Customer Reviews

Digital Foci Photo Book 8-Inch Portable Digital Photo Album (PBK-080)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What I needed: a digital photoalbum to replace paper photo albums and stop printing hundreds of photos a year.

What I did not need: a traditional digital picture frame. I have one and no one notices if it is ON or OFF.

The Digital Foci is probably the ONLY product on the market today that has all the "must have" features for photo album:

1) Cordless (just take it and pass around as a regular photo album)
2) Front control buttons (easy to flip pages etc)
3) Folder structure to keep different photo albums in separate folders for easy access
4) Large display (>regular 6x4 print), sharp 800x600 pixels and bright LED lit 4:3 display.
5) No oversized frame around, you can hold it in hands and pass around as a regular photo album.
6) SD (SDHC) flash memory support up to 32GB - just one SD to keep 10 years of photos

I went through 100+ frame models and found just few that are cordless and have decent size comparable to 6x4 photos, but all except Foci Digital lacked in one "must" feature or another. For example 8" NIX did not support folders, i.e. all photos come in one pile, very hard to navigate to a specific event if you have 16,000 pics!

Digital Foci in more details:
1) Rechargable battery provides more than enough viewing time. The album can be charged while closed and standing on a shelf among other albums and books.
2) Front buttons are very convenient, you do not need the manual to figure them out. Responsivity is reasonable, takes less than a second to flip to the next slide after you press forward. You can also rapidly flip "album pages" with 12 photos per page. You can zoom in and out any photo by just pressing (+) and (-) buttons and chose the zoomed area using 4 arrow buttons. I have 500 photos in one of the folders - flips as fast as smaller folders.
3) It will show folders (about 10 per page?), but only one level. But even as it is it works fine. When you highlight a folder (using
arrows) its name is shown. I also created one jpeg picture for every folder with name "__folder.jpg" (i.e. first alphabetically in
the folder) that has date-event name written on the picture in large font - the first jpeg is used by album automatically as a folder icon.
4) LCD display is good, large viewing angle in horizontal direction, but in vertical image becomes dimmed if you view it from below the normal to the screen (fine from the above). Makes sense. The screen is sharp and noticeably larger than 4x6 print.
5) It is designed as a book, not as a frame, it is comfortable to hold and when you fold it its front "book" style hard cover
protects the screen, you can pass it around or throw it into you lagguage without any special case.
6) Supports SDHC/SD cards, fast finding files. Once you put SD in the card does not stick out, you can have one in at all times.

Additional features that I find useful:
*) Supports AVI movies, in particular DivX support is great - I convert all my camera taken mjpeg avi movie clips into DivX to save
up to 5 times in space. It even plays internet downloaded full length AVI movies, good picture, one small mono speaker is loud enough
for the purpose. A movie clip has to be selected separately when viewing an album in "page" view.
*) Easy USB connect to main computer - can transfer data to inserted SD card or to internal memory (4GB). The transfer rate is,
however, rather slow - about 500kB/s, so it is better to take SD card out and transfer stuff directly to it.
*) Navigation is very simple and intuitive with front buttons. Their spacial arrangement is very convenient.
*) Zoom - I keep original high res photos, sometimes you wish to zoom into details and that can be done. I must warn, however, that
it takes about 2 seconds per every zoom click to see the response.

Other features I don't care about:
*) Can run slide show as a typical photoframe.
*) 4GB on board memory.
*) Can play mp3 music files while you watch the slide show (never tried, playing music through a small speaker does not make
much sense to me).
*) Can show ASCII text files (*.txt) - English only, I guess, I have some russian books - these show as gibberish even if I select
Russian language in settings (code page mismatch?). The text viewer is too basic to be really useful, no support for DOC, fb2, rtf
etc.
*) Supports some other flash card standards.

The software features that I would like to have:
*) Deeper folder structure
*) Possibility to select folder page style as just folder names (like in explorer)
*) Ability to add text to photos. For example, it would be nice if I could just write a text file with "txt" extension and same name
that could be shown on top of a photo (lower part) when I click a special "contents" button (currently it displays just the file name).
*) Ability to show movie clips and pics in a mixed mode, i.e. concurrently as they are listed,
*) Option to select show in "date" order, not alphabetically - makes sense when pics from various cameras for one event are in one
folder.
Hardware feature that I wish to see:
*) HDMI sound&image output to HDTV and perhaps a small remote

This album just blows away everyone who sees it! You can organize your pics by folders, making it easy to find what you want. Clarity is outstanding. I have a Mac and it's compatable. Nice leather bound, giving it a nice feel; and there are magnets in the edges of it so when you open it up and fold the cover around, it stays in place. I would highly recommend this to everyone who wants to put their pics in a digital album. This will be the way of the future, as you can pass it around, the pics are about 5 x 7's, making them very easy on the eyes.

Well, I borrowed one from a colleague to see if I liked it - it looks nice enough, a bit like a book with a "leather-like" cover. I only got 2 hours of viewing though and I didn't find the resolution that great although the screen was a nice size for a small group sitting closely together to look at. The built-in sound processing for audio files, which play through a small speaker was a nice feature - the sound quality is comparable to a small notebook output: squeaky, a bit tinny. Can't expect too much else for the size and the price tho. File input is from USB link to computer or from just about any memory card. It will even read some raw file formats. Images can be viewed one at a time or as a slideshow with elegant transition effects. It plays some MPEG video formats.

