I was wanting a digital photo frame to display family photos in, for my desk. But I wanted something quirky - something which looked more like an ornament, and less like a little screen. So when I found the Tecknet Egg digital photo frame, I was impressed! As the name suggests, it's an (almost true to life sized) egg, made of a strong polymer, which features a 1.5 inch screen capable of displaying in rotation pictures of your nearest and dearest.

The Egg is available on Amazon for £7.99 with 99p postage which I think is perfectly fair and this is what I paid for it. It's available in five colours - a bright yellow, a lime green, a glossy orange and (not pictured on Amazon, but they are available) black and white. Given our living room decor of brown and cream, I went for the orange. It's a great colour - shiny, vibrant and draws the eye in. The egg looks fab as a little ornament on my desk but it's even better when you see the screen. The unit features a Menu/Play key, and up and down keys for use even when it's not attached to a computer.

The 1.5 inch full colour LCD display is sized at 128 x 128 pixels, and this for near sight is fine - obviously it's not something you're going to be able to view from a distance and due to it's shape it can't be hung on the wall but as a little desk ornament, or something for your mantel or bedroom, it's spot on. The dimensions are 80mm x 60mm x 60mm - so it won't take up too much room, and it's 198g in weight - it has a heavy sort of base so it won't easily knock over or wobble like a weeble when the table is knocked.

According to Amazon, the unit can hold about 107 pictures, in both JPG and BMP format - in practice I'd say stick with JPG as BMP files are far larger without need, and you'll get a lot more on the Egg if you stick to JPGs. I have about 90 on there just fine - from varying sources, my mobile, computer, and digital camera.

The Egg features a built in 3.7V rechargeable lithium battery, I charge it up every Monday, and this keeps it going no problems at all. The screen during this time has remained nice and bright and though it's obviously not going to give HD results, it's perfectly fine for everyday snaps.

Amazon states that the Egg is compatible with windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista however I have to add that it is perfectly compatible with Apple Mac computers - I put new pictures on the Egg from my MacBook running Tiger (and now Snow Leopard) no problems whatsoever. It's an absolute doddle to use as no drivers need to be installed to get up and running, and full instructions are provided, you don't have to be a computer whizz to get this going at all, but I do recommend you give it a good charge first, I left mine on overnight.

The Egg is updated via a USB 2.0 interface, with the USB cable which is supplied. It's fast and easy. For the price, I wouldn't expect it to have expandable / removable media, or Bluetooth, but obvously these would be very handy. It's something I update maybe once a month, or after a special event when I have new pictures.

The play modes available are manual or automatic slideshow play. Obviously, most people would choose automatic, so all your photographs are rotated to view equally.

I am so pleased I purchased my Tecknet Egg digital photo frame. I haven't had any problems using it from applying photos, to displaying them, regardless of their initial source or quality, and they all appear bright and clear on the mini screen of the Egg. The Egg itself looks funky and stylish, in it's choice of colours, and would look well in any home, student room, office desk and so on. For the price, I am very impressed and as it's under £10 including delivery I will be sure to buy a few more, as they're great gifts (I'd pre charge them and put a few photos on, too, so the gift can be enjoyed on the day.) I am unsure if the USB can be used with a mains converter - I'm going to try that out, so I can gift the Egg to people who don't have a computer - and I'll update this review accordingly when I find out.

Overall - very impressed. Obviously the Egg is at the lower end of the price/quality scale when it comes to digital photo frames but for a fun budget gadget it is surely one of the best. Five out of five from me!