New Digital Frames Offer Wi-Fi, Simplicity

Digital frames are everywhere, and CES was no exception. Upon closer look at the ubiquitious digital photo screens, a few nice trends are emerging. Wi-Fi capabilities are making it easier to send photos to frames, which are becoming less complicated to use.

Here's a look at a few new twists to the new generation of digital frames:

Wi-Fi -- Not necessarily new, but getting better. Several digital frame makers have made it easier to send photos to frames, as well as uploading them through storage cards and USB connections to computers. Kodak will have a new feature called Picture Mail this year that will allow you to send photos directly to one of its EasyShare digital frames via the Kodak EasyShare software. Ality announced the Wireless PIXXA, an 8-inch frame ($300) that allows you to send photos to it via an instant-messaging service called Photo Messenger. 

Services are also emerging to help you send photos and other images and info as RSS feeds directly to the frames. FrameChannel is a free service that makes is possible to send photos and other personalized content via RSS feeds to, currently, these frames: Samsung SPF-72V, Digital Spectrum's 8-, 10-, and 15-inch wireless frames, PhotoVu's wireless frames, and iMate's frames. Meanwhile, iMate has unveiled a new 10.2-inch Momento frame ($300) and an 7-inch Momento ($200) that include Wi-Fi capability. Using a Momento subscription service (price not yet announced), you'll be able to send photos via cell phone, RSS feeds, and sync photos with Flickr and other photo-streaming services.

Getting bigger -- Ceiva, one of the first to offer a subscription service to send photos directly to frames, introduced the Pro 190, a $400 19-inch wall-mountable frame with Wi-Fi capability that allows you to move photos wirelessly from a PC to the frame, and from frame to frame. A monthly $9.95 Picture Plan subscription is still needed to send photos to Ceiva frames. Smartparts will offer the biggest digital frame to date in March, the $900 32-inch SP3200. Smartparts also showed off the first combination digital frame/printer that prints displayed photos with the push of a button. The 8-inch frame will cost $279.

Bluetooth -- continues to be an option. Parrot is one of the digital frame makers that make it easy to send photos to frames via cell phones, PCs, and cameras—as long as they are Bluetooth-enabled.