Likes: It's a cute concept, it's fun to use and people respond positively and happily to the idea of a digital book.

Dislike: Nothing to dislike really. More a question to Onself: will I keep using this gadget long enough to bother buying it and why shouldn't I just keep using my notebook for this.

Verdict: Quite an attractive little product but, realistically, it has to be compared with a small-screen notebook. Resolution of 800 x 600 is not high-definition and the Photo Book can't compare with a small notebook for versatility. As a single-feature go-anywhere digital photo frame, it's kind of nice but personally I couldn't persuade myself to buy it. If you don't carry a notebook round and want something to carry photos around on to show to people, it might be quite useful though.

I looked for an effective way to share my digital photos for over a year. I primarily looked at digital picture frames, and I eventually bought one, but it didn't work and was returned. Finally, I read a magazine review of this photo album, checked out some user reviews, and bought it. This is a wonderful, wonderful product. It does exactly what I hoped it would do. I restore cars, and I wanted something that would allow me to show the many steps a car had undergone during the restoration process. This album allows me to do this simply and quickly.

The first thing you'll notice is how substantial the album is. It's heavier than many of the flimsy, plastic digital frames on the market. It is very well-made and looks quite elegant. The "cover" protects the album and, when folded back, props the album up for viewing.

The album is easy to use: I load photos directly from my laptop using the USB connector which is supplied with the album, but you can also use a flash drive or memory card. I don't resize my photos, but I suppose some folks might elect to do that. Anyone who has used a computer and has some experience with menus will find this photo album very simple to use, and those folks who haven't used computers will find the Quick Start Instructions clear and easy to follow. The album allows you to organize your photos into folders so you can view the pictures you want to see without having to view all the photos loaded into the album. For example, you can view a folder of vacation photos, or photos of grandchildren, or a wedding album without having to see unrelated images.

The images are bright and crisp, and the 8-inch screen display is large enough for viewers of all ages to enjoy. There is a zoom feature that allows you to zoom in on areas of photos, and the colors are clear and vivid. There is a brightness control in the settings menu, so you can control the brightness of the display. You can view each image separately or look at "album pages" of thumbnails; even the thumbnails are a decent size. You also have the option to manually move from one photo to the next , or you can view each folder as a slide show with adjustable viewing time for the images. A simple wheel control, much like the kind on many mp3 players, allows you to select a specific image within a folder if you don't want to see the entire album.

The album organizes the photos in each album alphabetically by file name. The photos are displayed in this order. I create folders and adjust file names on my laptop BEFORE I load the folder onto the album. If, at a later date, you want to reorganize a folder or add photos, it seems to work best if you just delete the old version of the folder and reload your updated version. This is a very quick process, although the first few times I did this, I made stupid errors in alphabetizing.....a user problem, and not the fault of the album!

Because the sequence of the images is very important to me, I didn't want a product that shuffles the photos. Once the photos in this album are arranged, that's how they're displayed. Most of the digital picture frames I looked at randomly change the order of display, which made them impractical for my needs.

The album also plays music, displays text, and shows videos. I haven't used these features yet only because they weren't the reason I bought the album. I have made some jpg files of text which are interspersed among the photos, and the print is sharp and easy to read.

Battery life seems pretty reasonable. Once the album is charged, it displays for over two hours -- plenty long to share your photos. When you have about 10% of battery life left, you see an icon which warns you the battery is getting low. If you have access to an electrical outlet, you can also run the album via the AC adapter, which is included with the album and used to recharge the unit.

There are many less-expensive options available for viewing digital images, but this album is worth every penny. I can't recommend it highly enough. Everyone who has seen this album wants one!

Please have pity on your friends. You don't have to show them all the pictures this can hold. Compare this to a picture display you can set on your desk and plug-in. This should be more expensive because it uses an LED back light instead of the more usual/cheaper florescent (but it draws half the power). It also has a battery. Other than these additions, it behaves about the same as that plug-in display you can put on your desk. It has a narrow viewing angle -- about 3 people sitting close together. It fills a need but, there is room for the competition to improve on this.

I was looking for a digital photo album for my 66 year old mother - a "brag book" as others have called it, so she can share pictures of her grand children and trips they take. She's OK with computers but does not enjoy working with them, so ease of use was as much a priority as the picture / screen quality. I was also looking for a screen large enough to easily see and share pictures, yet small enough to easily take along, and enough memory to store hundreds of pictures.

I looked all over the net for a suitable device, but other than mp3 players (that also display photos) with screens smaller than 4 inches, pictures frames with too little memory, and tablet computers and netbooks that were significantly more expensive and had functions she did not need (and would have made it more cumbersome too operate), there seem to be only two devices available:
1. Foci digital photo book
2. Albumteam Album

Amazon had decent reviews for the Foci and very little about the Album, so I went ahead and ordered the Foci.

