similarly, the frame can be set to display images in either landscape or portrait orientation, but the screen’s narrow width in portrait mode makes things a bit awkward. Plus the soft buttons are always oriented for landscape use regardless. Clearly this frame was designed with landscape-only use primarily in mind.

Images displayed on the W820 look sharp, colorful, and lifelike, which is a good thing since there are no controls for tweaking the display. (As it’s definitely a premium frame I would have liked to see some rudimentary color/contrast adjustments at the very least.) Viewing angles are also very good, allowing color-correct viewing from almost anywhere in front of the frame, and even directly to the side of it.

Extra Features

The extensive list of web content sources and options outlined above aside, the W820 is pretty short on extra features. There’s no sensor for powering the device on and off automatically based on light or motion, and no options that I could find for programming start-up and shut-down times. Likewise, the lack of advanced display controls may be seen as a features oversight on a frame with so many unique capabilities otherwise.

Bottom Line

The W820 is not without its quirks, but Kodak has definitely come up with a winning formula with the W820. The amount of content you can get from the web on this frame using its WiFi connection, and the ease with which you can do it, really make the W820 a joy to use. Interface design – both the touch-sensitive soft buttons and the “no nonsense” menu structure – is excellent, clearly superior to the poorly designed, laborious menu systems on most digital frames. A few bug fixes would only help the W820, but even without them this is one of the most handsome, solidly built, and uniquely functional wireless frames currently available. Which makes the Easyshare W820′s price point a little easier to rationalize.

Pros

• Innovative touch interface and clear menus work flawlessly
• Great web content integration from Flickr and FrameChannel
• Wi-Fi connectivity is easy to configure
• Weplaceable mats and frames to match any decor

Cons

• No color/contrast controls for display
• RSS feeds work intermittently
• Have to install Kodak’s software to configure the frame’s web content

4.5 out of 5 stars – Editor’s Chocie

The 7” GiiNii Wedge is basic digital photo frame with movie and music playing capabilities. With a sleek aluminum-clad body and small footprint it can fit anywhere.  It also offers an innovative power saving system to scale back power consumption in off hours. GiiNii isn’t exactly as well known as Sony, Kodak, or HP in the digital photo frame market, but they are starting to gain speed now that retailers s like Wal-Mart and Walgreens starting to carry their products.

GiiNii 7” Wedge Specs

• 7” LCD 4:3 aspect ratio, 800×600 resolution
• 512MB internal memory
• Supports SD, MMC, MS, xD
• Mini USB for file transfer
• Touch sensitive control buttons
• Integrated Speaker
• Video playback (AVI, Motion JPEG)
• Smart sleep mode

Design and build

The 7” GiiNii Wedge has an attractive modern design with a brushed aluminum finish and relatively thin freestanding body. It blends in well in both an office setting or at home, although it would look best near other gadgets.

The foot of the frame is a little over 1 inch deep, and narrows to about ¼ inch at the top. Unlike some frames that need a rear support to stay upright, the wedge design doesn’t need as much free space behind it for a stand.

The one complaint I have with the design of the Wedge is the location of the AC connection and the huge ferrite magnet located two inches from the plug. It is hard to hide the cord, and looks out of place with its clean look. It would have been better to locate the plug on the back, making it easier to hide.

The Wedge feels quite sturdy with the aluminum shell, enough that it could take a tumble more than once and not be any worse for wear. The metal exterior is a thick gauge of metal, which holds its own against dents or flexing. If you have children that run amuck in your home and like to tip over furniture in their wake, the GiiNii Wedge would be a perfect choice.

Memory/Picture Sources

The GiiNii Wedge has 512MB of internal memory for image storage and a SD/MMC/XD/MS slot on the side to read images straight off a camera. The internal storage is good for about 150 10MP images, and many more if you compress the images to the resolution of the display. The internal memory is accessible through an onboard mini-USB connection located on the side and it will also act as a card reader for memory cards plugged in. The card slot on the side is spring loaded and lets the card sit flush when fully inserted. This is a nice as the card doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb when on display.

Display Modes

The default display mode when turning on the Wedge is a combo photo/clock slideshow. In-between each image transition a clock will display on the screen. You can switch away from this to an all clock mode or a standard photo slideshow. The slideshow settings allow you to change the delay between each image and the style of transition. I kept it set to a fading transition between images and picked a 30 second delay. Some of the shorter delays such as 3 or 10 seconds were too sudden to enjoy an image before it switched to the next.

When viewing large images from a newer digital camera, the GiiNii Wedge lagged when trying to adjust menu options or change viewing modes. Since lag is not noticed when viewing image transitions, it was not that big of a problem. One easy way around the delay was just ejecting the memory card and then adjusting the settings that you wanted to change.

The internal speaker also lets you play music in the background during a slideshow. The speaker is loud enough to fill up a small room and sounds pretty nice. It’s not a boom box, but for playing music in the background while displaying vacation images it does the job quite well. The internal music player supports MP3, WMA, and WAV music file formats which covers most music sources outside of iTunes.

Movie playback is also supported, but rather limited besides a very low resolution movie off of a digital camera. The limited power of the GiiNii frame makes some movies stutter, but this is not a primary feature that will be used by most people. Movies will play better on the internal memory though, rather than the external memory card.

Menu Controls

The menu controls are located on the right side of the frame, and are all touch sensitive. Each button has its own divot so you can find the correct button, although none of them are labeled. Depending on the menu or mode you are in, the function of each button is displayed on the right side of the screen. I found this somewhat confusing at first, being quite easy to hit the wrong button on accident.

To enter the menu system you press any of the buttons on the right side of the frame. Depending on the images being displayed or the mode that the frame is in, it may take a second or 2 for the controls to show up on the screen.

Display

The quality of the screen is very nice and easily stands out in a bright living space. Colors are bright and vibrant making most images “pop”. Black levels are good enough to view darker detail cues even at bright backlight levels. Viewing angles are very good, showing proper image color from almost any angle around your room. The screen is textured to prevent glare, instead of being glossy which can be difficult to view if it is near a window or in a room with bright overhead lighting. You have 3 brightness settings inside the menu and more adjustment depending on the level of EnerGiiNii energy savings. Considering the max wattage draw of this display is around 10 watts, I would have no problem having it set to max brightness every day since it would have little impact on my energy bill. Overall I think the screen on the Wedge holds its own against other models I have seen.

Extra Features

This GiiNii model also includes a clock/alarm and calendar. The clock feature is handy if you don’t have any way to tell time in your room, but since I have no less than 5 clocks within arm reach I didn’t need it. There are multiple clock designs to choose from, to pick the best design for your needs. Both analog and digital clock options are available. The calendar overlay I found to be rather useless, unless you were trying to match up an upcoming date with the day of the week.

Pros

• Bright and colorful screen
• Solid aluminum shell
• Built-in power saving feature is nice if you forget to turn electronics off at night

Cons

• Sluggish menu system
• Limited movie playback

Bottom Line

The 7” GiiNii Wedge sells for a $99, which is a decent price for the cool design and high quality display. The menu system is sluggish, but it is rarely used beyond initial setup. Movie playing capabilities are great on paper, but the limited support for file formats rules it out as a main use. Overall if you enjoy the design and the price works, it’s not a bad digital picture frame to consider.

4 out of 5 stars

Buy direct from GiiNii

HP df300 Quick Specs

• 3.5” display
• 4:3 aspect ratio
• 320×240 resolution
• Single SD card slot
• Internal battery (2 hours of battery life)
• Auto-shutoff

Design and Build

It’s odd, but the design of this tiny frame is some of the best we’ve seen. What we generally see with larger frames is manufacturers try to jam so much in, the end result is a mish-mash of ports and buttons that hampers usability. There’s just something about the simplicity of the df300 that we love. Four buttons, a single card slot and a mini-USB port that’s used for charging and file transfer.

The front of the frame is sleek with a mirror-like finish around the border. Aside from the fingerprints, this design is perfect for a portable frame. It even comes with a black leather pouch, complete with two slots for memory cards.

The back of the unit is rubberized, making it each to grab a hold of. A small stand is integrated into the back and sits flush when not in use. The stand works in either portrait or landscape, but pictures do not re-orient automatically.

Since there’s no remote, the four buttons accomplish everything in terms of frame management. They manage pretty well, with a press and hold at times to activate menus. Once you spend a few minutes with the frame though, it’s pretty intuitive.

Out of the box, this is a great looking frame that’s not only built well, but conceived well. Heck, the box even has a green bow on it, so HP hopes the df300 will be a popular gift. It’s hard to argue with their assumption, the frame is so well put together, from a hardware perspective it will be hard to disappoint.

Memory/Picture Sources

HP has included a few MB of memory in the df300, enough to store 45 resized images. To augment this, they’ve also included an SD card reader, which is the best option for storing photos. The internal memory is a bit difficult to work with anyway and is best used for the tutorial images they’ve included with the frame.

The df300 includes a mini USB port which is used for two things. First is for charging the frame, which is convenient because it will charge over USB connection from a PC, or with the included AC adaptor. The second thing is does is allow access to the SD card from your PC. The frame in this case acts just like a card reader. While you cannot access the internal memory of the frame via PC, the option to access the SD card is helpful if for some reason you don’t have a card reader on your computer. The frame must be put into card reader mode manually though, each time you want to connect to a computer. So while the mini USB card access is a feature, it probably won’t get a lot of use.

Display Modes

HP has included a pretty reasonable set of slideshow and photo display features in the df300. The frame has a 4:3 aspect ratio that does not auto-rotate images. HP has included an image resizing software though, which will make sure the screen is always filled with an image. If you have a few portrait or oddly cropped images in the mix, the frame will zoom to fill the entire screen. This actually worked pretty well on our test image set.

From a slideshow perspective HP has included a base set of 6 transitions and speeds of 5, 10 or 30 seconds. The df300 also includes an auto shutoff that can be set to 5, 10 or 30 minutes. It makes a lot of sense for such a feature in a device with a battery, we’re glad to see it here.

Otherwise the frame is pretty straightforward. There aren’t a bunch of customizations or extra slideshow features like playlists, but for what it is, the df300 is sufficiently outfitted with display options.

Menu System

It doesn’t get a lot easier to work with than the menu system included with the HP df300. There are four buttons, all of which are used to navigate the menus. When t eh frame is turned on, you can select to view images from the internal memory or via SD card if one is inserted. After selecting the source the frame defaults into a slideshow.

There are two places to access frame/picture options, but both are done the same way. From the main menu pressing and holding the options button will bring up the core set of options. From a slideshow, the same button press gives you options specific to that picture, along with screen settings. It takes a few times through to get the proper use of the options and power button when navigating the menus, but it’s easy to pick up.

