About two months after the product debuted (but not commercially available in the United States), The New York Times looks at the Parrot Photo Viewer picture frame for camera phone photos (see below) and generally gives it a good review.
Although the marketing is pitched at camera phone users, the product will work with other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as computers and PDAs. Bluetooth profiles supported are FTP, OPP and BIP.
The article concludes, “In a test run, the most difficult part of using the frame was figuring out how to transmit the photos from phones and computers with menus that are not very standardized. How good will the final shot look on the screen? That depends. How good is your camera phone?”
Details
The 3.5–inch LCD can be surrounded by a variety of different frames ranging from leather to fake crocodile. The product includes 32 megabytes of memory, enough to store some 100 photos at a relatively low resolution, of course.
“You can set up the photo display through simple menus, which are controlled by just three buttons on the back.
“The frame can show a single photo or cycle through a slide show using any of five time intervals, from five seconds to an hour. It also senses room light and brightens or dims the display as needed,” the article says.
Availability
The screen’s resolution is 320 x 234 pixels and it displays 262,144 colors.
The Parrot Photo Viewer is slated to be available in July for about $280. More information may be had at the company’s Web site.
Obviously, several types of digital picture frames are now available from different companies, including some with memory card readers that could be easier to use than Bluetooth, and one that employs the Internet for transmitting photos to the frame (see left).
The digital picture frame is a great idea and makes a good gift. Prices for these frames still aren’t cheap but they are hundreds of dollars less than when they were first available at, I seem to remember, about $500.
Update (6/9/06): While browing the Web for camera phone items, I noticed that Personal Computer World has reviewed the Parrot Photo Viewer. It's a good but not great recommendation.
In summary, the magazine says, "The Bluetooth component works well, but poor viewing angles and the high price tag make the Parrot Photo Viewer hard to recommend."
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