We’re over memory-card-only digital picture frames. The Impact8 suck down photos over Wi-Fi. An Internet connection grabs your latest images automatically from RSS feeds or a picture-publishing service. Even friends and relatives can upload pictures from anywhere.
However, this big-picture idea is problematic.
The Impact8 builds us up with its simple, effective features, but washed-out image quality brings us down. However, the online interface makes it easy to administer, overcoming the mediocre display.
We logged in to the free www.seeframe.com site from a Mac to register the frame and begin tossing it images over Wi-Fi. The portal includes a few ways to pass over pictures, such as a direct email, web-based upload, or importing an RSS feed. We stuck mostly to the RSS configuration, entering some MobileMe gallery URLs. After a few minutes, those images drifted over to the frame. Neat.
The 4:3 aspect-ratio screen perfectly matches most point-and-shoot digital cameras without having to crop any edges. But those images often looked washed-out and pale. However, the frame showed good sharpness and detail, and we could manually compensate for poor contrast by first editing photos on our Mac.
Simple online photo management. Images show good sharpness and detail. Wide viewing angle.
Image quality is often washed out. Frame can’t navigate folders on memory cards.