The menus and options are well laid out, leading to a pretty good interface. Again, the simplicity of design really helps make the df300 easy to work with.

Display

For a 3.5” 320×240 pixel display, we’re pretty happy with the quality. Horizontal viewing angles are pretty good, which is important if you’re trying to jam several faces around this little frame. But what we weren’t expecting were any display controls.

Like the df820 we recently reviewed, HP has included controls for brightness, contrast, tint and color. These four options are more than most full-featured frames offer, forget about this new class of portable frames. Out of the box contrast and colors are accurate, but you can tweak these settings as you like to get the results you like.

We expected the display to be a hindrance on the df300, but ended up pleasantly surprised. It’s common in a frame of this size for the manufacturer to skimp in an effort to keep the price down. That doesn’t appear to be the case with this HP model.

Battery

The HP df300 includes an internal batter that charges via the mini USB port. The manual claims roughly 2 hours of battery life. In our test we disabled auto shutoff, enabled photo optimization, enabled transitions and started a slideshow with 5 second transitions. Essentially we wanted to prove the minimum possible battery life, with default screen settings. We saw 2 hours and 22 minutes in our test, surprisingly better than what HP quotes. With more conservative usage, you should be able to top 3 hours.

Bottom Line

The HP df300 does what it intends to do. It offers a portable photo viewing experience with design and build that is very good. We can into the review with low expectations, so to say HP surpassed them isn’t entirely fair. They really vastly exceeded everything we thought we’d get with the df300. While it’s hard to gush over a 3.5” frame that doesn’t jam in dozens of high-tech features, HP did what you’re supposed to do – execute well on the basics. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the latest and greatest we forget that clean and simple has its place.

Pros:

• Excellent design and build
• Reasonable feature set
• Good display
• Better than advertised battery life

Cons:

• Limited internal memory

4.5 out of 5 stars – Editor’s Choice

This 8″ frame with built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking capabilities shakes things up, eliminating most of its internal memory (it features a mere 64 MB) in favor of high-tech integration with online photo sources. Want to check out the images from your friend’s vacation that were just posted online? With some limitations, the 85V can pull them directly from the net. In addition to pics from friends and family, Samsung’s newest model can also source current images from your favorite blog, or any other site.

In theory, online integration in a photo frame sounds great. Previous attempts, however, haven’t always lived up (or even come close) to the full potential and promise of seamless network integration. Can Samsung succeed with the 85V where others have failed?

In addition to the 8″ SPF-85V, there’s a non-wireless version (the SPF-85H) in the same size, as well as 10″ models (the SPF-105V and SPF-105P) with and without Wi-Fi. Although there are a few differences between the various models in this series, the basic evaluations presented here apply equally to the other models in this line as well.

Samsung SPF-85V Quick Specs

• 8″ display
• 800 x 600 resolution
• 400:1 contrast ratio
• 64 MB internal memory
• Internal battery (estimated life – 30 minutes playing video, 40 minutes slideshow)
• 802.11b/g wireless
• Auto on/off function
• UbiSync Technology (Secondary PC monitor via USB)
• Auto Photo Resize
• SD/MMC/MS card reader, USB memory slot
• Dimensions – 8.98″ x 7.38″ x 1.79″
• Weight – 1.89 pounds

Design and Build

At a time when most digital photo frame pictures are pushing designs that are increasingly conservative and traditional in an effort to shake off the digital frame’s image as a device for tech geeks only, Samsung goes in the opposite direction with the 85V and its siblings. This frame is sleek, black, and modern.

And with an innovative control arrangement – the 85V’s soft “buttons” are really just separate areas of the frame’s touch-sensitive right-hand bezel, with light-up icons that disappear when the buttons aren’t needed and reappear when the frame is touched – the 85V doesn’t try to hide the “digital” part of “digital picture frame.” Instead, Samsung’s latest frames embrace their status as high-tech gadgets, working to appeal to a younger audience than has traditionally shopped for digital frames with modern-design flair, a flashy interface, and carefully considered wireless network integration.

A highly stylized floral pattern on the back of the frame’s plastic case and a lightly embossed swirl pattern on the front bezel add a slightly feminine touch to the 85V’s overall aesthetic, suggesting that Samsung is targeting a market with its new frames that’s not only young and trend conscious, but also more female than male. Unfortunately, if you’re less than thrilled with the 85V’s looks, there’s not much to be done about it as this frame doesn’t use modular/interchangeable bezels.

The 85V’s plastic stand sits in a tight fitting ball-and-socket joint, and the thick plastic leg gives this device a lot of stability on a desktop. There are no nail recesses for wall-mounting the Samsung and no provision for portrait-orientation display, though a built-in Kensington lock slot may make sense for dorm residents who worry about suitemates with sticky fingers.

At 1.2 inches thick, the 85V cuts a svelte profile for an 8″ display. All in all, the 85V’s plastic casing feels rugged and strong, though it does creak a bit when pressure is applied. The decision to rubberize the bottom of the stand, however, preventing the frame from sliding across slick desktops earns Samsung points for a thoughtful design touch.

Connections are centralized on the left-hand side of the frame, with a small multi-card reader and both mini and full-size USB ports. Two tiny speakers, one on each side of the display area behind the bezel, provide audio output for the 85V, which serves to explain why video or music playback at any volume sounds so muffled and fuzzy with this frame.

Finally, one of the 85V’s selling points is its Wi-Fi connectivity. We’ll delve more into pulling images and other content via the wireless connection in the next section, but for the moment suffice it to say that setting up a network connection with the 85V is as simple as wireless networking gets. The frame will prompt you automatically on initial start-up if wireless networks are detected, and other than the laborious task of entering a long security key without a physical keyboard (you use an on-screen keyboard display and the frame’s arrow buttons instead), there was nothing to report in associating the frame with a wireless network. If you need to make a change, the Settings menu centralizes all Wi-Fi configuration options in one place under a Network subheading.

Memory/Picture Sources

The 85V covers a broad range of connection options, with USB ports capable of both hosting flash drives and connecting to a computer for mass-storage transfers. In both cases, getting images to the frame is a simple task; it shows up as a drive when connected to your computer, and images from flash drives pop up in the Photo display menu under “USB” without prompting, regardless of the file structure of the drive. Audio and video are handled in the same way, though you’ll have to back out to the main menu and scroll down to either the “Audio” or “Video” headings to see these file types.

The frame’s card reader works in the same way, and had no trouble reading SDHCs as well, though it’s only signed for SD, MMC, and Memory Stick. This means, though, that those with CompactFlash or xD memory types are left out in this case when it comes to direct file transfers. With both USB devices and memory cards, the 85V doesn’t prompt you to load images to its internal memory – probably a good thing, given how little of it there is to begin with – but pressing the Menu button while on the photo browser screen or during the slideshow calls up a pop-up menu that lets you copy either single images or the entire contents of an external memory source.

As for file types, JPEGs from several different cameras were all displayed just fine, and the Samsung seems to have no trouble with MP3 audio, either (though I didn’t test other formats). On the video side, both WMV and AVI files are recognized, though WMVs were especially sluggish and jumpy on playback unless you copied them to the internal memory first – which may or may not be an option, depending on the size of the movie.

On that note, I was initially disappointed to learn that Samsung had taken what seemed like a stellar frame all around in the 85V and essentially killed its functionality by only packing in 64 MB of internal memory. Throw a couple of long home movies on there and your built-in storage space is spent. Without loads of internal memory, there are a few ways to approach using the 85V. The first, for old-school types who like physical memory, would be to dedicate a 512 MB flash drive or SD to picture storage duty. USB thumb drives are dirt cheap for their storage capacity, and with the 85V’s auto resize function turned on especially, you may have one with enough free space to greatly expand this frame’s potential just sitting around unused. The downside? Unless the drive is physically tiny, it will visibly stick out from under the bezel on the left-hand side.

The more elegant solution to the 85V’s memory problem is perhaps so simple that it’s elusive: use the frame as Samsung intended it. The point of having a great, easy to configure wireless networking function on a photo frame as Samsung sees it is to be able to pull photos from the web in real time. If friends or family have blogs or travel sites, you can set the 85V up to pull images directly from either RSS feeds or any URL you supply. You’ll need a computer that’s connected to the same wireless network as your frame to add new websites, and getting through this step can be a little scary if you’re easily frightened by technology. Basically, you plug the frame’s configuration IP address (as listed under “Network” in the 85V’s settings menu) into your web browser and…

…you end up at a login screen just like this one. Enter the default password (again, found in the list of network options on the frame itself) and you’re immediately ushered into a tabbed list of configuration options that lets you set up web spaces for the frame to source photos from, configure memory use and network settings, even change what’s playing on the frame.

Once you’ve added sites or feeds to the 85V’s list of spaces to check out via the computer-side control panel, the frame almost immediately begins pulling images from these locations.

“But,” you might ask, “how do I display my personal photos on this frame if I don’t have a website for them?” Simple. The 85V also integrates with the Windows Live Spaces blogging, social networking, and photo sharing service. This free Microsoft service, which resembles the more well-known MySpace in the kind of content it serves, is easy to work with, interfaces flawlessly with the frame (you simply add Space names in the computer-side console in the same way that you add site URLs), and provides a home for uploading your pictures to the web besides. Once you’ve created a Space and associated it with the frame, simply upload whatever photos you want to see displayed on your frame to the service and they appear almost immediately. Of course, if you have friends who also share their photos via Windows Live Spaces, you can add their public images to the list of things to display on your 85V as well.

Basically, Samsung has done an excellent job integrating both URL/RSS image sourcing and images from Windows Live Spaces, and tech savvy users shouldn’t encounter problems getting photos straight from the web through one or more of the 85V’s possible sources. I do wish there was an option to add new sites, feeds, or Spaces on the frame itself without having to sit down at a computer and log into the browser-based configuration utility, but overall, Samsung’s new model is about as smooth and simple as a person could ask for when it comes to getting photos straight from the web. If the internet is the future – and in many ways, the present – when it comes to storing and sharing photos, the 85V might be the first frame that really takes advantage of what that means. Now, give me ways to pull photo feeds from Facebook and Flickr as well and I’d be all set.

It’s entirely possible that after the last few paragraphs, some readers over the age of 50 have already scratched the 85V off of their photo frame short list. Getting the most out of Samsung’s wireless ready frames requires a willingness to dig in to online photo sharing, and technology in general (at the very least, using the 85V in this way mandates an internet connection and a wireless network). If you’re not interested in a device that integrates with your digital lifestyle – or you’re wondering what the heck a “digital lifestyle” even is – most of this device’s advantages will be lost on you, leaving you frustratedly trying to find a work-around for its one crucial disadvantage: limited internal memory. If online photo sharing isn’t already something you’re familiar with, the truth is that there are plenty of other great, easy to use frames at this price point that would probably be better choices, including Samsung’s SPF-85H, which has 1GB of internal memory, but no wireless.

