By Billy Teo, a freelance writer

AS DIGITAL photo frames go, this one should make snap-happy people who also want to show off their images happy.

Think of it as an image carousel: the Sony DPF-D72 can display thousands of photos - rotating them at intervals of three seconds - in crystal clarity.

You can also add effects, such as fade transitions or make every image black and white.

The star feature of this digital photo frame is undoubtedly its 7-inch WVGA (800 by 480 pixels) LCD screen.
On it, most photos look sharp, well-exposed and with good contrast.

Its strong backlight adds to the warm colour saturation that makes photos appear as if they are leaping out of the screen, although some may feel that they look unnaturally bright.

After a few days of viewing my family pictures on the frame, it was hard to go back to looking at the same images in print, which look decidedly duller.

Like most electronic gadgets - from DVD players to photo printers - this one is also a plug-and-play. Just stick any SD memory card or Memory Stick media containing your images into the slot on the right side of the frame.

Then press the Slideshow button on the remote control and the gadget is ready to roll.

To drag and drop images from a PC to the photo frame's 1GB of internal memory, use a printer USB cable.

There is just one flaw: the bundled remote control. It lets you be a couch potato and browse thumbnail images without moving your butt from the sofa.

However, the flat buttons on the card-like unit are a little stiff and it takes repeated presses before the frame responds.

The review set is decorated with Swarovski crystals; only 200 sets of these are available (while stocks last).

Otherwise, get the non-bejewelled version for $199.

Final say
This is a high-quality, crystal-clear digital photo display.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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