My Second Gadget From US

Few starts saying I am lying after I revealed my Bluetooth mouse. Aiyor, as I said, ain't it just a simple mouse? It's not a new technology and you can easily get one here, nothing special what. Same goes to this second gadget, it's very common here. In fact, this gadget is not for me but for my mom.

Woooo... My mom sounds canggih huh? Yeah, she is getting more canggih everyday, she recently nagged me to backup a dual layer DVD for the granddaughter, and challenged me why I didn't stock up blank DL DVD but only dated single layer DVD! On the other hand, one of my aunts wake up in the middle of the night to water her plants, in facebook! OMG~ sound like I'm so dated these days.

Perhaps I am really dated which this gadget is, again, not something fancy but cheap to get in the States...

The Philips 8" digital photo frame. The package...

The frame, power adapter, a stand and user manual. Nothing unique to highlight but here are the key features...

I like the RadiantColor feature, which I think is unique to Philips frames as I couldn't find such in other brands when I shopped in Walmart, Bestbuy, Fry's etc. Generally you will get black bars on the sides (up and down or left and right) if the aspect ratio of the photos are not similar to frame, for instance, 4:3 vs. 16:9. With RadiantColor, the frame will extend / match the color of the photo edge so that the photo is shown like a full screen photo with no black bars. This makes the photos look nicer and is useful as currently we are at the transition of 4:3 and 16:9 cameras.

The resolution of the frame is 800x600, my minimum requirement. I have seen quite a number of frames of same size and compared them side by side, most of them are 430x322 (or something similar) which the photos are really pixelized. And this frame is the replacement of a damaged one below...

Bought by my bro for mom to view the granddaughter photos. This was bought long ago when digital photo frame wasn't as common as nowadays, hence you could imagine how good was the resolution. Not sure my mom intentionally hinted me or not, she told me the frame was damaged just before I flew to Houston, she might know I could get cheap gadgets there, asked at the right time so I didn't forget and couldn't find excuse not to get her a replacement. Hmmm... Must watch out this mom. :P

Back to Philips frame. Power it up...

The guide shows up. Meaning, you don't really have to read the manual. Few seconds later, the sample photos show...

Cool, very smooth. I have not uploaded photos to the memory card to use with the frame but you could probably observe that the pixels were small, so the end result should be identical to above since my photos are higher megapixels than the samples.

The other feature I like on this frame is its visual button indicator at the top right edge...

Since the buttons are the back of the frame, it's hard to know if you press the right button when you are configuring the setting. This visual indicator really helps to guide my finger to press the right button. I couldn't remember the brands, but I did try on few other brands which have the same button setup at the rear, I had to flip front (screen) and rear (button) to verify I pressed the right button to the right setting. Same experience with buttons on top. Try it yourself and you will understand what I described.

Since this frame is for US market, the power adapter is rated 110V...

So I need a step down transformer to convert 240V in Malaysia to 110V...

This frame costs me RM320 which the price for 7" frames were listed at least RM600 when I checked on ebay.com.my and lelong.com.my! Another great deal I got from Walmart!

This ain't a detailed review nor a fancy gadget but at least it makes my mom happy to see the granddaughter everyday again. Oh, the real cutie is coming back this weekend, no outing no date no appointment no minum no mamak no phone call for my weekend! :)