Customer Reviews

i-mate Momento 70 7-Inch Wireless Digital Picture Frame (Clear)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The product itself works well. However, we wanted to sign up for the online service in which we could send photos to the frame via email. When we went to the website to do this, the site told us that our frame had already been registered by someone (even though it was brand-new from Amazon). Over the past month we have been repeatedly trying to contact the customer service reps over email and phone and have never gotten through to anyone, nor received a response from anyone. Seems like a good product, but they really seem to have no idea how to run a business or how to respond to customers.

If anyone from Momento actually reads this posting please contact me so that we can resolve this issue. Thanks.

I usually do not write reviews -- this turned out to be very frustrating and time consuming. The reason I gave it one star so that other users will hopefully see this post and it will save them time. I will not tell you all the pluses of this thing, you can read other reviews. Feature-wise it is probably one of the most compelling products at this time.

I am an IT Professional and have over 7 years of experience configuring wireless networks -- it took me over 4 hours over a course of a few days to get Momento to connect to my network. I was very close to sending it back.

I have Dlink DIR-655 router with two laptops connected to it wirelessly -- no issues. Momento refused to see my SSID, while seeing my neighbors' networks.

After hours of tinkering, completely useless email response from i-Mate support, I found the configuration that works:

Dlink configuration:
+ Install latest firmware (1.10 as of 2007/10/26); backup settings before installing this one -- it resets everything to default
+ Turn off "Wireless Protected Setup" - that allowed Momento to see my network ssid, but it wasn't enough
+ Change WPA Mode to "WPA Only"
+ Change Cipher Type from AES to TKIP - that allowed Momento to connect.

I documented the changes I had to make in order to make it connect. Links are not allowed in reviews so search for: "i-mate momento and dlink dir-655 co-existence" in google. should take you to my blog post

Hope this will help a few people save time and frustration

P.S. I also expect phone support when spending $300 on a gadget -- not with i-mate...

Other have written about all the positives, but I thought I would inform would-be-buyers about the big reasons they might not want to buy it. The product has great capability but really lacks in software and networking. Sure it can do wireless networking... if you network is in the stone age! Wi-Fi requires that new products like this support things like WPA2 and AES encryption at least. This thing will NOT work with your network if you have WPA2 and/or AES enable. I don't mean that you require WPA2 and/or AES for something to connect, no... even if you enable mixed mode where your access point allows WPA/WPA2 and/or TKIP/AES it will refuse to connect. You have to switch ALL of your network to WPA with TKIP to be able to use this device! What a rip off! And don't hold your breath for a firmware update. Either this thing can't do firmware update or the tech support for imate just fancies not replying me emails about them fixing their device to support the standard networking protocals REQUIRED by the Wi-Fi community for new devices like this. Sure they answer other questions, but somehow don't answer any emails about the networking problem or any firmware update.
Second, the sideshow capabilies are EXTREMELY limited. You can use some sideshow gadgets with it but all of them won't really work well or in a very limited way.

I bought this frame, and have to say that it's easily in the bottom 10% of all gadgets I've bought in my lifetime. There are literally a dozen or more major issues I could elucidate, but I'll focus on the three that made me return both of the Momento frames I bought within 72 hours of opening their boxes.

First, let's talk about the frame's usability. The *only* way to control the frame is via the small remote that comes with it, and the frame's response to the remote is spotty at best. This might be because the tiny processor inside the frame is woefully underpowered, and frequently is busy doing other things (like showing pictures or trying to access the network), but in any event, between the remote control and the incredibly slow menuing system, it's a frustrating experience trying to get anything done with the frame. Even choosing which picture source you want to use is both slow and unintuitive, and that's what I'd consider a core function for a digital picture frame. And of course, if you ever lose the remote, you might as well throw the frame away, because there's honestly no other way to control it.

