T-Mobile's picture frame not worth the monthly fee
The cameo is nice but not worth the price.
(Credit: T-Mobile)They say gift giving is all about getting your friend something that they didn't know they wanted, or something that they would never buy for themselves. We think the new T-Mobile Cameo digital picture frame would fit both categories.
Granted, digital pictures frames remain a popular gift, but we're a little puzzled over the need for a digital pictures frame specifically for your camera phone photos. Nonetheless, T-Mobile is now offering the Cameo in time for the holiday buying season.
The Cameo is a rebranded Parrot DF7700, which we told you about last March. Thanks to a SIM card, it can receive and display photos from any camera phone, be it T-Mobile or not. You send messages via a multimedia message or an e-mail and you can transfer them via a USB cable or a microSD card. It doesn't have Bluetooth, though. The seven-inch screen has a 720x480-pixel resolution; you can place the Cameo on a table or hang it on the wall in portrait or landscape orientation.
The $99 price isn't a bad price, but you will need to pay a monthly fee of $10 for the data connection. That's where we balk.
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.
