Kodak EasyShare EX1011 digital photo frame Is this the device to frame your memories?

Reviewer: Stuart Miles
Review Date: 10 April 2008
Manufacturer: Kodak
Price as reviewed: £229.99
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Our score

8/10

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Reader score

3/10

Reader review

User: Faker (profile)
Location:
Date Posted: 13 April 2008
Review: Groundhog Day.

This product reminds me of the Bill Murray film where poor old Bill is forced to keep reliving the same day over and over again until he gets it right.

Unlike the movie, you won't have as much fun with this product as Bill did realizing he could do what ever he wanted and everything was rolled back upon getting out of bed.

Similar to the movie though, you grow bored with this frame after a while.

This is the only digital frame I've had in my hands that does not support random playback of photos.

The pocket-lint review touches upon the random transitions. How could they have missed this basic point?

Even worse, the frame does not remember where you were when you turn it off and on again. You really always start with the same picture and watch them in the very same order.

The first thing I see when turning it on is my mother-in-law. Do not use this product before breakfast!

The product utilizes a wide screen format. I have yet to see a digital camera that supports this format. The result is either lots of useless space around all photos and tons of useless space around anything in portrait format. OR SEVERELY CROPPED PHOTOS.

Defenders will say that the wide screen is for showing videos. Nice try, videos don't work. Kodak is adamant that anything outside of a low resolution mpeg1 video is not supported.

Guess where these lo-res videos are produced... On digital cameras which as noted are not wide screen.

We will be doomed to keep reliving the same Kodak moments in the exact same order every day unless Kodak updates this product.

An updated firmware should be able to add a random feedback feature.

An updated firmware might even make the widescreen usable for people with wide format video cameras.

But unlike Bill who eventually redeemed himself, I see no such attempt out of Kodak.

There has not been a single firmware update in six months. It may be that the underlying technology is so crude that adding these features is not possible.

To summarize. Poor value for the money.
Pros: Good screen quality.

Remote control.

Easy to set up WiFi

WiFi supports WPA

Easy to connect to friends in the Kodak photo service.

Remote control.

Cons: Lack of Random Playback.

Always uses the same start point and plays photos in the same order.

Absolutely useless mind numbing customer service support lines.

Useless widescreen format.

Does not allow connection to non Kodak photo services such as Flickr.

Score: 3/10
Rating: 22 people have rated this review helpful