Portable USA PU-15WB Wireless 15-Inch Digital Picture Frame

by Portable USA

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 15.8 x 4.2 inches ; 5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0013XPAF8
• Item model number: PU-15WB
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 13, 2008

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Portable USA 15-inch Wireless Digital Picture Frame is a unique and extremely elegant picture frame display. Features one large 15-inch diagonal screen digital picture frame with a 256 MB fast flash memory that can store and show over 1500 pictures. No computer is necessary and the frame is bluetooth enabled (requires separate adapter - not included) to receive images wirelessly from your cell phone. Portable USA's Wireless Digital Picture Frame ships in a rich real cherry wood frame and can store digital pictures, videos and music; displayed portrait or landscape, tabletop or wall. Includes free photo-editing software for Mac and PC and includes calendar and alarm functions. Supports the following image and movie formats: JPEG, AVI, VOB, MPEG, and DAT. Supports the following audio formats: MP3, WAV and WMA.

Portable USA PU-15WB Highlights

15-inch viewable screen Over four times the viewing area provided by a 7 inch display giving you even more room to enjoy and show off your favorite pictures to family and friends. The aspect ratio of the screen is 4:3--just like a printed photograph. You won’t see stretching, cropping or big ugly black borders like the widescreen 16:9 format of some other digital picture frames.

High-density screen with wide viewing angle The very best, 1024x768 high-density screen displays your favorite photos with the same rich detail and vibrant colors as high-quality photo prints and the wide viewing angle ensures you the best image whether it’s up high or off to the side.

256MB of on board memory The PU-15WB offers a generous 256MB of on board super-fast flash memory allowing you to store and show hundreds of high-resolution pictures, with additional capacity when you use the two available memory card slots.

Memory card support The PU-15WB has two memory card slots and one USB slot: One slot accepts Compact Flash I (CF) cards, the second accommodates Memory Stick (MS, MS Duo, MS Pro Duo, MS Pro), secure digital (SD) Card and Multi Media Cards (MMC) and xD card and the last is a USB slot for USB memory sticks and thumb drives. Combined with the on board flash memory you can store and show all your photos without the use of a PC.

USB connectivity for PC or Mac The PU-15WB also gives you the flexibility of USB allowing you to connect your frame to a Windows (XP or later) or Mac computer to make transferring your photo libraries a breeze. With the frame turned on and attached to the computer, the frame acts as an external drive allowing you to easily copy your photos from your computer to your digital picture frame in a matter of seconds.

The finest materials and elegant design fit for any decor Elegant design and the highest-grade materials include a discreet stand and real wood frame with rich black matting to enhance the look of all of your photos.

Multimedia capabilities The PU-15WB frame also supports many formats of movie files and also provides a text reader for E-Books and stereo speakers for mp3 and .wav files. All are easily managed with the click of a button on the remote control. Go Wireless If you want to transfer images from your Bluetooth enabled cell phone or computer without the use of wires the PU-15WB has an available (optional) Bluetooth adapter. Just plug it into the slot marked USB and you can send images quickly to your photo frame. The PU-15WB does not ship with a Bluetooth adapter but we’ll send you one for free. At the back of the comprehensive user manual is a form to complete that can be mailed or emailed to Portable USA. It requires your model number, name and address--it will be dispatched the day the request is received.

Multiple viewing modes Several display modes give you the freedom to display your photos one image at a time, in thumbnail mode for quick, easy searches, or to create a slideshow of your favorite photos. Access all these options on the frame or with the included remote control. You can also display your frame in portrait or landscape mode and place it on a table, counter, or hang it on your wall.

Exciting extra features Other features include free photo-editing software for PC or Mac and calendar and alarm functions.

In the box One PU-15WB digital picture frame with cherry frame, remote control, USB cable, locking stand, AC power supply, and comprehensive owner’s manual.

About Portable USA
At Portable USA our goal is to give you the best quality, features, and service offered in the industry. We use only the highest grade screens and components available ensuring you an excellent viewing experience with each and every one of our products. We back all of our products with a full one year warranty (parts AND labor) and live customer support, based here in the United States, to ensure your complete satisfaction with our products.

Product Description

15" Wireless Digital Picture Frame... the brightest way to display your digital photos! Stores over 1,000 photos, plays video and audio... Bluetooth compatible too! An elegant wooden Picture Frame with a high-tech twist! Now you can display multiple images with just one frame... just insert the media card from your camera and create your own perpetual slide shows! Cherish the memories: Stores around 1,500 pictures on 256 MB internal memory; Plays MP3 audio to create engaging slide shows; Handy remote control for pausing or rotating pictures; Bluetooth capability allows transfer of files from compatible cellphone or computer; 1,024 x 768 resolution; Support CF, SD, MMC, MS, SM and XD and USB media cards; Power adapter included; Supports JPEG, AVI, VOB, MPEG, DAT video; MP3, WAV and WMA; 2 real wood frames included (Cherry, Black); Free photo editing software for Mac and PC; Includes calendar and alarm features; Power: AC 100-240V, 50 / 60Hz; Output: DC12V.; Display life's special moments in vivid detail! Order Today! 15" Wireless Digital Picture Frame

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Probably not a good idea, November 13, 2008

By 

J. Wayland Eheart (east central Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Portable USA PU-15WB Wireless 15-Inch Digital Picture Frame (Electronics)

After postponing the decision to buy a picture frame several years while the technology improved and the price decreased, I finally bought this frame to display family pictures and quasi-serious nature photography. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros: Bright good quality color, visible from a good angle right to left (although not up and down). Large size for the money (about $200 right now). No software to install on your computer; the frame shows up as a drive onto which you can copy your pictures and also has sockets to accept various types of memory devices. And, finally, no reflection on the frame per se, but Amazon's service was fantastic. I opted for free shipping and they sent it UPS very quickly.

