Kaiser Baas 1.5in photo frame

These days, digital picture frames are a dime-a-dozen, so Kaiser Baas has attempted to try something a little different -- with 'little' being the operative word. Specifically designed to hang off your keychain, this tiny 1.5in picture frame will allow you to stare wistfully at your loved ones wherever you go. Awww.

For those unfamiliar with this slightly gimmicky trend, a digital picture frame is basically a 'virtual' photo album which cycles through a collection of digital photos. Images appear on the LCD screen for a nominated time period before shifting to the next photo. It's such an ingeniously simple concept that we're surprised nobody came up with it before.

In the past, we've looked at several products that fit this category, from the deluxe 15in Digital Photo Frame to the lacklustre DF20072 , but Kaiser Baas' latest offering might just be the best of the bunch. Simply put, the concept lends itself perfectly to a portable keychain. Because it won't be displayed in your house, its aesthetic design isn't overly important, while its diminutive LCD screen allows for rich and vibrant resolution. These are both issues which have tripped up similar products in the past, but not so the 1.5in photo frame. On the other hand, a keychain isn't something you regularly show to your friends, which means a lot less people are likely to admire your happy snaps.

Transporting your photos to the device is a relatively simple affair, but first you'll need to install the software included in the package. The 1.5in photo frame supports both JPEG and Bitmap images, although dragging and dropping files is not an option. Instead, you need to cycle through folders in the program window, crop a selected area of an image and then save it to the device. Annoyingly, there is no option for zooming into an image to make a tighter crop (e.g. -- a person's face in a group photo). Instead, you'll need to do this in another editing application beforehand. Tsk.

Eschewing the traditional photo fare of babies and/or pet dogs, we instead filled our device with pics of scantily clad gaming girls from our Sex in Gaming feature. In addition to proving we're nerds, this confirmed that the 1.5in photo frame is capable of displaying sharp and vibrant images. While a bit on the wee side, Lara Croft had never looked better. If Kaiser Baas is to be believed, the device is capable of storing over 70 images at a time, which is not too shabby for a unit of this size.

We did find the button interface a bit ropey, however. The Menu button responded erratically to our incessant fingering, which made cycling through the rudimentary options a real chore. We were also a bit underwhelmed by the overall size of the screen. While it will display portrait shots and landscapes well enough, anything a little busier (such as a crowded group of friends) will be too small to properly appreciate. Having said that, if the screen were any bigger it would have made for a bulky and unwieldy keychain, so we suppose Kaiser Baas got the balance just about right.

All up, this is a snazzy little gadget that does exactly what it says on the box. It will make an ideal Christmas gift for grandparents and the like, provided you don't use it for nefarious purposes like we did.