However, I was not happy with my choice and returned the Foci (Amazon's customer service was great as usual) for for the following reasons:
1. screen was of very low quality. Resolution was mediocre at best, but what mattered most was that the visibility was very poor (dark) when placed in front of you. In fact, visibility was better from all other sides - but who wants to see pictures only from the side or upside-down?
2. cheap feel - plastic was flimsy and fake leather felt very cheap, too.
3. the device is much larger than the screen and quite bulky and heavy to carry around. The cheap leather cover only adds to the size.

I ordered the Albumteam Album instead. Here is how they compare:
1. Design of Album is much more attractive
2. Album has a much higher quality feel compared to Foci. Album features a metal back (different color options) and black glossy hard plastic on the front compared to the cheap gray plastic of the Foci. Only the buttons on the front of the Album could feel more solid.
3. Album is much smaller (half the size?), yet screen is only 1" smaller (7" instead of 8"). Unlike the Foci, the Album would fit in a hand bag. The (real leather) cover is easily removable on the Album. Overall the size of the Album seems to be a nice compromise between large viewing area and portability.
4. Picture quality is better on the Album, but resolution seems to be the same. Overall, I'd say picture quality is OK - just don't expect to see anything like on an iPad. The cheaper displays are noticeable more grainy.
5. Album is a little easier to use as it only has three buttons, yet does not lack any critical functions. Pretty fool-proof IMO. However, again iPods and iPads play in entirely leagues here - navigation is much easier and quicker on the Apple devices.

In summary, I recommend
- if portability is key, you want great picture quality, and can live with a smaller screen: ipod touch
- if price does not matter and you would like a large and beautiful display: iPad (also most functional and easy to use)
- if you want something in between (screen size) that only displays photos: Albumteam Album

I will post another review for the ALBUMteam Album (that I rate good but not great) shortly. Hope you find my comments helpful.

I have had this product for 2 months now and am very pleased with the quality. The simulated leather case with magnetic latch is well made. There is attention to detail in the product hardware, software and user manual. Note that there is an online user manual that is a bit more detailed than the manual that ships with the product.

I have more than 1000 images on my device. It is trivial to populate the device with images by simply dragging and dropping folders from the computer to the device.

The 800 x 600 pixel screen is bright, vivid and sharp. Although it is not necessary, I resized all my images to this resolution before loading them to the device's memory to achieve maximum performance. I don't know whether other file sizes negatively impact the screen's display quality.

The order images are displayed is based on their file names. You can control this order by prefixing the file names with 00, 01, 02, etc. before loading them on the device.

When you turn on the device, a matrix of album icons is displayed. Each icon is represented by the first image in the album (i.e. folder). I didn't feel this adequately identified an album. I got around this problem by creating a special first image consisting of a short textual phrase that described the folder's content.

You can navigate to an album in the matrix easily enough but if you have a lot of albums then you have a lot of matrices to navigate. To go from one matrix to the next you have to navigate to the last album in the matrix before the next matrix is displayed. I wish they provided a way to navigate between matrices without having to go through the inconvenient intermediate steps.

When you open an album, a matrix of images is displayed. It's easy to navigate to images in the matrix but again you have to navigate to the last image in the matrix before you can proceed to the images in the next matrix. I wish they had matrix scrolling here.

The flip-page slideshow with its page turning effect is nifty. You can pause, go back or forward, resume and change the transition time interval on the fly. In this mode, full-sized images are not displayed since part of the screen is taken up by a frame surrounding the image.

The full-screen slideshow has the same features as the flip-page except frames are no longer displayed for each image so that full size images can now be displayed. However the file name is superimposed on the image which I don't care for. I wish there was a way to turn this off. This type of slide show has special effect transitions between images. These special effect transitions cause a problem. If you choose a transition time interval of 4 seconds then normally you would see an image for 4 seconds before the next image is displayed. But if a special effect transition occurs then it eats up part of the 4 seconds so that you see that image for less than 4 seconds before the next transition begins. Special effect transitions occur randomly during the slide show so that some images don't have them. As a result some images are displayed for 4 seconds and some are displayed for less than that. I don't think it should work this way and I wish there was a way to turn off special effect transitions.

The device won't let you rename albums (folders) and images (file names). This would be handy sometimes.

I haven't tried the video and music features since that's not what I bought it for.

Despite the nits I mentioned above I recommend this device.

I SCUBA dive all over the world. Most divers are Geeks. So when I showed up with my new toy with our dive pixs and videos, they were blown away. I knew then I had made a good purchase. This is the best way to share digital images. It's very easy to use and good in variuos lighting situations. Seems very well crafted and it just looks cool.
It is well worth the price.

Different from what I read in previous customer reviews, this product is really easy to use. I bought it for my father (70 years old), and he has no problem at all managing his pictures and videos. He is now proudly carrying his portable album everywhere. He can show the best pictures he has taken, as well as display pictures of his grandson with pride. Great product. I couldn't be happier.

This digital photo album allows us to share our photos without the expense of printing. It is easy to use and has a large enough screen to really enjoy the photos. The battery lasts plenty long enough for many people to view an album before needing to be recharged, which happens fairly quickly. All in all, I am pleased with the purchase.