AKAI 7 inches Digital Photo Frame
AKAI 7 inch DPF represents the more common type of DPF which usually sits on a shelf running in slideshow mode directly from a USB flash drive or a memory card. The LCD screen is 7 inches long and has a resolution of 480 X 234 with an aspect ratio of 16:9. The colors are lively and bright. It comes up with a stand behind which is totally adjustable and on the top it has controls to setup the menu, play/pause etc. It has a slot for SD, MMC and MS cards, along with ports for USB drives.
The setup menu has a lot of useful options such as Image display – there's a choice between widescreen, crop or stretch. Unless your photos are widescreen, cropping is the best option. The menu option allows you to choose from dozens of transition effects for the slideshow. You can also select the slideshow time interval.
The AKAI DPF comes with an AC adaptor and a fully functional remote control along with a user manual. It supports JPEG and can directly play photos from a USB drive or a memory card. It has a sleek design, it's easy to use and setup and will cost you around US$100. You really can’t go wrong with this one.
Abit FunFab Digital Photo Frame Printer
Digital photo frames have been around for a long time but Abit has integrated something new into the concept. They have included a printer in a conventional digital photo frame. This makes the unit much bigger, heavier and bulkier; but it has a printer after all. The menu and the transition effects are not as nice as the previous DPFs in this article; however, the quality of LCD screen is superb.
The Abit FunFab can be directly connected to a computer via firewire. It supports SD, MMC or MS cards as well as USB drives. It supports JPG format only.
What the Abit FunFab prints out is a standard 4x6” print. It takes a while to finish a print run but the end product is beautiful quality. You only get 10 prints included with the new product which is a bit of a disappointment since cartridge replacements are around US$40. Since the unit is US$200 more than a standard 7” DPF, you’d really want to be sure you’d using the printing feature on a regular basis to justify the extra cost.
Conclusion
Digital photo frames are one of those items that every household will end up having sometime over the next couple of years, if the global economic crisis doesn’t eat into peoples’ spending money too much that is. They’re an elegant and convenient way of showing off your photos, much better than all cramming around a notebook or PC, or God forbid, looking at an actual printed album (how 1990’s!!).
The AV Labs 1.5” really is a great gift idea. It’s so cheap but being able to give someone a repository of your photos like that awesome. The Abit FunFab is a bit of an odd ball. Why would you want to print out a small copy of a photo when it can be displayed in brilliance on the DPF’s screen anyway? The only time I seem to print out photos these days is when one of the kids wants to take a copy to school for show and tell. Whilst I can’t deny its convenience, I find it hard to justify the cost. The AKAI 7” is a total winner. Excellent quality, great menu options and a sleek neutral design that would fit in anywhere.