Display Modes

The 85V comes to life quickly, and returns to whatever menu or mode you were in last by default (this can be changed via the Settings menu). An easy-to-understand home screen is the central starting point for all of this frame’s functions and modes.

Enter the Photos heading, for instance, and the 85V takes you to a file browser showing different memory types and letting you move, delete, or view all available images – even those from online locations.

Similar file management interfaces are used for both audio and video files as well.

The frame’s slideshow mode can be accessed either by navigating to and selecting a file for viewing from the image browser screen, or by pressing the slideshow/playback control. Once you’re in slideshow view, pressing the menu control calls up a pop-up list of options.

From this menu, you can modify speed or transitions, set background music, rotate images manually (though the 85V does respect EXIF orientation data if your camera records it), or adjust screen brightness. With a huge list of transitions options, basic playback speed controls, and settings that let you specify which images the 85V uses for the slideshow (internal memory, only those in one folder, all images, etc.) and in what order, there’s a lot going on in the Samsung’s slideshow.

From the home screen, users can also access a basic clock/calendar screen. If you’re connected to a wireless network, the 85V can update its time automatically, and there are lots of alarm clock options. For what’s clearly a desk frame, though, I was a bit surprised to find no options for doing a split-screen clock/calendar/photo display with this frame.

I was also intrigued by Samsung’s claim that the 85V could be used as a mini monitor in conjunction with your computer when connected with the supplied USB cable. Plug the frame into your PC and you’ll see a prompt asking you whether you want to enter storage mode (for file transfers) or monitor mode.

Seems simple, right? Unfortunately, it couldn’t possibly be this easy. Mini monitor mode requires you to install both a driver and Samsung’s control console software on your computer, and try as I might, my computer with its Vista operating system wouldn’t install the software – even though there’s a Vista-specific version. In the same way, Mac users are simply out of luck for software support.

Thinking that Vista might be the problem, I tried the install on a Windows XP machine as well and fared no better. While it seems that everything is in place and the software installed correctly in XP, with my specific configuration at least, I never succeeded in making the frame actually respond as a mini monitor. I’m willing to grant that operator error may have been involved, but after repeated attempts with two machines, it’s seeming like there’s a bug that Samsung has yet to work out with this function. In truth, I would have preferred a basic VGA port connection on the 85V, allowing the frame to be connected as a secondary monitor to just about any laptop out there with no additional software required.

Menu System

I spent a few weeks tinkering with the 85V, and I’ll have to admit that while I love the illuminated soft buttons that “disappear” back into the frame bezel when not in use, I never did get this device’s interface down. Getting from point to point in the menu system, which is made up of a mercifully short list of submenus, was usually an exercise in educated guessing. Want to go out to the menu you were in previously? Sometimes the back arrow does the trick, but it might also be the back button. Or the menu button. Or the up arrow. You get the picture. I would have read the manual for clarification, but unfortunately, Samsung doesn’t provide one except in electronic form, and I never seemed to have a computer handy when I was puzzling over how to find that setup menu I had accidentally stumbled into before.

The Samsung’s sidebar buttons may also frustrate some users. It takes a firm, clean press on a single button area to register a touch, and given how close together the arrow buttons sit in particular, this isn’t always an easy task to accomplish. Depending on what else the frame is doing, the interface can also run a little slow at time: if the 85V is busy downloading new images, for example, it may sit unresponsive for several seconds after a button press before jumping into action. If you got impatient and, thinking your request wasn’t registered, pressed twice (or three, or four times) you may end up somewhere other than where you intended in the menu structure when the 85V finally gets around to responding.

Beyond a little sluggishness and control confusion, however, the menus look great – no cheesy pre-packaged firmware here – and are clear and easy to understand. Samsung’s experience building a range of consumer electronics from computers to cameras to cell phones shows in the level of polish that attends nearly every aspect of the 85V’s interface, from the start-up screen to the fun confirmation noises that accompany each button press (and can easily be turned off once they cease to be fun). In a market where most devices have menu systems that appear to have been cobbled together just to get the job down, the 85V’s clean, purposeful, and concise lists of options are a welcomed change.

Display

Although an 800×600 display on an 8″ frame is hardly groundbreaking, Samsung caught my eye with its claim that its latest frames offer a 400:1 contrast ratio. One look at the frame’s displayed images gave me no reason to doubt the claim.

“Crisp” may be the best way to describe the 85V’s image playback, with vivid colors, deep blacks, and sparkling highlights. Viewing angles are also quite good, showing no signs of color inversion even at the extreme ends of the side-to-side viewing range.

In a perfect world, the 85V would offer color and contrast controls as well. As it stands, all you’ll get with this frame is a brightness slider that’s accessible in slideshow mode. Admittedly, the Samsung’s display comes with plenty of punch right out of the box, but more options to tune up a display are rarely a bad thing. While we’re wishing, I’d also add a light sensor, empowering the 85V to boost or cut screen brightness automatically based on ambient light.

Extra Features

Read the list of specs for this frame and you’ll notice one extremely unusual addition: battery power. Samsung claims the 85V is good for about 40 minutes of picture viewing off the plug thanks to a small built-in, non-replaceable battery. In my experience with the frame, try more like 25 minutes from fully charged to shut down if you’ve got the Wi-Fi running and do anything more on the frame than let the slideshow run. Still, having battery back-up is not a bad feature as far as it goes. Say you want to show some friends pictures from the frame that’s in your bedroom: simply unplug the frame and tote it into the living room, even pass it around for easy viewing. It’s a nifty concept, if not one that you’re likely to take advantage of every day.

In addition to pulling files from feeds or Windows Live Spaces, the 85V can also play back media from your Windows Media Player library. You’ll need to make sure your machine is discoverable on your network, but the first time I connected the frame to my wireless network I was prompted by my computer (running Windows Vista) to share files from my library with the Samsung.

All supported media types, including video and audio files, can be played back on the frame across your network, making your computer’s music library accessible as background music for slideshows if everything is set up correctly.

The 85V also has an auto on/off feature. Unfortunately, it’s not the kind that uses a light or motion sensor to only power up during daylight hours or when people are in the room.

Instead, you have to specify power on and power off times for the device.

Bottom Line

Samsung’s approach with the 85V and related models isn’t for everyone. For some, so little internal memory in a frame that’s hovering around the $200 mark at most retailers will be a big turn-off. For digitally savvy users, though, a deficiency in this one area will be more than made up for by the fact that Samsung’s new wireless models are among the best around when it comes to getting fresh photos from the web. There aren’t any crazy hoops to jump through or special software to install. Just tell the 85V where to go look for images and it brings them back instantly. Use the Samsung for a few days and you figure out that wireless connectivity wasn’t just included for the marketing copy it provides: instead, once you make it a habit of accessing your images remotely via the internet, the 85V may make you wonder why you ever bothered with saving them locally in the first place. With some refinements in the next generation – most notably, integration with more photo sharing and social networking sites, or even the ability to push images directly from the frame’s card reader to image hosting locations, plus a fix for that mini monitor function – Samsung could have a real game-changer with these models.

Pros

• Wi-Fi is relatively easy to set up and use
• Excellent display
• Modern styling should appeal to a younger audience
• Innovative interface

Cons

• Menu navigation can be challenging
• Highly limited internal memory
• Mini display function still has kinks to work out
• Video playback jumpy, audio weak

4 out of 5 stars

HP df820 Quick Specs

• 8” LCD screen
• 800×600 pixels
• 512 MB internal memory
• Built-in card reader supports SD/SDHC, xD, Memory Stick, and CF
• USB and mini USB ports
• Audio/video playback
• Direct print via PictBridge
• Interchangeable mat system

Design and Build

The HP df820 is a conservatively styled 8″ digital photo frame from HP. Visually and functionally, the df820 is a no-frills device, with a plain, classy appearance that helps it blend in in home or office environments and a set of features that focuses on image and video playback without “tech head” distractions like Wi-Fi connectivity or touch interfaces.

If you’re thinking that this HP’s basic styling looks familiar, you’d be right. On both the hardware and firmware fronts, the df820 is very similar to a Pandigital model recently reviewed on this site – so much so, in fact, that it’s almost certain that the two models come from the same OEM. Of course, this isn’t necessarily a mark against the HP, just something we thought worth noting.

The HP df820 has a removable frame that’s made of composite material but painted to resemble dark wood, which holds in place a glass pane and double mat just like you’d find in a traditional photo frame. The frame comes with a stack of interchangeable mats in different colors and finishes. With three inner and three outer mats in addition to the cream and white ones that come loaded into the frame, the options for changing up the df820 to match your decor or mood are very robust. I didn’t take the time to count up the number of possible permutations (and it’s been awhile since I’ve had a math class), but the fact that you can use the larger outer mats by themselves as well means that there are a bunch of different color combinations available – in styles ranging from a classic blue/white combo that looks great in an executive office to a flashy black/silver setup more at home in a teenager’s bedroom.

Changing out the mats is a simple matter thanks to four large thumbscrews that hold the frame to the actual display unit. Besides being careful in handling the glass, the only trick is to make sure that the hole for the IR sensor in the outer mat is lined up with the remote control sensor itself on the display. Otherwise, you’ll be taking things apart again to get everything turned around once you figure out that your remote isn’t working.

The df820 sits just under an inch and a half thick from the front of the bezel to the back of case, meaning that it doesn’t protrude so much as to look awkward hanging on a wall. A single nail recess only allows for landscape orientation wall mounting, but the frame’s plastic swing-out desktop stand can be used in either portrait or landscape arrangement when positioning the device on a table or desk. An orientation sensor automatically rotates images depending on how the frame is set up, but the menus always default to landscape orientation regardless – meaning you’ll have to turn your head sideways to figure out what’s going on if you keep the frame set up in its vertical arrangement.

The short stand is a bit flimsy, making the df820 particularly unstable on a desktop when positioned in portrait orientation, though it feels none too solid in landscape mode either. Best to set up the HP in a location where it won’t get bumped or moved around much if you’re using the stand.

Connections are all centralized on the righthand side of the frame when viewing it straight ahead, with two card readers and both full-size and mini USB ports allowing images to be pulled over to the frame from a variety of media types.

Buttons are positioned on top of the display unit itself, sitting well behind the edge of the frame. Five buttons provide complete if a bit clunky access to the df820′s clear menus.

One of the more awkward interface decisions on this frame involves the brightness dial control that sits to the left of the menu buttons. The dial, which overrides any brightness adjustments made in the on-screen color controls console, seems like an odd addition; it’s as if the designers were looking for something to do with a leftover dial, which serves (only slightly more usefully) as a volume control for the headphone jack on Pandigital’s variant of this same design.

