The Perfect Gift for the Treo Owner Who Has Everything

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The Perfect Gift for the Treo Owner Who Has Everything

Posted by Alli Flowers on October 7, 2007 11:00 PM

Treo accessories reviews

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What do you get for the man or woman in your life who already has everything? The answer is simple: a digital photo frame. But not just any digital photo frame! Our friends at Ceiva have come up with a unique twist to a concept that's still pretty new. Not only can Ceiva's frames display the pictures that you save on your memory card (Compact Flash®, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick PRO™, Memory Stick Duo™, Memory Stick PRO Duo™, Secure Digital™, SmartMedia™, MultiMedia Card™, Microdrive®, xD-Picture Card™, miniSD™ Card), but you can send photos directly from your Treo smartphone!

Imagine your old college friends are having a party on the west coast that you couldn't attend because you're on the east coast. Now imagine that every time they snap a picture with their camera phones, it almost immediately displays in your living room. That is the beauty of Ceiva.

Ceiva offers you three ways of connecting your photo frame for image transfer. With an ordinary phone line, you can create a dial-in account, or with the proper adaptors you can plug an ethernet cable directly into your router or modem, or you can connect to a wireless router! While I have been unable to connect wirelessly, (probably due to the level of security I have on my wireless router), I have really enjoyed the wired connectivity.

When you set up your Ceiva frame and account online, you get an email address so that your friends and family can send photos directly from their camera phones (or a more traditional email account) to your frame. Now when I call my children and ask what they're doing, they can show me instantly.

The frame is simple. Both the 7 and 8 inch frames have black matte faceplates with silver accents. The 8 inch frame comes with an optional wood grain faceplate. The digital LCD screen uses a high resolution active-matrix, in 640 x 480 which is viewable from virtually any angle. Your digital photos truly come to life.

Since the exciting feature of Ceiva's digital photo frames is the internet connectivity, you can control all your settings either from your frame, or from your online account. Settings include how long to show each photo, how often to connect to Ceiva's server for new photos, what to display, etc. You can also view your frame's content (only the uploaded files, not your memory card's contents) online. You also have the option of deleting or removing photos from your queue. There doesn't seem to be any reason to delete photos, since your account will hold an unlimited number of photos.

One of the particularly innovative features of the Ceiva frame is that by being connected to the Ceiva server, you can download "channels" as well as photos. There are three categories to choose from: Lifestyles, News and Info, and Art. The Art channel offers you commercial artwork for display on your frame, in case photos of your friends and family aren't enough. Lifestyles includes things like your horroscope, daily lottery numbers, and my personal favorite - a calendar.

The News and Info channel offers you today's headlines, sports, and weather.

While Ceiva frames can work like any other frame, viewing photos from your expansion cards, it's the interconnectivity that makes this product a standout. Being unique, however, does not come without a price, and Ceiva requires a monthly fee for its Picture Plan. This is, after all, the gift for the person who has everything, so what's another hundred dollars. Think of it this way, when the next holiday or birthday rolls around, you don't have to worry about what to buy that spcial person - you can get them a gift card from Ceiva with another year's subscription to his Picture Plan!

Related Links

Visit the Ceiva website

Join the Treo Discount Club and save up to 60% on all your store purchases!

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Comments

October 8, 2007 01:18 AM {#}

meshank says:

Are you nuts or do you just have too much money? Go check the specials in their website: 2 frames and 2 one year service plans for $400 (a $200 savings). Guess what? You can send photos directly from one Treo to another and save the $400. "Puff piece" reviews like this really decrease the value of mytreo.net

October 8, 2007 02:14 AM {#}

Jarrod117 says:

Thats exactly what i was thinking. I was reading the article thinking this would be a good idea for about $50. When i saw the price i almost fell out the chair.

October 8, 2007 06:16 AM {#}

lorane says:

I have been using Ceiva photo frames for a number of years. I am on my second one. I really like them because you can have albums and put pictures in them. These rotate out each day. I have my albums by the year and a few albums for recent stuff. My kids know how to dress by looking at the weather each day. They are terrific for sending pictures to grandparents, etc.

October 8, 2007 11:26 AM {#}

Alli says:

meshank and Jarrod, I did point out that this was for someone who already has everything (which implies $$$$). I also stated the $100 subscription fee. It definitely is expensive. On the other hand, you can't touch a digital frame for under $100 anywhere. If you can find some 8" frames for "about $50" somewhere, let me know - the holidays are coming up!

October 9, 2007 06:42 AM {#}

broowk says:

I have one of these picture frames. You can email your photos directly from your Treo as well as many other features. Check-it-out. The only cost is the initial purchase, there are no subscriptions or fees of any kind.

October 9, 2007 06:43 AM {#}

broowk says:

October 9, 2007 06:44 AM {#}

broowk says:

October 9, 2007 06:45 AM {#}

broowk says:

October 9, 2007 06:48 AM {#}

broowk says:

Here's the URL,
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/cameras/94a5/

Sorry about the multiple posts

October 11, 2007 07:24 AM {#}

ColonelKernel says:

Personally, I have always thought digital photo frames were retarded, but the internet connectivity is a novel idea. If they are ever able to act as a terminal for your home's computer then I think displaying pictures during the thing's down time would be a good use. This thing's internet connectivity is a step in that direction, but it's still in the basement, in my opinion.