digital photo frame
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Audiovox goes wild at CES: digiframes, camcorders, remotes, iPod sound systems
Are you ready for this? No, we mean are you ready for this? We sure hope so, 'cause Audiovox is about to drop eight new products on you here in the desert. Kicking things off is the Acoustic Research brand with two new iPod / iPhone-friendly sound systems: the ARS1i (36-watts) and ARS2i (50-watts). Both of these guys arrive with twin 2.5-inch carbon fiber woofers, two dome tweeters, AM / FM radio functionality, a bundled remote, backlit LCD, soft touch front keys and an auxiliary input jack. The latter also touts a built-in rechargeable battery and portable handle, and while it will list for $199.99 this Spring, the lesser-specced sibling will sell for $50 less. Moving on, there's the RC60i and RC66i iPod clock radios from RCA, with the latter running on standard alkaline batteries and designed for the on-the-go crowd. That one will sell for a penny under $100, while the AC-powered RC60i will be offered at $79.99 when they hit this Spring. Staying on the RCA beat, there's the new line of Small Wonder pocket camcorders. The EZ4000 is a rugged, waterproof version that can capture 1080p clips onto a microSD card for $169.99 (available this Spring), while the palm-sized EZ5000 ($169.99) and EZ5100 ($199.99) look entirely more like a conventional camcorder and offer up 720p / 1080p video recording, 8 megapixel still shots, a 2.4-inch flip-out LCD and a rechargeable battery. The smaller EZ1000, EZ2000 and EZ3000 models round things out on the low end, with full specifications of these in the press release after the break. The outfit is also introducing the DPF8100 ($129.99) and DPF8300 ($129.99) digiframes, both of which are a part of the newly created Décor series; if those are just too classy for you, there's also a 7-inch DPF7407 ($129.99), which fits squarely in the cutely named Celebration series. Closing things out are the $39.99 RCA Voice Control Remote (which gladly listens to commands that you bark at it), a gaggle of new AR outdoor wireless speakers, a few new Jensen in-car head units and Zentral Home Command smartphone remotes. Feel free to dig in for more information on those just past the break. %Gallery-81170%
Pandigital Photo Mail LED frame lets you email snaps over AT&T's wireless network
If there is such a thing as a digital photo frame specialist, Pandigital might very well be it. It should come as no surprise then, that the company has just announced a new cellular-connected product to compete with the forthcoming Vizit frame. Focused on making photo sharing as easy as possible, this new 8-inch LED-backlit display comes with an AT&T cellular connection and associated email account, making the process of getting pictures on it effortless -- and sufficiently remote to let you drop photos off with grandma without having to actually be there. The first 300 mailed snaps are free, at which point you'll have to choose between the 6-in-1 card reader or paying a per-pic charge for further emailing to the 1GB of built-in memory. Costing a cent under $150, the Photo Mail frame will be finding store shelves early this year -- skip past the break if you want to learn more.
Samsung flirts coyly with 7-inch AMOLED Digital Photo Frame
We know exactly what you were thinking when you first heard the news that Kodak was selling its OLED business to LG: 1) wait, Kodak had an OLED business, and b) who the hell will I buy my $1,000 OLED digital photo frame from now? The latter part of this conundrum has just been answered by Samsung who will unveil its 700Z Digital Photo Frame here at CES. Sammy's offering boasts a 7-inch AMOLED display, 4GB of internal memory, Bluetooth with video support. Unfortunately, the frame's million-to-1 contrast ratio isn't enough to distract this product model from her dreams of beauty pageant stardom.
Samsung 800P digital photo frame: because quality matters
You're smart right? Then you probably know that all those low-priced, off-brand digital photo frames with laughably poor instruction manuals and confusing user interfaces so aggressively hocked during the holidays share one common trait: poor displays. Unfortunately, most shoppers won't figure this out until they've brought the unit home. Fact is, you have to pay a little extra to get a decent 8- to 10-inch panel. And really, what's more important than the display on a digital picture frame? So check Samsung's new 800P 8-inch frame. It features an LED-backlit 800x480 pixel panel, 2GB of internal storage (plus microSD expansion), Bluetooth 2.0, support for video and music playback, and Samsung's second generation UI and panel-making expertise. On sale now in Korea for 199,000 of the local stuff or about $159 of the almighty dollar whenever it heads west.
