Aluratek's new 11-inch and 15-inch photo frames try and keep up

It's no easy task keeping up with the ever expanding screen sizes of digital photo frames, but Aluratek is doing its darnedest with the new 11-inch ADMPF311F and the 15-inch ADMPF315F frames it just shuffled onto the market. Oddly, the 11-inch model brings 1GB of built-in memory, while the 15-incher only does 256MB, but we're guessing you're going to do most of your viewing off the CompactFlash / SD card readers. The frames can handle JPEG, MPEG, AVI, MP3 and WMV files, offer support for USB thumb drives, show off your photos at a 1024 x 768 resolution, and are priced at $200 and $300, respectively.

[foxdude0486 @ Oct 16th 2007 4:33PM]

wmv files? Looks like I can finally have my room of animated porn art going on! Cause you know... It's art...

[Xaos @ Oct 16th 2007 5:15PM]

No wifi, no deal.

[D.L. @ Oct 16th 2007 5:18PM]

not even RJ45

[Anthony Huff @ Oct 16th 2007 5:22PM]

Why not get a nice monitor?

[scott @ Oct 16th 2007 5:37PM]

I asked the same thing at first, thing is, these frames aren't just monitors. They've got as much processing power as a high-end PDA or better and therefore that's about $110 in circuitry right there. If you factor in the costs of 15 inch displays at about 150, you start seeing why there is a $200 entry point.

Likely the best bang for your buck would still be DIY though, and old dell laptop with wireless would be a lot more versatile than one of these production models.

[Ian Tullie @ Oct 16th 2007 6:18PM]

Having as wide a viewing angle as possible is key to these things, and an old laptop would suck at that.

[Namssorg @ Oct 16th 2007 6:41PM]

Why do ALL of these frames have such shitty resolutions?

[RandomCake @ Oct 17th 2007 3:49AM]

Because hi res displays cost more, and your average digital photoframe buyer isn't all that technically minded and wouldn't appriciate it...

[Bweetza @ Oct 17th 2007 12:58AM]

How many times does the consumer have to request Wi-Fi before the manufacturers wake up? If their excuse is battery life, they are drunk in thinking people don't leave the current frames plugged into a wall outlet to begin with. I purchased the Philips version for my parents last Christmas. It's a beautiful unit and very well built. However, if you really want to use it and not babysit it, you simply leave it plugged in.

So, Wi-Fi, wi-fi, wi-fi, wi-fi.

[Fergus Kane @ Oct 17th 2007 6:02AM]

Before buying, think. Do I need this? Will it add to my life? Is it worth the resources and environmetal cost. Perhaps it would be better to select your best pictures, print them and hang them up. Perhaps not, but think.

[Hannes @ Oct 18th 2007 2:34AM]

I don't understand why they use such a cheap remote? The few dollars for a better remote would not influence the prive so much, but I would expect a better remote for such a large dpf.

http://www.digital-photo-frame-market.info

[Donnie B. @ Oct 18th 2007 7:52AM]

If it is anything like the 10.5" The only good thing that this frame has going for it(IMO)is the hi-res screen and usbhost support.

I have the 10.5" frame ($169)and it is ok for what it does.
The positives:
I can strap a USB HD on it and have a ton of pics/movies/mp3s for it to scroll through.
I can enjoy my high MP pics on a hi-res frame that isn't running some funky/wierd res(480x234, etc).
I can play with the pics. Flip 'em, zoom in, zoom out, rotate 'em till I get bored (5 mins later)
Now the negatives:
Like a previous post, the remote blows. Getting it to run slide show or navigating the menus is an daunting task.
The software on the frame is not the greatest either. My biggest gripe is that it only displays the pics in the order you have them on the mem stick/usb drive/internal mem. No shuffling orders here. It can only change the pic every 0,10,30 seconds whereas others have hourly/daily options.
Also you see the frames in the stores do the fancy transistions? This one has like 15 diferent transitions it can do. The problem is that it does it so fast it looks like the screen just blinks to the next pic.

Anywho, thats my take on it. I bought it for the woman, and she likes it so I have to say it is doing its job. ;)
Maybe they updated the software on the 15s to do more but I doubt it.