Digital Photo Frames

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The photo frame is a lifeline for our digital snapshots. In spite of high prices (you’ll need to spend upwards of £50 for a 7'' screen) and very debatable quality and performance, they continue to be a popular accessory. Two families now coexist. On one side you have the fairly high-end products with precise, advanced features and big storage capacity. On the other, products around the £50 mark, much more basic, without any internal memory (you need to inset a memory card), that can be a nice present or allow you to see if you like the concept without breaking the bank. After all, how often are such things left to one side after just a few days?

Design-conscious users

Practical when you want to store you photos elsewhere but your computer or for framing snaps of your too-rarely present grandchildren, the digital frame is also an ornamental object. Design is a key component here, especially as frames are generally chosen by women. There are almost as many styles as there are models! Classic, retro, minimal, in wood, incrusted with glitter, leather, with interchangeable fronts and so on.

Although the quality of displays don’t vary a great deal (TN panels are all much of a muchness, though some are outstandingly poor while others have better contrast), we have seen some extra efforts being made this year. Here we’re referring to increased internal memory, now up to 1 GB or even 2 GB on LG frames, as well as built-in energy economy systems and the introduction of LED screens. Some Philips models use a movement detection system. LG, Samsung and Sony all offer products with timers to turn the frame on and off.

Inaugurated by Samsung last year, the frame that can also be used as an extra computer screen – practical for sliding over applications such as instant messenger or your tools palette – continues its incursion into the market. LG are offering a whole range of frames you can link via USB to your computer.

Digital photo frames come in all sizes (from 3 to 14 inches), from the simplest display unit to the multimedia screen (photo/video/audio/WiFi), for all tastes and right across the price range. In all honesty, today’s multimedia screens are not yet of sufficient quality that you’ll want to watch your films on them. On the audio side, while it can be nice to accompany your slideshows with music, the feature is still very average in terms of quality. And yet, these are the two features that often affect pricing most. Don’t get carried away.

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Samsung SPF-87H Find the best price

Limited to display of photos, that it handles well, this frame with 1 GB of internal memory can also serve as an extra computer screen simply and effectively. No music then, nor video. This frame isn’t immune from the problem of all TN screens: narrow viewing angles. This means you have to be opposite the frame to enjoy the best of it. Viewed from below, the screen darkens a good deal.

£50 and not a penny more! Because you reckon this trend might not last ...

The right price Kodak P820	128 MB of memory LG F7000S-PN	Design and elegance Agfa Photo AF5071PS
Kodak are hitting hard here: this is an 8" frame with 800 x 480 pixel definition (rather than 480 x 234 pixels) controlled with a touch border. Buy an SD card at the same time as it has no internal memory.	Small than the Kodak (7"), it’s resolution is lower but it has 128 MB of internal memory. Ready to go then, which is rare at this price.	This is a 7" / 432 x 234 pixel frame. Much better res frames are out there. But at the low end of the price scale, with its moulded base and finesse, this is the nicest to look at.