Review: I-mate Momento digital photo frame

Update photos over the web, email and MMS

The new Momento from I-mate is a digital photo frame that attempts to tick more boxes than ever before when it comes to features.

The device is based around a 7in display (a 10in version is available for £199), which is dwarfed by a large white frame followed by a thick acrylic bezel.

When it comes to importing photos, the Momento excels. Along with traditional methods (USB socket for photos stored on a USB key and a multi-format card reader), the Momento also features Wifi, which lets you stream photos direct from your PC via applications such as Windows Media Player.

More interestingly, it will also connect to the Momento Live website and download photos over the internet. You can either upload photos direct to the site, over email or even via MMS using your mobile phone.

The Momento Live service is, however, subscription based. A three-month free trial period is included, but after that it will cost you £19.99 per year; I-mate tells us this will be replaced by a 30-day version in the near future. What's more, in the free trial you're limited to 100 photo upload credits and, when subscribed to the full service, you're still limited to 500 credits.

The screen isn't the best in terms of quality close up, but looks fine from a distance. Poor vertical viewing angles also hamper picture quality if it's up on a high shelf and you're looking from below. And with no internal battery, you'll have to cope with an unsightly mains wire dangling from the display.

All menus are controlled by the small remote and it can sometimes be slow to respond. That said, the menus are reasonably intuitive.

The Momento is one of the most feature-rich digital photo frames we've seen, but we're still not convinced there's a big market for them.