CEIVA view point FRAMED

Posts Tagged ‘connected frames’

Last week technology product review sites and blogs were all a-buzz about Hewlett Packard’s latest product release… the HP DreamScreen.  Because so much was being said I found myself enticed to read more and more. But the more I read the more I noticed a pattern develop. I noticed that many “industry experts” were confused and unsure as to what the DreamScreen is or is not supposed to be.

Below are 16 quotes from various technology gurus and geeks who grappled with their own understanding on just how to best describe what  the HP DreamScreen is and/or is not. As you read through these quotes note that what they have to say about the DreamScreen is quite varied, perplexing and at times contradictory. Regardless, I am pretty sure this is NOT the industry buzz HP wanted.

• CNET ASIA-Crave “There are products which simply defy categorization.”
  

• Tech News World “DreamScreen …is it some sort of hobbled tablet netbook, or is it a pumped-up digital photo frame?”
  

• Business  Week “HP turns the digital photo frame into an electronic social calendar.“

• Mashable “HP’s new DreamScreen Tablet is some type of hybrid between a computer, a digital photo frame, and a music player. “

• Coolest Gadgets “In the case of the HP DreamScreen, it might not be fair to call it a digital photo frame.”

• Venture Beat “It’s a category of computer that is suitable for casual use by broader, mainstream audiences who might use it while browsing TV.”

• Geek.com “HP’s DreamScreen wants to be the iPod of digital photo frames.”

• Yahoo Tech “Depending on how you look at it, the sleek new DreamScreen is either a very powerful digital photo frame or a fairly limited Internet tablet—take your pick.”

• The Inquisitr “HP DreamScreen Shouldn’t Be Called A Digital Photo Frame.”

• eHomeUpgrade “HP Launches the HP DreamScreen Infotainment Display“

• Digital Picture Frame Review “I hesitate to call the DreamScreen just a digital picture frame, although it does do that. So it’s more than a frame – it truly is a new platform.”

• Gadget Republic “You see, the DreamScreen is like a smart TV/lightweight laptop hybrid tablet that has plenty of interactivity and always-on connection via Wi-Fi but it serves the purpose of being an aesthetically pleasing media hub.”

• CNET Crave “It sort of reminds me of a super-sized Chumby–another interesting jack-of-all-trades gadget that never really seemed to take off.”

• PC Magazine “The DreamScreen is meant to act as a wireless gateway to the Internet and all of the digital media stored on your network and other home computers.”

• Tech News World “HP has shared its dream with the world, but not everyone is sure what to make of it. The DreamScreen is much more than a digital picture frame, but much less than a tablet PC.”
  

• PC World “But the DreamScreen, for me, is stuck in tablet purgatory. It’s not quite the tablet I want it to be and too expensive to justify as a replacement for the digital picture frame I never use.”

The more I read articles (with quote like these) the more I could not help but think that if the industry experts, whose business is to know and understand new technology, don’t understand what the DreamScreen is, then how does HP expect the consuming public to understand it and in turn buy it?

What finally solidified my concerns that HP has some marketing work to do on the DreamScreen was when I read a quote by Leslie Fiering of Gartner Research.  Ms Fiering, a vice president covering mobile computing concluded that “the DreamScreen appears to be an interesting product in search of a use.

So just what is the HP DreamScreen? Is it a tablet PC? Is it a Digital Frame? Is it  Social Calendar? Is it a Lite Weight TV? Or is it an Infotainment Display or possibly a Media Hub? Personally, from what I can deduce from my own reading, I think PC Magazine probably best describes what the HP DreamScreen is all about. However I won’t truly know until I actually set one up and and use it for awhile.

Regardless of what HP intended the DreamScreen to be, the industry is not getting it.

For more information about HP’s DreamScreen I recommend you visit the DreamScreen website.

The digital picture frame designers at CEIVA have tapped into the fact that more and more photos are being stored on home computers.  The new CEIVA Pro80 frame has been designed for easy access directly to an entire photo collection kept there. A clever new feature included in CEIVA’s newest frame is its built-in connectivity that allows photo streaming from Windows Media Server back to it.

Like all other CEIVA frames, the Pro 80 ingeniously connects to the internet to allow friends and family across the world to share their pictures by sending them directly into it. This exclusive internet connection is one of services that are bundled within the CEIVA Picture Plan. One year of the CEIVA Picture Plan is included FREE with every CEIVA Pro80.

The CEIVA Pro 80 features a high resolution 8-inch active matrix digital LCD screen, 640 x 480 display resolution, standard memory card readers, WiFi adapter, interchangeable face plates and CEIVA’s Perfect True-to-Photo display that puts an end to photo stretching, cropping or squishing. Internet connectivity is via WiFi or traditional phone line.

The soon to be released (release date 8/10/09) CEIVA Pro 80 has a list price of $179.99.

While digital frames keep evolving, consumer understanding stays pretty much the same… and can be misunderstood. Only after owning and using a frame does a consumer understand what their frame does and doesn’t do. So if you are in the market for a digital frame, answering these two seemingly simple questions will spare you disappointment later.

QUESTION 1: What do you want to SEE on your digital frame?

Now this might seem like a stupid question, but actually there are three content types to choose from when it comes to what a frame can possibly show. Of course there are frames dedicated solely to photo content. Then, while it is not highly desirable, there are some frames that can show short video content.  Finally, there are also frames that can accept information feeds that display instructional, marketing and/or news related content. Since not all frames show all content types, knowing what you want your frame to show will help guide and direct your purchasing decision. This leads us to the second question…

QUESTION 2: How will you connect to load & manage frame content?

