A hot gift item this year, digital photo frames are lining the shelves of big box stores all over the country. In this review we compare 8-inch digital photo frames from well-known brands like Kodak and newcomers like iGala and Opteka.

iGala - We're blown away. Rarely do we gush so much over a product as with the iGala touch screen digital photo frame with wifi access. Guess what my mother, brothers, father and grandparents are getting this Christmas? I'll give them all access to a shared Flikr account so we can upload new photos. Imagine coming home to find a new photo of your nephew catching his first fish, or giving your grandparents a smile when they wake up to find you holding a sign that says "I Miss You" on their digital photo screen. Sappy, yes. But it's also brilliant. OK, so we know it has all of the bells and whistles and much more, but it's also expensive and comes from a relatively unknown brand. So... is the iGala worth it? In short, YES. These are smart people who are thinking outside of the frame, so to speak. They've gone beyond the typical, cheap digital photo frames you see lining the shelves at Target and the fact that they've chosen to use LINUX to run their user interface, and provide functionality that works with social media tells me that these guys are on the forefront of technology and know how to combine software and hardware to produce a superior product. Last but not least, compare the 1-Gigabyte of internal, built-in memory with the typical 128mb found in other models and it is clear that iGala has taken digital photo frame technology to a whole new level. Bravo.

Kodak Easyshare - Close but not close enough. Yes, the Easyshare digital photo frame by Kodak is WiFi compatible, but you have to have a subscription with Kodak's online photo gallery in order to use it, which includes an annual fee based on the amount of photos you're storing. Yes, the Easyshare comes from a respected, well-known brand but they really haven't innovated with any new features that you can't find in most other digital photo frames these days. On the other hand, you are sure to get a good quality product from Kodak that isn't likely to break or malfunction quickly. And the price is reasonable as well.

Opteka - Fail. If you're going to charge just as much for your product as Kodak does for theirs, you'd better be brining some innovative features and super-high quality to the table. Instead, Opteka just brings the "usual" features with no discernable standards of high quality above and beyond any of the other cheap digital photo frames you might find on sale in the big box stores.

Coby - Fail. We could really just copy and paste the Opteka paragraph above because both of these digital picture frame products left the same impression on us. Coby goes the extra mile to provide two faux wood-grain face plates. They also have a lower price tag.

Value for Money: We realize not everyone has $200+ to spend on a digital photo frame. If it is within your budget, get the iGala. You won't be sorry. If not, the Kodak is probably the best value for the money here. And if you're budget is less than $100 the Coby digital photo frame will definitely do the trick. Let's not forget that this technology has been around for a few years now, and even the cheaper models do a pretty decent job.