I’ve been wanting to try out one of these digital photo frames for a while now– partly because I hate to see the photos I take get shoved into the archives of my hard drive, never to be seen again; and partly because I like the idea of having an ever-rotating place to display photos. I’ve been counseled by many that these frames just aren’t that special given the price you pay for them. After trying out this 9 inch Philips frame, I’d have to mostly agree. The frame itself looks great, with a silver, brushed metal exterior, the display quality impressed me, and it’s packed with features like a photo management system, custom slideshow abilities, and photo editing tools. But I just have a hard time understanding who has the time or energy to use an ancillary gadget like this to it’s fullest potential. It seems as though these should be made for one purpose only: to display as cleanly and efficiently as many of your photos as possible. And in that area, I have some trouble with the fact that this frame only has enough internal memory for about 110-150 photos (although you can access way more through several different types of memory card slots), and that although it has a rechargeable battery, it will only last about an hour before you have to plug it back in via its cumbersome eye sore of a power cord. Don’t get me wrong– I think it would make a great gift for the right photo-loving person, but just make sure you have $200 to spend and that the giftee is someone with a clever place to put it so that the power cord doesn’t annoy the hell of out of them. It comes with a wall hanging kit– but to make it look good on the wall you’d have to feed the cord through a hole in your drywall. It will be nice when these frames employ some super efficient battery technology, but in the meantime, this will have to do.
