Originally shown off at CES back in January, the Kaleido R7 is one of the few digital frames that offer a step-up from the typical “glorified LCD” function of similar devices. In fact, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say it’s the sexiest, most professional-looking digital frame in the market right now.
As with many digital frames, the Kaleido R7 comes with a 7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen with 800 x 480 resolution. Colors look gorgeous with image details appearing crisp and clear. Controls are managed via a touchscreen interface, lending even more sophistication to an already-beautiful contraption. The LCD is held via a stand, allowing it to pivot and rotate in all sorts of manner. The professional styling is especially perfect for office use, in case you want to show off your portfolio to your visitors.
Sadly, however, that’s where the love affair ends.
At its heart, the Kaleido R7 is a device that’s heavy on show and little on substance. For instance, there is no shuffle function. Can you even believe the existence of a digital photo frame at this day and age that doesn’t permit shuffling of displayed images? I never did, until this unit changed all my preconceived notions.
It gets worse. There is absolutely no way to delete a photo directly from the display gadget. If you mistakenly added some downloaded images from 4Chan into your family portraits, you’ll have to plug the R7 back into the PC and delete it from Windows Explorer – it’s that dumb.
Want more reasons why this is waste of perfectly good hardware? Unlike almost every digital frame half its price, the Kaleido R7 cannot play MP3s – don’t even bother about video. While it does offer browsing of RSS feeds, there’s no way to delete items you’ve already read, which means they’ll keep taking up space in your device until the next time you sync.
If the Kaleido R7 was a mobile phone, it would be an entry-level Nokia inside an iPhone frame. It’s so beautiful, yet impossibly dumb.
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