Why You Can Trust CNET Kodak EasyShare EX1011 review: Kodak EasyShare EX1011
The Kodak EasyShare EX1011 is an attractive, full-featured digital photo frame though its built-in Wi-Fi is more a token offering than top selling point.
Design
The 10-inch Kodak EasyShare EX1011 digital photo frame draws its look more from a traditional picture frame than many other digital offerings, sporting a solid angular outer frame compared to the commonly-seen one dimensional faceplates with clear perspex borders.
Kodak EasyShare EX1011
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Though, like most digital frames, you can change the look of the unit by swapping the interchangeable faceplates. Kodak offers different alternatives including Clear or Frosted Floral Glass, or a Whiteboard faceplate that allows you to frame your photos with a writeable, wipe-on, wipe-off surface. No extra faceplates are included with the EX1011 but are available for purchase separately.
As for the layout of the controls, all the function buttons are lined up along the top of the frame, with the on/off switch and memory card slots on the left side, and the headphone jack, USB port, volume control and power input on the right. The frame can be displayed in landscape orientation using the stand on the back, or wall mounted in either landscape or portrait orientation via the keyhole slots.
Features
While this 10-inch frame is the top-end model from Kodak, sitting above the 7- and 8-inch models, its size isn't its biggest (or only) positive. The EX1011's built-in wireless connectivity means you can transfer media (images, music and video) to the frame from your Windows PC using Windows Media Player 11 -- sorry Mac fans. Overseas users can also connect to Kodak's online photo-sharing site and transfer photos online, but unfortunately this function is currently only available in the US, Canada and parts of Europe.
Even without Wi-Fi, the EX1011 is a feature-heavy digital frame that doesn't want for much in terms of functionality. Its straightforward interface supports JPEG image files, MP3 audio and multiple video formats (MOV, AVI, MPEG-1 and MPEG-4). All memory card types are supported, as well as 128MB of built-in storage.
The actual display area measures 225mm by 135mm at a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, leaving you with a decent-sized area to display photos, slideshows and movies. The screen size accommodates the 16:9 aspect ratio, which will resize your images if they aren't already wide-screen and you'll lose a bit of the picture or you can opt to view photos in 4:3 with black bars surrounding your images.
We're generally not a fan of the remotes that come with digital photo frames -- they're often cumbersome units that don't even look like they belong to the frame and are somewhat unnecessary when staring at a screen a quarter of the size of a computer monitor, let alone a TV. That said, the Kodak's remote is clearly-labelled and quite responsive and the only one we've seen branded with the company name.
Performance
Setting up the frame was a hassle-free experience, and we found the display bright and relatively sharp for the resolution. Viewing slideshows of our images from a memory card ran smoothly, as did transferring via USB.
One quirk to note is when transferring images to the frame's internal memory, images are not resized to match the resolution so if you're taking high-res photos straight from your memory card, you'll fill up the 128MB quite quickly -- especially if you've also got audio and video.
Music and video playback is acceptable, though the tinny built-in speakers are really there just to provide audio rather than solid stereo sound.
Disappointingly, the Wi-Fi connectivity is more of a token feature than the stand-out feature it should be. The restriction to PC-only wireless transfer and lack of integration to Kodak's online photo-sharing take away the wireless experience but it's still nice to have, especially if Kodak choose to include Australia in its service in the future.