Second, let's address the frame's ability to use an online source for the photos it displays: simply put, it's fundamentally broken, in that the Momento takes all the images it gets from online sources and *resizes them so they don't fill your frame's screen*. Seriously. So if I loaded a full-screen-resolution image onto the frame via its USB port, the image filled the screen, but the very same image gathered from Flickr or Picasa got resized by the frame so that it only filled about 50% of the screen. I honestly thought this was a bug, so I reached out to technical support to inquire about it, and learned that this is simply the designed behavior of the frame, with no way to disable it. So in the end, one of the main selling features of the frame is also its biggest flaw; if you're looking to buy this frame because of its ability to stream photos from an online source, look forward to being very disappointed.

Finally, I'll address the tech support, which is functionally nonexistent. i-mate, the maker of the frame, only offers support via an online form or an email address, and it took a minimum of two days for me to receive a reply to requests sent via both methods. There's no phone support of any kind, and while I'm usually very, very good at ferreting out a hidden phone number that'll eventually reach a support tech, there's really *nothing* out there for i-mate phone support. So thus, my worst example was that one of my two frames stopped booting up past a certain point on the very first day I tried to use it, and I emailed them for support. Two days later, I received a reply that stated plainly: "Contact the retail store you bought the frame from" -- no attempt at diagnosing the problem or helping me get the frame working, nothing. Of course, to me, that means that I should just return the frame and move on, which I'm in the process of doing.

In the end, I honestly believe that these two Momento frames -- this one and the Momento 70 -- are unusable, and clearly not ready to be in the hands and on the desks of users.

As a digital picture frame, the i-mate Momento 70 is as good as it gets, thus the 5 star rating. It's display is as detailed and bright as the category leading Philips models, which I also own and reviewed.

But this is no ordinary digital picture frame. This is the first device in what will become a very popular computer peripheral category. The device incorporates Microsoft's SideShow technology. What's SideShow? It's Microsoft's name for a realtime standalone secondary information display. Think of Apple/Yahoo widgets or Google/Microsoft Gadgets. Instead of the *gets appearing on your desktop, they instead display on the picture frame. Get it? This changes everything.

My mind boggles when thinking of the many useful display applications for this device; rss feeds, stock quotes, kid's GPS coordinates, instant vacation photo updates, computer performance measurements, social network updates, email alerts, caller id, remote control with display, HTPC status, security, realtime porn updates, and on and on. This technology has really explosive potential. This device, on the basis of it being the first in it's category, deserves to become a legend in gadget history. It should certainly be considered as one of the top 10 gadgets of 2007.

So, how good is the device's implementation of SideShow? Well, it's time to suck back some of that gushed enthusiasm. It's definitely an early adopter experience. Some bads are: apparently SideShow only works with a Windows Vista PC host, installation is really rough, documentation is zilch, there's wireless connectivity and firewall challenges, paucity of SideShow software gadgets, lack of gadget configurability, and unpolished Microsoft host software -- so far. The good news is that it can be made to do some interesting tricks now. All the pain will eventually pass, after many firmware/documentation/software updates.

Besides wishing for speedy improvements, I have a couple additional wishes. I hope the manufacturers foster an open source development community. There's lot's of potential and lot's of work to do. Microsoft has just released the first SideShow beta SDK. That should accelerate SideShow gadget development. I hope the device gets a microphone for voice input. Lastly, I hope i-mate, or someone, figures out how to make the device work with a universal RF remote control. The included remote is a dinky little RF thing, range challenged, that inhibits the device's potential.

In conclusion, I can recommend this device as a very good digital picture frame. On that basis alone, the device is a good purchase. As a SideShow device, in the care of an early adopter, it's potential is awesome. Hackers apply here.

Edit: oops, changed 3 occurrences of SideStep to SideShow

The fact that I can connect wireless to one of my PCs at home makes all the difference when comparing to other frames. Two advantages:

- I can put this frame anywhere where there is an outlet, without worrying about network access
- I don't have to worry about loading and updating the frame

You can point the frame to a folder on your computer and you can tell it to only show photos with a certain tag, for example. As I keep all photos on my PC, there is no extra work to get new content to show on the frame. The photos on my frame are always "fresh". If had to load and reload photos on the frame manually, I would just not do it (at all or as often).

