New Electonics Gadget
It almost the end of October, meaning that Christmas is only seven weeks or so away, and the shopping season can begin. If you are clueless of what to buy to your close friends and close family members (parents, grandparents), or if you want to make a good impression to your boss, the please do torn your attention this year to digital photo frames.
This is an unique, yet neat present, which will not only provide a great way to see all the best photos, but it will also provide a good way for the future owner to keep the photo database safe and in order. Depending on who you want to give the digital photo frame present, you have to chose between 7 inches, or 8 inches digital photo frames (which are considered one category) or 9 inches, or 10 inches digital photo frames (the second available category).
As you can imagine, both categories includes several more models. Today I am going to write about the first category of digital photo frames, the 7 inches or 8 inches type. If money is no concern to you when it comes to presents, then you should take a look at the high end digital photo frame offered by Sony, the VAIO Wi-Fi photo frame with the unique model number of VGF CP1U. This model is advertised intensely, but even with the excellent design and good features the sale numbers are by far at the roof level.
A nice touch to this digital photo frame is that you can personalize it, by engraving it. Even more you get some key features that must be underlined, such as the 7 inches screen sporting a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, the 128 MB onboard memory, memory card slot, MP3 enabled, Wi-Fi enabled, and the excellent design.
The excellent design is easy to spot, since it boasts a glossy black body with a silver - white metallic underline. Overall the design is more exclusivists, than stylish. It basically looks like a small TV. With a height of 2.25 inches, wide of 6.97 inches, deep of 1.3 inches, the VAIO Wi-Fi photo frame weights (including the stand) about 1.17 lbs. The build quality is impressive; nothing makes weird noises even with the glossy case. On the back side of this digital photo frame you get one compact flash, one memory stick media slot, one 2.0 USB port, and one secure digital slot. The front side sports the Kensington Lock, the Light Sensor and the LED, which is basically a visual alert for RSS feed.
The display sports a 7 inches diagonal, with an 800 x 480 pixels resolution, capable of rendering about 16.77 million colors. Whatever you do, just don't let this digital photo frame under direct sunlight, because the images will become really washed, even with the incorporated light sensor. Sony didn't exactly give too much thought about the brightness of the screen under direct sunlight, since the photo frames are designed for indoor use only. Since this digital photo frame enables the MP3 rendering files, Sony also included stereo speakers. Because the design is so light weighted and thin, the speakers offer weak power, with obviously no bass (offering bass is not the brilliant idea for a digital photo frame because of the balance it can create).
In case the 128 MB will not be sufficient (because we all know that is not sufficient to hold 10 songs and a photo library) Sony included one memory card slot compatible with both Memory Stick memory card and Memory Stick PRO memory card, basically up to 4 GB (but it works with the 8 GB model as well). One of the most interesting features is the Wi-Fi enabled with the IEEE 802.11 b/g profile. This feature should really help you stream music, stay up to date with the latest events, and get real time updates from Google Picasa web albums. Even more good news for anyone who wants to buy this device, the VAIO Wi-Fi Photo frame is currently on sale for $249.99 price tag (which basically means $50 less than the asking price of $299.99). if you are interested in buying it you should make an order.
However, if you still think it is too expensive just wait a few more weeks, because with the economic crisis, the manufacturers are going to drop the prices closer to December. A different digital photo frame, not only in design, specs, but also in terms of price is the 7 inches digital photo frame with the DPF V700 model number. This digital photo frame also sports several key features such as the 15 to 9 aspect ratio, HDMI port, auto image correction, auto image rotation, Bluetooth enabled, and memory card slot. Sony offers this digital photo frame in two colors, black or white. Even so, this frame looks wonderful. However, the black will certainly make it look more stylish, thanks to the glossy finish.
Because this is a digital photo frame I believe that a glossy finish is not so much of a problem, since you don't touch every hour or two the frame. Therefore, you will not get any any fingerprints or minor scratches on the frame. The glossy finish can be considered a drawback in case of the mobile phones, multimedia devices, and laptops.
This digital photo frame it doesn't just look good but it also sports a solid build. You can use it in either portrait mode or landscape mode, and easily control every setting with the remote control included in the sale package. Even the remote control is solid built offering a good user experience (it includes several navigational buttons, but also several editing buttons for a better rendering of the photos). With a height of 162 mm, wide of 245 mm, and deep of 38.5 mm (including stand 145 mm), this digital photo frame weights about 800 grams.
The included display is a LCD panel with a Wide VGA resolution of 800 x 480 pixels (the screen size is 152 mm x 91 mm, with 7 inches screen diagonal). The DPF V700 includes one Type A USB port, and one Type B USB port. The LCD panel can display maximum 48 megapixel photos. Beside the USB ports, the connectivity is also ensured by the Bluetooth 2.0 with the enhanced data rate, HDMI port (to share images and slideshows on a HDTV LCD using the full high definition 1080 quality) and also available is a memory card slot (compatible with 23 memory card such a Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MMC, RS MMC, MMC Plus, xD picture card - all types, and many other more). The onboard memory of 512 MB, 400 MB available for photo library should be enough for 1000 photos.
You are also available to copy any photo between memory card and internal memory (both directions are available). Beside the action buttons found on the actual frame (such as power on and off, or menu, and enter), you get several other functions available by using the remote, such as zoom in and out, delete, rotate images, auto touch up, full screen, fit screen, and portrait mode, landscape mode, and auto orientation.
The compatible photos are the ones encoded in JPEG, TIFF and BMP. If you are a MacBook user you should be aware that a proper connection between this digital photo frame and your laptop might never happen. However, the rest of the Microsoft users will have no problems if using the Windows Vista, Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, and Windows 2000 Professional with either Service Pack 3 or Service Pack 4. Overall this digital frame has enough features to offer in a great design for only $139.99 price tag. Overall, both of these two products are good. In the future articles I am going to write about others digital photo frames, so that you can chose the proper one you would like to buy as a present for this Christmas.
