Kodak Pulse 7-Inch Digital Frame

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by: T. Simmons (Chino Hills, California USA)
on: Tuesday, 26-October-2010

Picture quality is very good even in bright light, it works well with our home wireless network and its easy to send pictures to it via email. I have no complaints at all. One of my initial minor concerns, looking at the pictures on this site, was that the Kodak name on the frame stands out a little too much. I dont know if the design changed or if its just the way it photographs, but on the frame we got, you can barely see the Kodak name. This is an excellent device!

by: Husband (Dallas)
on: Wednesday, 29-September-2010

This is my first and only digital frame. I moved my elderly father-in-law from his home to a much smaller apartment and had to box all the family pictures. That led me to want to give him something with lots of pictures in a small space.But, those pictures needed to come from the whole family in an easy way for him to manage and us to be able to help.

I set it up at home and uploaded pictures from my Iphone. Easy but would only take one at a time. Not sure why? Next I added a few from my computer. Again easy. Then uploaded from facebook. This isnt as easy and straight forward as I thought. Documentation on facebook interface is nonexistent. We ended up making a new facebook page just for the photos and then everyone tags them with the new page that go to my father-in-law. (Long story).

I have hung the frame twice where it wouldnt change pictures. The tech (used chat) had me turn the wireless off and on to reload the pics and all was fine after that.

Gave everyone the site info and the email address so now the whole family can download pics and keep pics up to date.

I would agree that there should be an ability to show pics in the order you want. Secondly, a small caption function would help a lot. A picture may be worth a thousands words, but not all the words. For my father-in-law to have a picture pop up but not know that it was last Sundays winning ball game, or the twins recent camping experience, seems a little too dumb. It likely holds over a thousand pics so some organization and labeling are in order.

I would get five stars except for the couple of hangs and unexplained functions.

by: AJ (United States)
on: Wednesday, 1-September-2010

I bought this for my parents that live in another state and they absolutely love it.

Pros
- Easy to set up for wireless access
- Easy to set up email address to send pictures to it
- Great that I can remotely change the preferences and content
- Can add pictures through web or email pictures right to the frame. I think you can also put in a memory card but why bother.
- Auto On/Off with the times you can set
- Great gift for none technical people who can set it up and forget about it.

Con
- Picture quality is Good, not GREAT but still love it. But for the price the quality is really good

I highly recommend

by: S. Jenkins (Torrance CA)
on: Sunday, 29-August-2010

This is the first time Ive ever had a digital picture frame. Kodak, Ive always branded with quality when it came to pictures, so its a first to me to see how it handles itself in the digital world.

During the unboxing I did come across four things.
One of which was the power adapter. I dont think I like its construction, as it needs a snap in place to operate. The first thing I noticed was its rather cluster free packaging in the box. It was eay to take out the fame and assemble I would have preferred a swivel design for the plugs. The other thing I noticed was a nice microfiber cloth to keep my frame clean. The fourth thing I noticed was the cluster of flyers/manuals that well really told me nothing exceptionally useful except for the online registration.

The online registration aspect while not necessarily difficult, I found the site to be rather glitchy and sluggish. It was pretty, but functionality-wise left me a bit frustrated. For one, it crashed my browser. After waiting for my browser to restart (I am using Firefox 3.5) I was making a :/ face while waiting for Java to load up scanning my computer for pictures to upload to the frame. Yes, I was rather unhappy as it would load up the multitude of folders and files on a 500gb computer. I selected a few pictures for test, and waited. Within a reasonable amount of time my pictures showed up on the frame in a nice slideshow.

While the controls on the picture frame were not difficult, it would have been nice to have given a run-through of the functions. I also would have liked to have more options as to how to display the pictures.

I am a bit wary of automatically receiving pictures from other sources, though I do have it set for invitees. I just dont want someones surprise junk showing up in the middle of family photos. So Im a bit wary of the automtic function. After all, would you like to see Timmys 6th birthday followed up with Johnny doing a naked windmill after a New Years party?

I have to say the display is gorgeous for a 7 picture frame. Colors are very vibrant but not oversaturated.