Memory/Picture Sources

The HP df820 packs in a respectable 512 MB of internal memory, assuring that you’ll have room for hundreds of full-res images from your typical consumer digital camera – or even thousands, assuming you leave the frame’s default “Auto Image Compression” setting enabled or resize your shots to 800×600 beforehand.

Getting images to the df820′s memory is as simple as knowing where to put your card: the HP’s built-in CF and multi-card (SD/SDHC, MS, and xD) readers handle images and video files from all of the common camera media types currently in use without issue. Likewise, there’s a full-size “host” USB port for connecting flash drives directly to the df820 to copy files.

What doesn’t work well, however, is the way the df820 handles batch file transfers from external media. From all indications, there’s no way to transfer multiple images from a card or drive with this device. Instead, you’re limited to moving through individual files, pressing the copy button on the remote each time a file you’d like to transfer comes up, and then sending it to the internal memory. Given that most frames in this price range will not only allow batch transfers from memory cards, but even walk you through the process through prompts when a memory card is inserted, the lack of any such functionality on the df820 definitely seems like a serious oversight.

Of course, you can connect the df820 to a computer via its mini USB port and supplied cable to transfer lots of files quickly. The device shows up as drive, and moving bulk images this way is a snap. But with the amount of memory this HP packs, you’d think there would be a more intuitive solution for filling up that internal storage space with lots of files directly from your memory cards.

Display Modes

After a relatively long boot-up cycle of nearly 15 seconds, the df820 defaults into slideshow mode, playing back images from any external media before cycling through those on the internal memory unless you tell it otherwise. Two clicks of the menu button call up the source selection prompt, which shows all available file sources and allows you to select where you’d like the df820 to display its images from.

Unfortunately, however, there’s no option for interspersing images from multiple memory sources: once you select a memory location to play files from, the df820 simply cycles through whatever images are available in that single location.

As a multimedia frame with built-in speakers, the df820 lets users add MP3 audio to slideshows; audio files are copied onto the device using the same basic process as images. In setting up the slideshow, a few basic transitions are available, and viewers can also choose how long each image is displayed – from as little as a few seconds up to a full day per image. A wide range of options and controls makes the df820′s slideshow options pretty rewarding.

One of HP’s talking points for the df820 involves its “Digital Matting” function, which applies one of six different borders to your image if selected.

It’s a little bit goofy, and since the borders are labeled generically (Option 1, Option 2, etc.) it’s impossible to know what each one looks like without a test run to find out.

The df820 also provides a nice multi-info mode within the time mode. Users can pick how they want the information to lay out via an option in the setup menu, but the same basic components (a calendar, a clock, and two images) always appear regardless of the specific arrangement selected. For office desktop use, though, the HP’s quadrant display mode looks nice and provides all the important info about time and date neatly and legibly.

The df820 can also be easily programmed to start up or shut down at a certain time of day every day. While this feature may be good for retail or other commercial applications, a sensor that allows the display to hibernate when viewers aren’t around would have been an even nicer touch for home use.

Although it’s capable of multimedia playback, the df820 wanted to stutter some in playing back video clips directly from external memory. Copying the file to internal memory first smoothed out playback (especially audio playback) considerably. Likewise, speaker placement isn’t ideal if you’re hanging the frame on a wall, with sound from the df820′s rear-facing speakers getting severely muffled when wall-mounted. HP doesn’t list what video file types are supported, and although I’m assuming the frame can handle the most common varieties, I was only able to test the unit in person with AVI clips.

Menu System

With its simple set of features and options, the df820 has one of the more manageable interfaces I’ve seen in a digital picture frame. Entering the HP’s pictorial master menu, options for pictures, video, and audio provide direct access to each of these respective file types, and a clock icon enters the time set mode.

For exploring the df820′s options, the setup menu is where you’ll spend most of your time. Thankfully, most of the options in the list are completely self-explanatory, and submenus are easy to deal with as well.

The only real issue worth noting with the df820′s menu concerns the fact that it’s so hard – almost impossible, in fact – and unintuitive to navigate using only the frame’s five built-in buttons. Thankfully the included wireless remote works well, and with its directional controller is much easier to deal with when it comes time to navigate the df820′s menus.

Display

The df820′s 800×600 8″ LCD panel is nothing particularly special for this class of digital picture frame, but it does provide performance that’s acceptable for this price point. Like most frame displays, there’s not much viewing latitude along the vertical axis, with colors inverting pretty quickly if you’re viewing from too far above or too far below the screen.

Side-to-side viewing, however, holds together all the way out to almost 90 degrees in each direction, providing a nice wide field of coverage that makes the df820 work well as a wall unit.

Colors are accurate and contrast is excellent by default, but if you want to give the picture on your frame a tune up, the df820 can oblige. Pressing the color control button on the remote while the frame is in slideshow mode calls up a picture control menu with basic adjustment options: brightness, contrast, tint, and color.

Tweak the settings as desired, press the color control button to save your changes, and the df820 will remember your picture adjustments across sessions.

Finally, while I think the glass plate over the display unit adds a touch of class and makes the df820 look less “digital” than many digital photo frames, it should be noted that it can also cause severe glare and make on-screen images basically unviewable depending on how ambient light hits it. Of course, with the df820′s modular design, you can always remove the glass if it’s causing problems for you.

Extra Features

The HP df820 allows you to print images directly from the frame to any PictBridge compatible photo printer. To configure this option, you’ll need to connect the frame to your printer’s PictBridge input via the frame’s mini USB port and change the “USB Mode” parameter from “PC” to “Printer” in the setup menu.

Once these changes are made, however, printing is as simple as pressing the “Print” button on the remote whenever the image that you’d like to print is displayed in slideshow mode. The df820 will prompt to confirm that you’d actually like to print the image.

Output sizes and quality options will depend on your printer-side configuration, and using the direct print option with images that have been resized for the frame isn’t recommended (as 800×600 at high compression is almost too small for any print larger than 4×6). However, I had no trouble actually printing images directly from the frame to my HP photo printer, and while this feature will be nothing more than a novelty for most users, if you have both the df820 and a photo printer on your desk, there’s really no reason not to hook them up: it makes creating quick prints for friends or family members a snap and yields better quality than the Smartparts digital frame with embedded photo printer.

Bottom Line

The HP df820 isn’t a cheap frame in any sense of the word. It’s certainly well made, but it also commands a pretty high price tag for one of the more conventional and featureless frames reviewed around here in awhile. If vanilla is your favorite flavor, the df820 may appeal with its elegant simplicity and refreshing lack of frustrating and poorly implemented advanced features. It’s the little things that hurt the df820′s appeal, though: no way to copy all the files from a memory card into internal memory with a single button, no way to shuffle images from multiple sources, and sluggish behavior when viewing images or videos directly from external media. The df820′s direct print feature is a nice touch if you’re among those who will actually get use out of it, but overall, the df820 runs the risk of seeming a little boring and simplistic. And while that may be just what some users are looking for, the price tag may seem a little too high for many others.

Pros

• Plenty of internal storage
• Well implemented direct print function
• Easy-to-use interface
• Interchangeable mats

Cons

• Slideshow options a bit limited
• No way to copy all images from external sources

Three and a half out of five stars

The Image Moments 6 digital photo frame from Digital Foci is one of three in the Image Moments family. In addition to the Image Moments 6, which is incidentally a 5.7” display, Digital Foci offers an 8” and 15” model (due out 2009). The IM6 includes a few unique features, including most notably a very high pixel density for a frame this size, along with a classic design that’s being pitched for the executive desktop.

Digital Foci Image Moments 6 IMT-063 Quick Specs

• 5.7″ color digital TFT LCD screen
• Resolution – 640 x 480 pixels (VGA)
• Picture aspect ratio – 4:3
• Contrast ratio – 300:1
• Brightness – 220 nits
• Onboard memory 450 MB
• Memory cards supported  – CompactFlash, xD, SD, MMC, Memory Stick
• USB 2.0 Device (for computer connection)
• Dimensions – 6.5“ (W) x 5.4” (H) x 1.7” (D)
• Weight – 0.9 lbs

Design and Build

Digital Foci is pitching the Image Moments 6 as an executive frame. What that means exactly is a little unclear, but the aluminum frame design is more appropriate for a desk than most kitchen counters. Still, the frame looks nice and would fit in nicely with a desk or more modern home designs.

Digital Foci has done a nice job with the stand too. It’s integrated with the back of the unit instead of an extra piece that screws, snaps or otherwise bolts on. The only downside is that while it’s plenty sturdy in horizontal mode, the stand isn’t reliable vertically; the frame is very easy to tip over to the left. Aside from the stand, the back of the frame houses a power button, dual speakers, power adaptor and the somewhat unusual headphone jack.

Memory card access is stowed on the right side of the frame, and the Image Moments 6 accounts for just about everything, except USB drives. They do support the usual suspects though of SD, MMC, MS and even CF.  Not that it matters, but Digital Foci included a separate Memory Stick reader, so there are three in total. We only note that fact because it’s a bit unusual, most frames have a single card reader for the non-CF formats. They’ve also included the much desired mini-USB connection on the right side of the frame for quickly moving files from your computer to the frame’s internal memory.

The top of the frame houses navigation buttons and a handy 5-way navigational joystick. The net result is a set of on-frame hardware buttons that make the frame largely usable even without the remote.

The only thing that we struggle with in terms of build is that the frame feels cheap. It’s all plastic and for this price, we just want something that feels more sturdy, especially if the audience is the executive crowd who are often in tune with things like material quality.

Memory/Picture Sources

As noted, the Image Moments 6 does a good job of accommodating for all memory cards, including CF, which is a surprise in a frame of this size. The only negative on this front is the lack of support for USB drives, which is becoming increasingly common even in smaller frames.

Aside from the card reader, Digital Foci has included 450MB of RAM, which is better than average for this class of frame. The memory can be accessed directly by copying images from a PC over USB connection. You can also move files from external memory into the frame’s onboard RAM, but that’s a bit easier said than done.

When you go into the file copy menu, even with external memory inserted, the default view shows the source and destination as the internal memory. I don’t know why anyone would want to start by copying files from the internal memory to the internal memory, but okay. You can select the entire SD card, which in my test case was larger than the frame’s internal memory. To pick individual files to copy, you have to hit the + button on the remote which increases volume and apparently gets you into sub-folders of the external memory card (incidentally the play button starts a file transfer). To Digital Foci’s credit, they do provide tiny thumbnails next to the image file names so it’s easier to tell what you’ve moving, but the entire process is so onerous I gave up and went to the direct cable connection to a PC. Users just shouldn’t have to read the manual to find that there are nine buttons they’ll need to move files to their frame.

