• 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]

At first we were startled to see a picture of the new eStarling picture frame on the front of the box, again showing that ugly eStarling logo that so marred the first iteration of the frame, except now it was on the bottom middle of the frame instead of the top right as it was before. But once we got it out of the box, it there was nary a logo to be found. In fact, it looks great. It has an attractive piano black finish that looks simple, elegant and nearly perfect. Come on over to the next page, and we'll tell you what else we noticed about this eStarling 2.0.

Also gone was that horrendous Wi-Fi antenna that stuck out the top like a stupid-looking sore thumb. Its 480x234 screen, measuring 7 inches diagonally, looked sufficiently big to be seen from a distance. Aside from the fact that there was no documentation or CD included in the package whatsoever, it was a promising out-of-box experience.

But wait a second here. That screen has almost a 16x9 aspect ratio, and it's not 4x3 either. It's neither one nor the other, and that gave us pause. It won't fit 4x3 photos which are the shape of most shots taken by consumers these days, nor will it fit 16x9 pics. There are going to be black bars on the screen somewhere in most cases. Uh-oh.

We loaded up some photos on a CompactFlash card and took a look at them in the frame, and were immediately disappointed with its low resolution. Not only were the pixels easily visible, the viewing angle of the screen was severely narrow. As we moved more than 45 degrees off-axis, the picture got significantly dimmer. Not good. Even looking at it straight on, the pictures looked noticeably dim.

Eager to set up the eStarling and explore its Wi-Fi and RSS feed capabilities, we went to the seeframe.com website, which serves as the repository for eStarling photos as well as the coordination point for RSS feed and emailed pictures that go directly to the frame. We set up the frame by downloading a small application from this website, and then connected the frame to a PC via its USB port. After noting our Wi-Fi network's ID, in choosing an email address, the eStarling congratulated us, telling us that "your frame is get connected and ready to use." Great, now we have set up us the bomb, and all your base are belong to us.

We entered the address of our Flickr RSS feed on this website, and also emailed a few pictures to our brand-new email address given to us by eStarling's seeframe.com site, and then it was time to sit back and wait for the pictures to appear on the frame that was connected to our Wi-Fi network. A few minutes later, there were a couple of the pictures from our Flickr RSS feed. The photos that we had emailed hadn't yet appeared, though. Anyway, it appeared that the Wi-Fi reception and connectivity problems of the ill-fated first version of the eStarling pitcher frame had been solved.

However, never mind that. The piss-poor image quality of this LCD panel made all that completely unimportant. The eStarling's screen is absolutely unacceptable. We tried displaying digital pictures of all different resolutions and aspect ratios on it, and all of them looked like we were viewing them on a cheap TV set. Yes, the images were in color, but that's about it. The display was just downright dim, blurry, and you could see scanlines and jaggies all through images that are normally tack-sharp. This display was so bad that it almost hurt our eyes to look at it.

The eStarling has improved since its first version, but until its manufacturer sees fit to put a display on board that has higher resolution than what you might find on a disposable kid's toy, we'd say you'd be making a big mistake to buy this eStarling picture frame. It has the worst LCD display we've ever seen—bad enough to make you want to send it back immediately. And that's just what we're going to do, again. – Charlie White

Product Page [eStarling]

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]

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

It looks like an overall positive experience, where the photos look great and the build is solid. But our hearts sank when we saw that the gigantic logo plastered across the top looks just as obnoxiously intrusive as the catalog photography. Maybe there's a way to remove it. We'll be receiving our eStarling in the next few days, and will give you an update. – Charlie White

eStarling [Gizgadg]

Its claim to fame is its ability to subscribe to an RSS feed on the Flickr photo site, letting anyone with that account's password insert photos into the frame via the Interwebs. Could be ripe for pranksters. Plus, it can accept photos via email without needing to be hooked up to a computer.

Anyway, even though we've heard rumblings about it not working too well in its first iteration, we're hoping those difficulties have been ironed out. It's selling now for $250, and one is on the way here so we'll let you know how it works. – Charlie White

Product Page [PF Digital Inc.]

Of course, time has marched and bragging rights have been lost. See the 10-inch DigitalSpectrum frame that works with Vista, and has MP3 and Video playback.

Size aside, the problem is that many of these frames have really low pixel density, or garish colors. We'd have to see this frame before judging it. –Brian Lam

eStarling Wi-Fi Gmail / Flickr Enabled LCD Frame [ThinkGeek]

Looks like my wait is over, and mom is finally going to get a digital picture frame—but not the one from Ceiva. The eStarling is a 5.6-inch WiFi-enabled picture frame. Photos can be e-mailed directly to the frame, or loaded from an MMC/SD card. Better yet, the eStarling will pick up my flickr RSS feed and display that. It's a lot more expensive than the Ceiva ($249.99 versus $99.99), and I have yet to see details on the resolution of that color TFT screen. But the price is well worth the freedom from wires and forced use of photo-sharing services.

Starling WiFi picture frame [Niall Kennedy's Photo Stream]
eStarling Wi-Fi Gmail / Flickr Enabled LCD Frame

Options and pricing for digital photo frames [Amazon]