Kodak Rolls Out Touch-Senstive Frames

Kodak's latest digital picture frames offer a Quick Touch Border that allows users to scroll through pictures by touching the frame, eliminating screen smudges.

Putting a new spin on the basic LCD-in-a-box formula for digital picture frames, Kodak announced three new Easyshare frames on Thursday that aim to ratchet basic features up a notch. The 10-, 8- and -7inch frames offer a new Quick Touch Border, 16:9 aspect ratios, and Kodak’s Color Science technology for accurate colors.

The M820 and M1020, which measure 8 and 10 inches respectively, are the most capable new frames, able to play MP3 music through built-in speakers, play MPEG videos, and display any JPEG picture. The Quick Touch Border allows users to drag a finger along the frame to scroll through photos, rather than navigating through a more traditional touch screen and leaving smudges. They also come with 128MB of internal memory and support for the CF, SD, MMC, xD and MS card formats.

The smaller M720 frame, measuring 7 inches diagonally, handles the same formats but includes an extra SD slot for users to provide their own frame memory, rather than getting a built-in 128MB. The M720 also gets the same signature Quick Touch Border.

All the frames come with both cranberry red and silver decorative mattes included, and Kodak also offers additional snap-on faceplates in mahogany with a gold matte, silver with a blue matte,  black shadowbox with a champagne matte, and espresso shadowbox with a black matte.

Kodak did not include pricing information in the press release, but will update Kodak.com shortly with prices.