Endgadget.com’s Darren Murph reports that the Korean consumer electronics company Human-Rh has come up with some winners in the “It’s About Time” category. Its new photo frames under the HDPF line not only represent an advance in panel quality but satisfy a much-needed extra: mobile TV.
The 7.6in HDPF-760D steals the show with its AMOLED display and a built-in DMB tuner; the 8in HDPF-800D sticks with the traditional LCD, but it’s available with a variety of tuners for 1-seg, T-DMB, DVB-T and CMMB. Both the company’s new frames still play back slideshows, but the built-in WiFi also lets them display information from Internet-connected widgets. They come with 2GB of integrated memory, a multicard slot and a USB port. An A/V output lets you send TV and video to a TV, and it can also be used for reading e-books.
This video isn’t in English, but the old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” is true.
Posted on Mar 21, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am
Tech writer Mark Harris, on TechRadar.com, has an interesting article about how one in ten homes now has a digital picture frame in it!
Brits are snapping up digital photo frames faster than ever, according to high tech analysts Futuresource Consulting.
More than 1.8 million units were sold in the UK during 2008, at an average retail price of around £90, and frames are now present in an estimated ten per cent of UK homes.
“Fuelled by a glut of low-cost 7-inch widescreen offerings from a number of brands and retailers sales grew 60 per cent in 2008 from 2007,” says Simon Bryant, Principal Consultant, Futuresource Consulting.
“The market continues to be heavily reliant on gifting and first-time impulse buyers who are lured by broad distribution and very low prices. Between Christmas 2007 and 2008, like-for-like prices fell roughly 20 per cent for the most popular 7-inch widescreen frames.”
While top tier brands like Sony, Samsung, Kodak, Philips, and Toshiba increased their combined share of sales between 2007 and 2008 (from 42 to 54 per cent), no-name and own-brand frames continue to sell well.
Futuresource expects convergence products that incorporate photo frame functionality, such as connected TVs, netbooks and the iPod Touch, to gradually erode sales of dedicated frame. (Item: I do not agree! These things have different purposes!)
Bryant say, “Even by the end of this year – when we’re going to see the market grow to around 2m to 2.2m units – we’ll see crossover products that will beg the question ‘is it a photo frame or an alarm clock radio, a personal multimedia player or a portable TV?’”
Kodak has just licensed its OLED technology to LG for use in photo frames, and Wi-Fi, video-capable and even internet radio streaming frames expected to take market share throughout 2009.
The built-in WiFi in the new Kodak OLED lets the frame access picture, videos, and music files stored on your computer, wherever in your house it might be. You can also upload images and videos from your digital camera’s memory cards or USB drives. The frame has 2 full GB of internal memory, also, and comes with Kodak software for editing and moving content from your PC to the frame.
The Kodak OLED’s wireless capabilities allow access to all kinds of exciting internet content, including the Kodak gallery and Kodak partners Flickr and FrameChannel.
The following video will show you what the Kodak OLED screen looks like in comparison to an ordinary wireless frame’s screen:
This next video is the CNET review of the Kodak OLED wireless digital picture frame:
