What is a Pandigital digital photo frame?
Pandigital digital photo frames were quite popular in the US due to their budget-friendly price point and simple design. Now, with the rise of cloud and Wi-Fi-capable digital photo frames, the Pandigital digital photo frame isn’t quite popular. While the price point is still very affordable, its lack of functionality and features makes it tough to compete against top frames like the Pix-Star.
Pandigital digital photo frames are designed to work offline for the most part. While they were originally designed with a limited number of Wi-Fi features, they’ve long since been disabled (and were never very user-friendly, to begin with). Now, the only way to send photos to Pandigital digital picture frames is by USB/SD card.
Pandigital digital photo frames have a small, low resolution 800×600, 7-inch display. Despite this small screen size, the frame itself seems a lot bigger than it needs to be. Thick bezels and a white frame around the screen use up a lot of space and don’t leave much for the screen. You might think the display would be bigger if you viewed the frame from behind.
Are Pandigital digital photo frames worth it?
Without most of its Wi-Fi features, Pandigital digital photo frames struggle to compete with Wi-Fi and cloud-capable frames. Their value for money depends on what you’re looking for, the size of your family, and who will be interacting with the frame.
If you’re just looking for a digital frame that you can load photos onto via USB/SD card, Pandigital digital photo frames might be right for you. They don’t offer many other features and functions, so you’re getting a very basic frame. That being said, Pandigital digital photo frames are not known for having a great user interface. It’s quite clunky and difficult to use – especially for elderly users. The onboard controls are unintuitive and you might take quite a long time to get used to them.
The lack of the email-in function, mobile app, and web interface means that you’re missing quite a lot of what makes modern digital photo frames useful.
A small display and not-so-immersive viewing experience leaves a lot to be desired but does match the budget-friendly price. Pandigital digital photo frames aren’t designed to compete with the top digital photo frames, but still, struggle to find their place.
If your budget supports them, Wi-Fi and cloud-capable digital frames offer loads more features, versatility, and functionality than you’d ever get from the Pandigital digital photo frame. Some frames also have extensive offline capabilities, so your offline ‘itch’ is scratched. You’ll find the user interface and viewing experience to be well refined and worth the extra investment.
How does the Pandigital digital photo frame compare with the Pix-Star frame?
Pix-Star’s digital photo frames are some of the best on the market. While it’s not the fairest comparison to make, it’s worth noting what the extra money will get you in terms of versatility and features.
Unlike the Pandigital digital photo frames, Pix-Star’s frames are Wi-Fi and cloud-capable. Your photos and videos are backed up on the cloud and can even be exported to external storage. You have plenty of options for sending media to your frame, including email, via mobile app, through the web interface, and even by linking your Pix-Star frame directly to your Facebook and Instagram account (and about a dozen other platforms and photo-sharing sites).
You can also control your frame – and up to 25 other frames – through your user account via the web interface. Here you can change your frame settings, start slideshows, make changes to your frame’s storage, perform bulk actions, update the frame’s firmware, and much more. You can also manage your cloud storage, link new web albums from social media and photo-sharing sites, and other cloud-related functions.
Pix-Star’s frames also have larger and higher resolution displays with 1024×768 pixels and up to 350cd/m2 of brightness. They have a broad viewing angle and can be easily viewed from across the room. If you’re a fan of wall-mounting, Pix-Star’s frames support a standard VESA mount and have hanging holes on the back of the frame. There’s a connectable stand that hides the power cable and gives you a sturdy rest on tables and mantelpieces. Note that the actual VESA mount needs to be purchased separately, as is the case with most digital frames.
Pix-Star takes the lead over the Pandigital digital photo frame again with features like weather & radio, brain games, multimedia support, web album support, RSS feeds, and more. Pix-Star’s frames have one of the largest and most robust feature sets on the market. The Pandigital digital photo frame doesn’t offer nearly as many features or functions, and the price difference isn’t too drastic.
Finally, Pix-Star’s user interface and elderly-friendly approach further set it apart from the Pandigital digital photo frame. The menus are fluid and easy to navigate with both the onboard controls and the handheld remote control. Alternatively, you can do all of this by navigating and managing through the web interface, which offers a faster and more intuitive way to control your frame.
All-in-all, if the Pix-Star frame is within your budget range, it’s arguably the best choice on the market. While this doesn’t mean the Pandigital digital photo frame isn’t any good – it just struggles to mark its place on the market and hold up against premium digital frames like the Pix-Star.
Is the Pandigital digital photo frame Wi-Fi capable?
Pandigital digital photo frames used to have a limited number of Wi-Fi features through using the Wi-Fi dongle (also sold by Pandigital). These features have long since been disabled. The only way to send photos to the Pandigital digital photo frame is via USB drives or SD memory cards. It’s worth noting that the new packaging no longer ships with the USB cable, so you’ll need to buy that separately as well.
Are Pandigital digital photo frames good for grandparents?
A clunky and complicated user interface, combined with unintuitive onboard controls makes the Pandigital digital photo frame quite difficult for elderly users. It’s also quite difficult to adjust the play order of photos during slideshows and to manage the frame’s storage.
With only 1GB of internal memory, you’re very limited in the number of photos you can store on the frame between uploads. This means you’ll need to visit your grandparents more often to give them new photos or have to delete older photos as space fills up.
Pandigital digital photo frames aren’t a great choice for grandparents, especially when frames like the Pix-Star offer an elderly-friendly user interface and handy features like auto-syncing web albums and controlling your frame remotely.