Typically consumers don’t give this question much thought. Up until now they were typically sold on “stand-alone frames” (aka card reader frames) that offered what seemed to be a straightforward solution. Connecting to a frame to load it with photo content just by popping a card out of a camera and into the frame seemed simple enough. But over time, consumers with stand-alone frames began to understand that while it may have been simple to load the first time, the loading process becomes tedious as more pictures are taken. Plus, if the content requires any editing, doing so within a frame is an awkward undertaking, if it is even offered as a feature in the first place.

While connectivity to the frame controls content delivery, it does not always control what also is important to customers: content management. What shows, when it shows and how long it shows on the digital frame is content management. To make loading, managing and editing pictures simpler, frame manufactures are beginning to have their frames connect to a PC via WiFi or Bluetooth. Much like sending a document to a node printer connected on a network, content files stored on the PC can be to  “Node Frames” for display. Any editing would take place on the PC before sending.

Some Node Frames can also use the PC as a gateway middleman to a variety of Internet sites for content housed on the site. However, setting up and managing multiple connections from multiple sites to the middleman PC and then back into the Node Frame can be exasperating, tedious and difficult for most. Beware, this middleman PC approach to content delivery and management is currently being “sold” a simple Internet frame solution… but, in reality it can be a whole new approach to frame frustration.

Finally, there are true “Internet Frames” that are designed to connect directly to one site on the Internet via a wireless connection or through a traditional land line.  Unlike the Node Frame, that again depends the PC as content and management middleman, the true Internet Frame connects to one Internet site as the gateway access point to all desired frame content and content management. The Internet site is designed as a one stop content and management solution for the frame.  The site offers and manages all the functions related to picture hosting, content delivery, a variety of information feeds and even photo editing. Conflicts for access to and display time on the frame are eliminated because all content types are managed at one site.

Knowing a little more beyond what is being marketed and sold by most frame manufacturers will ultimately serve the consumer looking to buy a digital photo frame. Asking and answering two simple questions regarding what types of content they want to show and how they want to connect to load and then manage that content  on the digital frame will ultimately save them time, money and frustration… guaranteed.

So until the next post… that’s what CeivaJoe knows!

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Yesterday in New York Toshiba formally announced its entry into the digital picture frame market.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. The TV monitor manufacturer, which has panels, designers, and brand recognition, has had digital photo frames in other markets outside the U.S.

Toshiba is calling their spin on digital frames a “Digital Media Frame” to stress the fact that they can do more than just show pictures once connected with Wi-Fi to the Internet.

“You can get digital photo frames today for $20 to $30, but this is more than that. We call them digital media frames because we are positioning them as devices to do much more than just show photos. These are more lifestyle devices that give you the news and weather and a range of other personalized content options,” said Louis Masses, Toshiba DAV group product planning director.

The frames will be released in an 8 and 10 inch version. Initial models offer a high-gloss floating-glass look in the 8-inch screen sizes, while the 10-inch model is looks similar to the company’s Deep Lagoon 2009 LCD TV design style.

The 8-inch Digital Media Frame comes with either black or white frame bezels. The white 8-inch DMF82XWU and the black 8-inch DMF82XKU will each carry $180 suggested retails. The 10-inch model will be offered only in a translucent black. The 10-inch DMF102XKU will have a suggested retail of $230. Both displays are said to be high-res, built-in speakers, and support for WMA and MP3 as well as Jpeg, TIFF and BMP.

CEIVA welcomes Toshiba to the growing list of manufacturers.

ELECTRONICS.CA PUBLICATIONS, an electronics industry market research group, recently announced the availability of a new report they have compiled entitled “Wi-Fi Represents Strongest Opportunity in Global Connected Digital Photo Frame Market”.

According to the report, in the first half of 2009 prices for digital photo frames have dropped to affordable levels causing the  market for digital photo frames to take-off. However, due to the down turn in economic conditions and the trend to purchase digital photo frames as gifts, pre-loaded with personal pictures, most units purchased are still quite basic and lack advanced features such as connectivity to the Internet.

The report also states that it is expected that wireless-enabled internet connected photo frames will be a key growth sector and will grow at two times the rate of overall digital photo frames in 2010.

The report also goes on to make the following points:

• Worldwide unit shipments of all digital photo frames are expected to reach 50 million by 2013.

• Nearly 60% of US respondents to consumer survey identified integrated wireless connectivity as a desired feature on their next digital photo frame purchase.

• The total silicon opportunity for digital photo frame suppliers will exceed $550 million by 2013.

• Microcontrollers comprise the largest opportunity in non-wireless enabled devices.

• The BOM for a wireless 8-inch digital photo frame will fall below US$36 by 2013; the LCD, with the wireless module and the enclosure being the dominant cost items.

So while more frames will become connected to the internet, the industry still has yet to understand the value of having frames connected to each other. The importance of sharing photos easily across family & friends’ networked frames, via a secure sharing service such as CEIVA Picture Plan, is the primary reason why CEIVA owners value being “connected.”

Further details of Electronics.ca new Digital Photo Frame  Industry Report’s table of contents and ordering information can be found on HERE on their web site.

So until the next post… that’s what CeivaJoe knows!

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