Cons: The first, and biggest is that it simply doesn't display some pictures. Instead, it displays a weird-looking fuzzy icon consisting of a document page behind a large red circle with a white X through it. This seems to be the case whether the files are placed in the internal memory of the frame, an in-camera memory stick type device or a standard USB flash drive (either of which is inserted in a socket in the back of the frame). To add insult to injury, no where in the manual is this problem described or analyzed. I can't discern any pattern as to which files it doesn't like, except that it seems to be SOME (but not all) of the files I have worked on using Adobe Photoshop. Well, guess what, those are the ones I want most to display. And speaking of the manual, it is pretty close to useless, except for a buried warning not to hook it up to your computer before turning it on. The writing is very poor and misleading; if it were a paper by one of my students I'd give it a D. At various places, we are told to "hit" one or another button, which is clear enough, but evinces a fast, sloppy job of writing.

The second big problem is not being able to change the order in which the slides are shown. There is a "random" setting on the menu (good luck in navigating to that point; you'll be lucky if you don't accidentally set the language to Chinese, and, if you do, you'll need to know the Chinese expressions for "set language" and "English"), but that setting is the factory default and it doesn't display them randomly but seems to want to display them in alphabetical order of filename. But if you display a bunch that you have put on a memory stick and then add others to the same stick, it seems to know that, and displays the second batch after the first, and in alphabetical order. If you insert a stick it only displays what's on that stick, and won't display what's in internal memory until you unplug the stick. I'd like it to do through all of them, but it won't do that.

Regardless of what the advertising says, there is essentially no customer support. The website is completely useless, as there is no way on it to contact the company with questions. The support page has prices on it; seems very strange; it appears the website has some problem. And needless to say, there is no mention of the red-and-white X icon in the FAQs. There's a section of glowing testimonials by "customers" whose authenticity is highly questionable, since there is no web-based fax number, email address or phone number by which to contact the company. The company does provide their street address, so, presumably those satisfied customers walked in and delivered their testimonials in person.

There are lots of bells and whistles on this thing; it plays movies and even has some tinny speakers so that it can play sound movies and mp3 files. You can even display a calendar (maybe these should go in the "pro" category if you like that sort of thing). But all these options make the setup menu even more difficult to navigate; it's just about impossible in the first place. The problem is that it doesn't do a good job on its BASIC task, displaying still pictures, with more or less the same options for doing so that one would find on the screen saver of a personal computer.

The frame doesn't come with a Bluetooth dongle, you have to fill out a card and send it in to the factory to get that. Since I am still considering returning it, I haven't sent the card in yet, so I can't comment on that feature.

A small but telling matter is the sloppiness of manufacture. The matting looks like it was cut by a kid with an Exacto knife, not a professional picture frame shop mat cutter. And there are a few pieces of dirt behind the glass. These problems no doubt come from outsourcing manufacture to the lowest bidder.

Another small gripe is the remote. The response to pushing a button on it is very slow and there is no tactile feedback, so it's hard to know if it's working or not. The remote uses a mercury battery instead of standard AA or AAA batteries, so, when it comes time, it may be hard to find a replacement. On the other hand, there's not really much reason to use the remote, as many of its buttons are already on the back of the frame.

All in all, I get the impression that the manufacturer sincerely wants to deliver a quality product at an affordable price. The execution, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The company seems to be run by a bunch of well-intentioned amateurs with inadequate adult supervision. I haven't decided whether or not to keep the frame. It depends on whether or not I can get a satisfactory resolution to my problems. But that will require some work and expense. I'll probably have to get their NON toll-free phone number and call them, which I haven't yet tried. If that doesn't work, then I will be returning it.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome digital frame!, July 7, 2008

By 

Stacey Evans - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Portable USA PU-15WB Wireless 15-Inch Digital Picture Frame (Electronics)

I bought this frame as a Father's day/Birthday gift for my Dad. At first it came and the glass had been broken during shipment. Amazon was great about it and a new one arrived in two days. The frame is huge and pictures look great. We even had scanned pictures and they still looked amazing. It is really user friendly, my mother was able to get it started without a problem. It has many ways to import pics, making it great for everyone. I highly recommend this frame for anyone wanting to display pictures so that you can actually SEE them!

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All-around BEST digital frame!!, June 10, 2008

By 

A Gal of All Trades... "cccbm5" (Redondo Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portable USA PU-15WB Wireless 15-Inch Digital Picture Frame (Electronics)

This is my all time favorite frame. I use it in real estate and display photos of the home that I am showing during Open House. Also, I give one as a gift to the buyer of the home I sold. Everyone is so happy to get one. The quality and look of this frame is top notch...wonderful size too!! I get tons of compliments on it, and highly recommend it for any business and use.