For those who have seen Sony's Digital Photo Frame in action, the future is now.

Released earlier this year, the CyberFrame displays JPEG images and MPEG video on a five-and-a-half-inch color display. The 224K-pixeled display is protected by a piece of acrylic, and the inner, color frame can be substituted. Perfect as a digital replacement for that wooden frame on your dresser, the CyberFrame gleans its data from Memory Sticks, Sony's proprietary storage media used in products like the Cyber-shot digital camera.

The CyberFrame has the same LCD interface as the aforementioned camera and that, along with the directional function buttons on the super-slick slide-out control panel, made it easy for me to navigate through the intuitive interface. Within the interface, you can review, delete, and rotate images, as well as set an interval for the automated slide show (three and 10 seconds, one minute or fifteen minutes, and once a day).

Using the Cyber-shot to record JPEGS stills and MPEG-1 video during my recent trip home, I inserted the 4MB Memory Stick into the frame (the frame accepts up to 64MB sticks). After waving my hand by the touchless sensor, photos that I had just taken popped up onto the bright high-resolution screen. Adding to the astonishment of those around me, the movies played complete with sound. When I turned the frame to a vertical position, the images automatically rotated themselves. "This is the future!" one of our guests exclaimed, fueling the subsequent chatter regarding futuristic digital billboards and such.

I had to interject, reminding everyone that the list price for the frame was $900. Pair that with the $800 Cyber-shot camera (unless you want to get images onto the Memory Stick via PC) and you've got yourself one expensive birthday gift. Nevertheless, folks were impressed by this digital photo album.

Sony's isn't the first of its kind. We saw a similar device at CES from Hagiwara called the Lukis JPEG Viewer. It used SmartMedia and cost a considerably less at $280. However, resolution on the Lukis was pretty poor, and the screen wasn't as large, much less beautiful. Besides, the CyberFrame just looks cooler.

Because of its ridiculous price, we're giving this five-star product only three stars.



Company: Sony Corporation
Telephone:
Price: $900
Availability: Now
Category: Digital Imaging
Specs: 8.5 x 6.5 x 1.45 inches, 1.76 lbs; Media: Memory Stick; 5.5-inch Active Matrix Color LCD (224K pixels); Brightness and Volume control; Image size: JPEG: 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480, MPEG: 160 x 112, 320 x 240; AC Adapter; PictureGear Lite 3.2 is included for getting images onto the Memory Stick, but you must use a PC card adapter.