Sounds like a truly terrible product.

Why couldn't they have built in the antenna, say, to the top edge of the frame so you don't have to have that ridiculous thing sticking up? And does the logo really need to be *that* big?

Definitely a product to leave out of the house.

You shouldn't have to, but you could always make a really big frame to hide both the logo and the usb antenna thing.

You can resize this Starling and fit it inside the non-functioning eStarling picture frame and use it for target practice!

They should have embedded the logo directly into the screen.

That frame looks exactly like a non wifi frame I have here, so I can only assume the modified an existing product with their own firmware so it can take the wifi adapter.

I love it when form collides with function, and they both suffer a horrible beating. I really like the idea of a wifi capable digital frame that allows people to send pictures directly to their loved ones (though my God, is that an idea ripe for abuse) ... but this product clearly ain't the "solution".

The bigger question is still:

Who the hell needs or wants a digital picture frame? I still don't get that one...

Jebus I am so hung over btw... :(

Perhaps that Gizgadg page is a flog? The photos are semi-deceptive in that it's not obvious that the black area above the frame is a dongle, it's obscured in the side-view and cropped in the fullfrontal pose where it looks more like a detail of the room than part of the frame.

Also, so as not to appear to be a flog they need to make some negative comments. What did they have a problem with? The photo that appears on the packaging. Hardly something that would steer potential buyers away.

Perhaps this was a legit review, but it looks awful fishy to me.

well done. i love to see bad design get its comeuppance.

speaking of which, giz needs to start a sub-plot of "Design Bugs" - things that should be considered faulty not because they don't work, but because they work as designed, and the design just plain sucks.

Ok, THIS is the kind of "reporting" that we need more of on the Giz - information we can really use.

It's a piece of crap - 'nuff said.

THANKS, Gizmodo.

Perhaps if you put the picture frame inside of a larger picture frame that could cover up all of the ugly crap? That said, it is probably better to put it back in the box and return it.

Wow, I almost ordered one of these yesterday, when Gizmodo sent us to that other guy's glowing review. Glad I was a little less impulsive than usual.

OHSNAP, this is a great device (in theory) to give to a non-techy family member who lives far away so they can constantly have new pictures of you. Of course, they need a wireless network, but my dad is in just that situation, so this would have been perfect for him.

I got mine yesterday and it is worse than described. RSS feeds don't work at all and the wireless reception is decent only when standing on top of my router while wearing a tin-foil hat, and I have a Cisco AP with a 9 watt amplified antenna. Not to mention eStarling closed their support forums last night because of the beating they were taking from everyone that took delivery. I glad I bought mine for myself and didn't plan to give it as a gift. It is in the box and going back to ThinkGeek on Tuesday. Complete junk.

Estarling PR Guy: Please, Gizmodo... Please, please review our product!

Gizmodo: I am not sure if you want us to do that. We're pretty honest.

Estarling PR Guy: Please, just *mention* our product. We're about to hit bankruptcy and we could really use the coverage.

Gizmodo: Okay. But it will be an honest review.

Estarling PR Guy: Oh crap.

LOL.... Good review guys. I like seeing honest reviews. Its why I keep coming back every day. :-)

And oh yeah... It does look particularly fugly. Even without the review, I probably would have passed it over just based on looks alone.

Manufacturers need to seriously consider what people want. Attractive materials, strong materials, and no big honkin' logos all over the place. And Basic black, white, or beige are so dead. When will we see something new?

Ten years from now, I can imagine a few disgruntled office rats sitting in their cubicles when the HR guy comes around giving out bags with their corporate accounting firm's name on it. Inside the bag will be a movie coupon, maybe a McDonald's coupon for a free order of fries, a metal tin filled with lousy popcorn, and one of these picture frames that the accounting company has paid to have their logo plastered on it.

Yup, corporate Christmas bonuses suck. :-)

And yes, I have too much time on my hands today.

liquidsoapdispenser: After reading the other fake-review (it gotta be fake), I sort of understood the concept.

