Are you procrastinating on that Mother’s Day gift you need to buy? Welcome to the club. Fortunately, finding the perfect gift is easy – just look to the latest “it” gadget in the tech world: the digital photo frame. You’re probably thinking digital photo frames are last year’s news, but you may want to take another look. The latest digital frames are far more advanced than those archaic 2007 models.
In the first quarter of this year, Kodak and Pandigital dominated the digital photo frame market and held the number one and two slots, respectively. Both companies have recently unveiled a new innovation in the overall design of the digital photo frame: touchscreens. Rather than fiddle with tiny buttons along the perimeter of the frame or fumble with a remote control, this interface allows users to scroll through photos just by sliding a finger along the border. Called the “Quick Touch” border, Kodak has applied the design to three photo frames thus far: the 7-inch P720 ($120), the 8-inch, EasyShare M820 ($180) and 10-inch EasyShare M1020 ($230). The M820 and M1020 feature 128MB of built-in memory and accommodations for most memory card formats. The P720 is a more basic model, with few extra features beyond the Quick Touch border.
Another trend illustrated by Kodak’s new trio of cameras is that digital frames are getting bigger. When they first arrived on the scene a few years ago, the 7-inch format seemed to dominate the marketplace. As frames have grown in popularity and competition has increased, many manufacturers are now offering 8- and 10-inch frames. Other new enhancements to digital frames include audio capabilities and social networking connectivity. Mustek’s PF-i700 includes speakers and an integrated iPod docking station. It can be found at online retail stores like Amazon.com for around $130. Meanwhile, sister industries like online photo services are certainly noticing the increasing demand for digital frames. Top photo-sharing sites like Flickr and social networking sites such as Facebook have made it easy for users to send photos to frames wirelessly.
Of course, the one downside to buying a digital frame for Mother’s Day is the knowledge that – as with any “hot” techno item, from HDTVs to MP3 players – the technology is only going to improve in the near future. Even with the new wave of digital frames, many consumers find the overall quality of the frames to be subpar, an indication the technology hasn’t quite been perfected yet (at least not in the lower end models anyway). On the same note, as more companies jump on the digital-photo bandwagon, prices will begin dropping too. Still, for the last-minute Mother’s Day scramble, there’s few gifts out there that combine personalization and technology like the digital photo frame.
