Sometimes a product comes along that blends two technologies and the world wonder why no one thought of it before…and sometimes a product blends two technologies and people wonder why anyone thought of it at all. T-Mobile has announced its new T-Mobile Cameo, a digital picture frame that has its own T-Mobile phone number and email address. The idea is that friends and family members can use their camera phones to spontaneously send and share pictures by sending them to the picture frame. The frame can accept images via MMS and email from senders regardless of network—they don’t have to be on T-Mobile—and once a T-Mobile Cameo user has accepted a photo from a particular sender, there’s an option to accept additional images from that user automatically.
“The T-Mobile cameo is the gift that keeps on giving,” said T-Mobile’s VP of brand marketing Wendy Piñero-DePencier, in a statement. “Because receiving and displaying pictures on the frame can happen in an instant, families with the frame will always be on the lookout for new snapshots coming in. And for people sending pictures, the cameo lets you share impromptu moments in your day and keep important people close, no matter how near or far you are.”
The T-Mobile Cameo—manufactured by Parrot—has a 7-inch 720 by 480-pixel display in a leather frame, 64 MB of onboard memory, a USB connection, and a microSD slot for loading photos like a conventional photo frame (or off-loading images from senders to a PC). The frame automatically re-orients to landscape or portrait orientations.
Using the T-Mobile connectivity built into the frame is a separate line of service and adds an unspecified recurring monthly charge to an existing qualifying T-Mobile voice plan. However, T-Mobile supports unlimited messaging to the frame once customers are set up. T-Mobile also hasn’t revealed how much it’s charging for the frame, and they’re only available in T-Mobile retail locations while supplies last.