Display Modes

The Image Moments 6 is pretty stacked when it comes to playback options, even with the only default auto-play option being internal memory. The frame offers plenty of management options including 16 slideshow interval options and the ability to play photos, videos or both when the frame is powered on.

Digital Foci has also done some work around playlists, not unlike what you’d set up to listen to music. This is actually an important differentiating factor as we haven’t seen much on this front. Most frames will play a slideshow, and the Image Moments 6 does the same, with random intervals, transitions, music and the like. But the frame also supports user-created playlists, which gives more control over how photos, videos and music are presented.

Setting up and managing playlists is a bit of a hassle, but it’s still a great option and one that we’d like to see more frames bring to the table. Incidentally you can replace the default playlist with one of your own, so on startup you get your own cheesy presentation instead of the one included with the frame.

It is worth making clear that the Image Moments 6 handles both video and audio files pretty well, which is not common in frames this size. Two speakers are also integrated into the back of the frame which are adequate to play background music, but certainly not good enough to really enjoy background music. The frame also has an external audio jack to connecting to speakers or headphones.

Menu System

Upon pressing the home button on the remote or the top of the frame, the user is presented with what appears to be an easy to understand interface for working with their frame. Unfortunately the frame misses on so many fronts, the entire experience is painful.

Just moving around between browse modes, sources and device management is a problem. The default is browse mode and pressing down gets you to playback sources. You might press right to move the selector to device management, but that’s not how it works, you need to press down again. Copying files to internal memory from external storage suffers similar usability flaws. In fact they’re prevalent throughout the frame, making it difficult to use and frankly, annoying.

Even allowing for the occasional navigation gaffe, the Image Moments 6 suffers from a troublesome flaw. It doesn’t remember what you were watching last. It’s like the movie Groundhog Day, every time you turn on the frame it starts with the internal memory, which is loaded with cheesy music and stock photos. It takes 5 button presses to get back to playing a slideshow off the SD card for instance. Sure, if you delete the included files and load your own onto internal memory, you work around it, but that assumes you want to always see the internal files first, rather than those on external memory.

The included remote control is certainly not short on buttons and functions. Of course that’s not always a good thing, and here it’s pretty hit or miss. For instance, it’s fine that there’s a button just for transitions. But when you’re watching a slideshow, the button doesn’t do anything. To change the transitions, you have to go into settings and manage from there. And from there, you have to go back home to get the slideshow started over again.

As is seemingly a constant, frame manufacturers generally aren’t spending enough time making their products easy to use, because they almost all use one of two basic operating systems. The problem is, they’re both awful. Cagic has put a lot of effort into interface and Kodak is making improvements, but unfortunately the larger base of manufacturers isn’t moving in the right direction here, unfortunately Digital Foci is lumped into this group.

Display

Digital Foci has an interesting sales pitch with the display. They’re going with pixel density, which is to say this is a higher resolution display (640×480) than is common for this size frame. The net result is more pixels per inch. Does it matter? Yes. Images look more sharp on this frame than any other we’ve seen in this size. The colors are vibrant and the contrast is well above average. But the display isn’t perfect.

The main drawback is lack of good viewing angles. Head on, the display looks very good, definitely better than other 6” models. But as you move off center, things get bad quickly. You effectively end up with a viewing range of about 45 degrees horizontally before you totally lose the image. And since this is intended to be a desk unit, you’d want the vertical viewing angles to be good too, but they aren’t.

In the end the screen is going to be great for whoever the primary viewer is, but for anyone else, unless you get head-on with it, the pictures are going to look bad or won’t be viewable at all.

Extra Features

While the Image Moments 6 is pretty vanilla in terms of features, the frame does offer an audio out jack, to let users plug in external speakers or headphones. We don’t see a lot of utility in this feature and certainly don’t expect the target audience to use it much, however it’s worth mentioning since this is a unique feature for a frame in this class.

Pros

• High-resolution gives photos a lot of detail

Cons

• Frame is almost entirely plastic
• Bad user interface
• Expensive for this category of frame

Bottom Line

We were excited about the high-res display, but that one feature only goes so far. The usability issues, bad viewing angles and cheap build make this frame one to avoid, especially with the $150 MSRP, which is probably $50 too high for this model.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Kodak is giving the world a first look at the actual hardware of its premium OLED photo frame during the Photokina imaging trade show going on in Germany this week. The Kodak OLED Wireless Frame features Wi-Fi with the ability to auto-source files from the web, multimedia capabilities,  and a touch interface, but its most impressive spec is its 7.6 inch, 800×480 display using OLED technology.

Organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, screen technology has several clear advantages over LCD designs that are easy to see in the new frame. Sharper, more vivid images? Check.

With no backlighting to wash out images (unlike LCDs, OLED displays don’t need backlighting), there’s simply nothing that does saturated colors like this frame does them. You’ve never seen reds like this from a digital frame.

What about an extremely slim display panel?

Yep, the OLED has that too.

Plus Kodak is one of the only photo frame companies at the moment that has spent lots of time developing a new interface for a frame. The OLED’s touch-frame control system, in which an array of touch sensitive soft buttons light up and allow you to manipulate on-screen menus, makes no apologies for being that much more visually interesting and easy to use than basically everything else out there.

Maybe the interface design will trickle down to some of Kodak’s more fiscally responsible frames, because with a thousand-dollar price tag for the OLED, it’s still not clear if there’s anyone out there ready to fork over that kind of money, even for what may be the world’s nicest tabletop photo frame.

Related News:

Kodak OLED Digital Picture Frame Announced

That’s the basic question posed by Cagic (think “magic,” but with a “C”), yet another newcomer in the world of digital photo frames. The 8.4” Cagic8 is touted as a user-friendly, visually appealing frame for home or office use. It features “touch-matting” controls that preclude the need for physical buttons, infinitely upgradeable SD storage memory, and a traditional look featuring natural wood and brushed aluminum.

Cagic8 Quick Specs

• LCD: 8.4” Full Color TFT LCD
• Resolution: 800×600
• Mini USB connection
• Compatible memory: CompactFlash (CF), SecureDigital (SD), MMC, xD, MemoryStick, MemoryStick Pro, MemoryStick Duo
• Two separate SD slots: One for semi-permanent storage, one to load photos
• Storage: Included 1 GB SD card holds up to 10,000 photos at 800×600 resolution with CPO5 optimization
• Dimensions: 10.1” x 12” x 3.2”
• Weight: 4 lbs., 2 oz.

Design and Build

Cagic makes a big fuss about the Cagic8’s aesthetics. The frame was designed by a European-trained interior stylist and claims to “elevate the standards of digital picture frames. . . from gadgets to elegant elements of home décor.”

Cagic8 digital picture frame

While the frame is unique insofar as it avoids looking at all like an electronic gadget, it still seems a bit “Plain Jane” after all the design hype. Still, the materials are a cut above other photo frames on the market, with the body (including the stand and mat) being constructed of brushed aluminum, and the frame itself of natural wood. While it’s not interchangeable, the wooden frame is available in three finishes: birch, mahogany, and black.

Owing to the large, curved rear panel, the Cagic8 is not equipped to hang on a wall. Instead, its sturdy metal stand swivels in a nifty ball-and-socket joint, allowing the frame to sit on its own in either landscape or portrait orientation. The stand is also equipped with a pair of small rubber feet to keep the frame from sliding around after it is placed.

With a 3.2” total depth and a weight of just over four pounds, the Cagic8 is fairly described as somewhat bulky. Thus, its placement on a table or desk cannot really be an afterthought. With a deep display area and a thick wooden frame, the Cagic8 is big enough that you’ll need to set aside some space to house it: based on its size alone, this photo frame definitely has stage presence.

A door on the back of the frame flips down to reveal the Cagic8’s memory card and mini USB connection options. I liked that once my media was installed, this door could be closed so that the look of the frame from behind was not marred by visible memory card slots or other ports. In short, the Cagic8 keeps up the appearance of a thick but relatively streamlined traditional photo frame from all angles, covering up nearly every trace of the advanced electronics that lie just beneath its simple, stylish surface.

Memory/Picture Sources

Behind the door on the back of the frame, you’ll find the Cagic8’s three card readers: one for CF, a multi-card slot that handles just about everything else (SD, MMC, MemoryStick, and xD), and an additional SD slot that comes loaded with a 1 GB Kingston card out of the box. Rather than employing internal memory, Cagic opted for a modular solution based on cheap and readily available SD memory that allows users to upgrade or replace the primary memory module as desired – a first in the world of photo frames, according to the manufacturer.

The Cagic8’s full gigabyte of storage memory is also fairly generous for this class of frames, and fits with the frame’s premium image: the included SD can store up to 10,000 photos at 800×600 resolution.

Aside from the card readers, the Cagic8 also features a mini USB port that allows the frame to be connected to a computer for direct PC-to-frame file transfers. One potential oversight here, however, is the lack of a regular USB port. Without a full-size USB port, images can’t be transferred directly from flash drives; a relatively common function among competitive photo frames, having a full-size USB port would provide even more flexibility for getting images onto the Cagic8 (though it’s not entirely clear where a USB port could be fitted onto the frame’s clean-lined, minimalist exterior anyway).

Editor’s Note: We reviewed a pre-production frame. Upon reading our review, the company sent along this note, “the final product ships with a mini USB adapter to make it a full USB port, along with a USB cable. I think you’ll find in future revisions we’ll be addressing the mini USB port, but we did want to provide people with the ability to use thumb drives, albeit with an adapter.”

Copying photos from my SD card to the storage SD card was a snap. Once a card is inserted, the frame prompts you to either store the photos or just view them. It then confirms your choice, and while it took around ten minutes to transfer my 86 full-resolution photos to the Cagic8’s storage memory, once the first ten or so had been copied, the slide show began automatically. While the whole process was extremely user-friendly, the Cagic8 does not seem to have the capability to transfer only selected photos from the user’s card. Once the photos are stored, however, the user can select which ones to view, or delete unneeded shots as desired.

Display Modes

Without any dedicated buttons, figuring out how to turn the frame takes a little bit of guesswork. Once powered up (you touch the top section of the frame’s metal mat area to turn the frame on), the Cagic8 automatically launches into slideshow mode. Photos from other memory cards are added to the slideshow as soon as the card is inserted in the frame and the user chooses to either copy them to the storage card or simply view them.

The Cagic8 has a nice range of tools and options in its slideshow mode. The delay between image changes can be set anywhere between 1 and 960 seconds. There are five different slide transitions to choose from, in addition to a mode that selects randomly from among all five, and an option for no transition. The Cagic8 can be set up to display photos in full color, black and white, or sepia, and to display photo titles, photo dates, both, or neither. It can also be set up to automatically turn on and off on either a 12 or a 24 hour cycle.

