Is the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame still worth it?
When the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame was first released, it garnered quite a bit of attention. It offered many premium features such as Wi-Fi connectivity, sending pictures instantly via email, adding pictures from Facebook, and more. This all seemed to come at a fantastic price point that gave the frame excellent value for money.
This was quite rare to find at that price, especially back when these frames were available. The 10-inch display offered more immersion than most other competing frames and you could also send photos to the frame via USB/SD card. It was Wi-Fi connectivity and the related features that made the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame outshine almost all other mid-range digital frames.
Unfortunately, this all came to an end in 2012 when Kodak discontinued the frame. They were no longer available directly from their website and the remaining stocks didn’t last long. Once they were officially sold out, the only way to get a Kodak Pulse digital frame was to buy it as a resale. For a time, the servers were still available, though there wasn’t much in terms of customer and after-sales support.
These servers were kept going up until 2018 when they too were shut down. This ended all Wi-Fi connectivity and meant that you could no longer send photos to your frame via email, mobile app, or through linking photos from Facebook. The result was that almost all of the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame’s features were useless. The only way to send photos was through a USB/SD card – and even then, due to limited onboard storage, you only had 512MB of space (as you can’t view photos directly from the USB/SD card).
Today, the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame is much like any other cheap digital photo frame. These frames’ value was boosted due to their Wi-Fi connectivity and the features enabled as a result. Today, these frames struggle to compete with other cheap frames due to their severely limited storage space – though the display is a little better than most other cheap digital photo frames.
In summary, you probably won’t find any Kodak Pulse digital photo frames for sale today. If you do, they’re most likely damaged or essentially useless. If you held onto your frame after buying it quite some time back, the servers are still closed and there aren’t any plans to bring them back in the future. You’ll have to keep using them with USB/SD cards for the foreseeable future – or switch over to a more modern frame, but more on that next.
What happened to the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame?
As briefly discussed above, the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame was discontinued in 2012, though their servers were kept running until 2018. During these 6 years, these frames could still be used with Wi-Fi and the related features were still available, including sending photos via email and linking photos from Facebook. That being said, there were no longer any returns accepted and customer support was essentially non-existent.
Once the servers were shut down in 2018, it saw the end of all Wi-Fi connectivity and related features for anybody still using the digital photo frame. This meant that you could no longer send photos through email, the mobile app, or through linking-social media photo albums to the frame. You could still send photos through a USB/SD card but were limited to the frame’s 512MB of internal storage (which isn’t much).
Today, you can’t buy the frame from Kodak, but might be able to find them as resales on sites like Amazon and eBay. Note that many resales might have issues or don’t work well, so buy them at your own risk.
Is the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame better than Pix-Star’s frame?
When they originally released, the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame competed quite well with the Pix-Star frame. While the Pix-Star still offered more features, the Kodak Pulse frame still lets you send photos through email and through linking Facebook photos and albums. This functionality wasn’t common to find among mid-range frames and was almost exclusively limited to premium frames like the Pix-Star.
Kodak Pulse digital photo frames offered great value for money before their discontinuation. There were some issues worth noting though. The 10-inch screen has a matte finish and thick bezels that left you with a 7-inch screen in the real world. You also didn’t have great control over the play order of slideshows, and some of the sensors (motion and auto-on/off) didn’t work consistently.
When you consider the Pix-Star’s 10 or 15-inch display and versatile 4:3 aspect ratio, along with free-for-life cloud storage and multimedia playback – it still stands out as one of the best digital photo frames on the market to this day. It’s a great frame for elderly users and large families.
With features like controlling any connected frame remotely, connecting and viewing photos from social media and photo-sharing platforms (almost a dozen), and both a mobile app and web interface – Pix-Star’s frame is extremely versatile and capable. For a slight price increase, you get a massive boost in feature-richness and usability.
Since the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame was discontinued, it doesn’t even hold up a candle against the premium experience offered by the Pix-Star. While we know there is no such thing as a perfect digital photo frame, the Pix-Star frame has been refined and offers great support and functionality for both the individual and families.
How to send photos to the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame?
After the servers were closed in 2018, the only way to send photos to the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame is via USB/SD card. Unfortunately, you can’t read or display photos directly from the USB/SD card and need to copy them across to the frame’s internal storage. With only 512MB, this isn’t much space and it tends to hold no more than a couple hundred photos if you’re lucky.
Does the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame use a touchscreen?
The Kodak Pulse digital photo frame uses a touch panel. This isn’t a great choice for digital photo frames as the cost is increased quite drastically – which often needs to be recovered through compromising on other features and functions. Digital photo frame touchscreens are fingerprint magnets and make it difficult to see the display in well-lit rooms. They’re also less durable and are more prone to scratching and taking damage from knocks and falls. We always recommend you stick with non-touch digital photo frames for their enhanced viewing experience, durability, and elderly-friendly nature.
