Affordable Kodak Pulse 7 inch Digital Wi-Fi Frame with Facebook and Email Connectivity – Sale
- Receive pictures directly to the frame via e-mail from PC or smartphone
- Link directly to the pictures on friend’s FACEBOOK pages, receive new photos as soon as they are posted
- High quality TFT active matrix touchscreen display (800 x 600 pixels) featuring KODAK Colour Science and LED backlighting
- Easy set-up, no software to install, Wi-Fi enabled and stores up to 4,000 pictures with 512 MB of built-in memory
- ENERGY STAR® qualified for efficient power consumption, LCD panel is Mercury-free
List Price: £99.99
A few software updates away from perfect,
This photo frame seems to be exactly what I was looking for in terms of cloud computing. With a lot of products and services being moved to the cloud (data servers storing data remotely) it seemed the natural progression for digital media such as music, film and now photos have followed the same path.
The frame itself is a little plasticky, but generally firm and of good build. I normally expect Kodak products of be of an inferior quality, but the everything from the design to the materials used are good choices. The glossy finish of the frame is a finger-print magnet. Thankfully the screen itself is matte which guards against glare.
As you probably know by now, the controls are all located on the 7″ touch-sensitive screen itself with basic controls from moving between photos, to viewing different albums. Annoyingly you can only view one whole album, or ALL your photos. There isn’t a way I can see as of yet of viewing “select” albums. Perhaps something that could be fixed in a software update. There are a variety of transition effects.
There are a few niggles that could be fixed in an update. These are the ability to adjust the brightness setting of the frame. It looks great, but can be a little bright at night. The ability to set the start-up/shut-down time of the frame only from Kodak Pulse Online, and that the frame only updates itself every 15 minutes (each 1/4 of the hour) are annoying. When I load pictures onto the frame using the Kodak Pulse software online, I would like to view them on the frame instantly. Making this this a frame that should only be considered if you are close to a constant wireless internet connection at all times to maximise the functionality. That said the ability to set what time the frame starts-up/shuts down remotely is brilliant.
Kodak Pulse Online is the selling point of this frame, and it again feels like it could do with a software update. You can update photos from kodak gallery and facebook, but lets face it, many of the tech savvy would appreciate it being able to grab photos from Flickr or Google Web Albums too. Within facebook, it only seems to grab those pictures that are perfect 4:3 ratio. It doesn’t download those cropped or those narrow pictures taken with the camera on it’s side. A flaw, because uploading the same photos manually to the frame displays them with the black bars on either side of the picture.
Connectivity is fantastic. You can view pictures from USB, SD Card and MS PRO DUO. Every base here is covered for the mainstream user. These ports are hidden behind a compartment that is flush with the back of the frame.
In conclusion a good first attempt by Kodak that will only get better with future updates, assuming Kodak are the sort of company that continues to support this Pulse range which I believe has proven itself. It just needs a few updates to be worth the price tag.
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|Great Wifi Photo Frame,
I’ve had this frame a few days and it has fulfilled my expectations. Had been waiting to get one since they were announced at the beginning of the year. Thought it would be an ideal gift for the grandparents this Christmas, so bought one for us to check it out first. Set up was easy just follow the frame’s instructions and set up a Pulse account. Then very easy to upload photos to the frame via the web app. Frame has it’s own email address and so can receive photos direct, ideal for sending the grandparents regular updates of the grandchildren. The touch interface of the frame is very good and the image quality good. Now the only question is do they get this one or do I splash out on the 10.4 inch?
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|Great Product From Kodak,
Brought this for my parents, the other positive reviews on image quality were key plus the ability to send photos to the device and link it up to you social networking accounts.
The actual setup process is very easy and intuitive, you get given an email address xxyyzz@kodakpulse.com which you can email images to and they appear on the device normally within 2-3 minutes. You can also link to your facebook account although you cant seem to change that account once set or at least I cant see how (something for Kodak to fix). Once linked you can choose if you want your photos and your friends photos pushed to your frame, you can even choose which friends you want to see which is good.
The touch interface is fine no problems with that so far but you can control everything via the kodakpulse website once you have registered you device. Cant really fault the product too much its nicely put together and executed. I cant imagine not having an ‘connected’ frame anymore.
Suggestions to Kodak for future software release
- More ‘social’ networks, at present its Facebook and Kodak Gallery but they really need Flickr on here.
- Offer out an API so developers can build their own Apps that I can install on my frame. For example would be cool to have a ‘picture of the day’ that came from a newsite sent to my frame and mingled in with my photos or how about getting a cartoon strip such as dilbert pushed to my device.
- Spam will become a problem if this device takes off, the beauty is the fact that anyone can email a photo to your frame but you can easily see spammers taking advantage of this. The answer is the option to have a whitelist of acceptable emails. Very easy to do for Kodak.
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