On the online front, you can also have the frame display pictures from flckr, from Live Spaces, or other online photo sharing sites, which is also useful if you have a group of friends or family that want to share photos online (instead of going through the hassle of sending lower resolution photos over email to each of the people).

Last, you can send photos to someone else that has a frame (they have to accept the photo and allow you to send photos to them). This is great to share photos with parents/relatives, as they don't have to mess with transfering photos from computers.

The image resolution is very nice and it works great, including dimming the backlight at night. Even the larger frame looks very good.

I also tried the support for Windows Vista sideshow display, not that useful to me at home, but would be great for the office, as it could be used as a reminder for meetings or emails.

I have not tried to play music through the frame.

(...)

This digital picture frame wireless links to all the photos on your computer. I have literally thousands of photos on my computer that I never look at. With this frame you can select photos in a seemingly umlimitness matter. For example, you can select your entire picture folder or particular folders. Or by year only. A must have. If you have the space, consider the 10 inch frame rather than the 7 inch which is a bit small.

I received my Momento 100 but it won't connect to my Linksys WRT54GX wireless router. I've spent hours playing with the configuration and setup of the router and nothing. It sees the router but won't connect. There is no technical documentation what so ever with the Momento to describe what it's wireless capabilities are (e.g., B vs. G, type of security it is compatible with etc.) and they do not provide a phone number for technical support.

I ended up by totally disabling all security on the router and while the Momento can see the network and tries to connect - nothing. Would not recommend this product.

Further Info: after contacting Momento by phone, they said that I should try Factory Restoring the frame as it sometimes would lock onto "settings" and would not refresh in order to try connecting with different settings. I subsequently managed to get the frame to connect to my network but continued to have glitchy problems with it. In the first two days of use I had to "factory restore" it 3 times. This product may be okay for people who are computer literate and like to fiddle but I don't think its ready for the rest of us. I still wouldn't recommend it.

I purchased 2 of these frames last Christmas for my relatives and my experience with this frame/company are as bad as what others have mentioned. The first frame did not work from the start. The frame did not respond at all to the remote and therefore, I had no way of operating the frame since there are no operating buttons on the frame itself. Neither changing the batteries, nor resetting the remote + frame helped. A quick email to imate resulted in a return email that simply told me to return the item for a refund. Fortunately, the return process for Amazon is top notch and relatively painless.

My second frame responds well to the remote. However, when I try and register the frame to use online, the activation code from my frame does not seem to be valid. I sent another email to imate 2.5 weeks ago to which they replied that they would send my email to the "appropriate department" to answer my problem. I haven't heard from them since. So now I'm stuck with an overpriced 7" digital frame that doesn't work online.

Thanks Imate. You really made my Christmas special.

I bought this as a gift for my parents this Christmas. They are not technically savvy, yet love to get pictures of the grandkids. I set it up for them. First of all, I work in IT, and so am usually pretty good with most computer issues. There is NO way that people like my parents could ever handle setting this thing up. It is very complicated. After struggling for hours, it finally found my network. However, it couldn't find my computer. I emailed customer support (yes, that's right, for $300 there is NO phone service). It took 2 days for them to respond, with basically the same information that is on their website. Obviously, having tried all those things already, I replied that I needed more direction. 3 days for the next response. Long story short, I never got an answer from them. Our "chain of communication" was cut off by them. They just never responded to my last message. In the end, I was able to get another IT professional to help set this up. But, between the two of us, it took HOURS. This frame is lovely, and the idea is great. But it is not ready for prime time yet. And just to re-iterate, if you want to charge $300 for a picture frame, it is unforgivable to not provide phone support. I would never touch anything from these guys again.