Nextar Digital Folio N3-506

Digital photo frames are not a new idea - they have been around for a couple of years and have caught on as nice gifts for friends and family. But what if you would rather take your pictures with you using a portable device? Cell phones are the most logical choice, as nearly everyone has a cell phone that they carry around with them everywhere. However, most cell phones have small displays that do not do justice to high-resolution digital pictures. And very few cell phones have enough built-in memory to store more than a handful of pictures.

Enter the Nextar 3.5” N3-506 Digital Folio – a portable digital photo frame that has built-in memory and an SD/MMC/MS slot for additional memory storage. Read on as we take a look at this portable device from Nextar.

Design

The Nextar Folio is made of a metal frame that is encased in a plastic shell. The metal frame is covered in brushed aluminum and gives the Folio a sturdy feel. A slick looking leather case is also included, which protects the frame from getting scratched or dinged.

Controls are easily accessible and are mounted on the left side of the unit, with the SD/MMC/MS expansion slot and the USB port occupying the right side. The leather cover flips closed, but there is no button or clasp to keep the cover secured. I would have liked to have a button to snap the cover in place, since the cover is otherwise flapping around unless you hold it closed.

The 3.5-inch TFT LCD screen provides a substantial viewing area for pictures, and the screen is also coated to resist against scratches or nicks. This is a nice touch and should keep the 3.5-inch screen clear from obstructions even after years of use.

Internal memory for the Digital Folio is either 128MB or 256MB – not a whole lot of storage space, but enough to get you started with family or travel pictures. If you plan to use the Digital Folio to store more than a few dozen pictures, a memory card such as an SD card will be a must.

Features

• 3.5 Inch TFT LCD screen
• Metal frame with leather cover
• Supports JPEG picture
• Picture rotation and review
• Support slide show function
• Compatible with SD, MMC and MS Card
• Rechargeable lithium ion battery

In the Box

• N3-506 Digital Photo Frame
• USB Cable
• User Manual
• Power Adaptor
• Wallet Holder
• Quick Start Guide

Out of the Box Setup

The first step after unpacking the Folio is to get it charged. Plugging in the USB cable to your computer and hitting the power button on the Folio will bring up the initial screen on the device. From there, you can select the icon for the Photo Manager software and the computer should recognize the device and start up the software automatically. This was quite easy and I faced no issues getting the software to start right up.

Transferring images to the Digital Folio is also quite easy using the including Photo Manager software, and is as easy as dragging and dropping the photos from your hard drive onto the device. The software is pretty basic – you can rotate images before copying them – but there are no advanced features such as red eye reduction, resizing, etc. built into the software. For most people, this is probably fine since their digital camera came with software for image editing and they won’t need to do any editing with the Folio software.

Total charge time for the Folio was about 3 hours from start to finish. Not exactly speedy, but at least I didn’t have to let it charge overnight! You can also charge the device using the included AC power adapter if you want to keep a USB port free on your desktop or laptop.

Further Usage

After loading about 25 pictures onto the Digital Folio, I spent some time going through the various playback / viewing options. Selecting the “Play Photos” menu option allows you the photo viewer to display thumbnail sized pictures. Nine photos are displayed, and you use the up/down/right arrows on the side of the unit to scroll through the list. There is no page up/page down button, which makes it a bit tedious to scroll through a lot of pictures. When you find one that you want to expand, you simply click the ‘Enter’ button and it is displayed on the full screen. All image sizes are scaled to fit full screen on the 3.5-inch display. If the image is displayed upside down, rotation of the image 90 &deg can be accomplished by holding the ‘Enter’ button. Overall, it is a very simple and easy to use device.

Time to load the pictures is average when flipping from thumbnail view to full screen view – about 3/4 of a second is needed for the image to be displayed. Flipping to the next available picture is much faster – maybe a quarter of a second at most. Additionally, there is a Slideshow button on the side of the unit which allows you to start a slideshow of all pictures stored on the device. This is a nice feature for browsing through and showing off your photos to friends or family.

The image quality displayed on the 3.5-inch screen of Nextar Digital Folio is quite nice, with sharp detailed edges and rich colors. The 320x240 screen resolution is more than adequate for the screen size, although you should not expect to be viewing HD-like pictures on the screen. Viewing angles are also more than sufficient with full viewing available from up to about 40 degrees to the left and right of the screen. I have absolutely no complains with the image quality of the Digital Folio.

One of the limitations of the unit is that it only supports .JPG format images. This means that you won’t be able to display any movies or videos that you would shoot with your digital camera or digital camcorder. Although nearly all digital cameras use the .JPG format, it also means any other picture format you might like to use will not be supported. Not a real issue for me, but one that could be an issue for other users.

Nextar N3-506 Digital Folio

The Nextar Digital Folio is a handy device for taking your digital pictures with you on the go. Loading pictures onto the device is very straightforward and it is easy enough to use that anyone could pick it up and display their pictures in no time. The built-in rechargeable battery makes it easy to carry around without having to worry about toting batteries along, and about 3 hours of use out of each charge is enough to get you by for a few days. The few places that I was able to find the Folio online had it listed for about $30 USD. At that price, the nice looking 3.5-inch screen is quite a nice feature.

The major drawbacks that I found with the device were the small amount of internal memory (256MB) and the fact that it only supports .JPG image files. Additionally, I would have liked to see some more features included in the device – FM radio, MP3 playback and video support to name a couple of key features that were missing. While it is not a device that most tech geeks will find useful, I think the target market is the less than tech savvy crowed. Even with that in mind, I would really only recommend the device if you do not already use your cell phone for storing digital pictures. Most of the newer model cell phones and PDAs are already capable of storing and displaying images just as the Nextar Digital Folio does. The real benefit over a cell phone is that the Folio has a much nicer screen.

Pros: Inexpensive, easy to use, portable and nice 3.5-inch screen.

Cons: Only 256MB internal memory, only supports .JPG images, not widely available.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

www.nextar.com