Assuming your camera features an orientation sensor that appends the necessary info to the photo’s EXIF data, the Cagic8 will automatically display images in the correct orientation, letterboxing either landscape or portrait oriented shots depending on the orientation, whether vertical or horizontal, of the frame itself.

It should be noted that, in spite of its premium positioning, this frame does not have the capability to play video or music. Cagic’s explanation for this omission is that digital frames typically are found in offices, living rooms, and family rooms – locations where there are usually other devices that can play video and music, and do so with higher quality than a photo frame could. According to the Cagic8’s press materials, “Cagic is designed to be a frame and to do what frames do best – display memories beautifully and simply.”

Personally, I’m convinced by this argument, but if putting your slideshow to music or playing back videos is important to you, Cagic8 is not the frame for you.

Menu System

The Cagic8 does not use licensed firmware, meaning that its creators started from scratch when it came to developing an interface and menu system. This was probably a good decision on their part as menus on digital photo frames are still notoriously complicated and difficult to use.

The Cagic8 is described as having “touch-matting” technology, which is just what it sounds like. Four touch-responsive soft buttons – occupying the entirety of the top, button, left, and right areas, respectively – are located in the metal mat surrounding the screen. This touch-mat gives the frame a very clean look as it eliminates the need for buttons anywhere on the frame.

Likewise, Cagic says that the touch-mat is superior to a full touch-screen, as it keeps smudgy fingerprints off of the display. It most certainly does, but in working with the frame, I quickly found that while my fingerprints were not making a mess of the screen, they were clearly visible on the metal mat. It may not be a perfect solution to the fingerprint problem, but is probably better than having prints all over the screen just the same.

Upon startup, the Cagic8 jumps directly into the slideshow and from this point the user can bring up the basic slideshow controls by touching anywhere on the mat.

With the basic controls called up, touching either the left or right side mat buttons allows the user to manually move forward or backward through the photos one at a time. Touching the bottom button pauses and then resumes the slideshow, and touching the top rotates the current photo. Touching the bottom and left sides together powers down the frame.

During the slideshow, simultaneously tapping the bottom and right sides of the mat calls up the Cagic8’s menu system. From this point you can access the “Select Photos” menu, which allows you to select to display all photos, all horizontal or all vertical photos, all photos taken on a certain date, or two select specific photos by clicking through a page of thumbnails.

From the main menu, users can also choose to enter the “Frame Preferences” menu. The Preferences menu houses all other options on the Cagic8, allowing you to:

• Set the slideshow delay time
• Turn shuffle mode on and off
• Change the slide transition, photo effects, and photo sizing
• Select displayed photo information
• Adjust the display’s contrast, brightness, and color temperature settings
• Set the current time
• Work with the auto on/off feature
• Turn button press acknowledgement sounds on or off
• Change the menu language

All of these settings are easily modified by following the instructions at the top of the screen and then touching the appropriate areas on the mat to toggle through options and make your selections.

At the large level, the Cagic8 provides a very consistent, streamlined, and easy to understand visual interface that fits well with the design of the frame itself. It seems like the engineers at Cagic really did an admirable job of developing a menu system that meets the control needs of the frame while keeping the number of menu options and levels to a minimum.

Once you figure out the nuances of the Cagic8’s unique touch interface, using the frame’s menu system quickly becomes almost second nature. In this case, Cagic delivers on the promise of “building a better widget” with their in-house developed interface: with clear, simple menus, this may be the most intuitive photo frame you’ve ever used.

Display

The other big piece of the Cagic equation involves a high-end display panel. As with the menu system, the Cagic8’s 800×600 TFT LCD delivers a viewing experience that’s both different and better than what the typical photo frame delivers.

Colors are rich, transitions are smooth, and contrast is strong with deep blacks and pure whites. Color accuracy was also quite good, comparing favorably with the best photo frames I’ve had the pleasure of using. No strange tints or watery colors here.

If you’re a fiend for adjustments, the Cagic8’s display delivers. In keeping with its marketing as a high-end product that’s all about image quality, the frame lets you adjust contrast, brightness, even color temperature (cool to warm) with an image on the screen.

With a little bit of tinkering, the Cagic8’s subtle adjustments allow you to really get things dialed in in terms of display accuracy, and strong, vivid colors straight out of the box mean that even if you’re picky about your photos, you’ll probably be happy with what you see.

The only thing more to hope for in terms of display functions, in fact, might be the inclusion of a light sensor to adjust the output for changing light conditions.

Extra Features

With its focus on visual performance and great looks, there’s not a lot to report about the Cagic8 in this category. As I mentioned, you won’t find video or audio playback options on the Cagic8, and there aren’t any of the kinds wireless network transfer options sometimes found on frames in this price class either. The Cagic8’s touch interface is a unique feature, but beyond that, it’s really all about a great looking frame that displays great looking images and does little else in this case.

Pros:

• Fantastic display, menu system
• Plain wood and metal frame blends in better than most
• Touch interface easy to work with
• Lots of memory out of the box, and the ability to add more

Cons:

• No interchangeable wood frames
• Can’t transfer files directly from jump drives
• If you’re looking for lots of features, the price may seem high

Bottom Line

With what looks like a limited features set on paper, the Cagic8 won’t appeal to everyone. If you’re looking for video or audio playback, this frame can’t deliver. If you’re hoping for interchangeable frame options and a remote control, forget about it. What you see is what you get with Cagic8.

In this case, though, what you see is almost universally good. The frame is simple, stylish, and avoids the look of a cheesy piece of electronic hardware that mars many an otherwise attractive digital photo frame. Cagic’s developed a device that will look at home in just about any home or office, and with the inclusion of what may be the best display and interface arrangement around, things only get better for the Cagic8. Basically, if you’re willing to spend a little more, the Cagic8’s admittedly spendy $180 MSRP definitely buys you one of the most refined photo frame experiences out there.

The Cagic8 is Cagic’s only current digital picture frame offering and is available for purchase only from their site.

5 out of 5 stars

But it’s the touch interface, which promises to make the experience of viewing shots something akin to thumbing through photos in a traditional photo album according to Pandigital, that first grabbed our attention. Without a lot of broad name recognition at the moment, this manufacturer is clearly hoping to break into the photo frame market the old fashioned way: by building a product that does something few others do. Even though we’re fascinated by the idea of a touch interface, the bigger question with the PanTouch will be whether its basic features and functions are solid.

Pandigital PanTouch PAN8002W02T Quick Specs

• 8” LCD screen
• 800×600 pixels
• 512 MB internal memory
• Built-in card reader supports SD/SDHC, xD, Memory Stick, and CF
• USB and mini USB ports
• Audio/video playback
• Touch interface

Design and Build

Opening Pandigital’s box, you’ll find a frame that for all its claims of uniqueness looks pretty much like most of the other digital picture frames out there. That’s not to say that the frame is unattractive, though. Rather, it has a less modern, more traditional look that’s only recently become common among digital photo frames, but should fit in well in the kinds of household spaces most of us inhabit.

A conventional glass plate – just like the one that sits in front of your printed photos in a regular picture frame – and cream photo mat are held in place with a fairly plain looking molded frame. The PanTouch’s removable bezel isn’t actual wood, but it does a decent imitation. Four thumbscrews allow the frame to be removed for glass and screen cleaning, and make it theoretically possible to swap out the frame for a different one – except for the fact that at the moment, Pandigital isn’t offering replacement bezels in other styles.

The fact that this frame is really nothing more than a digital picture box within a traditional photo frame means that you might, if you were industrious, be able improvise your own interchangeable frame system with this unit as a starting point, but in terms of what’s currently available for purchase, you’re stuck with the look you start with in this case.

Fully assembled, the Pandigital frame runs about 1.5 inches thick, or about par for the course in terms of thickness for an 8” frame these days. Four nail/screw recesses on the back panel allow the frame to be mounted on a wall in either landscape or portrait orientation.

You’ll also find a swing-out “kickstand” for supporting the frame on a table or desktop. The stand can also be positioned to allow for portrait or landscape playback.

In spite of the PanTouch’s relatively light weight, however, all is not well with this frame’s flimsy plastic support leg. On more than one occasion, the frame toppled over on my desk after being lightly bumped. Without much rigidity and with no grip material to help it stick to the desk, the stand allows for a lot of slipping and sliding and makes the frame a little more delicate to deal with than some others I’ve used.

Memory card readers and USB connections, playback/menu controls, a headphone jack/audio out with analog volume control, and the master power switch all reside on the top and sides of the unit, recessed several inches below the edge of the frame itself.

Additionally, the back of the device houses a pair of speakers, allowing users to put their slideshows to music or play back video files with audio.

Memory/Picture Sources

On the back of the display, you’ll find two card readers: one for CF memory, and an additional multi-card slot that handles just about anything else (SD/SDHC, MMC, MemoryStick, and xD-Picture Card). A USB port also allows the Pandigital to serve as a host device and transfer files from USB flash drives.

While the memory connections aren’t easily accessible with the frame hanging on a wall, for instance, it’s nice that memory cards and even most flash drives are hidden from view when looking at the frame head on. A mini USB port for transferring files directly from a computer is less conveniently located on the back of the frame, but we’re guessing that Pandigital assumed most users won’t be connecting their computer with the frame hanging on the wall.

I put the Pandigital frame to the test with SDHC, xD, and CF memory, and had no trouble connecting, viewing, and transferring files from these card types. A flash drive in the frame’s USB host port also worked without a hitch. In each case, Pandigital’s latest doesn’t seem to be particular about where images are located, finding files located several levels down in the USB drive’s file structure. Copying a single file, a selected group, or the entire contents of a card to the frame’s internal memory is as easy as selecting the appropriate menu option in the photo view screen.

Speaking of storage, the frame’s 512 MB of internal memory provides enough storage space for around 500 high-res, moderate compression images. If you’re willing to resize your files to fit the frame’s 800×600 display area, you should be able to store more than 3,000 JPEGs, according to Pandigital. That’s not bad capacity at all for a frame in this class, and file management on the PanTouch couldn’t be much easier with its USB connection: simply connect the frame to your computer with the supplied cable and add or remove images, videos, and audio files as desired.

Display Modes

Powering up the PanTouch, the frame launches into slideshow mode unless you tell it otherwise. There’s no memory function, meaning that the slideshow returns to the top of the list of images whenever the power is cycled. The only problem here is one of startup times, with the PanTouch taking roughly 20 seconds to boot up and display the first image from the time the switch is flipped.

