The outer bezel is removable, if you want it to match your Ikea furniture.

We shoot tons of photos but only print those we’re certain have staying power. So what about all the pictures that don’t make the cut? The EasyShare W1020 acts as an LCD and slide show, looping these images on its 10-inch, 800x480-pixel screen. Best of all, the picture frame can pull down images from an online RSS feed, automatically updating when new pictures are added. While the on-frame interface and mildly limited Mac features are underdeveloped, online connectivity fills in the big picture.

The installation process worked all right, even without a Mac utility. We were able to use touch-strip controls to select items on the screen, but some functions were counterintuitive. Thankfully, after connecting online, we rarely needed to touch the frame again.

Kodak’s free FrameChannel website passes images through your Wi-Fi connection; you can even email images to the device. The service can pull in weather reports, news, and other online content, but that’s mostly filler to the crucial RSS photo feeds. We added specific Flickr and MobileMe/iPhoto RSS pages, and the frame stayed current with that content. Sure, it can also display JPEGs from USB drives, CompactFlash, SD, Memory Stick, and more, but automatic Wi-Fi updates trump those connections. We could even configure the device to wake up and sleep on a defined schedule.

The bright screen shows details in high-quality photos, although colors tend to wash out. And if your images are compressed a great deal, those artifacts will be amplified in the frame. The 16:9 aspect ratio matches any stills from your HD home movies, but still cameras shoot much more square images. You’re left with a tough choice for traditional camera shots: zoom and crop or leave black borders on the left and right edges.