Digital photo frames are popular gifts for the holiday season.  The quality of these frames have improved tremedously from a few years ago.  We reviewed an excellent digital frame from Parrot in 2007.  The Parrot frame was high resolution and used Bluetooth for data transfer.  Those features eliminated two of the problems with digital frames: resolution and ease of image updates. 

Recently, we learned that Digital FOCI has released a product which addressed the last objection some have with digital photo displays... the power cord.  When we took a closer look, we realized that Digital FOCI has not only cut the power cord, but has removed the computer from the process.  All one needs is to insert the memory card with the images into the PhotoBook and follow the in-device instructions.  Excellent!

The PhotoBook is, of course, both Mac and PC compatible.  Its specs are quite impressive: 8" color TFT LCD screen, 800x600, 4GB of internal flash, and a 2.5 hr internal battery.  The Photobook can handle most of the popular memory cards (CF, SD, SDHC, MemoryStick, xD-PictureCard) in use.  All of the popular image (JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, RAW), audio (MP3, WMA, AAC) , and video (MPEG-1, MPEG-4) formats are supported.  A USB 2.0 port is available for image downloads from a computer. 

The PhotoBook, like other high-end photo album, is covered by a soft leather-like case.  However, underneath is a matte LCD display, simple-to-use navigation buttons, and a lot of technology.

Slots for memory cards, power buttons, and various connectors are on the side.  All of the software to run slideshows are built right into the device.  The PhotoBook is ready to go out-of-the-box (after charging up the internal batteries).

We will have a full FirstUse run-down on the features of this Digital FOCI PhotoBook next week.  It does not take a genius to see that these devices will be commonplace in a few years.  However, if you want one this Holiday season, Digital FOCI PhotoBook is the one with all of the "grandparents-friendly" features.  [Permalink] - Digital FOCI PhotoBook