 |
Linx Memoire 7"
by catsholiday
Linx 'Memoire' 7" Designer Digital Photo Frame - Black
We have had this digital photo frame for well over year now and it has served us well. It was a gift from my son to my husband a couple of Christmases ago. I actually suggested this as a gift as they were on special offer at Staples and we have lots of photos ... however I am not one to put them up around the house so this was perfect as we could have one frame in our little TV room and that would have a huge range of our specially selected holiday and family photos that we could see on a daily basis. As it runs as a slide show you don't get sick of seeing the same one all the time either.
Some of these digital photo frames are so small that you can hardly see the photo and I can't see the point in having one of those. This one has a photo area that is the same size as a standard photo but it has a black frame around the outer part of the glass. In other words the frame is the same glass but black, there is no fancy twirly outer frame. That suited us as we had fussy frilly things and our room is fairly small with a black leather sofa and black TV so it fitted in very well.
I believe my son paid about £25 and they are selling on Amazon used for about £30 now so he got a good bargain. It fits nicely on our shelf which is about as wide as a normal book shelf. It can stand either landscape or upright as a portrait display. You have to select your photos accordingly as they don't really work when you put portrait photos in the landscape viewing as they are so small.
For the technological geeks reading this digital frame has a 7inch high definition display screen. It also has speakers (2x2.5W) so you can also add music to your slide show if you choose but I think that could be a bit tiresome playing constantly. It would be okay for a specific show but then in that case we would do it on out TV which is big enough for a group to see.
In order to put the photos on the screen you need to use a digital storage card or a mini UBS pen. What I liked about this frame is that is can take a variety of cards through its 4-in-i card reader (SD/XD/MS/MMC) and if that is still a problem then you have the option of using a USB pen which you can buy almost anywhere now in different memory sizes at very reasonable prices.
The video and audio options for putting onto the card or USB pen are also not restricted to just one option. You can put files up in these formats, mpeg1/mpeg2/mpeg4/MP3/WMA which covers most people's needs I would think.
Once you have chosen how you are going to put your files on the frame, card or USB pen then also decided on your format you are then ready to pop whatever method you have chosen into the frame. You MUST ensure the frame is switched off when putting in or taking out your storage.
It is possible to rotate the photos once they are on the card in the frame but we made sure we had chosen photos all going the same way landscape and the few portraits ones we did include were already swung around the correct way.
You can then set up how you want the photos to play; the timing can be altered to suit you. It is a good idea not to have the changes happening too fast as it can be annoying but you can choose the speed that suits you. You can at this stage choose different change modes, coming from the side or top etc. You can also choose to have a calendar o clock as part of the screen but we never bothered as we have both in the room already and it would be a bit of overkill. I can see that be a nice option if you had one of these on your desk at work though.
If you decide that you want to change the way the photos are moving on or want to find a specific photo but can't be bothered to get up to do this then luckily this has a little remote that comes with it and you can do everything with this remote that you can do with the buttons on the frame. This is also handy should you choose to be eco friendly and switch it off at night. We go the whole hog and switch it off at the wall too so the remote doesn't do that!
We have ours set up on a shelf which is above a cupboard that hides our electricity meter so we have this plugged into the mains with the wire hiding in the cupboard. If you wanted to have this somewhere and didn't want the wire dangling down looking messy then it does have the option of using the built in rechargeable batteries. I am not sure how long these last in a charge as we haven't actually used these.
The user manual is actually a folded sheet of A3 paper but it does give good simple instructions and things to try should the frame not show the photos properly. It is in sensible English with clear diagrams and is all you need really to set the thing up.
Now this is obviously a piece of electrical equipment so it needs to be kept away from water. Don't put a vase of flowers or glass of anything next to it if you have cats that roam on your furniture like my daughter has!! I have just read the little manual and I quote;
"Do not splash or fill the digital photo frame with liquids." Surely no-one would think of filling it with liquid!!
You shouldn't fiddle with the frame when it is on with wet hands either as you could get an electric shock.
You should also NOT leave the frame in direct sunlight as that may damage it. Make sure the ventilation area at the back of the frame is never blocked as that will cause overheating and be a potential fire risk. Common sense should tell you to make sure nothing is hanging over this like a curtain as obviously anything electrical is a potential fire risk.
Once the frame is no longer working than do not throw it in the normal rubbish bin you should take it to your nearest recycling facility for safe disposal as electrical products are full of things which will damage the environment and we need to think of the future of the planet for our grandchildren to enjoy.
We have found this a great little photo frame as it is just so easy to selct you photos and save them onto the card or USB pen and then pop this into the frame. We can change the photos in only an hour or so, what takes the time is the choosing of what we want to put on. You could save groups of photos ready in folders on the computer and just copy these onto the card/pen when you fancy a change and that would only take minutes.
