Kodak EASYSHARE P725

Remember the old days when some people had lots of different coloured photo frames splattered on almost every inch of there walls just so they could display all their precious pictures.
Well, times have changed and those walls can now be cleared of those un-matching frames whilst still being able to display the same photos for all to admire. And the reason for being able to clear your walls is the great invention known as the digital Photo frame, which there are many of on the market these days.

Personally I have quite a few of these digital photo frames around my house, each holding many many photos so that I can enjoy seeing them as they slide along one after the other.

But the digital photo frame I am going to tell you about today is from the well known camera company called Kodak, the frame itself being called the Kodak Easyshare.

** Firstly, shall we get the basic specs out of the way…

• JPEG and EXIF image formats
• 4:3 aspect
• 800 x 600 pixels display resolution
• 142 x 106mm (5 ½ x 4 inch) display area with a 178mm (7 inch) viewable screen
• LED backlight
• 512 MB internal memory
• USB connection (cable not supplied)
• 4.2 watts of power when running a standard slideshow
• Supports SD, SDHC, MMC, memory stick, MS pro duo and XD-picture card.
• Weighing in at less than 11g.
• 145 x 175 x 62mm (5.7 x 6.9 x 2.4 inches).

In the package you should get…

• The digital frame itself.
• Power cord
• Quick start guide, (although this is not really good for more detailed issues about this frame so I have placed a link to a full user manual near the end of this review)

If anything is missing take it back to the shop and demand a full package.

** So that’s the specs then, now for my opinion…

This nice sized digital picture frame, with a well known brand name, looks the parts with its lovely looking and crystal clear screen which sits inside a thin frame of its own.
When you turn the frame round you can see the many slots and controls, such as the SD, SDHC slots on the left hand side, just below the USB port for connecting to your PC, which lies just below the power button.
Along the top there are more buttons which control the viewing of your images, such as the play button, next and previous button, slideshow option, repeat option and even a delete button.
The entire frame sits neatly on any shelf or fire surround and is held upright by a sturdy base.

Uploading your images onto the frame can be done either by a USB cable, (not supplied) or via the many memory cards/sticks which this frame is compatible with.
It is just a matter of plugging in your chosen method to upload and a little it of patience.
Although initially I did have a few niggles using a USB cable as my PC failed to recognise the unit, but all that took was a quick ’upgrade’ from the Kodak site and everything was fine from then on.

It is easy to set up, allowing you to control the images you want to view, from just a single image to the speed of your multi image slide show.
You simply upload your chosen images, either by PC or via a memory card, and you can then set as a lovely slide show, showing each image for the length of time you want, from a second to a minute or more. This is all done with the touch of a button and is as simple as buttering bread.The slide show has three time settings with each one having a different transition, The settings are:

• 60 seconds with a wipe transition
• 10 seconds with a pan and zoom transition
• 5 seconds with a fade transition.
  With the images being shown either by date or just random

The built in memory is a good size, being 512 MB, and can handle hundreds, if not thousands of images, depending on the image sizes of course. Plus, with the capability if adding of most types of memory cards/ sticks, this adds to the almost infinite numbers of images you can show, so there is no real danger of ever running out of room for all your pictures In my frame I have I just use the internal memory, as it is ample storage for many of my images of my family and friends. With the slide show running at a 10 seconds per image, which, for me, is a good setting as you get to see all the images without the slide show getting tedious.
And don’t worry about manually having to change the image sizes on your PC before uploading to the frame as this wonderful little unit does that for you automatically, although this does sometime affect some of your smaller images, but not enough to take any points off.

There is a couple of downsides to this frame, the first being that as it doesn’t have an internal battery it must be plugged in to use. The other downside is that if you unplug it then, depending on how many images are on the frame, it does take a while to read the images before starting the slideshow.

If you can forgive those slight downsides then this frame will not disappoint at all.

I could go into detail here about how to use this digital picture frame, such as how to upload your images, how to delete unwanted images or even how to set the slide show settings, but this would all be padding. So, which is probably better all round, I have found a link to the Kodak easy share user guide… the link being…

http://www.retrevo.com/pdf/23579ci358/1/​KODAK+EASYSHARE+P725%2FP825+Digital+Fram​e#q=Kodak+P725

This will explain how to use this unit and will answer any questions you may have.

In all, this may not be the best digital photo frame on the market and it isn’t the type that will allow you to manually manipulate your images without the use of a PC, but for the price it is a cracking little deal indeed.

So if you just want a neat looking frame which will sit on your shelf/ fire surround then shop around and get yourself one for around the £40 mark for a new one, but, you may just see one on sale somewhere.