I review the XEOS Rechargeable Digital Photo Keychain. I found this at Wal-Mart when shopping for a 22 inch monitor. I left without the monitor, but came back with this:
What caught my eye was:
- 1. It says it’ll work with a Mac.
- 2. It actually looks not bad. Some of these photo keychains look really, really cheesy. This looks like it’s built fairly well.
Specifications:
High Resolution 1.5″ LCD 128×128 pixel color display displays clear, vivid pictures
Auto run softwware for any computer (Mac or PC)
Automatically resizes the photos to fit on the screen
Displays up to 100 photos in still or slideshow mode
Easy Drag and Drop transfers from PC or Mac
Up to 2 hours of viewing time
Built-in rechargeable battery
PC system requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Mac System requirements: 10.3.9/10.4/10.5/10.5.2
Price: Under $20. I lost the receipt, but about $18 CDN.
What you get:
As you can see from the photo above, it comes with the keychain itself, a USB cable, and a Manual.
Although not in the the photograph it comes with a Quick Guide to get you up and running quickly:
Step 1. Unpack the keychain and press the mode button for 3 seconds. ( I also removed the sticker with the happy family on it. The whole idea of this is to display my photos, not some stock photo) .. OK we’re good. It’s on.
Step 2. Oh here we go…I have to set the clock and stuff. This thing has four modes of operation: Power Off, Clock/Calendar/Setup/Exit. I have to move the < or > keys to setup this thing. Nope, I don’t have to set the clock yet it seems..let’s hope the computer does it when connected.
Step 3. Plug it in to the computer: First, I’ll try it on the Mac. In my case, an Apple MacBook. My Macbook is two+ years old so if it’ll work on this, it should work on newer models. I don’t think it’s the hardware requirements so much as the OS.
Step 4. On the Mac an Icon: is displayed on the desktop:
I click it and I get an image to double click:
And up comes the digital photo viewer software:
The software actually works! And is pretty robust too.
There’s options to rotate the orientation, crop the photo before upload, change the upload order, delete and upload to the device.
There’s also a settings button where you can adjust the auto off timer, slide show interval and brightness level
I unplugged the device from the Macbook, and this is is the best part – the clock was set! correctly!. This alone is worth the price of admission.
Here’s a photo of it in action:
Summary.
I’m thrilled with it. It works. I should have NOT read the manual in this case, and just plugged it in. It truly is plug and play. It works as advertised doesn’t look too cheesy. The screen doesn’t have the widest viewing angle but considering I paid under $20 for it, it’s not too bad at all. I would recommend it. This could be a great stocking stuffer this holiday season.
One added feature: This is designed well. The keychain folds, which allows you to use it as a desktop picture frame:
This is a good little buy. Recommended.
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Featured, Reviews
November 24th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
My girlfriend bought this for her granddad at Walmart last week as a present for the upcoming holiday season. He’s not great with computers, so I decided to load pictures onto the photo key chain myself, seeing I am the most literate with digital technologies.
Starting off was hard. It took several attempts for my system to recognize the software on the keychain and run the upload program. After the upload program crashed several times, I finally got it to work, and started uploading pictures in 128 x 128 px size. Excited about the developments, I found 5 pictures that I uploaded onto the keychain. Well, it crashed again, but this time, the keychain ceased to work at all. All I got was a blank screen when I turned it on. No menus, no navigation. Nothing.
I realized the software must have completely disintegrated, so I tried looking up a fix for this on the website (www.pocketphotodisplay.com), but to no avail. So I decided to write them an e-mail from the website, but after a week, no response. Then, I called the customer service number they have posted on their website, but all you get is an automated answering machine, saying all the basic things on how to troubleshoot (which is already on the website anyways). After pressing 0 on the keypad, I get a general mailbox, with a voice saying nobody is there to answer you call.
All I wanted was an update on the software! I suppose I will have to redeem my $20 from Walmart. Too bad… this could have been solved way easier.
Always when buying these things… keep the receipt!
April 13th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I thought this would be a good little gift considering the packaging says that the screen display clear vivid images….But after i uploaded and transferred the images to the keychain…they were not even close….they were faded looking and dull…
I do not recommend….even if it is cheap to purchase…