The Kodak Easyshare W1020 Digital Photo Frame’s is a 10 inch LCD digital photo frame, and probably it’s biggest feature is it’s wireless
capabilities. Features of this $199 (street price) photo frame inlcude:
Wifi Certified for both 802.11b and 802.11g wireless networks.
Touch Borders. You touch the borders to navigate the menus. Exactly the same idea as an ATM or Automated Bank Machine. The neat part is the buttons light up when touched, but then fade so the border just looks like any old photo frame. Kodak’s name for this is “Kodak Quick Touch Border” with backlit, touch sensitive controls.
The wireless capabilities allow you to view photos on wireless galleries such as Flickr, RSS Feeds and photos from your Kodak Gallery.
Other wireless stuff includes news, sports and weather information. I had s0-so luck with this stuff, and I’ll explain later.
Unpacking:
Out of the box, the Kodak EasyShare w1020 comes with all you’ll need to get your photos in to the frame. There’s 512mb of memory internal in this device so you really don’t need a memory card to fill this. The included USB cable would allow you to upload photos directly to the frame.
Includes in the box are the manuals, software CD’s and a nice touch is a little cleaning cloth is included. Also included is the USB cable and power cord. I won’t post photos of this stuff, as I already have some unboxing photos posted earlier. Also included (though not photographed) is an alternate border (wine colored) in case the white border isn’t doing it for you.
Real World Use.
Setting up your network is pretty easy, although if your network is secured you’ll have to navigate the keyboard using the touch borders, which is a challenge, but thankfully you only have to enter your password to the wireless network once.
When I opened the box, I saw the flickr integration and thought ooooooh, that looks neat. And it is. Out of the box it shows the most interesting photos on flickr, which is all well and good, but I wanted to display MY photos on flickr. So, using the included software, I managed to change it so the frame was displaying from my photo frame. And it works great!
At first, I had trouble – it was displaying photos from somebody else’s photostream, but hitting the flickr button allowed me to display and select what photos I would like to display. The frame even allows me to pick and choose what photos to choose. So, it works as advertised. Had me stumped for a bit but I’m a happy camper.
You can display photos from FLICKR
- Your photostream (all, or pick and choose)
- Your Sets.
- Your Favorites
- From your contacts
- Contact list
- Everyone’s uploads
- Explore
Other ways to get your photos into the display are non-wireless and require a memory card. There’s a slot for SD/MMC/MS/XD cards and also a slot for Compact Flash. Also two USB ports depending on the cable you have – one standard, and one mini USB port.
I played with the weather/news and found the service lacking. This frame is designed with the US in mind, and it only listed Major Canadian Cities with it’s weather service. Best I could do was Halifax,NS. Which at this time of year is a completely different weather system.
I didn’t try the music/video capabilities at all. There’s two speakers on the back, and this thing will play music, but it’s a photo frame. I’ll play music on something else, like a stereo with better speakers. In my opinion, this is just feature creep.
The frame has a stand that allows for vertical and horizontal orientation, but the frame’s not to smart to realize that. If you switch the frame to vertical, your photos are all still going to be horizonal. It would be nice if it could work like apple’s iPhone where the display automatically switches orientation.
The power cord hanging off the back of this frame limits it to a tabletop display where the cord can be hidden easier. Hanging it would require you to hide that cord, yet still have it close to a power outlet. It’s possible to hang in on a wall, but it would be difficult. I’d love a completely wireless version of this with a battery.
Summary.
There’s a whole bunch of features here I don’t need. Music/news/sports/video are all completely useless for my needs. But the wireless works as advertised, and well. This would make a great gift for grandparents, if you’re a flickr user. Set up the photo frame and hand it to them, (assuming grandma has wireless) and new photos of the grandkids would automatically appear from the flickr photostream or set you selected.
My only complaint would be that the menus are hard to navigate. A touch screen would be SO much more useful. Thankfully I set it, and forget it. If I want to add more photos I just add more to my photostream with a computer and full sized keyboard and I’m done. The frame automatically grabs them and displays them. This is the sweet spot, in my mind.
It’s a good frame for my uses. Set it, and forget it.
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