Sungale ID800WT Digital Photo Frame: Review
Picture frames that can display digital photos belong to technology inventions that even technology haters can love. Practically anyone from a school kid to grandma wants a digital photo frame once they see beautiful pictures displayed in bright colors in a large frame. After the initial excitement has gone, however, photo frames tend to collect dust in a dark corner of the house because no one bothers to update it with new images. A smart way to solve the problem would be to download new photos to the frame directly from the Internet. That's what the Sungale ID800WT digital photo frame was designed to do. Better yet, the product can do it wirelessly.
The grand scheme behind the Sungale photo frame was to make it easy to access photos and videos directly from the Internet. Without a hassle with cables, without having to shuffle memory cards or having to start a PC every time someone wants add a new photo into the frame. The Sungale picture frame has Wi-Fi connectivity, enabling access to the Internet via a hotspot (also known as Wi-Fi access point) at home or in the office. For instance, if you set up a wireless picture frame at your grandma's bookshelf, you can upload new images to your Picasa web album. Assuming grandma has a broadband connection, her photo frame can download new photos from your Picasa album and show them on the frame's color screen.
Not every home is equipped with Wi-Fi hotspot or broadband Internet access. That's why the Sungale picture frame lets you add images via USB connection from a PC. Even easier method to transfer photos to the frame is to insert a memory card with fresh pictures into the unit. Photos of any size, taken on a digital camera or on a camera phone, can be viewed on the frame. The device can also play videos.
As digital photo frames, like the Sungale ID800WT are becoming tiny computer-like devices, it is easy to throw in handy applications into the system. Sungale product designers have decided to include a generous bundle of applications, including a music player, Internet radio, movie player, calendar and clock, weather, news, stock price information, Gmail access, and YouTube viewer into the device. But seriously, stock prices and news on a photo frame?
The first applications are only a beginning to something new. One day, useful applications will find their place in digital photo frames as well. Sungale is planning to provide application downloads for the ID800WTl. The problem with some of the applications on the Sungale ID800WT was that they were only half-implemented. For instance, we could view email headers from our Gmail inbox, but not the message itself. We could read Google and Yahoo news titles, but not the actual news items. The problem maybe in our pre-production test unit; let's hope the applications are revised before mass production of units begins.
Most people, however, expect a digital photo frame to display pictures. That's what the Sungale frame does - and in fine quality. When the unit is switched on, it automatically starts a slideshow. First, the device displays images stored in the first folder of its internal storage space. Then, the slideshow walks through the pictures in the next folder, and so on. The display time for photos can be adjusted in the settings. We expected the photo frame to automatically find our memory card we had inserted into the unit, and to display photos on the card, but we waited in vain. We had to open the settings panel and change memory card as the active storage before pictures could be viewed.
The Sungale ID800WT unit we tried out lost its settings when power was switched off. If we wanted to view photos stored on a memory card, we had to specify the image source every time after powering on the device. If we wanted to access images from the Internet, we had to specify Wi-Fi connectivity options every time after powering on the frame. If we wanted to have longer display time for each photo during a slideshow, we had to go to the settings and start all over again. It is practically impossible to expect grandma to understand what went wrong with her beautiful photo frame if she switches off the power in the evening and turns it on in the morning.
Nonetheless, the most important thing – viewing photos – impressed us and our guests.
Style:
The Sungale photo frame has been designed with living room or bedroom placement in mind. The frame is discreet matte black in color, allowing photos to be the main attraction of the frame. The black surface attracts fingerprints, but they are easy to wipe off. The touch screen didn't seem to lose its bright colors even when tapping it with fingers.
A desk stand is included in the package. The unit can be hung on the wall as well.
What we liked about the Sungale ID800WT
- Touch screen with wireless Internet access take the product to a new level in photo frames.
- Picture quality of still images.
- Large, bright screen.
- In addition to wireless connection, it is possible to add new images to the frame from a PC via USB cable or by inserting a memory card from a digital camera into the unit.
What we didn't like
- Audio quality discouraged us from viewing videos or listening to radio.
- Many applications may confuse users more than they provide value, like stock quotes. It's a picture frame, after all.
- Half-baked applications, like Gmail access are promising but don't provide what a user might reasonably expect.
- Glitches with Wi-Fi connection and with the settings.
- Unhelpful user guide and documentation.
Hands-on video review of the Sungale wireless photo frame
Value for the money: 3 out of 5
The Sungale ID800WT product concept has great potential. Wireless Internet access, touch screen and preloaded applications are exceptional features, leading the way for future development of photo frames. The Sungale photo frame has an excellent touch screen with bright and sharp image quality, but wireless connectivity and applications have some way to go before the product's full promise is fulfilled. As far as we can tell, most glitches we experienced were software problems, not necessarily hardware malfunctions.
We liked the product, especially the touch screen, wireless Internet access and bright colors, but the current (software) implementation needs improvement for robustness and ease-of-use. The manufacturer is planning to provide software downloads for the device.
Sungale ID800WT Photo Frame Key Features and Specifications:
- 8-inch LCD screen in 800x600 resolution.
- Touch-sensitive display lets you access the menus and settings simply by tapping the screen.
- Dedicated keys at the back panel allow menu access without having to touch the screen.
- Wi-Fi wireless LAN connectivity for Internet access via hotspots.
- 512MB of internal storage space where photos can be downloaded from the Internet.
- Loudspeaker for audio playback.
- Play videos directly from YouTube or from memory cards.
- USB port for copying photos from a PC.
- Slots for Compact Flash (CF), MemoryStick, SD, MMC and xD memory cards.
- Download photos from an online Picasa album into the frame's internal storage space.
- View YouTube videos on the photo frame.
- Access email headers in your Gmail inbox.
- Read news headers downloaded from Google or Yahoo.
- View calendar and clock.
- Listen to Internet radio (IP radio) stations.
- Weather information (currently, for the U.S. only).
- View stock price information.
gwen 02.07.2009 04:02
Does the frame come with a rechargeable battery or does it have to be always plugged in?
Katharine 20.08.2009 15:00 www.sungale.com
The frame does not come with a rechargable battery and would require the user to plug in the unit.
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