DigitalSmartFrames.com

Another of our favorite and most popular digital frames at DSF.com is the Portable USA PU-10W. This is one of the signature frames from the Portable USA collection and has many of the features that have established Portable as a leader in the digital photo frame category.

The Basics

Unlike Kodak most people have probably never heard of Portable USA until they start shopping for digital frames. Unless you’ve bought their iPod accessories or bluetooth solutions, they are probably new to you. However frames like the PU-10W are solid performers and at first inspection its easy to see why. Portable focuses on large screens and this one has a generous 10.4” version, which performs very well when displaying both digital pictures and video. The frame is a beautiful cherry finish with a black matting, simple and elegant. Its amazing how much larger a 10-inch frame seems than the more common 7-inch or 8-inch frame.

The PU-10W comes with 2 memory card slots, one which is meant for compact flash, the other for memory stick (MS, MS Duo, MS Pro Duo, MS Pro), Secure Digital (SD) Card and Multi Media Cards (MMC) or xD card. Plus, there’s a USB port for transferring photos from your PC. It also comes with 128MB of internal memory so you can store some of you pictures directly on the frame. Most people will likely end up using a combination of both for storing pictures.

Key Features Are There

Portable USA digital picture frames including the PU-10W don’t blow you away with bells and whistles, but they provide just about all the key features you’ll want in an advanced frame. Slideshows are easy to set up and run. The frame will support other media like music and video (mp3 and wav files) using the built in speakers. Also, the PU-10W comes with a remote control that is real must with digital picture frames these days.

With the remote, you can control all the display modes available, including perpetual slideshow, one at a time, or thumbnail mode where you can quickly find the photos you want. You can also choose to display photos either in landscape or portrait depending on how you hang or display the frame.

It’s All About the LCD Screen

It’s doubtful you’ll buy this frame for its features, though all the key ones are there. What you will love about the PU-10W is the LCD display. The 640x480 resolution screen is large, vibrant, and responsive in its transitions. Your high resolution digital pictures will show well and simulate prints like you’d expect in quality digital frame. Note that this PU-10W screen displays in 4:3 aspect ratio (like most frames at DSF.com, though some are in widescreen 16:9), thus your average digital picture from your camera won’t be stretched or distorted.

The other thing you’ll notice from this screen is the great viewing angle. Pictures look sharp and colorful even when viewed from an angle or in varying degrees of light. You can run the screen off batteries but we’d recommend using the included AC power adapter.

DSF.com Ratings

Here are our final ratings for the Portable USA PU-10W. We give it 4 stars.

	Portable USA PU-10W 10.4-Inch Digital Picture Frame List Price: $249.99 Sale Price: $199.99 Used From: $139.99 Average Rating:
	An elegant wooden frame that can show off your digital pictures AND mpeg4 movies on a bright crystal clear, large 10.4" screen by simply adding a memory card from your camera. It's the brightest way to display your digital photos...