It looks like a good concept in theory, bu isn't this jut what you use an email for? I dunno, it seems to redundant to have a device just for that, and like some commenter said on the other fake-review, is it any way to screen the pictures?

If you are technology-savvy enough to have this "ugly logo with a frame on it", then you are savvy enough to get the pictures on your email and view it on a laptop, perhaps screen it on the TV sometimes.

I stand by my statement, this is a solution sort of looking for a problem.

Did you try to remove the label like you showed us a few months ago? With the tape and the sugar?

oh man. I bought one of these for my mom and just finished wrapping it last night. There is no way I can give it to her now. That wifi dongle thing is seriously whack, and I'm pissed at eStarling and ThinkGeek for not disclosing it's existence in any of the pictures of the frame.

I find the concept really attractive and I could overlook a few defects, including the annoying log, but the protruding dongle is just assinine. Who wants a picture frame that's so ugly you have to hide it?

log=logo

Giz has been hyping this product for months, so I ordered one. Now I'm returning it. Thanks for the ride, Giz.

Go get yourself a Parrot photo viewer. Small, smart, innovative. Why?
1. Transfer pics via BT instead via USB or else,
2. Gravity sensor adjusts pics correctly when frame is rotated
3. brightness adjustment according to environmental light conditions (if you want that)
4. 0-manuals: intutive menu, multi-language.

The perfect cam phone companion.

let me summarize:
we have one person for whom the wifi works acceptably, one for whom the wep-only is a major issue, and one for whom it doesn't work at all.

the logo is ugly, can't be covered up, and forces you into landscape mode.

to the person doing the testing, would it kill you to tell us whether it's possible to put the wifi antenna on a usb extension cord (so it can be hidden from sight) or not? yeah, guess it will. anyone else want to risk life and death and 200 bucks to answer this question? thought not.

I purchased the estarling for the grandparents with the plan that I would set it up for them.

I have had a better experience then the reviewer.

1) the picture quality is fine. The resolution is low, but the way you look at pictures in picture frames, (from a couple of feet) it looks good. Especially for grandparents who have less then 20/20 vision

2) the basic setup went ok, but I had to open up the wifi network to all mac addresses intially. It immediately connected and downloaded the first image I posted to the account.

3) after that I had a couple of problems. first I did not know how to find the mac address. second, it was not downloading more photos. I sent the questions to support not expecting help on a saturday, but I got a response within minutes telling me how to find the mac address. A power cycle fixed the downloading problem and it is working fine for me now.

4) As for the looks, the logo and dongle really should go. I plan to make a nice wood frame to cover up the logo (and make it look nicer in general). I also plan to move the dongle behind the frame and connect it with a usb wire.

In any case, the company seems to have released it a little early, but I really like the idea and I am sure the grand parents are going to love it.

I was able to overcome many things with this frame--the ugliness, complicated setup procedures, lack of documentation, poor image quality, and the inability to link to Picasa as was advertised...

The deciding factor for me to return my eStarling frames was the fact that the frame absolutely will not work without an internet connection...and the frame will not connect if it is more than 4 feet away from your wireless access point. Even you can get your photos loaded to the frame while it is sitting next to your access point, as soon as you move the frame more than 4 feet away, it will no longer display any photos, and you get an error message displayed on the frame.

Both frames that arrived yesterday went back to ThinkGeek this morning. A digital photo frame that can not display any digital photos is useless to me.

It's unbelievable that ThinkGeek would consider selling a product with such limitations. I emailed ThinkGeek late last night about my experiences with this frame. And almost immediately, I received an email from ThinkGeek's founder. Thankfully ThinkGeek's web site now states "This product is not available for purchase at this time."

He said "dongle." Huh huh huh.

The guy at the other site doesn't seem to have had any trouble setting his up and getting it to work. Guess you could always put in a tech support call to him. heheheh. Seriously, maybe you got one that's flaked ?

