Philips 9FF2M4 Digital Photo Frame review: Philips 9FF2M4 Digital Photo Frame

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Late last year, Philips quietly put out one of the best photo frames on the market, the Digital Photo Display 7FF. We gave that model high marks for its impressive image quality and sleek design, though it did have some drawbacks--most notably, its interface wasn't quite as intuitive as it should be. Now the company is serving up a larger model, the $250 9FF2M4 (who comes up with these names?), which addresses the interface issue while adding several new features and maintaining its excellent image quality. The result is a digital photo frame that's a standout in the rapidly evolving--and expanding--digital photo frame category.

Like its predecessor, the frame looks a lot like a miniature version of the display on Apple's original iMac flat-panel all-in-one computers, with clear plexiglass around a white border that surrounds the 6.7 x 4.5-inch (8-inch diagonal), high-pixel-density LCD panel. Philips calls the 9FF2M4 a 9-inch frame, but that dimension includes the width of the white border, not simply the width of the LCD. While you couldn't swap out the white border on the 7FF, the 9FF2M4 comes with three extra borders in red, silver, and black that are easy to change (they adhere magnetically). The adjustable--and removable--stand on the back lets you set the frame vertically or horizontally in landscape or portrait orientation. You also get a wall-mounting kit in the box.

The 16-bit (65,536 potential colors) display has built-in memory, which allows you to store between 110 to 150 photos internally, according to Philips. Additionally, around back you'll find slots for Compact Flash, SD, MMC, xD, and Memory Stick memory cards (the SD slot accommodates Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro Duo cards), giving you the ability to display hundreds or even thousands of photos. You can choose to leave the images on the card or transfer however many will fit into the display's remaining internal memory. Another option is to upload photos from your camera to the display via a USB cable.

The one advantage to transferring the photos to the display's internal memory is that, as part of the copying process, the unit automatically resizes the images to 720x540 pixels--or as close as it can get to that size. For instance, we shot some images with an Olympus Evolt 500 dSLR that started out with resolutions of 3,264x2,448 and were sized down to fit. If your image won't quite translate to 720x540, the display adds black bars to the top and bottom or the sides rather than cropping your image--which is a good thing; some frames chop off large parts of your picture. Since the screen has 680x480 pixels, Philips says that some cropping may occur, but it must be minor because we didn't notice much in the various images we viewed. The biggest impact of reducing your images' size (along with their file size) is that transition effects in slide show mode (you can select from 14 transition effects, as well as random mode) work more smoothly. In other words, if you have a fairly high-capacity memory card (512MB or greater), you're probably best off just loading the card with photos and leaving it in the display.

As noted, we were impressed by how our pictures looked on the frame. The display had a little trouble resolving darker gray backgrounds (we noticed some false contouring), but that's a minor flaw. All in all, the images were very sharp with vibrant, accurate colors. Naturally, the quality of the image onscreen will depend on how good the source photo is.

Turning back to features, aside from the increased number of transition effects, Philips has also thrown in some basic editing capabilities that include image cropping, rotating, and the ability to give your images a black-and-white or sepia tint. There's also a collage mode that allows you to display the same photo on the screen in a variety of sizes with various layouts to choose from. We can understand making a collage out of several images, but we didn't see the appeal in a collage made of single image. However, we liked that we can create labeled albums on the frame that you can then select for slide-show viewing. The built-in clock is also a nice touch--the numbers are nice and big--and we also appreciate that you can set the frame to display reminders, as well as to turn on and off at selected times. One feature that's missing is video support, which would allow you to playback the MPEG-4 videos you shoot with your digital still camera. We're starting to see this feature--along with audio playback--in more frames.

Like the 7FF, the 9FF2M4 has a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery that allows you to place the frame wherever you like--or pass it around--for a little while without being concerned whether it's within reach of a power outlet. Of course, if you want, you can leave it plugged in at all times and not worry about having to recharge it. Depending on the brightness setting--yes, it's adjustable--a fully charged battery offers as much as 60 minutes of operation, which makes the feature less practical.

Our biggest complaint about the 7FF was that the unit wasn't a little more intuitive to navigate right out of the box. Although it didn't take us that long to figure things out, the unit's internal GUI (graphical user interface) could have been a little more user-friendly. Philips seems to have gone out of its way to fix that problem in this next-generation model with a totally redesigned interface. While you'll certainly find some things to nitpick--for example, we did have some trouble going forward and back in the menu at certain points--but the new three-button interface (one is a four-way directional button) is a lot easier to deal with than the multibutton scheme of the 7FF. That said, we suspect that, down the road, Philips may issue a firmware upgrade to correct a couple of bugs--yes, the frame is also firmware-upgradeable--that will make navigation even smoother.

Fans of Ceiva photo frames, which allow you to automatically "push" photos to them via the Internet--a good options for those who want to send regular photo updates to a grandparent or other family members--will note that this model doesn't offer that feature. On the other hand, you won't have to pay a monthly fee to actually use your frame.

In the final analysis, Philips has taken another step forward in the emerging digital frame category with its 9FF2M4 Digital Photo Display. With prices dropping on the older 7FF model, this model won't seem like a bargain, but its improved interface and additional features make it the better choice if you can afford it. As it stands, it's one of best digital photo displays we've encountered, though we do expect to see the competition heat up in 2007 as more established consumer electronics companies jump into the frame fray.

Editor's note: Philips also makes the 7-inch 7FF1M4, which offers many of the features of 9FF2M4 but won't automatically rotate your images and doesn't have as many options for albums and effects.