Photos from memory cards or flash drives can be added to the mix instantly by simply inserting the memory type into the frame’s reader. The PanTouch will immediately move to the first image on any connected external memory type before displaying shots from its internal memory (unless shuffle mode is selected, that is).

The PanTouch is a bit weak on slideshow options. While background music – the frame supports MP3s only – can be added, the PanTouch is limited to six slide-to-slide transition effects and three playback speed settings (fast, medium, and slow). Hence, there’s no way to set up this particular model to only change images once every 15 minutes, or once an hour.

With desktop use clearly in mind, the PanTouch also features a Calendar/Clock mode, with a small window that displays the slideshow alongside a month-at-a-time calendar view.

Video playback on digital photo frames tends to be hit or miss, but the PanTouch lands a hit in this case. The frame had no trouble smoothly playing back 640×480 AVI video directly from a memory card; while supported video formats aren’t specified, we were also able to successfully view MPEG clips. And even the audio playback isn’t terrible. The PanTouch is capable of more distortion-free volume than I expected, though the sound is a little thin. Also, because of the position of the speakers on the back panel of the frame, audio is noticeably more muffled when the frame is mounted on a wall than when it’s sitting on a desktop with the speakers able to direct sound outward without obstruction.

Menu System

The 8″ PanTouch’s menu structure is relatively transparent for a digital frame. From the easy to access Home screen, users can get to one of six basic modules: Photos, Music, Video, File, Clock, and Network Photo (if you have Pandigital’s optional Wi-Fi dongle attached).

Jumping into the Photos, Music, or Video areas pulls up thumbnails of all available files of the type indicated by the area name. Viewing photos full-screen or playing back video or audio files is as simple as selecting the appropriate item from the list of available options.

Pressing the “Setup” button from the Home screen calls up a master setup menu with options mostly pertaining to the slideshow. From this menu, users can change slideshow speed or transitions, change video playback settings, specify automatic on/off times for the frame, or even reset all settings to their default values.

In terms of physical interface, you have three methods for controlling what’s going on on this frame: a set of top-mounted buttons, a remote control, and of course the touch interface. Of the three, the five round buttons that sit on top of the display unit itself are by far the least convenient when the frame is set up and in use, as you have to reach behind the bezel to access them – which also means that you can’t easily see which button does what.

The remote control provides redundancy for the top buttons, as well as some additional controls for things like playback volume, in an arrangement that’s much easier for navigating menus.

Pandigital’s generic but easy to use remote was my preferred control style, in fact, until the controller decided to stop working altogether two days into the review. Swapping for a fresh battery did no good. Not a good sign.

As for the touch interface, as it turns out the PanTouch doesn’t actually have a touch screen at all. Rather, the system, which Pandigital calls “Edge Touch”, works like a series of touch-sensitive soft buttons beneath the horizontal and vertical portions of the top right-hand corner of the frame’s mat.

Tap top right corner of the photo mat and you enable the touch system, which mostly just works as a series of directional arrow soft keys to navigate the menus with the same left/right/enter/exit controls found on the back-panel buttons (think the series of five or so soft keys that run down one side of the screen on your bank’s ATM and you’d be on the right track).

Of course, this means that menu control isn’t as simple as touching the option you want to select directly on the Home screen. If anything, having to navigate with the area-specific soft “buttons” is actually less intuitive than just using the remote. As easy as thumbing through pages in a photo album it isn’t, and after the little bit of novelty had worn off, I went back to using the remote and dedicated buttons instead.

Display

The display itself is an 800×600 pixel panel that’s acceptably bright and crisp. Viewing angles are fair to good: there’s practically no color inversion when viewing the frame from side to side, but images tend to invert quickly when looking up or down at the frame at angles greater than around 45 degrees.

Straight out of the box, the PanTouch’s colors looked a little washed out against those from the same images viewed on a computer monitor. Conveniently, the PanTouch allows users to modify screen brightness, contrast, tint, and color by selecting the “Adjust LCD Color” option within the slideshow setup menu. In our case, a little tweak of the brightness setting brought back some vibrancy.

Otherwise, the Pandigital’s display is unremarkable, accurately reproducing the full range of color in even the most vivid images most of the time. I personally find the PanTouch’s traditional glass over mat look appealing, but it should also be noted that the top glass layer, while providing protection for the display itself, can also pick up distracting glare and make on-screen images difficult to see at times. The brighter the room you’re planning to use the PanTouch in, the more this may be a real concern.

Extra Features

The PanTouch has a couple of automatic shutoff options, including the ability to turn the frame on and off automatically at specified times that’s perfect for business uses, as well as a more conventional “sleep timer” that lets you set the frame to sleep automatically in a certain number of hours.

As mentioned above, there’s also a wireless networking option with the PanTouch. To get connected this way, you’ll need to purchase Pandigital’s Wi-Fi adapter, which plugs into the USB host port on the frame. Cost? Currently about $30.

Pros

• Decent internal memory
• Smooth video, audio playback
• Display features color controls

Cons

• Touch interface a bit silly
• Additional frame styles not available

Bottom Line

Ok, so Pandigital’s touch interface is a little bit of a gimmick. But if you can look beyond that, the 8″ PanTouch is a pleasant surprise insofar as it does practically everything else reasonably well. Menus could still be clearer and more logically organized, slideshow options are a bit scarce, and speaker positioning isn’t ideal. But an 8” multimedia frame with a nice display and decent memory capacity for less than $150 doesn’t look like a bad deal to begin with. Factor in the PanTouch’s flexibility in handling file and memory types, its color/contrast controls, and its clean, classy appearance and this model definitely seems to be worthy of serious consideration – touch interface or not.

4 out of 5 stars

The Smartparts SP8PRT is an interesting combination of printer and digital picture frame. Not intended to replace serious photo printers, this model is geared toward the occasional one-off print. So next time Grandma is admiring pictures of the kids on this frame, with a push of a button you can print off a copy for her.

Smartparts SP8PRT Quick Specs

• 8” LCD Display
• 800×600 pixels
• Supports SD, MMC, Memory Stick and xD memory cards
• 128MB internal memory
• USB port
• Printer – 4×6 prints, 36 per cartridge

Design and Build

Front on, the Smartparts frame looks very nice and clean. An actual wooden frame surrounds a beige mat that leads to the LCD panel. The mat and panel are under glass, which seems to lend a more professional look to the frame. At the least, you have almost no risk of damaging the display panel, since it’s behind glass. It also makes cleaning easier, since cleaning products should never touch an LCD panel.

The SP8PRT  has an attractive design

One thing you can’t ignore though is the beefy backside. Thanks to the built-in printer, the SP8PRT is very thick, which may limit the places where you can display the unit. The printer hump serves as the stand too, there’s no extra kickstand to support the frame.

The printer adds a little depth to the body of the frame

On the left side of the printer bump, there are a few buttons that make navigation without the remote possible. There’s also a print button that perpetually blinks blue, I suppose so that you can always find it easily. We did notice odd behavior from the navigation buttons on the frame, the forward and review buttons, at least during slideshows, are mapped backwards. Not exactly critical, but small flaws like this are somewhat apparent throughout the device.

Memory slots and menu buttons

The back of the unit houses the power switch; there is no remote button to power on the unit. It also contains the USB drive slot and the memory card slot. The power switch is placed poorly, it’s difficult to find without looking, especially if you have a USB drive and memory card installed. Something around the side, or power via remote would have been better.

Underneath is the printer cartridge access door. Prints are fed out the right side of the hump.
Generally, it’s a good looking unit that would fit with home and office environments. The wood frame gives it a clean professional look. It is very thick and heavy though, so that may limit the places where it can live.

Memory/Picture Sources

The SP8PRT offers a single multi-card reader that covers SD, MMC, MS and xD. They’ve also included a USB port. Both are on the back of the unit. This is one of the few frames we’ve seen where the USB drive won’t stick out the side, marring the look of the frame. A USB drive will add depth though, to an already thick design. Probably a fair tradeoff in the end however; as it drives us nuts to have USB drives hanging out the side of a frame.

One issue we noticed is that the USB drive we use to test with all of our frames didn’t work real well with this Smartparts unit. The SP8PRT couldn’t find images in sub-folders and MP3’s that were in the root went completely undiscovered. It took a tour of the manual to find that for some reason the frame only supports WMA files.

The frame also comes with 128MB of internal storage, which can hold about 140 resized images. That’s not much memory to work with, and worse, there’s not an easy way to manage the pictures or files stored internally. It would have been nice to have a mini-USB port for connection to a PC for file transfer. You can copy images one at a time, or in bulk, from an external source, but it’s slow.

Display Modes

When the frame is powered on, it starts right into a slideshow. It looks like it picks up the memory card first, so if you want another source, you have to manually make that selection; it does not remember which you had selected last. There are plenty of slideshow options though, including ten transition types and control over transition speed (3, 5, 10, 30 and 60 seconds). There’s also a shuffle option that prevents you from viewing pictures in the same loop.

Smartparts included a speaker in the SP8PRT, so it’s possible to add a soundtrack to your slideshow, though it must be a WMA file as noted above. The frame plays video too, in AVI format, though our test files didn’t play properly.

At the end of the day it feels like this frame has over-promised on the multi-media front. The MP3 issue alone is a bit infuriating and the fact that we can’t play AVI movies when we should be able to is concerning.

Menu System

One of the things that’s perpetually an issue with most frames is a user interface that’s confusing. We have the same problems here with Smartparts. For example, which watching a slideshow say you decide you want to change the transition from fade to something else. To accomplish this you might hit setup on the remote, but that won’t do anything. You have to hit exit, then setup. The interface struggles with issues like this in many places, forcing the user to learn the intricacies to get a proper handle on using the frame.

As noted in the beginning, there are several buttons on the side of the frame, but not all the functions are there, so you’ll still need the remote for things like rotating a picture, controlling the volume and a few other assorted functions.

On the remote front though, I do give Smartparts credit for designing one that we can understand without a key. All of their buttons are properly identified with text labels; to make this remote one of the most intuitive we’ve seen.

Display

We were actually pleasantly surprised with the quality of the display. That’s a good thing though, because if you’re going to call this a digital picture frame that has a printer as a convenience feature, the frame better be pretty darn good. And largely it is, offering crisp images and loads of color controls, something missing from most frames.

The SP8PRT in an office setting

Smartparts includes several display settings that users can toy with on the SP8PRT. Controls for brightness, contrast, tint and color are all included. The only downside is that you can’t adjust these controls while viewing an image, which makes it more trouble than it should be to adjust the display. The only other real point of contention is that because there is glass over the panel, there will be some glare in direct sunlight.

