Monday, December 03, 2007

An Online Photo Frame for Grandma?

I take digital pictures, and so does the rest of my family. I would like to show some of these picture to grandma, but that is difficult unless I print them or bring my laptop computer to her. However, printing is expensive, and I can't really leave my laptop at her place--not even if she'd manage to use it. In addition, and I regret this a bit, I don't stop by her often enough and the result is a large number of new pictures between every visit.

This is where a digital photo frame might come in handy. A digital photo frame is simply a small monitor with a picture-like frame around it and a small computer behind it, usually including some amount of storage for pictures and controls for flipping through them.

A photo frame for grandma should be easy to use, preferably with big, easy-to-read physical buttons on the front so that she can easily navigate between pictures, and get tactile feedback as she does. The photo frame should also run on batteries so that she could bring it around the house--although quite vigorous for her age, she doesn't run around her house anymore. Thus, the frame should be small and lightweight rather than big and heavy. In addition to these qualities, the perfect photo frame would be online and automatically download the latest pictures from a pool to which I and the rest of her family can upload pictures.

Finding a digital photo frame that meets all the requirements above has proven to be very difficult. Philips has quite a few models, all of which runs on batteries (for about one hour), but none of which has wireless network capabilities, nor buttons on the front.

Digital Spectrum, on the other hand, has both wireless frames and one frame with buttons on the front, but none with both WiFi and batteries (their NT-700 has the buttons and battery, and although the buttons aren't physical it is the only frame I've found with any controls visible from the front). And this is how it is all over: after considering a dozen or so, I haven't found a WiFi-enabled photo frame that runs on batteries, and only one (the NT-700 from Digital Spectrum) with visible buttons on the front.

In the end, I guess it all comes down to visiting a store and have a look at a real life product. Maybe a digital photo frame for grandma doesn't have to run on batteries? Or maybe it doesn't have to be online? The only dilemma remaining now is where to go: to an electronics market or a photo shop?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Litt av en avhandling... :) Joa, jeg tror ikke det gjør så mye at den ikke går på batterier. Sannsynligvis vil hun vel ha den på ett sted.... Men kanskje greit at den ikke er montert fast, så hun kan se på den uten å anstrenge seg. Da blir jo vekt relevant igjen....