I’ve been waiting for years for a useful Wi-Fi photo frame, and it looks like 2010 may finally usher in the new digital frame era. At Digital Experience tonight (a CES event within an event), I saw two promising entrants in the Wi-Fi photo frame market. First comes the Kodak Pulse. At seven inches and $129.99, the Pulse might sound a bit overpriced, but it’s not when you consider the full touch screen, and the fact that it gets its own IP address. This is the application grandparents have been waiting for. Mom and dad can email photos of baby Johnny, and they will immediately go into rotation on Grandma’s frame. The Pulse also integrates with Kodak Gallery and Facebook, with the potential for further service integration down the road. It’s due out in retail April-ish.
I also saw Pandigital’s Photo Mail frame tonight. Like the Pulse, it receives photos by email with no monthly subscription fee, but emailing photos comes with a per-pic charge after the first 300 emailed shots. The frame has Wi-Fi and connectivity via AT&T’s Edge network. Also due out around April, the Photo Mail frame is eight inches, but without the full touch screen. Interestingly, the back end is apparently handled by Snapfish, but there is no direct integration with existing Snapfish albums (as with the HP DreamScreen). The expected retail price is $149.99.
Bottom line: I want more testing time with the Kodak Pulse. I think we might have a winner.
Click to enlarge: