• Setup is relatively simple, and requires a download of a configuration application. All went smoothly when Wi-Fi reception was possible.

• Its Wi-Fi receiver still isn't strong enough. Even though it could pick up our powerful Wi-Fi network in some areas of our Midwest Test Facility, it couldn't in others, even when sitting in locations where other Wi-Fi devices were able to receive the signal with ease.

• It receives photos via an email address, which is a real kick. It works, too, and the pictures look especially good in the eStarling's 800x600 display. It claims to be the only picture frame to which you can directly email photos, no registration required. Go ahead, surprise us with your best photos—email them to tempamatica AT seeframe.com.

• The eStarling also receives RSS feeds from Flickr, Picasa, AOL, Smugmug, Photobucket or any other RSS feed. That also works quite well.

• The 8" frame looks pretty swank. It has a shiny black finish, although there was an annoying piece of lint pressed between its clear plastic front and the LCD display on our demo unit.

• We like the way the frame's display has a 4x3 aspect ratio, which fits most of the pictures we take around here. No black bars on the top or bottom, or on the sides, either. Nice.

• At $249.95, it's more expensive than most 8-inch picture frames, but with its Wi-Fi capabilities, email accessibility and sharp resolution, it's worth it. [eStarling]

Like Pandigital's other frames, it has 256MB of internal memory, 6-in-1 card reader, and it functions as a USB host where you can plug in your camera and play back pictures directly from the frame. We were impressed with its thinness, a mere 3/8 of an inch out the back of the frame, making it suitable for hanging on the wall without taking up too much depth. It will be available in cherry or black in May for $299. Not a bad price for a 15-inch screen.

There are even better features in store for this 15-incher; Pandigital tips us off to their future plans for this frame, after the jump.

Pandigital reps teased us with a promise of Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities by June with a firmware update, where you'll be able to transfer photos to the frame wirelessly. The kicker? They told us the frame would have Internet capabilities where you'll be able to download RSS feeds from photo sites such as Flickr by Q4 of this year. That we can't wait to see. – Charlie White

PF Digital promises the following improvements in the eStarling photo frame:

- Full Wi-Fi range of at least 120 feet
- New motherboard and updated firmware
- Internal antenna not visible from the outside of the frame
- New front bezel design with no eStarling logo on the front of the frame
- Standalone feature allows frame to pull photos from any POP e-mail address without needing to connect to the eStarling server
- View photos on a media card without needing a wi-fi Internet connection

The last we heard from ThinkGeek, a new Wi-Fi transmitter was in the offing, which the company said would be shipped to us within a few weeks. Fast-forward six weeks, when we received this e-mail yesterday afternoon.

Clicking through the link on the e-mail, it was a simple matter to sign up for this recall program, which includes free shipping of the new unit, and a shipping label to return the hapless version 1.0 as soon as version 2.0 arrives. ThinkGeek will also accept returns of version 2.0 if doesn't measure up for 30 days after receiving it.

It's a remarkable effort on the part of ThinkGeek to make good on a product that was certainly not up to snuff. Nice move, ThinkGeek. We'll keep you updated, dear readers and fellow eStarling sufferers, on what happens. – Charlie White

Support (links to press release) [eStarling]

Momento will also be able to stream picture galleries (such as Flickr) via RSS, forward pictures from your inbox to other Momento Live users, and you can also send photos to the frame from your camera phone. If this really works, it'll slam-dunk that ill-fated eStarling. Both the 10.2-inch Momento100 and the 7-inch Momento70 will be available February 1. No word on the pricing of that Momento Live service, but you get your first month free. – Charlie White

Product Page [Momento Live, via Newlaunches]

But wait, there's more to our sordid tale:

So far, we've gotten the eStarling to communicate with a PC, after which it let us enter its special secret code that allows it to communicate with the eStarling website via Wi-Fi. Then, we entered our RSS feed URL from our Flickr site into the form on the eStarling site.

By the way, see that uploading email "addess" in the pic above?. That's where you can send us your finest pics and they might show up on the eStarling someday. No goatses, please.

Anyway, that's as far as we've gotten, because we've already been waiting for nearly an hour for the eStarling to download pictures from our Flickr feed, to no avail thus far. But since this is a continuing saga, there will be more to come. Stay tuned. – Charlie White

eStarling Hands-On Update: Buyer Beware [Part one of our continuing saga]

Support Site [eStarling]

I plugged in its AC adapter and connected it to a PC via its USB cable and it simply won't communicate with the Wi-Fi network. Even after configuring the Wi-Fi network to be completely open, still, no dice. There's more bad news, too:

When I had no luck hooking up the eStarling picture frame to Wi-Fi, nothing else would work. You can't even plug in a flash memory card and look at pictures unless you're connected to the Internet.

So I followed the documentation's directions to a URL that was not working (http://www.estarling.com/support). No, the actual support address is http://www.estarling.com/support.html. Sure, I figured that out easily, but many consumers will be stumped by that, especially grandma.

Then more bad news: this is a 16x9 picture frame that's packing a mere 480x234 pixels. Besides being a resolution that's way too low for its 7-inch screen, its aspect ratio isn't going to work out too well with 4x3 pictures (think either black bars on each side or stretched photos), and it'll fare especially poorly with vertically-oriented pics that will turn out to be just slim shots with expansive black bars on either side.

But wait, couldn't you just orient the frame vertically? Well yes, but then that horrible logo across the top will be running up the side, standing on end and looking even dumber.

We'll get some tech support Tuesday (between 9am and 7pm Eastern) and see if this thing will work at all, but so far, my assessment is that the eStarling is a highly undesirable product. It's cheaply made, is in an non-standard 16:9 aspect ratio with a relatively low-rez screen, and it's ugly as shit and can't be covered up with a conventional frame because of its odd size and permanent construction. It has a so-far nonworking USB dongle that's starting to develop an odd smell as it heats up.

And finally, its cheap screen makes a whining noise as you dim it, but it's quiet at its full brightness. I can only wonder what the guy we linked to yesterday at Gizgadg was thinking.

It's not looking good, and certainly not worth any heroic last-minute attempts to get one under your tree in time for Christmas. Caveat emptor. – Charlie White