Epson unleashes PictureMate Show photo frame that's also a printer
Epson's just kicked out another in the PictureMate series, and if you're into home printing of family memories, you'll probably want to take heed. The PictureMate Show is a compact printer of super high quality (5,760 x 1,440) 4 x 6-inch photos in about 37 seconds. It also doubles as a photo frame, with the 7-inch, WVGA tilt display on the front of the unit. Anyone who's spent any considerable time with a printer at home trying to print photos knows that the main concerns are always speed and quality of the final product, so it's nice to see that Epson's got its priorities straight here. You can grab up the PictureMate Show now for $299 -- and the full press release is after the break.
Panasonic debuts MW-10 photo frame / iPod dock / sound system
Can something manage to be both an iPod dock and a photo frame yet still manage to look like neither? It can if it's Panasonic's new MW-10 "multimedia audio system photo frame," which looks more like a shrunken down LCD TV than anything else. If that suits your decor, however, it looks like you'll get quite a bit from this little package, including a 9-inch WVGA display, 4GB of internal memory, an SD card slot, an FM tuner, some puported "audiophile-quality sound," and even a built-in CD player to complement the iPod dock 'round back. Look or this one to hit US retailers sometime in December for $299.95 -- or if that's too long to wait, you can pick one up in Japan right now, where it launched last month.
eStarling photo frame might just have more social networking skills than you do
Digital photo frames have been more than just photo frames since the earliest days of the product category, but eStarling looks to be expanding things even further than usual with its new 802.11n Touchscreen Connected Frame. In addition to that speedy WiFi connectivity, this one boasts a fairly large 10.2-inch display, 2GB of RAM, an SD card slot and, most importantly, a slew of social networking features. That includes support for photos from Facebook, Picasa or Flickr (more services are also promised), a built-in Twitter client, a video inbox feature to receive videos shot with cellphones (or any other internet-connected device, for that matter), and even its own Gmail address to let anyone easily send photos straight to the frame. Unfortunately for anyone considering this as an alternative to a kitchen computer, there's no full-fledged web browser, calendar apps, or the like, but it will at least give you weather updates, and could well be further improved by some of the promised firmware updates. Of course, all that will also cost you more than your usual photo frame -- $249.99, to be specific.
One quarter of "broadband households" have digital photo frames, we find one for the rest of you
Yeah, we know; next to pico projectors it's hard to find any bit of technology more boring than digital photo frames. These days they don't catch our eye unless they can print pictures of your pre-school beauty queen or integrate some unexpected combination of networking hardware. Still, they're selling like hotcakes, set to be in 25 percent of "broadband households" by the end of the year. Adoption in dial-up households has not been revealed but we're guessing it's... slower. For those folks we recommend the first ever analog digital frame that may not print anything or hit Flickr or even automatically cycle through those pictures in that hidden directory you forgot about, but it is at least made entirely of wood, which makes it better for the environment than CFL LCDs. And, at just $25 from ThinkGeek, it's a perfect holiday gift -- for yourself.
Sony's S-Frame DPP-F700 digiframe / printer hybrid hitting America in January for $200
Need a digital photo frame? Need a printer? Need them to happen within the same enclosure? If you're one of the oddballs who curiously answered yes -- and you don't actually need it until after the holiday shopping season -- Sony's got you covered. The DPP-F700 digital picture frame with one-touch printing that we saw pop up internationally just last month has finally been blessed with a US ship date and price, and if you've paid any attention whatsoever to the headline, you're probably well aware of what those two data points are. The frame itself will boast a 7-inch display (800 x 480 resolution), 1GB of memory, a multicard reader and will print out "professional quality" 4- x 6-inch photos at 300 x 300 dpi. There's also a nifty "screen capture" mode that prints out exactly what's displayed during a slide show, though there's literally no telling how pricey those refills will be. [Via Slashgear]
CEIVA Pro 80 digiframe accepts new images from MMS, networked PCs
Timely, no? Exactly a year to the day after the CEIVAlife and CEIVAshare went on sale, the creator of those has decided to out its first digiframe since, and we've got to say -- the Pro 80 is a refreshing change of pace in the drab digital photo frame world. Aside from accepting images via the traditional means (USB, memory cards and telepathy), this one can also take in new pixels via a cameraphone or computer... wirelessly! The built-in WiFi module enables networked PCs to pass along slideshows, while PicturePlan customers ($6.95 per month) can send photos in from their mobiles. In case that's not nearly enough to excite you, there's also free CEIVA Channels (ABC News, ESPN, etc.) to keep you occupied. She's all yours for $179.99, or $147.99 if you snag it this holiday season.
