Digital Home Thoughts: Framed in Bluetooth: The Parrot Photo Viewer Reviewed

How Will My Photos Look?
Again, this is an area where Parrot exceeded my expectations. The specs for the screen are relatively low. It only displays 262,144 colors and has a maximum resolution of 320 x 234 which is actually lower than the resolution on many Windows Mobile handhelds.


Figure 6: Picture quality was good, brightness wasn't the best although passable, and contrast could've been better but it was still good.

Despite this, the pixelation isn't terrible, and the screen's brightness is adequate for display even in a well lit room. I would've been happier with a hair more contrast, but that might just be a personal preference on my part. Overall, it's not "knock your socks off" good, but it's definitely good enough for displaying a few snapshots in a slideshow. I would have liked a glossy screen similar to the ones in newer laptops seeing as those types of screens enhance contrast in general.

Parrot also makes a 7" version with a 720 x 480 screen, which might be more to your liking if you intend on using it for more than just camera phone snapshots.

The Final Word
I was prepared to be unimpressed, and was pleasantly surprised. I had no trouble with other phones and my Bluetooth desktop PC. Even though I only had the 3.5" version, I could see myself using something like this in the future. It was easy, the pictures looked good, and everything worked as advertised. In reality, there aren't a whole lot of tech products out there that can stake that claim.

I'd definitely recommend trying to get a demonstration of it before buying just to make sure the screen looks good enough for you and the size is right. If not, consider the 7" model which has much more memory and a screen that's more than twice the resolution.

Vincent M. Ferrari is a blogger, photographer wannabe, digital media junkie, and Apple fanboy from the Bronx, New York. His most famous accomplishment is canceling his AOL account which got him an inordinate amount of fame, something he still brags about to all his friends. When he's not taking down multi-billion dollar corporations, he's writing on his own blog, taking photos, and working as a Producer for the iLifeZone podcast.