SemperAptus.com - Ceiva Digital Picture Frame (Review)

Ceiva Logic LLC, a Hollywood-based company backed by former Disney executives sells a single product: the Ceiva digital picture frame. The device is brilliantly simple; plug it into a power outlet and a phone jack and you're ready. The device automatically connects to the Internet using a local dial-up number and downloads pictures once a night. When you awake, the frame rotates through all of the photos (up to 10 at a time) that have been sent to your frame. Matching the two easy installation steps, the Ceiva frame has only two buttons to control it. One button controls the contrast on the display and need only be used once. The second button scrolls through the photos in your frame and (when held down for 5 seconds) will manually dial the Ceiva service and download pictures. The frame displays pictures on a nearly 5"x7", 640x480 pixel color screen, a standard used by many digital cameras and graphics programs. Photos sent to the frame in other resolutions are automatically displayed with a black background.

While the frame works extremely well, we did have a few issues with the set up process. While Ceiva Logic's web site clearly states:

users will need a computer and Internet access in order setup their Ceiva account, give permission for other users to send pictures to the frame, and to send pictures themselves. Once that is set up, the Ceiva frame can receive pictures without any other interference. Since the frame can only hold 10 pictures, the oldest pictures will be removed as new ones are uploaded. Favorite pictures can be "locked" so that they stay on the frame and not replaced by newer pictures using the Ceiva web site. The only time the frame owner will have to log in is if they want to give new people permission to upload to their frame. Savvy computer users will be able to easily manage the entire set up and maintenance process should they purchase the frame for an elderly or techno-phobic loved one. And, to Ceiva's credit, they have a wonderfully easy-to-use web site which almost coaxes us to let them slide by on this marketing slight-of-hand.

The well-designed Ceiva web site allows you to upload new photos, organize existing ones, and send photos to any Ceiva frame or E-mail address.

Aside from the nearly false claims of "no computer needed" we have only one other bone to pick with the company. Although they boast over 2,000 local dial-in numbers, we noticed certain rural areas were extremely thin. Oklahoma, for example has only 5 numbers for the entire state. Readers considering the purchase of the Ceiva, should check for local numbers using the company's lookup page as users without local coverage can use a toll free number, that costs an extra $5/month.

Speaking of which, cost for the digital frame is US$249, with a service charge (for picture downloads and web site access) of $2.99/month. Using the toll free service brings the monthly charge to $7.99. While we here at SemperAptus don't make enough money to buy a Ceiva for every member of our family, the $249 price is far lower than Sony's digital picture frame that runs $899 and only receives pictures from their Memory Stick technology, not the Internet. For those of you that really want to get on Grandma's good side, Amazon.com offers a special bundle: the frame and a one year subscription to the Ceiva service for $284.99.

All said, and even counting our hesitations, the Ceiva picture frame is our choice for the "killer app" of Internet appliance connectivity for the first half of the year 2000. Almost everyone but the truly inept should be able to use this "device" and who wouldn't love the ability to automatically receive a picture of your newborn grandchild without even lifting a finger?

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