Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

A wonderful piece of electronics! Plays/shows all my videos, photos and music, though the volume could be louder.. some way to hook to external speakers? My only complaint is that it won't display Adobe .pdf files. Some of my patients are readers but have special seating needs or are confined to bed, making it difficult to use a computer (besides they often find the 60 cycle CRT flicker gives 'em a headache). The wealth of e-books available on line all seem to be in .pdf, and a download to this light-weight, remote controlled frame would be a glorious doorway to many pleasant hours that would otherwise pass slowly and uncomfortably.

I bought this frame for my Wife's Birthday gift. At first it came and the glass had been broken during shipment (poorly packaged) which apparently has happened before. Amazon was good about it and a new one arrived the next week. The second packing job really wasn't much better but I got lucky that time.
The frame is huge and pictures look great..very crisp. I really like the picture/music combo so you hear music in the background while pictures scroll. The video is a little slow and the speaker is not great quality, but it is passable.
Overall, it is really user friendly and it has many ways to import pics without using a computer. This would be good for a business since you can also display text. I highly recommend this frame for anyone wanting to display pictures so that you can actually SEE them...even at an angle. I am fairly critical of electronics and this one really gives a lot of bang for the buck!

I am very pleased with my picture frame. The only downside is when I turn it off the frame always restarts the slideshow at the beginning and doesn't resume where it left off. It takes a 4 g card and that holds a great deal of pictures.
My frame is on the wall; hiding the cord was a challenge but it looks great there. I love the size and often wish I'd gotten the bigger one.

This frame is a great size. It is easy to use and with an SD card,will hold an amazing number of pictures. It has a very narrow viewing angle, so positioning is critical. It comes with a support so that the frame can stand on a desk or shelf. It is a bit big for most desks. On a shelf, the frame has to be very close to eye level. We put ours on a shelf above a desk. The picture was nearly invisible while sitting at the desk.

If you hang it on the wall, bear in mind that you need to be almost directly in front of the frame to really see the images.

Hindsight would have me remove one of my stars, but Amazon's editing feature does not allow that, so please treat this as a very generous two star. It's worth noting that the display on the Portable USA is lovely. BUT--After having tried Portable USA, eMotion and Westinghouse frames all here on Amazon (I did not bother with Pandigital, the whole "blue arrow stuck in the corner glitch" was a laughable deal breaker), I stand like an Old Testament prophet, shouting to everyone reading (and yes, thou too!) that--BEWARE--quality control simply DOES NOT exist in frames over 10 inches in size. I don't know how could this be--it's inexcusable in that this technology is a decade old and your most basic of computers can manage this flawlessly as a screen saver. But these farmed out electronics (possibly the most returned Amazon items in their electronics inventory [not their fault]) exhibit failure (freezing) after failure (lasts a month) or shortcoming (really, the Random Slideshow MUST be a default, [ahem, Portable USA]). Until a company actually produces a quality frame over 10 inches--and that day is not yet here as of December 2008--please find a better use for your money. I've gone through 3 companies, 4 purchases over 3 months and still ended up with something I'll have to apologize for at Christmas. It makes me not even want to go home for Christmas.
By the way, posting here I noticed that B. Roberts posted a comment to my earlier review (replaced with this edit... Amazon wisely only allows one review per customer, so here I replace my previous). No, my friend; there's no random slideshow--eMotion promoted the feature upon its entry into the 15 inch frame market in 2007 but removed the option shortly thereafter, perhaps Portable USA did the same (*shrugs*)...? Curious to know if you ever heard back from the manufacturer, 'cause I never did...!

Love the Frame!! Quality Product.... Highly reccomended!!
P.S. First frame arrived with broken glass.Amazon replaced it even before I returned the defective product.(Great Service!)

I was very satisfied with the speed in which this item made it to my house, however, I had ordered a cherry frame and it was black! I was disappointed with this, but since it was purchased for a Christmas present and Christmas was only a few days away, there was not much I could do about it. Like I said, it was given as a gift so I do not know how the product worked out...as far as I know they have had no problems with it's operation.