Sagem PF 507

The Sagem PF 507 is a digital photo frame designed to replace a classic photo album with just one frame that cycles through an entire digital collection. What was originally an excellent idea has so far failed to capture the market, and unfortunately the PF 507 falls into the same trap. A poor display, no music to accompany slide shows and no internal battery means Sagem has failed in most areas to produce a worthy replacement for the classic photo frame.

The PF 507 houses a large 7in LCD display, but it has a poor resolution of just 480x234 pixels. Images appear over saturated and lacking in detail, while a poor viewing angle also diminishes the value of this product. The screen is neither bright nor vivid and colours aren't reproduced accurately. There are only a handful of options to configure; brightness, contrast and saturation, and despite tweaking them all we were unable to achieve a decent quality image due to the low specifications of the display.

The PF 507 doesn't have any internal memory, so images can only be displayed from an external memory card, or USB key. It supports Compact Flash (CF), Secure Digital (SD), MultiMedia Card (MMC), Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick Pro (MS Pro) and XD cards. Once loaded, supported JPEG images may be zoomed and rotated, but this is only possible when viewing each image alone. Images presented in slideshow mode remain un-rotated and attempting to rotate them pauses the slideshow and continues to display the current image. Load times were slower than what we expected, as most images from a standard miniSD card took up to 10 seconds to load.

In slideshow mode, all the PF507's features may be operated using the supplied remote control and the buttons on the right side of the frame. Both could have been improved; the remote buttons require a firm press to operate, and the buttons on the unit itself are small and difficult to access. The user interface is nothing to write home about either, it's lacking in detail, slow to scroll through lists and largely dull looking.

The LCD unit is encased in an outer perspex frame which encapsulates an interchangeable brown "leather" frame. Its shiny plastic finish isn't likely to suit the decor of many homes and the fake leather frame isn't much of an improvement. Overall, the design feels less than sturdy and does attract plenty of fingerprints and marks, further deteriorating its value. Use of the wall mounting option (with no screws or instructions on how to achieve this) will reveal the conspicuous power cord dangling from its base, further detracting from the important aesthetic requirements of a photo frame.

Overall, the PF 507 is a largely uninspiring product that fails in most areas. Its low-resolution output, and lack of basic features like internal memory and a speaker means you should definitely stick to traditional photo frames for the time being.