Asustek Enters the Wireless Digital Picture Frame Market

According to Digitimes, Asustek is getting ready to launch its own wireless digital picture frame line this summer, perhaps as early as June 2008, joining Sony as an already-established electronics company deciding to join the ever-growing, ever-popular wireless digital picture.market.

Some of the new Asustek wireless/digital picture frames will be compatible with Bluetooth devices, most of the digital frames will have wireless internet access, and some will be able to receive DVB-T and DVB-11 signals to display television programs.

Asutek’s decision to enter the wireless digital picture frame market is another indication of the massive wireless photo frame growth predicted for 2008: there were 12-13 million units sold in 2007, and 20 million units are expected to be sold this year. It is also predicted that consumers will be purchasing wireless digital picture frames with larger viewing screens; last year, 7-inch frames were the most popular, but this year, it’s predicted that 8 and 10-inch frames will be the most popular. (Thank you, Digitimes, for the stats!)

I hope the new Asustek wireless digital frames are FrameChannel-compatible!

Sony Introduces Three Beautiful Digital Photo Frames

Sony is a brand name that connotes quality, and when a quality name like Sony decides to introduce a digital picture frame line, we know that those digital frames, too, connote quality.

These three beauties from Sony have 800 x 480 displays, and can scale photos down from up to 48 MB. This means you could transfer even large pictures directly from your camera’s memory card without manually sizing them with your computer. The frames also correct any red-eye problems automatically, and it also means the new Sony frames are able to handle photos taken with the most advance and sophisticated digital cameras..

Sony’s S-Frame brand of digital picture frames are plain, black, and elegant: typical Sony trademarks. The bright, clear LCD screens, coupled with the elegance of the frames, make the Sony frames not merely suitable, but PERFECT, for any room in your house.

Two of the frames - the DPF-V900 and DPF-V700 also have Bluetooth compatibility! You’ll need a Bluetooth adapter - sold separately - but with the adapter, these two frames can import pictures wirelessly from any Bluetooth device, such as a cell phone.

Ted Okada, senior vice president of digital imaging for Sony Electronics, says that “Digital photo frames are a natural addition to our line of digital imaging products. Our new S-Frame brand of digital photo frames takes inspiration from the style and features of our Cyber-shot cameras and BRAVIA LCD televisions. They give consumers a beautiful and technicaly advanced way to showcase their memories.”

You can even program these beautiful new Sony frames to turn on or off whenever you want, which makes them energy efficient, ie GREEN.

All of the many, many functions can be done via the wireless remote.

Your pictures can be loaded onto any of the three Sony frames with your camera’s memory card (with an Eye-Fi memory card, your pictures will be transmitted automatically!) or almost any flash/thumb drive. You can also transfer your pictures from your computer to your digital frame with the included USB cable.

The DPF-V900 will cost approximately $250.00, the DPF-V700 will cost about $190.00, and the DPF-D70 will be around $140.00. All three will be available in March 2008.