Elonex 7in Digital TV Photo Frame

Photo frames usually have small, cheaply made screens and the Elonex digital photo frame is no exception.

The first thing we noticed about its appearance was the large bezel surrounding the screen, which made the display look smaller than it is.

Pictures can be loaded either using the built-in memory card reader or a USB memory key. The frame then automatically locates your pictures and displays them in a slideshow.

The visual quality varies depending on the size of the image and sure enough the sample images that come with the device were correctly formatted for the screen, and looked good.

However, higher-quality photos taken directly from a digital camera were automatically resized with mixed results. Some looked squashed or stretched and others caused the screen to flicker.

Another unavoidable problem is the fixed orientation: any photos taken as portraits are rotated 90 degrees to the left so you have to tip the frame on its side to see them properly.

Some images initially displayed in black and white, with the photo frame taking a few seconds to update the colours.

However, the Photo Frame also has an interesting extra: a built-in digital (Freeview) TV tuner. This worked best with an external TV aerial - Elonex bundled one with photo frame but it was not very useful.

The picture quality is fairly crisp, and after a little aerial adjustment it was able to pick up the full range of channels.

Navigating through the menu system, either using the remote control or the buttons at the rear of the device, was far from intuitive.

When in TV mode, it is not obvious which button returns to the slideshow. Oddly, when viewing pictures, the left and right buttons on the remote rotate the photo rather than skipping to the next image.

It can also play music to accompany slideshows and it plays video files stored on memory cards or USB keys. The included speakers were surprisingly impressive, but it also comes with a composite cable to connect the photo frame to your television set or hi-fi.

We preferred using the photo frame as a small television rather than for viewing images. It works best in a room where there isn’t space for a full-sized TV, and the music, video and photo capabilities are a bonus rather than an essential quality.