Hi,
I purchased this frame on sale at Amazon for $50. There are other reviews on this frame, some of which come from a Vine program Amazon runs where people get the item to review for free. So far I am less than thrilled with their reviews. In reading them you get the sense that either they have done no research on other frames, and therefore judge the Kodak frame too harshly. Or you get the sense that they did not spend much time with the frame before they kicked out a review.
So, I purchased this frame myself. And I have been looking into frames for a while. It always seemed that frames were too expensive or too cheap. And either way, the frames would not work as expected. Most digital frames do not come with a rechargeable battery. And the Kodak P85 is in the same boat. Quite a few frames will play video and music. The Kodak P85 does neither, however it is not very expensive. Most frames come with some internal memory. The Kodak P85 does not. So why buy this frame. You decide.
The P85 is SIMPLE but it has great screen color. The resolution is 800x600. The aspect ratio is not widescreen. It is a normal picture ratio of 4:3. It has no remote control to get lost. You can set it to turn itself off after 8 hours, 16 hours, or stay on until turned off by you. It will shuffle the pics or play them by date. I read one review that the pics by date could be off if you edited the pic and resaved it and therfore changed the pics date. Quite possible but I did not check that. You can use various memory cards or USB. I used an SD card. One note, the side of the card with the write protect switch is the side that faces the top of the frame when you put the card in the frame. Just turn the frame on, and put the card in. You know it sees the card when it puts an image of a memory card on the screen. It then begins playing the pics off the card. No there are no Kodak pics when it plays the pics off your card. If all you see are the kodak pics then the frame does not see your card. I like the Pan and Zoom feature. That is when it brings up a pic and the view of the pic moves slighty and zooms in slightly like when you see documentaries on tv. I think its called the Ken Burns effect.
So you can decide on what features you want in a frame. I wanted simple. No remote, no music, no video, no battery, no touch screen. I just wanted pictures displayed with stunning color. The lack of built in memory does not bother me. I prefer to leave the frame in place, remove the card and put more pics on the card by inserting the card into my PC. One note. The frame does not come with a memory card. But you really don't need much of a card. A two gig card will cost you around $5 amd that will hold more than enough pics. I actually have a few cards laying around in my camera bag. It only reads Jpeg and Exif pic formats by the way. My pics are Jpegs. You can right click on a pic in the directory on your computer and select properties to see what format yours are in.
If you shop around you can find a cheaper frame to display pics, but the frames always seem to have iffy characteristics. The P85 at 8 inches is worth around $50-$60. It is not in the category of a $100 frame. Kodak Easyshare P85 8-inch Digital Frame
This frame is fantastic. The most important features of any digital picture frame are resolution and brightness, and this frame gets high marks on both. The features are SIMPLE, which I view as very positive. No music, no wireless... just plug in your flash drive with photos and off you go. The advertisements for Kodak that others have complained about do NOT appear when the frame is running. They ONLY appear when the flash drive is removed or when the device is first turned-on, much like your computer might flash the name of the manufacturer when first turned on. People complaining about this frame are whiners.
I bought this item as an Xmas gift for my g/f and we are both satisfied with it:
PROS
- the screen is bright and displays the colours vividly
- you also have the option of displaying pictures from an SD card or a memory
stick, both of which work perfectly fine
- it also offers a few transitions and different timings- this would allow you to
adjust how long a particular picture is displayed, and the effects when it goes
from one picture to another.
CONS
- the screen itself is a bit small, but i could have deduced that from the
dimensions given in the product description.
i would recommend this product- its like a small TV that allows you to display your most cherished memories from the media mentioned above. i cant see how a smaller screen would be useful, as this one is barely big enough, but i guess it all depends on what you want it for.
This is the second Kodak digital photo frame I've purchased. This one is for my mom. I wanted one that was easy to use--basically plug and play. I scanned the photos she selected and frankly, some were not great quality. They had begun to fade or turn funny colors. However, when I loaded them on to a memory card and plugged it into the frame, they looked great! Much better than my expectation. She even had me scan some photos from her high school yearbooks (memory lane) and they are acceptable quality as well. All I had to do was put in the memory card, turn it on and experiment with the buttons. Everything was self explanatory and I never needed to crack open the instructions. My only (small) quibble is that the frame is very modern looking since it's flat and black. It will not blend well with my mom's more traditional decor. My older Kodak frame, which is at least 5 years old and still works very well, had a more traditional look/feel to it. Really, that's a minor thing compared to the ease of use and spectacular photo reproduction qualities. - Digital Photo Frame - Digital Frame - Digital Frames - Kodak Easyshare'
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