It’s a Movie Player Too
As mentioned earlier, the Samsung SPF-85V comes with a couple of small stereo speakers, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack. As a result, you can use this frame to listen to MP3 music or watch movies. The strength of the speakers was seriously lacking, however. Cranked up to 100%, the soundtrack was still very quiet. Headphones are definitely the way to go.
For watching movies, I wouldn’t recommend it for more than a couple of short family clips. Sharing those little videos you take with your point-and-shoot camera is fine, but I wouldn’t watch a feature length movie here. The frame rate drops quite often, resulting in choppy video and audio.
This is far from an ideal situation, of course, but you also have to realize that this is not meant to be your primary movie watching option. It’s nice to see the feature available, but it’s probably not prudent to use it too much.
And a Mini Monitor for PC
If you had the opportunity to read my review of the Nanovision Mimo UM-710, then you’ll know that I was quite pleased with the USB secondary monitor. Everything ran off of a single USB connection, adding a second screen to my laptop simply and easily. The Samsung SPF-85V offers a similar USB Mini Monitor functionality. You need to install the Frame Manager software on your PC first (XP or Vista only), but it’s pretty much plug-and-play after that.
With a resolution of 800×600, the frame is suitable for instant messengers, Twitter, and other secondary applications. You also have the option to run it vertically, but there is a major design flaw. The screen can only rotate in one direction and this is with the USB port facing down. The cable simply does not bend that way, so I’m not entirely sure how you can use it vertically. It may have been better if the USB port was out the back rather than on the side.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Samsung has made a valiant effort to expand well beyond what it means to produce a regular old digital picture frame. While so many other offerings on the market do little more than show pictures, the Samsung SPF-85V can also grab RSS feeds over a Wi-Fi connection, play movies, and act as a very useful USB mini monitor.
On paper, these are all great features to have and they make this frame more valuable than many of its competitors, but the execution isn’t quite there just yet. The Wi-Fi connection wizard, as far as I can tell, won’t support hidden SSIDs. Tossing in support for USB keyboards would be a huge plus in this regard too.
The USB Mini Monitor functionality is the biggest bonus, I feel, and while the refresh rate is nowhere close to where it should be, it’s perfectly fine for IM and Twitter.
The Samsung SPF-85V is a good option for those who want a fashionable digital picture frame with no shortage of additional features. Just don’t watch any videos on it. The dropped frame rate made many videos nearly unwatchable.
Pros
- USB Mini Monitor function is fantastic
- Starlight Touch controls look great
- Internal memory is Mass Storage compliant
- Beautiful on-screen user interface
- Internal battery is rechargeable
Cons
- Frame rate issues with movie player
- No apparent support for hidden SSID for Wi-Fi
- USB cord gets in way of vertical configuration
- Vertical viewing angle could be improved
- Rechargeable battery needs AC wall adapter, does not support USB
Overall Rating: 7.5/10.0
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