Customer Reviews

Pandigital PAN1502W02 15-Inch Digital Picture Frame

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

OMG!!!! This frame displays a jaw droppingly GORGEOUS picture, I have Brookstone and Sony frames which are good frames, but this Pandigital is in a class all of it's own. The resolution is almost twice tha of my 10" Brookstone. Shots of flowers have amazing color and look so real you can almost reach out and touch them. I just inserted my USB flash with as high as 14 MP images, turned on the frame, and marveled what a nice job this frame does displaying pictures. It's big and bright and has a wide viewing angle.

The only minor gripe I have is you can't completely close the cover over the the card slots if you use a longer sized USB flash drive.

This frame is drop dead beautiful, but it turns out to have a fundamental flaw. I bought my PAN1502W02 15" frame in October 2008, loaded up my pictures, and started the slideshow only to find that there is an annoying blue arrow displayed in the lower right of the LCD that never goes away in slideshow mode. Very disappointing for such a high end frame! I called Pandigital and the support line told me that they had "just" discovered this flaw in the firmware programming and that it affects all the PAN1502W02 frames. According the Pandigital, this is a firmware error and they have no planned fix for it nor are they planning to recall the frames that have already been shipped.

If you don't mind the annoying blue arrow over your beautiful photos in slideshow mode, this is a 5 star frame. If you are like me and expect a high end expensive frame like this one to show only your beautiful photos, then it's a 1 star frame and you should save your money. I'm returning mine to Amazon this week.

January 6, 2009

Disappointing Digital Frame.

Pandigital, and their 15" Photo Frame are each a complete disappointment. In short. 1) the Frame has very limited horizontal and vertical viewing angles; 2) a blue "forward" arrow unfortunately graces the lower right corner of every displayed picture; 3) images that you load into the frame appear in a random and uncontrollable sequential viewing order regardless of the storage media used; 4) glass covering the screen is highly reflective and creates a mirror affect; 5) the owner's manual is severely lacking good for instruction or direction; and 6) Pandigital's technical support staff isn't overly helpful and is somewhat cavalier in their attitude. On the positive side the image quality, if you are looking directly at the center of the screen, is great. A more detailed explanation follows:

First, for starters the horizontal angle of view is so narrow that only two (2) people standing shoulder-to-shoulder can view the screen without loss of brightness and image quality. Overall the angle of view is less than 60d - compare that to most computer monitors at 125-150d and flat screen LCD TV's at upwards of 170ds.

Second: the vertical lines of view are more narrow than the horizontal ones. Using a wall mount, and positioning the center of the frame at exactly 60" (5'-0"), a person six feet tall will see good brightness and image quality, while any person 5'3" (whose eye-line center point is only 2" below the centerline of the screen) [or shorter] will experience a loss of brightness and see images that are dark along the top edge. Using the frame's brightness adjustment alleviates some of this problem, but ultimately sacrifices image quality with a washed-out look to do so.

Third: A green forward ¡ú arrow appears on-screen at all times. It is located within the lower right quarter of the screen and never disappears from view. Upon contacting Pandigital technical support, Pandigital says that they are aware of the software, "flaw"(their exact words) and they "might" issue an update someday.There recommendation: somewhat cavalier - buy one of their other frames (none of which came in the same 15" size or larger) that does not have that problem.

Fourth: Image order: The Digital Photo Frame will not play pictures in the order that you load them. For example, and to be very simplistic, if you have fifty (50) images that you would like to display in chronological / numerical order (IE:1, 2, 3, 4, 5-10,11,12,13-50) and you save them to any one of the frames accepted memory devices such as a flashcard or USB thumb drive in precisely that (1-50) order, the Pandigital Frame will load them in a random sequence and then play them in the order in which the frames software loaded them. This order might be: 2, 6, 19, 41, 34, 50, 6 etc. This random recognition of the contents on a memory card was consistently inconsistent. To comparison test Pandigital's file recognition, I loaded the images onto both an SD card, and USB flash drive. When inserted into the frame each memory device, stored with the same 50 images, in the same file order, came up on the Pandigital screen in a different sequence. When inserting the respective memory devices into another computer or camera the images appeared correctly in the order that were stored. Bottom line Pandigital 15" Frame will not play a side show displaying your photos in the order in which you would like them displayed. (Note: The frame does not have a way to rotate or switch image order.)

Fifth: Glass covering the screen: The glass and matt board that cover the screen create a nice visual affect, yet the "standard" glass is highly reflective and creates a lot of glare. Couple the glass with screen resolution that is not very bright and narrow angles of view and you get a much deepened mirror effect that challenges your eye to not become distracted by reflective background images and movement; thus staying focused on the photo display can be challenging.

Overall: I would like to view my photographs: 1) in the order that they were taken and in the order that tells a story - NO CAN DO; 2) I would like more than one person to enjoy looking at the pictures at a time AND to see really good quality images - NOT WITH THIS FRAME; 3) I would like to see only the pictures on the screen without a pause symbol or forward arrow - (a genuine design flaw) NOT THIS FRAME; and 4) I would like the picture frame to display pictures and not see the reflection of my face in the glass. I truly cannot recomend this digital frame.