The images are lovely and clear and sharp, just as they are shown on a small laptop. Obviously they are quite small so scenery and images such as the Grand Canyon don't look quite so grand but within the size limitations you get a great image and it is a lovely way to remember holidays or events.
We have about four sets of photos in folders saved which we put on in rotation. I shouldn't be so idle and i should do a few more but I feel that it is my husband's toy so I shouldn't take it over.
I thoroughly recommend this little frame as it is big enough for the image to be clearly seen, it is so simple to operate that children could do it. I like the way it doesn't restrict you to using one sort of memory and you can choose how you want the slide show to move on. It is also handy that you can use the rechargeable battery as the wire isn't that attractive and would certainly not add anything to the display if you had it on a coffee table or similar. It is simple but stylish and would suit most rooms I would say.
Thanks for reading. This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.
©Catsholiday
Read the complete review |
 |
Kodak Easyshare P720
by cazkins
I bought my parents a digital photo frame a little while ago as I know they'd mentioned one before, but they didn't think they'd use it much. Granted, they often don't use this, but the times they have it's been a neat and affordable entry-level frame that has worked well.
Kodak specialise in photography and they're very ... popular in their field, becoming a modern, advanced and trustworthy brand. There's a fair range of choice when it comes to digital photo frames so what option would be best does depend up on your budget and what you want to use it for / how much use you'll get out of it. Knowing that the best technology and higher prices wouldn't be justified, I aimed for something with a reasonable cost, that would be high quality, and that would do photos justice adequately. The Easyshare P720 seemed to meet those criteria and being the first and only digital photo frame I've bought and used, I'd say it has been a worthwhile purchase. At the time it was bought, I think it was around £50, and for the brand and its features taken in to account, it was suitable and acceptable when compared to other alternatives.
This photo frame is quite neat, with a 7" photo display and silver trim. I actually prefer black frames, but this went better with the 'décor'. It's plastic, but it doesn't look too cheap or tacky, it just enables it to be a bit more lightweight and pushes it in to the more reasonably priced range. It's a good size at 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.2", and the stand at the back props it up; it takes a bit more room with the stand, but not much more than an average photo frame in the sense that you won't need to clear a whole shelf for a bulky piece of tech! The mains cable is the only other thing you need to factor in to the equation, which we've managed to hide behind the back of the shelf fairly well.
The display is an aSi TFT active matrix with a resolution of 480 x 234 pixels, providing clear, crisp images. No doubt other digi frames will do this better, but I find that this is more than suitable for showing off photos, doing them justice by showing them clearly and well-lit.
I think you can buy this same model but with a frame kit, which presumably personalises the frame a little more by allowing you to choose the frame colour via an add on frame cover. This didn't really interest me because, as I said, the silver fits well with light decor and and although it's not exactly tacky looking, I didn't want a plastic frame cover/sticker to make it tacky.
This photo frame works with JPEG and EXIF image files, and as most photos are stored as JPEGs this is fine. To get your photos on to the frame you can simply insert your memory card or a memory stick, and this supports the following formats: 2 slots - Secure Digital (SD), Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC), Multimedia Card (MMC), MEMORY STICK (MS) and the XD-Picture Card (xD). Again, I'm more than happy with this; more often than not I just use a spare SD card that I used to use with a digital camera, make sure the photos I want shown are on there (such as by connecting the camera to the PC and using a simply drag-drop system) and insert that. That way, you can keep the card in there and not forget to put it back in to your camera! If you don't already have a spare SD, then the USB option is the next best and simplest thing.
Once you've got your photos up you can use the 'quick touch border' on the frame itself to select your options. You can, for instance, use the menu to choose how you want your photos presented, for how long etc. I like this sort of personalisation because it gives you more control over viewing the pics, and the navigation on the boarder is relatively straight forward once you know your way around it. t first, however, I did find it fairly confusing, so it will probably take a little while to get used to and remember what's what and where certain options are. It's touch sensitive enough to be easy to use and I haven't really found any noticeable finger marks after using, which is a bonus because you have no choice but to use the boarder as this doesn't come with a remote control.
So far there have been no problems with this as an effective and reasonable enough photo frame for more casual use. It's easy enough to use and there haven't been any issues that I've had to seek help on or any faults/problems that I've needed to mention or get resolved. As is always good, however, for an added peace of mind is that this comes with a one year warranty.
The downsides would probably be the lack of remote and the built quality. The boarder touch menu is good enough to use, but it would be nice to sit back and have a remote at hand for the lazier amongst us! As for the frame itself, being plastic isn't necessarily a bad thing because, like I've said, it doesn't really look tacky, but it could have been made to look that little bit more professional and slick. None the less, it was a reasonable price and with that in mind, this has been a good buy for the purpose and frequency for which it's used.
[Also reviewed by me, gothic_moon, on Ciao)
Read the complete review |