Also just to note the internal memory for the frame is only 512mb so its best to add in an SD card of course. You can also plug in a USB stick to the device as well.

by: M. Ordman Roger (United States)
on: Friday, 20-August-2010

The e-mail option was just what I wanted to make sending pictures from all the children and grandchildren, from around the world directly to my parents living room.
Two flaws: 1)You can not rotate the picture 2) The frame shuffles the pictures so you get pictures of dolphins from asia mixed with wedding photos from England!

by: Sally Anderson (Hampstead, NC USA)
on: Thursday, 29-July-2010

Gave this to my husband for his birthday. Saw it demonstrated on the Today show and he showed interest. It is very easy to set up, took only about 15 minutes. Our son and grandson live in another state so this has been great for him to send pictures of our grandson to us. The frame has its own email address and pictures go directly to the frame and you either accept or delete the pictures. He has had a lot of fun with it. Great gift idea for the person who loves gadgets.

by: J. Aaron Booker (Bellingham, WA United States)
on: Tuesday, 27-July-2010

We bought this for my mom just three weeks ago. Shes a technophobe so I set it up and ran it for a few days at our home first. Then I just put in the settings for her wireless router (that Id set up some years back) and my wife dropped it off. (she plugged it in and walked away)

The website management is perfect - and my siblings and I (and our spouses) email photos to it regularly. I also plugged in my facebook account and linked all her family members facebook photos to the frame. Mom loves seeing new photos from the family, especially my brother who lives on the other side of the country. Recently we had a death in the family, so I linked her cousins (who passed away) Facebook account to the frame and she was able to see all the photos that were tagged with his face - she cried seeing those photos appear, and was super thankful.

Overall, a six out of five stars from my perspective. I have to say historically I havent been impressed with Kodak products, but if they do more products like this, I think they have a strong future. This is the first photo frame Ive ever purchased and Im getting ready to buy three more for other older family members.

BTW - were a family of Mac and PC users. No problems for anybody. If youre using iPhoto to email photos - I recommend the large setting - small and medium are less than 800x600 pixels so they dont look so hot. Original size is more than needed... Large is perfect for export or emailing the photos to the frame.

by: Kathleen Adams (United States)
on: Tuesday, 27-July-2010

This product is amazing, very user friendly. The picture was very clear and e-mailing was simple, no need to sign in to an e-mail address, the picture goes directly to the frame and loads automatically. I use the timer on my pulse so that I can enjoy the pictures every evening.

by: Libby Kanipe Willis (Flagler Beach, FL United States)
on: Wednesday, 21-July-2010

I owned other frames similar to this...but to have every Facebook photo published is awesome! When Im out of town my husband can see pictures before I get home! And...the frame turns itself on and off...I love this frame! :o)

by: LuvAmazon (United States)
on: Tuesday, 20-July-2010

I bought the Kodak Pulse Digital Picture Frame as a Fathers Day gift for my father. I selected this product for the ability to email photos directly to the frame. The product performs as advertised. The product requires a wireless setup with router, which my father already had installed. You will also need to setup an account on the Kodak website. My father enjoys receiving pictures from all his tech-savvy family and friends!!

by: McIz (United States)
on: Thursday, 15-July-2010

Excellent product, especially for older people. We bought one for my dad for Fathers Day. In addition to uploading new photos, I scanned and sent old photos to the frame that no one would ever see otherwise. My dad loves this product! Ive also asked other family members from around the country to send photos so my parents (who can no longer travel) can see nieces, nephews, grandkids, etc. that they are not likely to see in person. I handle the account/password myself and control the settings to make it easier for my dad. My only recommendation to Kodak is that come up with a straight-playthrough option since their auto randomization has too many of the same photo showing too close together.

by: Technophile (United States)
on: Sunday, 11-July-2010

The Kodak Pulse frame has many great attributes. The concept is exceptional, and the image quality is great. The frame controls are easy and intuitive, and the online system to which it is coupled has a simple and attractive interface. In these respects, the Pulse is like a good Apple product.

However, all these great attributes set up high expectations. Measured against those expectations, the Pulse falls a bit short. That doesnt mean it isnt worth buying, or that it isnt the best product in its category. But if you are buying this for grandma, go in with eyes open...

The trouble is with the functionality of the online service. I bought this frame with the idea of synchronizing a Kodak Gallery account with the frame. However, support for the Gallery sync still has rough edges. Until this situation improves the Pulse is one of those products that excites in concept but has its frustrations in real world use.

