Digital Greeting Cards from Pandigital

Digital Photo Greeting Cards are a nice gift idea for those folks who doesn't need anything or who live far away. It's personalized and a lovely way of keeping in touch. The digital greeting card is simple to set up and use, so you won't need to be a high-tech whiz to get it ready to go out. The LCD screen is on the small size, but that's to be expected given the price point. My only other real complaint is that the battery isn't rechargeable/replaceable and the manufacturer lists the battery life as between 40-120 minutes. Still, you're really going to brighten someone's day when they get one of these in the mail.

The Digital Photo Greeting Cards from Pandigital include everything you need to create a digital greeting card except for a mini USB cord. Most families will have one handy since they are frequently used with digital cameras, external hard drives and other computer accessories. The steps to creating your photo slide show are very easy:

1. Plug the card into the mini USB (the plug is on the inside of the card)
2. The Photo View software should automatically start, but if not you can run it manually.
3. Delete the demo pictures that came with the card.
4. Browse for your own photos and add those. You can rotate and/or crop them as you place them in the holding tray.
5. As a fun customization, you could create a picture in a paint or photo program that has a personal message for the recipient.
6. Click the "add to card/synch" button.
7. Wrap up the card as show in the included directions and pop it in the mail. Note that the card is square and bulky, so it will require additional postage.

Once the recipient receives the digital greeting card, they can watch the slide show on the included 1.44" LCD screen, but they can also download the pictures to print out or add to a digital photo frame. In fact, the pictures can be removed and new pictures added. If the battery life weren't an issue, this would be a fun way to share pictures back and forth between pen pals.

The cards are available from various vendors online in packs of three. You can choose from general greetings, birthday and holiday cards. Each digital greeting card will run you anywhere from $10-14, but will easily take the place of other expensive (and less cherished) gifts. The designs aren't all that amazing, but then again, they aren't the focus of the cards! The simple artwork leaves plenty of room for people to focus on the digital slide show.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.