Like the slideshows they display, digital photo frames have been going through a number of transitions.
From single-purpose devices, they have changed to screens that not only show photos but also can wake you up with a weather report and a stock quote. With Kodak’s Pulse frame, the move is back to a purer, simpler concept, backed by cloud-based intelligence.
The Pulse has a seven-inch, 800×600 pixel, touchscreen photo display with an LED backlight that enables bright, colourful pictures. It runs off the mains and has built-in Wi-Fi, half a gigabyte of memory and slots to insert a USB stick or SD memory card and display their stored pictures.
Set-up and linking to your home Wi-Fi network is simple through a touch-enabled wizard on the screen, but the most engaging features of the Pulse lie beyond the device itself.
The Pulse has its own website where owners can register their frame and upload pictures to it from their PCs.
Just about all the functions of the frame can be handled remotely, which makes it an ideal gift for a family to give to parents and grandparents who are not gadget-savvy but want to see the latest photos of their progeny.
Times for the frame to turn on and off can be set on the website as well as display modes and types of photo transitions. The photos themselves can be deleted on the website or the frame, as both synchronise with one another. The web service automatically reduces the size of digital pictures uploaded and optimises them for the frame.
I uploaded 200 photos and still had 95 per cent capacity remaining on the device, suggesting it will hold 4,000.
The Pulse can also be set up to pull down photos uploaded to Facebook or the Kodak Gallery by chosen friends.
I would like to see Flickr photostreams and other photo services added and another improvement would be to allow users to choose to display different sets of photos set up online to give more variety.
Jim Forger, Kodak Product Marketing Manager for Connected Wireless Frames, told me this was the original problem with photo frames. Consumers were initially wowed by them but then got bored seeing the same 50 photos they had loaded cycle endlessly, while, at the same time, not having the impetus to update them.
The Pulse’s web interface makes updating easier and there is also the killer feature of being able to email photos from a phone or PC to a personal @kodakpulse.com address and see them appear a few minutes later on the screen. Loved ones sent them will get a prompt on the screen saying new ones have arrived and can touch the screen to start a slideshow.
Mr Forger says Kodak learned through research and experimentation that consumers preferred a passive rather than active experience when it came to photo frames – so the Pulse eschews features such as the ability to call up sports scores and weather updates.
“We see a very large market for picture frames in the passive sense, consumers love it because they can set it up and they don’t have to touch it,” he said.
Picture frames may continue to cycle back and forth as single-function photo devices and multi-function frames with sound, video and apps as well, but the Pulse seems squarely and sensibly focused on what consumers want and are able to cope with, rather than adding every bell and whistle that current technology can offer.