Guess who paid $35 for this to be shipped to Australia ? I bought after watching the glowing review podcast on geekbrief.com - why is it that no-one mentioned the wifi dongle ? Dodgy setup software ? Poor overall finish ?? Suspect product all round. I'll now have to pay another $35 to ship back to the USA...

Oh and BTW Merry Christmas to all !

WD

I made the misake of buying two of these as christmas presents. These are truly awful products. I could go on a very lengthy rant but here are the top reasons to not to buy one of these pathetic products.

1. The rediculous, unsightly, stupid looking usb wifi stick you have to have protruding from the top of it.
2. The ugly prominent logo on the frame.
3. Has to have a wifi connect to work.
4. The aspect ratio of the screen is 16:9 when the vast majority of photos are taken in 4:3. Who wants blank bars down each side of the screen?

Note the photo of the product on the box (the one with the children that look really scared) in my mind shows a 4:3 aspect ratio product with no logo.

BTW it is now saying on the estarling site that the power adaptors are flakey and will be replaced free of charge.

DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE PRODUCTS! You will regret it if you do.

I made the misake of buying two of these as christmas presents. These are truly awful products. I could go on a very lengthy rant but here are the top reasons to not to buy one of these pathetic products.

1. The rediculous, unsightly, stupid looking usb wifi stick you have to have protruding from the top of it.
2. The ugly prominent logo on the frame.
3. Has to have a wifi connect to work. i.e. can't just stick and SD card in the SD card slot.
4. The aspect ratio of the screen is 16:9 when the vast majority of photos are taken in 4:3. Who wants blank bars down each side of the screen?

Note the photo of the product on the box it comes in (the one with the children that look really scared) shows a 4:3 aspect ratio product with no logo. Can't get wifi connection to work on the one I have opened.

BTW it is now saying on the estarling site that the power adaptors are flakey and will be replaced free of charge.

DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE PRODUCTS! You will regret it if you do.

This was posted to the eStarling support site today:

All of us at eStarling would like to thank you for your enthusiasm about our eStarling Wireless Photo Frame.

We have just identified a power adaptor issue affecting the frame, and wanted to communicate quickly to our customers to let you know how we are resolving the issue immediately.

We are shipping all who purchased an eStarling Wireless Photo Frame an upgraded power adaptor. Without this new power adaptor, the eStarling will not work beyond 20-30 feet. You might also experience screen problems with the original power adaptor. The new one will fix this.

You will be receiving this adaptor within the next 2 weeks or so at no charge. Until then, your eStarling should just work fine if it is close to the WiFi hub.

We apologize for this inconvenience, and very much appreciate your understanding.

Best wishes this holiday season.

Sincerely,

eStarling Team

Received this email yesterday after notifying eStarling support that the frame will not work more than 4 feet away from the wireless access point, it did not support Picasa as advertised, and it would randomly power down.

Here is eStarling's response:

"We are currently investigating a possible issue regarding the power supply that may be causing significantly reduced wi-fi range, locking up of the frame, or the screen going black if it's too far from the wi-fi router. If we do find this to the cause of these problems then we will be shipping you a new power supply free of charge if you decide to hang onto the frame for a short while longer. Please check the eStarling website for an official message about this tomorrow morning.

The frame currently should work with a regular Google Picasa photo RSS feed, but you are right that is does not work with an album RSS Feed. These issues are being addressed on the website and in firmware updates (the first being released in about 2 weeks). New features and enhancements will be constantly updated and added to the frame, so how it operates now does mean it will still be the same in the future.

If you do still decide to return the frame (and even if you don't actually) if you would like I can add your email address to a list who will receive a special promotion code for $30 off before the next iteration of frames are released in February. These frames will basically be the same except they will have no logo on the front and have an integrated wi-fi in the frame (and of course all the enhancements we've made to the website and firmware between now and then).

