Review: Cagic 8″ Digital Picture Frame

Written on Sep 18, 2008 by MKowalski and filed under Cagic, Reviews

If a digital photo frame manufacturer promised to deliver fantastic image quality and ease of use in a device made completely from high-end materials, would you be willing to spend a little more than the price of your average 8” frame for these luxuries?

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.”

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