|
Sleek and svelte. Unobtrusive. Words you would not have used in context with eStarling a year ago. This time around, after some very hard lessons in marketing, the new 8" – unbranded – eStarling Picture Frame from PF Digital stands proudly on my desk. With digital photo displays proliferating like rabbits in the Australian Outback, what makes this Wi-Fi enabled eStarling stand out?
Marketing in this Internet age can be a tough game at the best of times. Couple that with a product that was a great idea at the time but rather flawed when it exited the Chinese factory, and you have a disaster on your hands that few companies could recover from. To their credit PF Digital have been quick to replace the earlier model with the upgraded one for all who bought one in the past year. Still, some damage to their reputation will inevitably remain until they consistently get it right over some years.
So did they get it right with this one?
For starters, the design looks beautiful in black with a small transparent edge.
A fingerprint magnet for sure but once installed and wiped clean I don't expect that to be an issue. It looks just like a regular picture frame and that's what most consumers would like, I reckon. No big Wi-Fi antennas sticking out either like in the Mark I version. No big logo marring the frame. No wires visible. What you do see are reasonable good resolution (800x600 pixels) pictures presenting themselves in a slideshow. That's the end result and that's what matters.
Behind that pretty face are some impressive capabilities which we'll delve in shortly. But first, why wireless?
PF Digital must be the only manufacturer offering a wireless capability. That's an opportunity and a liability.
Having a Digital Photo Frame (DPF) that has its own email address that you can upload images to is pretty cool. You can send photos directly from your Photobucket account to the eStarling DPF. Or from your mobile phone.
Short messages can also be sent directly to these frames from a user's Seeframe Live account. You can see the possibilities already.
The "liabilities" are in the necessarily more complex setup which may puzzle Gran if she's the recipient of one of these picture frames over Christmas. Fortunately, it can also works as a standalone frame running off the built-in card slots.
Niche Application
Sure, the mantelpiece displays will always be the major use for these devices. But ever since I installed a Wi-Fi hotspot in our family-owned cafe-restaurant a few years back, I've been thinking about a wireless picture frame to display today's Menu Specials for instance. Ideally, the display unit would be behind the windows facing the sidewalk to attract the passersby.
I spent some time in setting up the required account on Seeframe but after having fiddled with it for a good hour I found out that it doesn't want to play ball on our particular WiFi system because of the high security that is in place. It works okay on a normal WiFi installation that you may have at home. That's a bit of a bummer but not necessarily the fault of the eStarling. Actually, we found it just as easy to refresh the SD card with up-to-date photos and messages for this particular application. Another problem that we encountered, and again, not so much a problem with the eStarling but with the application, is that the screen is hard to read in an outdoor situation. Even though the display is mounted inside, the visibility becomes a problem when you try to read it from outside as you walk past the windows. We now use it inside the restaurant during the day where it is quite effective in drawing attention to itself and in the evenings we place it back in its window mount. It's a bit of a workaround but that's what you get when you try to make one device perform well in all kinds of situations.
Conclusion
Kudos to PF Digital for bringing out a much improved model and having the courage to hang in the game after the blistering initial reviews! This particular 8 inch eStarling model does everything that it is supposed to do and does it quite well. The question is, do you really need WiFi capability? If not, another DPF brand may suit you better or at least it will be cheaper. If you can find use for the WiFi capability or any of the other features listed below, the eStarling from PF Digital will be the one to go for.
Personally, I hope they will also come out with some larger versions of these "Internet machines" as they like to call them and even one with outdoor viewing capabilities.
Priced at USD259.
Specifications
- LCD Display: 8-Inch LCD screen (800 X 600 pixels) with built-in high speed JPEG decoder/rendering engine
- Communications: Internal 802.11b/g (WEP64, WEP128, WPA1, WPA2)
- Interface: MMC/SD/CF/MS card slot; USB 2.0 host and client port
- Packaging Dimension: 11.4"x11.2"x3.0"
- Memory Size: On-board FLASH memory 128M
- Power Source: External AC Adapter
- Setup Utility: Compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista & MAC OS X
- Weight: 3.5 Lbs
- Model No.: WPF-288B
- Service Term
- No subscription fee
Features
- Photobucket Integration: Millions of users who have stored their photos with Photobucket can send photos directly from their Photobucket accounts to eStarling.
- Immediate Direct Photo Emailing to Frame: Each frame has its own unique email address so that photos can be received from computers or mobile phones. A built-in email filter protects against unwanted photos. No setup is required for senders to send photos to the frame.
- Group Frames: Users can set up a single email address that corresponds to multiple frames so that photos can be easily shared and displayed on those frames.
- RSS Support: The eStarling frame supports all major RSS photo feeds now including Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, AOL, Smugmug, iPhoto, Gallery, etc. (More coming soon.)
- Email-to-Frame / Web-to-Frame Messaging: Short messages can be sent directly to eStarling frames from user's Seeframe Live account and allowed email accounts and cell phones.
- Community Photo RSS: The eStarling frame supports all major RSS photo feeds, including Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, AOL, Smugmug, iPhoto, Gallery, and more. Users can recommend and share their favorite RSS photo feed among the eStarling community.
- Smart Photo Play List: Users can choose photos to be displayed on an eStarling frame on specified dates, such as displaying selected photos on a user's birthday or anniversary.
- Email Photos from Frame: A one-touch button allows users to send photos directly from their frames to a Web account and the email accounts of their family and friends.
- Text Messaging to Frame: Short messages can be sent directly to eStarling frames from a user's Seeframe Live account, or from authorized email accounts and cell phones.
- Dual Use Mode: If no Wi-Fi connection is available, the eStarling frame can operate as a stand-alone digital photo frame.
- Auto Power Saving: The eStarling frame can be programmed to turn-off automatically at night in order to save power and protect the screen.
|
