PRESS RELEASE: Smartparts Sets New Standard for WiFi Enabled Digital Picture Frames with Integration of Windows Live Photo Gallery
Share Memories From Anywhere in the World by Receiving Images from Windows Live™ Photo Gallery Automatically, and Catch the Latest Weather and Traffic
PHOTOKINA 2008 - Cologne, Germany (September 23, 2008) –Smartparts, Inc., a leading manufacturer and innovator driving the explosive digital picture frame market, today unveiled the eight inch SPX8WF, the company’s first WiFi digital picture frame. Redefining the category, the new SPX8WF boasts unparalleled ease-of-use introducing a pre-assigned email address, one-touch internet setup, automatic image correction, and on-frame photo album organization with no additional subscription costs. Featuring an elegant espresso wood frame, the SPX8WF gives consumers the ability to view their digital images in remarkable clarity on an eight inch, 24-bit LCD screen, featuring a resolution of 800x600 and 16.7 million viewable colors.
Among the SPX8WF’s most notable features is its complimentary photo email capability, enabling users to automatically receive photos on their frame from friends and family. Each frame is pre-assigned its own unique email address which is hosted on Smartparts servers. Smartparts provides enhanced email security as well as its patented image correction technology, which automatically resizes, enhances and intelligently crops photos to maximize appearance and storage capacity on the frame.
Smartparts recently became a certified Microsoft partner and the new SPX8WF is one of the first Smartparts frames to integrate with Windows Live Photo Gallery. Microsoft’s Windows Live Photo Gallery application makes it easy for consumers to share and view photos online or directly on their wireless SPX8WF digital picture frame.
“At Microsoft, we aim to offer consumers digital photo solutions that not only allow them to enrich the way they enjoy their personal digital content, but give them a means to do so that’s easy to use,” said JP Wollersheim, senior product manager of Windows Live for Microsoft. “By working with Smartparts, we can give our mutual customers an easier way to integrate their digital memories into stylish Smartparts digital frames.”
The SPX8WF’s best-in-class, 802.11 b/g built-in WiFi connectivity is easy-to-use thanks to a one-touch WPS push button setup. Once connected, users can actually manage the images on the frame wirelessly from their computer. For added peace of mind, the SPX8WF is power outage proof should it unexpectedly lose power which was not the case with its predecessors.
“Being a certified Microsoft partner further underscores our ability to continuously innovate and reinvent the category with ease-of-use and functionality, making the digital picture frame an everyday lifestyle product,” said Stefan Guelpen, president and co‑founder of Smartparts.
The SPX8WF also features many options which provide ease-of-use, easy photo management and the best photo quality. With this in mind, the SPX8WF supports SD, MS, xD, MMC and Compact Flash memory cards, and offers a USB port and 512MB of internal memory. Furthermore, Smartparts’ new and improved embedded firmware helps users effortlessly transfer their images directly onto the SPX8WF frame. All the user has to do is insert a memory card into the assigned slot and the frame does the rest, including image enhancement and resizing to match the resolution the LCD screen, giving users the ability to store over 5,000 photos directly on the SPX8WF.
The eight inch SPX8WF will feature an industry leading MSRP of $149.99, and will be available in November 2008 through Smartparts’ extensive network of over 10,000 retailers nationwide. For additional information, please visit www.smartpartsproducts.com
About Smartparts, Inc.
Based in Totowa, New Jersey, Smartparts, Inc. is one of the pioneers of the quickly emerging Digital Picture Frame product category. Today, its partnership with Wynit, Inc. provides state-of- the-art distribution capabilities with distribution centers in California, Tennessee and New York. For more information, log on to www.smartpartsproducts.com.
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(First posted on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 11:07 EDT)