Many of us have pictures of loved ones displayed in our homes and offices. With advances in digital photography, such pictures have gone digital, and so have the photo frames. A digital photo frame is an electronic device that displays pictures on a liquid crystal display screen, and usually has music and video playback capabilities. It is easy to use, and one can just input photos directly from the memory card of a digital camera. Common card formats such as secure digital/ multimedia card, compact flash, and memory stick are usually supported. Many also have universal serial bus and WiFi interfaces.
According to International Data Corp, 2.8 million digital photo frames were delivered in 2006 at an average price of US$168 (HK$1,310). IDC estimates that more than five million were sold worldwide last year, and the market is expected to reach 50 million units by 2011. The United States and Europe are major markets, but East Asia and China are expected to be potentially huge markets.
The trend is larger screens. While the dominant screen sizes were between 12 centimeters and 17.5cm in 2006, it was between 18cm and 20cm last year. Now, some products come in screen sizes of 30cm, even 35cm.
Another trend is additional features. Now, there are products with alarm clock and calendar functions, and future photo frames are expected to support other wireless standards such as Bluetooth and 2G/3G cellular wireless, as well as built-in FM radio and TV.
The trend is to
make the future digital photo frames more of an active communications device. Imagine sending your mother a digital photo frame with built-in 3G cellular service. Through the internet, you can deliver the most recent photos of grandchildren to her. You can also make a video call and talk to her via the built-in 3G video phone service. At the University of Hong Kong, we have developed yet another interesting feature, namely, a digital photo frame with three-dimensional images.
Photographs can be displayed with different special effects, thus adding great fun to the photo frame. Our design is the world's first and only design that supports 3D special effects in a digital photo frame.
Our prototype was exhibited at the Innovation Expo organized by the Innovation and Technology Commission in September, the Hong Kong Electronics Fair organized by the Trade Development Council in October, as well as the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month. This project won the bronze award in the Hong Kong ICT Awards organized by the government. Victor Li is the Chair Professor of Information Engineering at The University of Hong Kong
