Holiday Gift Guide GIVEAWAY: Pix-Star FotoConnect XD Digital Photo Frame 11/28

As the mother of 3 wonderful kids, I take a LOT of pictures. Every month, I realistically take over 1,000 photos. Hey, there are smiles, first steps, baby blunders and many other memories I just need to capture. After all, babies grow and change so much, even from week to week. I don't want to miss anything, so I always have my camera handy. I have friends and family all over the country, and I love being able to share my family photos with them, as well as see their photos. It gets complicated at times keeping track of everyone. We all have such busy lives, and it's easy to get behind as far as communication is concerned. Especially when it comes to sharing pictures! I often forget to e-mail the photos directly to people, since almost everyone I know uses Facebook regularly and I don't ever get requests for individual photos. They're always accessible to most of my friends and family members. But there are certain loved ones that haven't hopped onto the social media bandwagon yet, and they often miss out on the great photos I capture.

That's why I was so excited to learn about the amazing digital photo frames created by Pix-Star. Pix-Star, which pioneered the concept of "the frame with an email address", has been designing, manufacturing and selling connected photoframes since 2007. The Pix-Star team combines more than 20 years of experience in the fields of telecom, software and web design. Team members have been involved in the development of products and concepts combining wireless technology and innovative web service applications.Pix-Star products are designed to help friends and family members easily share their best moments in a simple and seamless way using the power of the Internet.

That's right: This innovative new line of digital photo frames have their own e-mail addresses! How cool is that?! What does that mean for you? Well, when using the Pix-Star FotoConnect Photo Frames, you can send and receive photo e-mails directly from the frame, no computer necessary! But that's not all! After registering your frame and  setting up your e-mail address on the Pix-Star website, you can seamlessly transfer photos you have online on sites like Facebook, Picasa, FlickR and many, many more! You can even listen to and customize your favorite web radio stations and even get detailed, up to date weather forecasts!

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I was thrilled to receive the FotoConnect XD 10.4'' (4:3) WiFi - Email - UPnP Digital Photo Frame for my review. When it arrived, the first thing I noticed was it's ultra-trim, sleek design. It is very modern and will fit perfectly into any decor. I also noticed the large size of the display screen. In the world of digital frames, 10.4" is huge! I guess in some cases, bigger IS better! This frame has an LCD screen and supports 800x600 picture resolution, making for crisp, clear photos in JPEG, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF formats. These are the most commonly used image file types, and this versatile frame supports them all! Another thing I love is that the FotoConnect XD can be used as a stand alone frame as well as hung on the wall. This is definitely a versatile frame, to say the least!

Set-up of the FotoConnect XD was super simple as well. I was worried it would be difficult, as I am not technologically inclined at all when it comes to electronics. I usually have my husband take care of that end of things. I was delighted to find that the entire registration and set up on the Pix-Star website was incredibly easy. All I had to do was follow the easy instructions, enter the product serial number, and then choose my frame's Pix-Star e-mail address. As soon as the frame was synched, I was able to seamlessly transfer all of my photo albums from the web onto this great frame. The local memory can hold up to 12,000 photos! If you need more space, it is also capable of reading SD cards and USB memory sticks for additional photo storage.

The FotoConnect XD 10.4" (4:3) WiFi-Email-UPnP frame also includes a great little remote, which is what controls the frame settings. From this remote, you can switch between albums, play photos as a slideshow, or even choose to display a single favorite photo. You can even view your local weather and listen to music using the user-friendly remote. I love the simplicity of the remote, since it's something even my Grandparents could use with no problem. There aren't a million buttons, and everything is very straight-forward and simple to understand.

When you have new mail, you're alerted by a red envelope on the frame display. You then have to option to save the image or discard it, which is a feature a lot of other WiFi enabled frames do not have. Of course you can also configure the frame to accept AUTOMATICALLY  new incoming emails so that it is very simple for Grandma to use it! Worried about receiving spam or undesirable emails? You can easily manage your contacts and filter your email contact list so only those contacts in your list are allowed to send you pictures and there is even a built in spam filter for your protection! On top of that, there are NO additional fees for photo storage, e-mails, or any other Pix-Star features. These services are and always will be completely FREE for its users.The folks at Pix-Star have really thought of everything when designing this amazing frame!

Take a look!

I even love the packaging! Great for gift-giving!

Here is the FotoConnect XD, user's manual, and remote.

The easy to navigate menu

Send photo-mail with the click of a button!

Super slim profile!

Overall, I couldn't ask for more in a digital photo frame. The folks at Pix-Star have changed the shape of sending and receiving photos by creating revolutionary products that are high-quality, simple to set up, and easy enough for any member of the family to use and understand. Add to that the capability to sync online albums from tons of sites, up to date weather forecasts, and even a customizable web-music playlist, and you've got a winning product in my book! This is definitely a must have Holiday gift item to that family out there that takes a ton of photos, or for the techie in your life! With Pix-Star, sharing precious memories has never been so easy!

FREE ANDROID APP!
Pix-Star also has a great new Android app! Recently launched by Pix-Star was their Pix-Star 2.0 Android application.

It can, once installed, perform the following functions:

Access your frame or your family members’ frame content stored inside pix-star.com, including all web albums not only Pix-Star album but also all RSS albums (Picasa, Facebook, etc…) that have been linked to the frame. You can access several Pix-Star frames using this app!

Enjoy a slideshow featuring photos from the Pix-Star frames!

From the mobile phone when you are in the camera mode you can directly share pictures to the Pix-Star frames configured inside the app!


It is available on the Android Market for free here:

http://market.android.com/details?id=com.pixstar.frameviewer


BUY IT:

You can check out the FotoConnect XD and other great products on the Pix-Star website.

You can also follow Pix-Star on Facebook and on twitter to stay on top of their latest products and promotions!

WIN IT:


I am thrilled to announce that one of you will be receiving a FotoConnect XD from the generous folks at Pix-Star during my Holiday Gift Guide event, hosted by myself and A Time Out For Mommy! How cool is that?!


Please use this handy Rafflecopter form to enter!

This giveaway will be open to US residents 18+ until 11:59 PM on November 28,2011. Winner will be chosen randomly and will be notified via e-mail as well as posted here, on twitter, and on Facebook. The winner will have 48 hours to reply and claim their prize before I am forced to draw another winner.

***Disclosure: I received a complimentary product to facilitate my review. No other compensation was provided, and all opinions are 100% honest and have not been influenced in any way.***