GiiNii – “A Digital Picture Frame for Christmas” review and GIVEAWAY

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND COMMENTS ARE CLOSED

Ever since they had first come on the scene, I have wanted a digital frame. I take a hundreds of pictures each month, and fall in love with all of them but it is not realistic to not only buy frames for all of them but also find enough wall space to display all of them.

Last year we gave digital picture frames to my parents and my in-laws for Christmas, and they were nice, but as much as I wanted one, I did not get one for myself, and I admit to being envious. Well, that all changed a couple of weeks ago when I was lucky enough to try the GiiNii™ 7” Wedge Digital Picture Frame.

GiiNii is a company that is driven by the “goal of having “The Next New” in Digital Picture Frames.”

From the website:

GiiNii™ believes great new innovations in technology should be within the reach of everyone. That’s why GiiNii™ products work flawlessly, are easy to use, and are affordably priced. Our Digital Picture Frames are designed with these three objectives in mind so that GiiNii™ products can bring joy everyday to our customer’s lives.

The GiiNii™ 7” Wedge Digital Picture Frame has a sleek, attractive frame with a 7″ wide LCD screen. It has a wedge shape that supports itself when placed on a table or desk and it does not require a PC because you can insert an SD memory card directly from your camera.

* 7″ Digital LCD Screen
* Wide Screen 15:9 with 800 x 480 resolution
* 512 MB built-in memory
* Slot memory card reader (SD, MMC, Memory Stick & xD-Picture Card)
* USB cable connectivity
* JPEG-TIF-GIF
* MP3 & WMA music format
* Video playback in motion JPEG/.avi
* Built In speakers
* Clock/Calendar
* Touch button controls
* On screen navigation
* Smart power management with EnerGiiNii

The frame has a silver brushed aluminum finish on the front and back (it actually wraps around over the top and bottom as well) and the ends are a basic matte black. It is attractive, simple and modern and looks just as good on our antique piano as it does on our entertainment center. The frame is self-supporting because of the wedge shape, meaning there is no extra piece of plastic that you need to flip open to make it stand. I have handled other digital frames and this one is solid, sturdy, and does not feel cheaply made like some others. The power button, USB port, and memory card slot are subtle and unobtrusive on the left side of the frame and the control buttons are on the right side. The one thing I would change is the location of the power cord which sticks out of the bottom-left side of the frame. I would prefer it came out of the back so I could hide it better.

The GiiNii Wedge Digital Picture Frame has an extensive menu system that you access from the right side of the frame. At first, I didn’t even see the “buttons” because they are just dimples in the plastic and you don’t really press them. I had a little bit of trouble at first trying to work through the menus because the controls are kind of sensitive and are not actually buttons in the traditional sense. I would call them “sensors” and it takes some practice to get them to work right. I would describe it as “touch and release” where I had to make sure I was lifting my finger off the button far enough for it to register again when I touched it. I’m a pro with it now, it just took some getting used to.

The resolution of the images in the GiiNii Wedge Digital Picture Frame is 800×480, which is a nice resolution for a 7″ wide frame. The pictures are crisp and clear and I was impressed with the display. The images are bright and look as good as they do on my computer screen. I did not notice a glare and could see the images from almost any angle. There are also brightness settings so you can adjust based upon how much light you have in the room.

Along with the brightness, you have some other display options such as a clock/calendar and picture transitions if you are running a slideshow. You can also change the timing of how long before the image changes to the next one and whether or not the clock shows in between each image.

Aside from the clock/calendar display and the transition effects, the GiiNii Wedge Digital Picture Frame also has an energy saving feature that will help those of us who are concerned with using excess energy when the frame is not in use. They call it EnerGiiNii and this is how it works:

EnerGiiNii:
EnerGiiNii Off / EnerGiiNii On / EnerGiiNii Save 20% / EnerGiiNii Save 50%

When EnerGiiNii Off is enabled, this unit will operate at full power consumption full-time.

When EnerGiiNii On is enabled, this unit will automatically operate at low power consumption during nighttime (21:00PM~7:00AM), and will resume normal during daytime (7:00AM ~21:00PM)

When you select EnerGiiNii Save 20% or EnerGiiNii Save 50%, it will operate at that indicated power consumption rate full-time.

In addition to that, the frame can play music during a slideshow and has some limited video playback as well.

The GiiNii 7″ Wedge Digital Picture Frame can be purchased at Amazon.com
or Wal-Mart.com and ranges in price from $80 to $100. Target and Walgreens are also authorized retailers of GiiNii products.

Overall I am impressed by the quality of the GiiNii 7″ Wedge Digital Picture Frame. The image quality, design and features all add up to make a nice frame and a great gift idea. The only “cons” I found were the power cord location and the touchy menu controls, but these are minor imperfections especially when you consider the quality of the image output and the sturdy construction.

GiiNii generously sent me not one, but TWO Wedge Digital Picture Frames because they wanted me to be able to give one of them to one of our great readers! One of you will be able to give someone a great Christmas gift this year or have a cool new way to display your photos on your mantle this year!