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In a move that must be prompted by an imminent 2010 release of an Apple tablet device, Amazon has announced an international version of the popular Kindle. The Kindle Wireless Reading Device in its international guise will be released on October 19. Currently, the item is available for pre-order from Amazon.

South Africa is in the list of countries the Kindle will be officially supported in, which is really good news. The Kindle provides a 3G data connection to download content purchased in the Amazon Kindle store.

The Kindle is  rather compelling device, in my opinion. A large selection of content makes it quite attractive and the ability to share that content amongst devices with synchronization of bookmarks and annotations is very handy. I currently use the Kindle Reader on the iPhone and would love to have a somewhat larger screen.

To choose a Kindle or wait for Apple‘s upcoming e-reader killer? A good question

I’ve resisted the urge to buy a digital photo frame in the past because most earlier models simply didn’t live up to my aesthetic expectations of what a photo frame should look like. Shiny black or white borders look too much like electronic gadgetry, and whilst there’s nothing much wrong with that, I wanted something a bit more traditional.

I found something more in line with what I wanted in the Samsung SPF-105P, an attractive digital photo frame with a 10″ screen.

The frame is dark with a circular pattern, giving the digital photo frame an appearance of an older, non-digital photo frame. There’s no overt logo on the device (though the image above shows one) and, best of all, the touch-sensitive buttons running along the right-hand side of the display are invisible until touched. They light up for a brief period, permitting various adjustments and settings to be made. The unit is almost 30cm wide, 20cm and 5cm thick. Not really suitable for wall mounting and best supported by the included stand that snaps onto the back of the frame.

The 10″ screen is remarkable: bright and clear, providing an excellent range of viewing angles. Only when viewed from above or below do images appear washed out and colourless. When viewed from either side, there is no loss of fidelity.

The unit contains 1GB of storage, sufficient for a number of photographs. To download images, the SPF-105P is connected to a PC or Mac as a mass-storage device – for Windows systems, Samsung‘s FrameManager is also able to assist with image selection and transfer but I was unable to get that to work on Windows 7. Instead, I opted for one of two other options of providing content for the frame – I inserted an SD card containing images. That slot resides on the left-hand side of the unit, and a CF slot is conveniently placed along the bottom of the unit, providing a third option for image storage. Selecting which images are to be displayed is a rather simple selection using the efficient menu on-screen menu system.

A handy side-effect of connecting the photo frame by USB to a computer is the ability to utilize it as a smaller, auxilliary display. Whilst that may not be a feature used too often, it’s a nice feature to be included. LCD screens are rather power hungry – this one requires an AC adapter to be connected. The plug connects to the back of the unit where the stand is connected and where a small round power button can be found. After being connected to the mains for a while, the SPF-105P shows off another trick: it has an internal, rechargeable battery that is capable of powering the unit for about one hour.

Other features include a built-in speaker for playing music and landscape and portrait orientation. The one feature I’m not wild about is the display for the time and date which can be turned on or off – it’s rather garish and is plastered all over the photograph in a boring font, obscuring most of the image. A more muted, analog display along a side of the image would have been more attractive. That’s the only fault I can find with the SPF-105P. It’s one of the better digital photo frames I’ve come across and is highly recommended for its feature set and excellent display.