Noticeable glare in a sunlit room

Printer

Of course one of the most compelling features of the Smartparts SP8PRT is the integrated photo printer. It’s attached to the back of the frame, and with a single button press, it quickly spits out a 4×6 print. The frame uses a cartridge that contains both the ink and photo paper required to create 36 prints. Replacement frames can be purchased directly from Smartparts for $19.99 each, or .56/print. Of course that number is higher than what you’d pay with an online service or a photo kiosk at your local drugstore, but there is a definite convenience factor. And that convenience is really what Smartparts is banking on with the included printer. It’s their hope that when Grandma comes over and is looking at your frame and comments as to how good Junior looks at the zoo, within seconds you can print a copy for her to put on the refrigerator. To somewhat validate their idea, just last week a competing frame and printer combo was announced out of Asia, so this could be a trend that picks up steam.

Printer cartridge – loaded in the bottom of the frame

At the end of the day though, the printer has to be at least reasonably good to be effective. It’s not fair to expect professional quality, or really even dedicated home photo printer quality. What you want is a reasonable replica of the image on the screen. Largely, the SP8PRT delivers on that goal, with a few caveats.

The first thing is that pictures that have been resized to 800×600 to fit the frame resolution print at worse quality than those left in their original resolution. This means that if you intend to use the printer, don’t resize your images. This also means that you’ll need to use an external storage card or USB drive to show the images, because there isn’t enough internal memory to store many 4-5 MB files. If you print the lower resolution files, you’ll notice a lot of jagged edges and issues around any detailed parts.

Assuming you print full sized images, the quality is generally reasonable. The printer does struggle with skin tones, so expect people to come out more red than they look in the frame. We also found some prints looked a bit hazy. But in the end, the results were acceptable. So long as your expectations are reasonable going in, the printer does what it’s supposed to do.

Extra Features

Aside from the printer, this frame is pretty light on extra features. Smartparts does include nice color controls, as noted above, but there’s no auto-shutoff feature, image correction or other such goodies.

Pros

• Printer does its job
• Frame is visually appealing

Cons

• User Interface needs work
• Plays WMA files but not MP3

Bottom Line

We’re not sure how many people will see the utility in being able to instantly shoot out decent prints from their digital picture frame. If however this is something you think would be fun, in a similar way the Polaroid cameras were fun, then this frame is right for you. We don’t love the menus and think Smartparts has some work to do to tighten up the next version, but at the end of the day, it’s good enough for what it aims to accomplish.

3 out of 5 stars

GiiNii 8” Ultra-Thin Quick Specs

• 8” LCD
• 4:3 aspect ratio, 800×600 resolution
• 128MB internal memory
• Supports SD, Memory Stick, MMC, CF, xD and USB
• Mini USB for file transfer
• Removable faceplate
• Remote control
• Light sensor that adjusts brightness based on room conditions
• Integrated Speakers
• Video playback
• Smart sleep mode

Design and Build

I was actually pretty surprised by the GiiNii frame upon unboxing. Sure, the box says it’s ultra-thin, but then again, most digital picture frames aren’t noticeably thick. At .78 inches deep, this frame is about half as thick as other models. And it’s not just thin; the back is actually surprisingly well-designed. I know, it’s a little weird to be excited about the back of the frame, but really, a nice back may give you more flexibility in finding a location for the frame.

Attractive looking frame

The back also houses a full set of menu buttons, which is nice. The remote isn’t always handy, so being able to still work with the frame sans remote, is good. The back also houses the speaker and wall hanging slots. The biggest problem we have with the back of the frame is the stand. It actually screws into the frame. If you don’t over tighten, which is easy, you can still rotate the stand to re-orient, but it doesn’t sound good. It’s plenty sturdy, but hopefully GiiNii can find a more elegant stand solution the next time around.

Giinii 8″ Ultra Thin Back

Moving around to the front, the 8” display has a thin white border around it, then a brushed aluminum finish followed by a laminate wood frame. The presentation is traditional, with a bit of trendiness thanks to the metal accent. If you want a more contemporary look, the spring loaded wooden outer frame comes off with little effort. The frame is less stable without the exterior frame though and angles down more to make straight-on viewing more difficult.

GiiNii 8″ Without Wooden Frame

Overall the GiiNii 8” Ultra Thin is well designed and with the removable outer-frame, it has a lot of flexibility to fit with different decorating styles.

Memory/Picture Sources

GiiNii has included two card readers with this frame. One is for CF, the other is a multi-reader for the smaller cards, including SD, MMC, MS and even xD. Additionally, there’s a USB port on the right side that can be used to show pictures. The USB port is pretty close to the edge though, so even the smallest USB drives will hang out past the frame’s edge some.

USB drive protruding from the frame

The frame also includes 128MB of internal memory. That means you can get roughly 140 properly sized images on the frame, which in this price class ($120 MSRP), is a little below average. We would have liked to see at least 256MB if not more for a full-featured frame like this. GiiNii does offer versions with more RAM with certain retailers, but the price will also be higher.

Memory card slots/mini-USB port

Even though it’s lacking RAM, at least GiiNii includes the mini-USB port so you can connect the frame to a PC to transfer images over in bulk. That’s a feature we had taken for granted, until we reviewed the new wireless D-Link model that omitted this port.

Display Modes

The frame will immediately start into a slideshow, either from internal memory or external source, once it’s turned on. By default the frame plays your photos in order, though you may switch it to random, or set it on single view to just show a single image. The fun thing with single view though is that it still plays the transitions as if it’s moving from slide to slide, so the presentation is pretty disjointed. If you want to view a single picture, it’s best to just pause the slideshow on the image you want while it’s playing. Speaking of transitions, you can set to random, or select one of seven options, or turn them off entirely.

GiiNii offers several other options for the slideshows as well. Users may set the intervals; 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, half hour or hourly. Slideshows may also be set to music, the main benefit of having a speaker on the frame. Of course the music may be muted as well. The frame can also be put in collage mode, which offers four different scenes, where pictures are inserted. The frame does a fair job of picking out the subject of each picture to insert it into one of four vignettes (Mother’s day, golf, fishing and baseball), but the end result is a little goofy and the four options are pretty limited. The collage mode is a nice effort, but not entirely useful as it is.

As mentioned, the frame has a speaker and thus can be used as an MP3 player, or it can store music to be used as background for your slideshows. The frame supports MP3 and WMA file formats which leaves out the obvious, downloads from iTunes which are MPEG files. I moved over a few MP3’s though to use as background music for my slideshow. The speaker actually does a surprisingly good job playing music. Of course it’s not going to blow out table-thumping bass, but the songs I loaded up played quite enjoyably, which is as good as it gets with integrated speakers like this. The only thing that bothers me with the music playback on is it shows a timer at the bottom left of the screen that can’t be disabled as far as I can tell. The audio playback is a net positive though, a nice option that you won’t use every day, but great for showing off memories to friends and family.

The GiiNii frame also has the ability to play videos. The frame supports AVI and MOV files and recommends a 320×240 resolution at 30 frames per second. I ran a few at 320×240 and also the 640×480 that my digital camera can record at. Both actually ran pretty well, with a little stuttering during active sequences. Playback isn’t perfect, but pretty reasonable given limited computing horsepower.

Menu System

GiiNii’s menu system is pretty easy to get along with once you learn certain nuances. The first being that you have to hit the exit button during a slideshow to get at some settings, while you have to hit the menu button to get at others. The differentiation is that the exit button leads you to more general frame options, like selecting movie, music or pictures, while the menu button is really slideshow specific. GiiNii could have spent more time to get the menu system tightened up.

Back Menu Buttons

The frame also comes with a remote to manage the menus. The remote is pretty good, but requires a little education on the icons, as most of them do. The remote’s main failing is that it doesn’t include a power button, so the frame must be turned on in the back. Given the placement of the power button, this is a problem is using the wall-mount.

Remote Control

Thankfully GiiNii included navigation buttons on the back of the frame as well, so most functions can be accessed without the remote.

Light Sensor

On the front of the frame is a little light sensor that is used for auto-brightness adjustments and the smart sleep mode. At first I thought the auto brightness adjustments weren’t working. It appears they probably were, but the moves are very subtle. It’s hard to tell what impact, if any, there really is either in power savings or enjoyment of the pictures. This one goes down as a nice idea, but not very noticeable.

On the sleep mode front, the news is not so good. Auto-shutoff is a big deal with digital picture frames since they’re generally not used for large portions of the day. A frame that can turn itself off at night or during the day when everyone’s at work, is a great idea. GiiNii claims a smart sleep mode on their 8” ultra thin frame, but the execution is confusing. You can set a specific time for the frame to turn off and on, which I suppose is fine for a commercial application, but not something most buyers will use. You can also set it to use the sensor to turn off. There are two problems though. First, the sleep mode leaves a barely visible clock and date on the screen, which makes no sense. You can’t read it; just turn the display off and save the power. Second, when sleep mode is turned on, GiiNii puts a series of three Z’s on the screen the entire time. It’s just silly and makes the pictures all look as if they’ve been oddly watermarked. It’s invasive enough where I wouldn’t use the sleep feature at all, which of course defeats the purpose. It also takes the frame a few minutes to wake back up in sensor mode, where other frames, like the D-Link DSM-210, are nearly instant.

I give GiiNii decent marks for trying to do the right thing here, but the execution is pretty bad. Making the sensor bar work a little better and cleaning up the sleep mode would certainly elevate our view of this frame by at least a full star. As it is, these features that aren’t very well done, and are a significant drag on our review of this frame.

Display

The 8” LCD panel that GiiNii uses for this frame is average. Colors run true and viewing angles are reasonable, but it’s not as bright as we’d like to see. Within the frame settings you may edit brightness and contrast levels. We found that bumping the brightness to full and leaving contrast at default yielded the best results. The display is 800×600 pixels, which provides crisp images in a frame of this size. It’s also standard aspect (4:3) which means standard digital camera shots won’t have to be cropped to fit properly on the display.

Extra Features

This frame includes a clock/date setting along with an alarm option. The clock can be added as an overlay to your pictures, so you get the time and date at all times. If you want, you can also add a calendar overlay which really adds no value. An alarm can also be set up, through a too-long process that ads another icon to the screen in the top left corner. The alarm works as advertised, but with the bell icon plastered on all pictures, I’m not sure if having it on is worth the effort.

Calendar view turned on

Pros

• Appealing product design
• Deep feature set – pictures, video, MP3
• Good speaker

Cons

• Less than expected internal memory
• Poorly done sleep mode

Bottom Line

For a $120 MSRP, we’re left wanting more – more memory, better sleep mode and a more intuitive menu interface for starters. The frame is nicely designed though and will go with a lot of different rooms, but unless you really want the speaker and video playback, there are a lot of other options on the market at this price point.

3 out of 5 stars