D-Link Xtreme N DIR-685 storage router now shipping
Well, what do we have here? D-Link's DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router -- you know, the 802.11n packing, WAP having, BitTorrent running beaut with USB storage support and 3.2-inch display we first laid eyes on in January at CES -- has finally hit store shelves. Every bit as lust-worthy as it was when we initially reviewed it, this bad boy retails for $300. Hit the read link to get in on the action.[Via Electronista]
Mimo's iMo Foto Frame Printer does precisely what you'd expect
Mimo's made quite the name for itself with its delightful array of USB-powered secondary monitors, but now it seems the company is spreading its proverbial wings and introducing something strikingly out of character. The iMo Foto Frame Printer most certainly isn't the first (or second) of its kind, but it just might be the cutest. The digiframe / printer hybrid boasts an 8-inch panel, a memory card slot, bundled remote and an inbuilt photo printer that shoots out 4- x 6-inch images with a 300 x 300dpi print resolution. $229.99 gets you the unit itself, a few cables and a paper cartridge for 36 prints -- after that, you're on your own. Godspeed, young one.[Via Red Ferret]
Sony DPP-F700 digital picture frame with one-touch printing
Digiframes -- how we love to loathe them. Occasionally we see one with a feature such as a scanner or, in this case, a printer, that actually adds some interesting functionality to the thing, but more often than not we're stuck with a tacky housing, odd display dimensions, and occasionally Swarovski crystals. So how about this new Sony DPP-F700? Possibly out as soon as November, this guy sports a 7-inch (16:10, WVGA 800×480) display, 1GB of memory, time / date display, support for a variety of storage formats (including Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, SD Card, SDH Card, CF Card, and xD-Picture Card), and simple editing functions (rotate, zoom, and crop). The printer itself creates 4 x 6-inch, 300 x 300 dpi printouts with integrated TruFast technology and a "one touch printing" button. Rumor is that it will sell for around €200 ($290).[Via Sony Insider]
AgfaPhoto trots out "size zero" line of ultrathin digiframes
We'd argue that we've reached the saturation point when it comes to new digital photo frames, but AgfaPhoto would clearly beg to differ. The outfit famous for cranking out ho hum devices that are easily overshadowed has just introduced seven new ultraslim options, all of which are hoping to see a release prior to the mad rush that is the holiday shopping season. Said to be the "size zero" of digiframes, these measure just 1.3 centimeters thick while shipping in a range of sizes from 7- to 10-inches. As expected, you'll find 1GB of internal storage alongside a multicard reader, and when not flicking through a slideshow of last year's Valentine's bash at the corporate headquarters, it can also play back risque videos from the afterparty. Don't expect these to ship stateside anytime soon, but those across the pond can reportedly snap 'em up for between £49.99 ($83) to £129.99 ($216) later this year.
ASUKA's SK700 digiframe adds DVB-T in vain attempt to wow
Truth be told, ASUKA's first digital photo frame with integrated DVB-T wasn't all that invigorating, so it should come as no surprise that its second one has also failed to get our juices flowing. Of course, we may have felt entirely different if we called South Korea home, but until mobile TV takes off here in the States, we can rest soundly knowing that nothing of this sort will ever make its way into the mainstream. The SK700 that you see above quietly debuted this past week at IFA, bringing with it a 7-inch touchscreen, integrated DVB-T tuner, 800 x 480 resolution, FM reception, multimedia playback, real-time TV recording, 2GB or 4GB of built-in memory, a pair of stereo speakers and even an AV input. There's no word on a price or release date just yet, but you'll probably have to look real hard to spot this one in between the me-toos scattered about.
