The evolution of digital photo frames has followed a familiar pattern in the consumer technology industry.
First generation devices had a fixed amount of internal memory and had to be updated by plugging them into a PC, second generation devices supported expandable memory and were updated using plug-in flash memory cards and the latest generation can be updated wirelessly – using Bluetooth, WiFi or a cellular connection.
Pandigital, one of the biggest names in digital picture frames, unveiled the cellular wireless Photo Mail digital photo frame at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas in January and it is now finally shipping.
The Photo Mail, which costs $180, allows users to send it digital images over AT&T’s wireless network in the US. The purchase price covers the cost of the first 300 images transmitted to the frame after which users can buy ‘top-up’ allotments ranging from $10 for another 100 images to $50 for 700 images.
AT&T, which provides the cellular connection for Amazon’s Kindle and – as of today – Apple’s iPad, has been aggressively expanding its ‘emerging devices’ business in an effort to generate additional data revenues from its nationwide network.
The frame comes with an 8-inch frame and 1Gb of internal memory for photo storage which Pandigital claims is sufficient space for up to 6400 images using its compression technology. In addition to its photo display capabilities, the Photo Frame also functions as a digital alarm clock.