Some detail: The frame works by synchronizing itself with the Kodak Pulse service. That service in turn can grab photos from the Kodak Gallery or from Facebook. You can also email photos to the Pulse service.

Ive had no problems with the connection between the Pulse fame and the Pulse online service. Ive also had no problems emailing photos to the service/frame. However, the Gallery connection is erratic.

For example, this morning I put 20 images in my Gallery. 18 of them synced to the Pulse service rapidly. However, the final two took a few hours to show up.

Another example: Two days ago, when I first set it up using 4 test photos on the Gallery, I could not get updates to the Gallery to sync with the Pulse service. I finally worked around this problem by disconnecting the Gallery-Pulse connection, and then re-establishing it. Needless to say, I shouldnt need to do that.

Another annoyance is that edits made to photos in the Kodak Gallery, such as cropping or other adjustments, arent reflected on the Pulse. So if you want to modify a photo to optimize it for display on the frame, you need to do that before uploading to the Gallery.

None of these are fatal flaws, but they add up to an annoying experience for a product that promises intuitive ease.

The help system on the Pulse site reports very prominently that Kodak is having problems with the Gallery-Pulse connection. Presumably, thats the root of these issues. Its refreshing that this information is given clearly. However, this status has not changed for 4 days now, indicating that this isnt some temporary server glitch. My guess is that the Pulse is beginning to sell like hotcakes and that Kodak is having a hard time coping.

Lets hope that they have gotten the economics of this product right so that they can afford to improve the back-end system to keep pace. If they can do that then its easy to imagine a range of Pulse products that would be a real winner for Kodak.

One additional caveat emptor: To maintain a 2 GB Kodak Gallery account, it is necessary to buy $4.99 worth of products each year via the Gallery. Thats not a hardship, but this information was not clearly given when I signed up, nor when I bought the product. I stumbled onto it while trying to resolve the problems mentioned above. Kodak should be more up front about this policy. Or they should get rid of it.

by: Michael M. Lowe (United States)
on: Thursday, 24-June-2010

First a comment about all the positives... Read the other positive reviews. I agree with them. This the best picture frame Ive ever owned too!!! However, there are some downsides. Number 1, and this a big one. There is no way that I have found to copy pictures from the picture frame!!! My kids email pictures to the frame and on ocassion I want to save some of them to my computer or USB stick, etc. Cant do it. The frame will only allow pictures to be added and deleted. You cant copy them from your KodakPulse account either. Kodak only keeps a thumbnail version anyway. Number 2, WEP wireless network keys 2, 3 & 4 not supported. Of WEP only key 1 is supported. In my home setup I dont use WEP key 1. Had to buy and setup a 2nd wireless router specifically to use the frame.

by: David Jade (United States)
on: Monday, 14-June-2010

It is easy to set up and manage your photos online and connecting it to WiFi was a snap. Being able to just email photos to it is brilliant. It notifies you when new photos show up and you can also review just the recent photos from each of the senders at any time. By far the easiest photo sharing of any product out there.

My only wish was that there were larger screen models available. 7 is an Ok size but a model with 10 or larger would be really nice.

by: Gary N. Shollenberger (Lansdale, PA)
on: Thursday, 10-June-2010

I recently bought a Kodak Pulse Digital Photo Frame for my wife for Mothers day. This photo frame has its own email address which friends and family can use to send photos to, and we see them right away. What a great concept!
My wife is thrilled with the frame. The size is nice (7), and picture quality is very good, but this frames claim to fame is its ability to receive photos from the internet.

by: rob damiani (United States)
on: Tuesday, 1-June-2010

Way cool WiFi connected Digital picture frame. Easy to setup and use. I love this thing! I wish it would come in a bigger size.

by: R. Schulze (San Diego, CA USA)
on: Saturday, 29-May-2010

Really loved everyones reviews and thought it would make a great anniversary gift for my wife. Here I am, up late, trying to put some pictures on it so when she opens it, theres something to look at. Well, thats where I ran into my first problem. It is set up to jump right to the WiFi connection and link to Kodaks website. I really like that feature, but since its for my wifes work, I cant get that part set up until she has it and were in her office. So, I messed around with it for a few minutes and couldnt get to any other menus until I put the flash drive in with my photos on it. Once the flash drive was attached, it started a slide show with all those picture...everything on the drive. Everything. You dont have access to any folders, it just plays whatever is attached. Maybe.

