Coby DP702 7-Inch Widescreen Digital Photo Frame (Woodgrain) by Coby
|
List Price: Our Price: $39.95 You Save: $60.04 (60%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $32.87 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Coby DP702 7-Inch Widescreen Digital Photo Frame (Woodgrain)
Digital camera Review: Decent frame that gets the job done...
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I've been wanting to get a digital photo frame for my wife for some time. I balked at the prices for the larger ones and the brand name ones (you can get a solid LCD monitor that's 2-5X the size for the same amount!). Then I found a Sunpak one for less than $50. It left a lot to be desired. It got the job done but the menu system was annoying, the frame itself wasn't responsive and the picture quality was average.
This Coby frame is my second attempt. For the price point and comparing it to the Sunpak, it's definitely a leg up. Here's the break down:
Hardware/Design:
This frame sports a simulated dark brown wood grain with an inner plastic frame surrounding the LCD. It does work given the colors though I'd have preferred a black plastic inner frame to better accentuate the photos. It feels pretty solid and has (thank you!) an adjustable support so you can angle it or have it sitting straight up. The support itself seems a bit flimsy but as long as you're not abusing it it should be fine.
OS/Menu:
After really hating the Sunpak's menu system (it was slow and moving through the different options just seemed like more of a chore than it should've been), this is a breath of fresh air. It's nothing fancy but you get access to all the options pretty quickly and it all makes sense. It's also a lot more responsive (i.e. you click an option via the remote and it doesn't take several seconds to see a response). It gets the job done.
Interfaces/Memory:
This frame sports a small amount of memory on board (enough to hold a handful of pictures). Nothing fancy...think of it as a customizable screen saver more than anything else. Basically, it's the demo memory space where, if you have no memory cards connected, it will grab photos for a demo slide show while the frame is on. You can put 5-10 photos in there. The downside is you can't just pick and choose images while the slide show is going or something like that for this demo memory. You've got to connect the frame to a computer via the USB interface. The bigger downside is that they don't include the USB cable with the frame. If you've got other digital electronics that happen to have a USB cable (the one where one end has a small square plug and the other has the regular USB interface) you can PROBABLY use that. The manual says it just needs to be a "compatible USB cable" but never mentions if there are any specifics. Kind of silly if you ask me. Still, you can use all the standard memory cards out there (SD, MMC, MS, XD and CF) plus there's a USB port you can plug a flash storage drive to. A lot of options.
Media:
The frame supports photos (GIF, JPEG, BMP up to 8000x8000 resolution), MP3s, and video (MPEG4, AVI). It will automatically play your MP3s in the background while a slide show runs. Standard in a way but it works pretty well. And, while I understand the reasoning, it's sort of annoying that playback stops if you go to the menu for something (say you just want to adjust the brightness or something). Could've been a bit smarter. I did not try video for this review.
Image Quality/Display:
Now, the most important part...image quality and the display. Well, this isn't a $200 frame, my friends, so it's not going to be super crisp and crazy beautiful. Like the title of this review says, this gets the job done. Out of the box, I had to up the brightness and contrast a bit since darker images just seemed to bottom out. The frame supports 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios with an Auto mode so you don't have to really worry about the size of your images. The problem was that the default setting was set to 4:3 (no, I didn't accidentally hit a button, I'm positive). There's a button on the frame and on the remote you can use to cycle through but Auto works good enough.
It has all the usual transitions you'd expect and will randomly display images if you choose but the randomization isn't always so random. I like to organize my photos on the memory card in there in folders and it seems like the randomizer will bounce around within the same folder for a while before switching to a new one and bouncing around in there. I'm a programmer and I've taken statistics classes...I know this is "legallly" random but it seems a bit odd (it's like having 100 random numbers and 6, 5, 7, and 8 get picked...it's possible but it's also unlikely). And, even though you specify a time interval between photos, I've watched and found the frame stuck on an image for upwards of 30 seconds or more (right now the one I'm watching is setting a record at 2 minutes).
Overall, I wanted to believe that this frame might have all the makings of a top notch inexpensive frame. While it gets a few things right, it also gets a few things wrong. It's not a terrible frame (definitely better than the Sunpak) but I can't give it high marks for flaws (getting stuck on a photo in random mode) and oversights (USB cable). If you're in the market for a inexpensive frame, you should definitely consider this one, especially at a $30-35 price point.
Digital camera Review: Digital Frame Review
Summary: 2 Stars
Be sure to read ALL the details about this frame. It has no memory, so you have to provide a flash drive or camera memory to view pictures (can't download from pc). My pictures were perfect on my pc, but by the time I copied them from the picture CD's, then onto a flash drive to view on the frame, they were dark and hard to see (I adjusted the brightness as much as possible). I purchased this as a gift for my father - carried it with me to visit him and set it up - I was very disappointed.Digital camera Review: Digital Frame for a great price
Summary: 5 Stars
Great frame, great price that you can't get almost anywhere! Great value all in all!Digital camera Review: Digital Phot Frame
Summary: 4 Stars
I really love this product. It was so much easier to set up and get it going than the last one I purchased by another manufacturer. I would recommend this product.Digital camera Review: Do not get this.
Summary: 1 Stars
Looks good physically, but image system is faulty and apparently NOT compatible with all average USB stick memory drives.