I have two Pandigitals; a 10 inch and a 15 inch.

Both worked perfectly right out of the box.

Although some have had trouble with tech support, who hasn't??? Tech support overall in the USA is horrible!!!!! What company has good tech support?

This photo frame plays day and night, 24/7 playing a slide show of my trips abroad; the depth in the color is so incredinly good.

My only critism is a small arrow which is constantly visible showing the direction of the slide show....but it is small.

I am going to get another when I return from this summers vacation. Constantly reliving your happy past via a beautifully displayed slideshow is so very nice. Just download the pictures onto a memory card, insert the card in the photo frame....and enjoy. You don't have to load a slideshow to make it work.

The other plus is this is a 4:3 format thus not requiring you to tediously re-size the pictures as a wide angle would.

I got this as a gift for my father in law and it has performed flawlessly. He is non-tech and had no difficulties running it. Picture quality is excellent.

Got this photo frame for my wife for Christmas. I looked at dozens of competing models before choosing this one - none of them were of the quality that I wanted (fuzzy images, poor color rendition, etc). The large Pandigital is really a nice machine. Its one of the more expensive photo frames, but its worth the cost in terms of performance. Easy to set up and easy to use, and the remote control allows you to perform all the functions without walking up to the unit and pressing buttons on the back of the frame. The 15MB memory isn't enough for a decent length slide show, but the capability of plugging in most of the commonly used camera cards OR a USB thumb drive allows you to make extended length programs. Finally, there were TWO nice border frames included in the package - I thought it came with just one: So now you have a choice of the dark mahogany color or the classic black. VERY NICE PHOTO VIEWER!

First I have to say the main reason for returning this product is because of the annoying blue arrow that always show in slide show mode (isn't this the mode used most often) When I contacted the manufacture I was told that is just the way it is. I am afraid of a serious burn-in problem if used to long. The navigation/setup of this frame is horrible. I am very tech savy and yet this was not intuitive at all. It would also take several seconds to respond to any action performed from the remote which would make you wonder if it got the signal or not. You have to use the remote if you hang on the wall because they put the controls on the back of the frame (not the sides) so you HAVE to take it off the wall to touch the buttons. You also have to take the frame down and remove back cover if you want to put another SD card in. In order to use the Wi-Fi feature you have to buy THEIR dongle. The last reason is the lack of support from the company.

If you are looking for a 15" frame this is incredible check out the Aluratek (model #ADMPF315F) I have since replaced the Pandigital frame with an Aluratek 15" and WOW what a difference. This frame is MUCH easier to use and responds immediately from commands from the remote. It also can view the photos in a multi photo option. It will view just one photo at time if you wish but in multi- mode it shows 2, 3 or 4 at time. On this size of frame the photos are still large and they look beautiful. It randomly changes from the different number of photos shown. I would highly recommend this frame to whomever wants the larger size and actually want some great features not even offered on the Pandigital.

Great quality picture, except for that BLUE ARROW! When in slideshow mode there is an annoying blue arrow in the bottom right 1/4 of the screen. The arrow doesn't go away and looks like it was drawn by a 10 year old in MS Paint. Apparently this is a firmware error and there is no way to remove it.

The slowest slideshow speed is a quick 15-20 seconds. Way to quick for me. I don't want it scrolling through pictures in the corner of my eye when I'm watching TV or reading.

I returned it and am looking for a different kind.

It's a horrible one. Didn't work for even a week. The backlit turns red every now and then. Customer service may have helped.. But never tried to get it fixed.. Overall, I hated it.

The 15" Pandigital photo frame was a Christmas gift so we've been using it for a little less than a month now. Overall, although the software and customer support seems a little weak, I am very pleased with the 4:3 aspect ratio as well as the size and quality of the photos. To explain, after a little difficulty getting the usb flash drive formatted so that the frame would recognize it, the frame is now randomly shuffling through the 700 photos stored on the flash drive. The picture quality is great and the frame came with two nice, well-built wooden frames. The frames are easily removable so that a person could replace the included white colored mat with any color of their choosing. I only plan on using the frame for photos so I have not tried using the video or audio playback. One quirk that is a little aggravating is that when you start the slide show, a small blue "play arrow" is displayed in the bottom right part of the screen to indicate the slide show has begun. This arrow should disappear so it doesn't interfere with the photos on display, however on my frame, after disappearing for a few seconds, it reappears and stays on the screen as long as the slide show continues. I don't know if this is a problem with all of these frames or just mine, but I can't figure out how to make this arrow stay off the screen... must be a glitch in the software. I've contacted Pandigital through their website's customer support but have not had any response from them on how to fix this problem. Hopefully they will help me with this problem before their 90 day manufacturer's warranty runs out.