Thats my other problem. For some reason, many of my pictures just show up as a garbled green digital mess. Why? Dont know. Some were ripped right from my camera. Some were saved off FB. Didnt seem to matter. Some, most, just turned up as a garbled mess.

The touch buttons took a number of touches to respond and even when I got them to light up, they didnt necessarily do anything. And with no instructions (I believe I read that its available on Kodaks website), it was a hunt and peck adventure. Honestly, after 15 minutes, I realized that its not really for me. Great idea for remote access via email, but I only really want that feature as an addition to the standard digital picture frame.

Plus, 7 is really small. I think Im going to spend a little more and get something in the 11-14 range with better picture clarity. Thats dedicated to playing pics only from its drive or a MicroSD or flash drive. No more WiFi focused Pulse for me.

by: Inka Jester (Michigan)
on: Saturday, 29-May-2010

I bought the Kodak Pulse Digital frame for my Mother on Mothers Day. You must have wireless internet to use this frame, by the way. She is older and would not have understood downloading pictures to a regular digital frame, but now the family can just send her pictures from cell phones, computer, facebook, etc, and the frame will automatically turn on and let her know she has new pictures to view. It can also be set up to turn on and off at specific times, show the pictures in different formants, slide shows, etc. Kodak has a specific web site where one can go in and change the attributes of the frame, also to review the pictures and add or delete from the web site besides having the option on the frame. I can manipulate the attributes from my home so she doesnt have to do a thing but enjoy!! I LOVE IT!

by: Consumer (FL)
on: Friday, 21-May-2010

I got this for my Mom for Mothers Day. The fact that I could email a picture and have it show up on her frame, regardless of distance between us was amazing. Funny, this is a new concept, but this should have been how all frames were built! In the past, I have ordered digital frames for relatives, but it was always reliant upon me putting pics on an SD card. Most of the people I have given the frames to are not too IT savvy, and I certainly dont want to be there personal IT guy, so it ends up that the few hundred pics I put on there frame stay there for eternity.

Kodak has really captured a great opportunity here with this product. You are almost excited to see what new pictures popped up on your frame for the day. The pictures come across beautifully, and once you set up an email address for the frame, its as simple as emailing a photo and it shows up. There are a multitude of other features, such as linking to facebook, etc to bring in even more content, but I have only used the email functionality, to great effect.

That being said, as this is a newer style of digital frame, there are a few kinks to be ironed out. I sent a set of about 10 pictures to the frame, and for some reason, it only showed two of them? I had to resend in individual emails to make them all pop up? Also, the instructions that came with the frame are BASIC. You have to go online for more detailed instructions. For me, no biggy, but for someone electronically challenged, a game-ender. Also, I see a great future in this type of technology, but needing wifi access defeats the point for say, your grandmother... most likely, she doesnt have a wifi network in her house... when they offer one with 3G access, so all you do is turn it on, then it will really be a game changer.

All in, a really cool product, with a few wrinkles to iron out, being that it is newer technology. This product will make the old digital picture frames obsolete and boring by comparison within a few years.

by: J. Feira (Arlington, VA United States)
on: Monday, 17-May-2010

I like this frame, but I am concerned about its spam factor. Allow me to explain.

This frame works as advertised in terms of the ability to email pictures directly to the frame with no monthly fees. You receive a nice You have new pictures message and then press the touchscreen to see the new pictures.

I also like that the frame is 100% administered via a website, so I can remotely add/delete pictures, connect it to [...] albums, and even change the time of day that the frame turns on and off. This means that my parents (the recipient of the frame) never have to configure the frame or sync it or anything like that. The frame actually does not even have the option of connecting to a computer - even firmware updates are handled wirelessly.

The only downsides:
1) the frame does trade simplicity for configurability, so you cant do things that I wish it could, like link to an RSS feed to see stocks / weather / news headlines. But for non-techie types, its probably better to not have this.

2) surprisingly, the email is unfiltered so anybody (including spammers) can email the frame to contribute their new pictures. I am somewhat concerned that once spammers figure this out, my parents will be greeted by new pictures advertising scams (or worse).

Very cool overall, but if buying for myself I would probably get the Toshiba which fixes the two shortcomings listed above.