Again, we apologize this initial release has been a frustrating experience and hope you have a great holiday
eStarling Support"

Interesting. Looks like the frame was definitely rushed to get it out the door in time for Christmas. Hopefully, they'll have these problems worked out in a couple months since there doesn't seem to be too many options (that I'm aware of) for digital frames that support wireless very well.

I got one for my Mom for Christmas. ThinkGeek came through by delivering it before Christmas.

Then the sucking began.

The packaging looks like it was printed in someone's garage. Strange font choices, lo-rez printing and odd/sparse layout give it a look that makes it feel like it was sold out of a trunk. Interestingly, the picture on the cover is the same promotional picture we've been seeing on all the web sites - the one with NO humongous logo, NO fugly USB wireless device sticking out the top and NO strange screen ratio. Imagine my shock when I saw the steaming turd inside.

For the record, PDFs are not documentation. Screw the trees - I want a manual.

I didn't even bother trying to set it up. It was too ugly. I was also afraid the software might be as good as the rest.

Thanks for ruining Christmas eStarling.

I, too am a victim of eStarling and their only retailer, ThinkGeek this Christmas. I can't get my frame to work at all!! I will be returning it and will no longer be a customer of either company.

Mine is arriving on Tuesday. Estarling has just announced that there is a problem with the power adapter which is limiting the range of the wi-fi. I have already looked at USB right angle extenders which should allow you to hide the doggle. I should have realized there was a problem when estarling removed their forum after a few bad reviews. ThinkGeek has stopped selling them for some reason. Even will all that I will still try to get it to work.

I'm in the exact same boat. Mine showed up Friday, and I've been struggling to get it set-up since. I've tried everything.

I don't mind that it isn't the pretty frame in the world, and I sure hope my folks don't mind either. I'm sure they'll love it if we can all just email pictures of the grandkids right to their living room.

TOO BAD THE USELESS THING DOESN'T WORK!

For those of you who don't understand why a digital picture frame is AWESOME, consider this:

Viewing pictures on the computer is nice.
Printing out a nice picture, putting it in a nice frame and hanging it on a wall is MUCH nicer. Think about it. If you had a nice picture, printed out at 17", and wanted to display it, would you stick it on the front of an 17" LCD? Of course not, that'd look stupid. You'd frame it and hang it.

Now imagine if your frame could automatically switch that picture every... hour.

I made my own digital picture frame, and it's a huge hit.

The other comment: Some cameras shoot in 4:3. Some camera shoot in 3:2. So there is no 'one frame fits all' solution. Black bars are a way of life. The smart, and not difficult solution, is to crop each picture in the 'photo stream' to fit the frame.

Man, that sucks. I had high hopes for this thing. I can't believe how many companies have released fucked up products in this category. There's a big demand here that's being met with utter junk.

Here's all I want:
1. Attractive, well-designed frame
2. Good screen
3. Integrated wifi for photo uploading via RSS / email
4. Card slots for grandparents who don't have wifi
5. No monthly service fee bullshit
6. Price under $200, preferably under $150

How hard is that?

Well, after the initial posting I ordered one, and 24 hours later it arrived, despite me ordering the slowest possible shipping - I suspect ThinkGeek wanted to get them out of the warehouse before the cancellations started. And, regardless, the next morning, it was back in the box, and on it's way back. Issues were:-
1) Logo - This has been beaten to death elsewhere but the logo is larger than on almost any other device in my house, and picture frames typically don't have a visible logo.
2) Wireless antenna - I understand the need to use standard components, but they could at least have provided a 6 inch extension cable so the antenna could have flopped behind the unit.
3) Lousy picture quality - maybe Grandparents with fading eyes wouldn't have noticed, but everybody else will. The picture quality might have been acceptable 2 years ago, but not now.
4) No internal battery and doesn't use USB power, which means that you have to disentangle the power supply if you need to move the device to connect it to a computer.
5) Expensive - you can buy a better unit(without network connectivity) for $100 less.

