Customer Reviews

Smartparts Personal Digital Keychain Photo Album

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

 

 

I just got one of these to give my wife for Christmas. After opening it up, I had the software installed and was downloading pics to the keychain in minutes. Very easy to use and understand. Pictures loaded with no problems and no need to be cropped. Holds around 55 pics. Pics I loaded show up very well on the keychain screen despite its small size.

NOTE: The rechargable battery in the photo album is charged from your USB port while you are searching through your pictures. Battery didn't take very long to charge. Due to the small screen, photos with close-ups look the best when downloaded to keychain

So far, battery seems to last quite a while between chargings.

I bought a couple of these when they were on a bigger sale (29.99). I have tried it out, and absolutely LOVE it!

It took me about 5 minutes to install the included software onto my computer and start transfering photos. It was easy to crop the pictures, and even easy to transfer them. I always have my keys on me, and now I have an easy way to show my recent wedding photos, my pets, my family, and even landscape pictures look great. It isn't true perfect picture quality, but that isn't what you look for in a keychain at this price! It is a great deal and I am buying more to give to my sister-in-laws, my parents, and my friends.

Could be a GREAT wedding favor present too. Particularly if you shoot digital photos at the wedding... just have someone download your top 50 shots or so straight onto the keychain and give them out to your wedding party and in-laws and family.

One Hint: The crop program in the software is a pre-set size. So if you want to crop a bigger area, just do it on your computer first and save it, THEN transfer it to the kaychain software to load on the keychain. EASY EASY to do.

This is a neat idea. You do have to have close up pictures to really be able to see them in the small screen. It was very easy to load the pictures and it is very handy to have with me to show others our most recent pictures.

My wife got this for me for Christmas. I was thrilled and thought it was a great idea. I charged the device and transferred pictures to it. I work in technology, so I agree with many of the other reviewers that the software is terrible -- to delete any photos, you have to delete them from the device, not the software. Image quality is OK, but not good enough to be "sharing" with people. And after a few days of sorting through pictures and transferring and deleting them, it got a bit old.

Other than looking at it "straight-on", nobody on either side of you can see the image. It's back-lit, which is fine...but it doesn't help much.

Unfortunately, the battery didn't last all that long. The device refused to charge after about two months, and eventually it died altogether. The only way to make the unit work was to plug in the USB cable; the battery would not charge. So I contacted "support" and got a basic run-around, telling me that you "shouldn't charge the battery for more than 2-3 hours" at a time, and that I could request an RMA to return it for replacement. Warranty is no good, and it can't be returned.

I'm holding onto it because I'll probably take it apart and use the internal parts to build a desktop "photocube", so it can run off the USB cable.

But I agree with others that -- even if this worked longer than 2 months -- it's just a novelty that gets tedious quickly.

This keychain photo viewer sold by a company called "Smartparts" is identical to one sold by "Argus." Neither company manufactures the device nor do they offer a shred of tech support. You buy this, you're on your own. You seem to be able to find the Argus one a little cheaper... though they do mar the front of it with a big, black imprint of their logo.

In any case, this thing is maybe worth $20 as a novelty. Don't pay more. Image quality is mediocre and the software, while functional, is stunningly primitive. If you can pick it up cheap and approach it with low expectations, it's a kind of cute gizmo. But don't give yourself agita by overpaying for an obsolete little toy. Check the bargain bins for this thing, or just wait for the next generation device.

-- mm

Delivers exactly what is promised but not a speck more. Once one figures it out, its very easy to use. However, the "user manual" is useless. Picture quality is mediocre. Good value, but don't epect too much.

The idea is wonderful but the window is too small to be useful. I have it, have pictures on it, but never show it to anyone. Trying to find the right light to illuminate a tiny picture was ridiculous. Easier to show a few pictures in my wallet.

I just purchased this item, and I am definitely impressed. I just had a baby, and it is the perfect way to showcase pictures of my baby without having to search through my wallet to find pictures! (Would make a good baby shower gift!) The photo quality is not the sharpest, but it is good enough, even when I don't crop pictures. BTW, the crop feature is not just one size, you can pull the box out diagnally from the lower right hand corner. It took no time at all to download the software and upload pictures (and you can view the picture you are selecting from your computer if you click on the file name - it will show you the picture in the screen below so you know which picture you are choosing before adding it, while also giving you a chance to crop). Overall, I am very happy with this product!!

I purchased this for my wife for Valentine's Day. The installation went fine but I have two problems with the device. First, the software to do the picture transfers is awful. You can only select pictures on your computer to download - you can't see what photos are on the device in the software. In order to delete photos you have to do it manually from the device itself. I checked the webpage for updated software - no joy. The crop feature is nice (and well used) but otherwise I feel like I am looking at a Windows 3.1 application. Second, the image quality on the device is very poor. I didn't have very high expectations, but this was lower than I expected. Reminds me of the picture/screen quality in the very first color cell phone screens, maybe a bit worse. You can make out the picture, but not much detail at all. The advice of cropping the photos to only show headshots is an excellent idea, it's the only way to get a decent picture.

Overall, I'm a little disapointed. But then, you get what you pay for...

This is a fun toy for those out there that like interesting new gadgets. The software is easy to load and use, though I would recommend using Windows Explorer to choose your photos since it's easier to preview the photos using that. Although it might be obvious because of the size of the viewing screen, I would also recommend sticking with head and shoulder shots.

After downloading my photos and viewing them on the screen, I thought it was kind of cool to watch a gradual progression from young to old of various family members.

It's also kind of interesting to crop photos so that you only see a person's head - kind of gives you a whole different perspective.

I look forward to sorting through my digital photos and am sure it won't take long for me to fill it up.

I only wish the cord provided to wear as a necklace was made of nylon instead of plastic as it would be a bit more decorative and more comfortable to wear.