Sony ICF-CL75iP alarm clock / digital frame / iPod dock a surprisingly attractive assimilation
We'll be honest, it takes a whole lot to get us excited about iPhone / iPod docks or digital picture frames these days, but congratulations Sony, you've managed to pierce through our hardened hearts with the ICF-CL75iP Dream Machine. Sony Insider brings word of the actually quite handsome bedside attraction, an assimilation of those aforementioned products with an alarm clock to boot. We're looking at a 7-inch WVGA LCD screen, 1GB built-in memory, FM / AM radio, and a retractable dock -- in case you don't feel like capitalizing on the total synergistic package. Photos can be pulled directly from the Apple handheld or loaded via USB, and your wake-up options include built-in presets, a customizable 10-second voice recording, or the iPod / iPhone itself. Our only knock at this point is the minimal codec support -- MP3 and WMA for audio, and MP4, M-JPEG, and AVI for video -- but if the $149.95 price on a cached SonyStyle listing stays accurate, we can be a little forgiving. In fact, throw in Chumby widget support and we'll be downright smitten -- make it happen, Sony. Update: Turns out it's actually up for pre-order right now through Sony Style Canada, CAN $199.99 (that's US $180) and shipping out October 1st. [Thanks, Neil!] Read - Sony Insider Read - Sony Style cached listing
Chumby widgets to appear on photo frame, other devices by year's end
Chumby announced that it'd be bringing its snuggly little widgets to other devices all the back in February, and it looks like we're finally seeing some action -- "powered by Chumby" gear should be on shelves by the end of the year. The first device out of the gate will be -- surprise, surprise -- a digital picture frame from an unnamed partner that will apparently integrate with Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter, and offer new feeds, internet radio, and weather. You know, Chumby stuff. We're more interested in seeing the fruits of Chumby's new partnership with Samsung -- Sammy's already doing widgets like crazy with TouchWiz on mobile and Yahoo's Widget Engine in the living room, so we're wondering where Chumby fits in. We're also wondering what'll happen to the Chumby hardware now that the company seems focused on becoming a software company -- maybe we'll finally place that order. [Thanks, Craig; Photo is that sweet Chumby telephone mod]
Sharp's JD-7C1CL/CW pairs a home phone and digiframe in fine fashion
Hey, remember that OpenFrame touchscreen home telephone that we first peeked way back in August of 2008? Seems like O2 and Verizon weren't the only ones looking to jump on that bandwagon, as Sharp has now issued a phone / frame tandem that looks eerily similar. The JD-7C1CL/CW is available in black and white to match the motifs present in 99 percent of pristine suburban domiciles, with the frame packing a 7-inch touch panel (800 x 480) that acts as a status indicator, calendar, clock, address book and (gasp!) photo frame. The phone itself doesn't look to be anything special, though the frame does include a whopping 128MB of internal memory. No word on a price or release date, but really, you shouldn't be considering a "home phone" in 2009 under any circumstances.[Via Akihabara News]
Kodak debuts EasyShare Z950, M381 and M341 digicams
Had enough Kodak this fine morning? No? Good. Just hours after showcasing its newest 1080p pocket camcorder, the aforesaid firm is hitting us up with a few more new pieces to digest. First up is the EasyShare Z950, a modest megazoom-in-a-P&S-body that packs a 10x optical zoom, 12 megapixel sensor and a $279.99 price tag. Next, we've got the totally ho hum EasyShare M381, which also offers a dozen megapixels alongside a 3-inch rear LCD, 5x zoomer, easy upload to Facebook / YouTube, face detection, a variety of lovely hues and an MSRP of $179.99. The last cam is the M341, which steps down to a 3x optical zoom and a smaller 2.7-inch LCD for $149. Closing things out is the EasyShare D830 (£119.99; $196) and D1030 (£169.99; $279) digital photo frames, which check in at 8- and 10-inches respectively (in terms of display size) and tout interchangeable face plates, 512MB of internal memory, a Quick Touch border, memory card reader and a USB port. Everything here should ship in the US and UK by September, though those hungry for additional details are welcome to tap that read link.[Via DigitalCameraInfo]
Toshiba's new digiframes feature social networking, FrameChannel
If you don't own a digiframe yet, perhaps it's because you were waiting for the kids at Toshiba to design something that looked even more like the faceplate of a microwave oven than the usual fare. But that's not the whole story: besides looking at home next to your Cuisinart and rice cooker, this guy also supports FrameChannel accounts, so personalized weather, traffic, sports scores, music, and video are also on the plate -- as well as the Flickr, Photobucket, and Facebook integration that companies like Toshiba think that you want in a digital picture frame. Hitting shelves in August, the 8-inch frame is available in white (DMF82XWU) or black (DMF82XKU) for an MSRP of $179.99. For the 10-inch frame (DMF102XKU, black only) you can expect to pay $229.99.[Via i4u]
