Digital Spectrum Elite 7" Digital Photo Frame

I expected the frame is much more bigger and the diagonal screen size is only 6-1/2". It is smaller than a 4 X 6 photo;also, the manual indicates the battery life is only 30 minutes and not 2 hrs. A little bit disappointed since the price was attractive; I brought it for only $35.11 plus free shipping!

Great buy

After being dissapointed with my first digital photo frame experience, I did a bunch of research and decided to try out this frame.I own the version that is called Nu-Touch, but it is this same frame, and even the owner's manual says "Elite" on it. Also, to preface this review, I am a serious photographer with a VERY critical eye for color and sharpness, so it is possible I would notice flaws that would not bother a "typical" user.After about a week and a half of using the frame, I can say that it is a very good product. The 720 x 480 resolution on such a small screen, means that the gradients and transitions are so fine/smooth, that the images look very close to prints. Additionally, the LCD screen has very good brightness and contrast, and renders colors accurately, with NO perceptible flicker from screen refresh..... it is literally rock stable. There is also what appears to be perfectly uniform backlight brightness from edge to edge on the screen. Finally, at least in my case, I did not see a single dead or stuck pixel on the entire frame, which seems remarkable given my past experience with LCD screens in other applications (PC monitors etc.)The display screen has an anti-reflective coating that is extremely effective. This frame is positioned under a tabletop lamp on my desk at work, and while there are a few small reflections of the bulb off the gloss-black frame, there are NO reflections on the image itself. This was a very nice surprise. The photos end up looking like good-quality matte finish prints, and this is aesthetically appealing in my opinion.The user interface is simple to navigate, and I was able to figure out all aspects of setup without ever referring to the manual. The onscreen menu graphics are very refined as well, and this is a nice touch that makes the product a pleasure to use. If you do need the manual, it is concise and provides all required info to set up and use this frame.I like the fact that the frame has a built-in Li-Ion battery, which allows you to unplug it and move it wherever you want while you are adding photos, working with settings etc. You can unplug it and hold it in front of you like a book, making it very easy to navigate with your thumbs using the cool "soft-keys" that light up a neat-looking blue while in use, but which disappear completely when the frame is left alone to display images. One added benefit of having no "hard buttons" is that the frame can be rotated 90 degrees to display "portrait" orientation images, and it will not look weird (i.e. with a bunch of visible buttons in a strange place).The built-in memory should be able to store a large number of images that are sized to the screen's resolution of 720 x 480.In general, the build-quality is excellent, including a nice and heavy metal desk stand that keeps the frame planted firmly in place.The only negative I can think of about the frame, and it is a minor one, is that the gloss-black finish of the frame itself is prone to showing fingerprints. This is an issue since you have to touch this part of the frame when you are making adustments to settings etc. So keep some good-quality plexiglass cleaner around to use on your frame post-tweak to ensure that it looks its best. For daily use (i.e. turning on in the morning and off at night) this would not be an issue, since the power switch is on the back of the frame.Also, the only reason I gave this product 4 stars instead of 5 is that I think the manufacturer should have written into the firmware the ability to set an automatic startup and shut off time for the frame. This would be very easy to do, and would have made this pretty much a perfect product in my opinion. Since the firmware that runs this frame, and apparently other frames by Digital Spectrum, appears to be user-updatable via downloads from the manufacturer website, perhaps this feature could be added in a future firmware update?I only use this product for displaying still photos. I have not used, nor do I intend to use, the sound or video playback functions of this product, so I can't speak to those.Bottom Line: If you are looking for a small-format digital picture frame, this one should be at the top of your list.

Wasn't thrilled with this product. Purchased this as a gift, and almost didn't give it to them because it didn't work as expected. The image quality is great, but it was a little tricky to get the LED "buttons" to work. Also, the battery is only good for about 30 minutes, so you'd still have to plug it in.I loaded jpgs and an mp3 into a MicroSD card (with adapter) for the slide show feature, but found that:1. The unit isn't very Mac friendly (had to delete the extra files on my cell phone, as there was no way to delete them directly on the unit from the MicroSD).2. Couldn't get the timing right. Presets are 5sec, 30sec, 4hrs, 12hrs, 1day, 1week, and I needed it to be 3 secs.3. When set to 5sec, it didn't switch very consistently (some went for 5 secs, some for 10 or somewhere in between), so it was impossible to get the music synced with the photos.4. Speakers weren't very loud (but what you COULD hear was pretty high quality sound).5. No auto-rotate feature, but no biggie--I Photoshopped all the photos anyway. It does have auto-fit, but the manual kinda implied that you'd have to copy the image to the 128mb internal memory.And one other big bad:I had to wear cotton photographer's film-handling gloves to operate this unit. Picks up fingerprints like crazy, and when I rubbed a smudge off with my bare thumb, I actually scratched the finish (come on, my skin isn't THAT dry!). But they do give you a cleaning cloth.But, if you're not concerned about having the music synced to the photos in Slide Show, it does the job. I guess it's a plus that it even does that at all, and with decent quality. It also has a calendar and clock that you can display over a photo, so at the very least, it would be a cool clock/calendar on someone's desk.Foolishly got this on eBay for $50, from a guy that didn't take returns. Otherwise, it would've gone back, even at that price. Scrolled down a little further and saw a reconditioned 8" Kodak for $10 more that might've worked better, but had already hit the "Buy Now" button on this one. Oh well...live and learn.

I just received this frame from amazon and amazon packed the box well, but inside the actual manufacturer box there was no packing material at all, just the frame in the box loose with all the cords. And you guessed it, it didn't work out when I plugged it in, just a blank screen with black on one side and grey on the other. I attempted to go to the company web site but found that it was no longer there, they appear to have gone out of business. If you get this frame and it works, great for you, but don't expect any support or warranty on the frame if it doesn't