It's a shame, I liked the concept, but the implementation needs a lot of work.

That's not even the worst of it. I got mine a few days ago, and it doesn't work, due to a power adapter problem. according to eStarling:

"We are shipping all who purchased an eStarling Wireless Photo Frame an upgraded power adaptor. Without this new power adaptor, the eStarling will not work beyond 20-30 feet. You might also experience screen problems with the original power adaptor. The new one will fix this."

"You will be receiving this adaptor within the next 2 weeks or so at no charge. Until then, your eStarling should just work fine if it is close to the WiFi hub."

The thing starts up, shows a logo on the screen for about 10 seconds, and then shuts off. I got two of them, and eStarling has definitely ruined Christmas over here.

Absolutely awful product. Do not buy one of these! They look terrible due to the rediculous usb wifi adaptor. They don't work unless your are connected to wifi. Half the people that have them can't seem to connect to wifi and those that can it has a pathetic wifi range. It does state on the estarling site that the power adaptor is faulty and will be replaced. Even if I could get it to work it would looks terrible due to the ugly prominent logo and the stupid aspect ratio of the screen. Quite possibly the worst tech product I have ever bought Hopefully thinkgeek will refund given the product was mis-represented on their site in my opinion (note they have changed the product picture to now show the rediculous wifi adaptor).

I bought three of these units because they appeared to be great gifts for Christmas. In fact, I have been following the release of this unit since like last April. I agree with the review. This is perhaps the worst product I have ever bought… at least the biggest disappointment… well except for our 85' Buick Park Avenue which had 6 transmission replacements in 4 years. Anyway, almost everything about the frame is terrible. It feels like a piece of junk and works at about the same level. The lcd's pixels are so coarse that you wonder if every thing displayed is built with Legos. I don't even want to talk about the USB wi-fi dongle…This is a joke right?

One item that was not mentioned in the review is the ridiculous method of transitioning between photos. Certainly they would have programmed in a nice dissolve feature for $250. Nope. But they have these really nifty clock and oval wipes. You have no control over the transitions- they are just totally random. Oval here, clock there….ooo look, a diamond wipe! Actually programming a dissolve wipe would require a more sophisticated language platform, which supports the idea that these frames are nothing more than cheap lcd screens bought in bulk with some upgraded firmware. I would have been happy with a straight left to right push transition if I could program it to do it every time.

And since I am venting, I should also mention the Estarling website. They were really blowing through neurons here. To be fair, some of the features of the website are cool in concept, namely the RSS feeds and the Gmail feature, but delivery is just hellacious. Unfortunately, the site seemed so initially arcane that it left me thinking I was an idiot, which maybe is true but for different reasons. There are many things I did not like. But I'll just mention one. Once you enter your Gmail information and then email a picture to the Gmail account, it took FOREVER for the image to appear on my frame. So you don't know if the frame was even working for the first time or even correctly communicating with the Gmail server. So I must have entered the Gmail account info like a 100 times, thinking my problem was because I was entering the info wrong. I wasn't. You would expect that once the photo hit the Gmail server that it would be on the frame within seconds. Not so.

And for my last gripe, as I have been typing this post, this lame frame has been next to me displaying photos of my niece and nephews on Christmas. A few minutes ago the frame locked-up in the middle of one of its sweet clock wipes. I turned it off and on again, and fiddled with it for like 20-30 minutes. I finally got it to work again, but only after it locked-up like 3 times after I power cycled it. This will be great for my mother (the gift recipient) who is the direct antithesis of techno-savvy. I bought this frame for her over a straight digital frame so it could display new photos of the grandkids without requiring her to manually upload the pictures. Geez Luweez.

These are only a few things that annoyed me. There are more. Many more. I can only imagine this is the first of many units with this concept. Hopefully, within a year other reputable companies will create a wi-fi frame that actually works. Unless of course Estarling contends they have a patent on this idea, and then the nightmare will continue. Well, Merry Christmas.