As digital photography has been reigning supreme over the past few years and the number of digital photo frames available on the market has skyrocketed, the manufacturers of “classical” frames were forced to come up with all sorts of innovations and gimmicks in order to make their products more appealing for the customers. And that's exactly the case with the Talking Photo Ball presented by the people over at Brookstone since the second half of 2007, a device that not only displays one's favorite photos but it also allows users to add their own comments in the mix.



Thus, the device allows users to insert up to 4 different paper photos into its display slots (which is actually pretty shameful, at least compared to the displaying capabilities provided by digital photo frames). However, the photo ball also includes a voice recording system, which permits the users to record a 15-second message for each of the displayed photos and then play it back by simply pressing the button placed in the device's central area.



Actually, the only main selling point this device has to offer is its external design. The Talking Photo Ball has an interesting plastic case (interesting because it mimics wood in a very vivid manner), as well as a couple of aluminum-brushed magnetic bezels, whose purpose is to hold all the pictures in place. Moreover, the device requires very little power in order to record or play back the aforementioned voice messages, since it works with just 2 x AAA batteries.



The Talking Photo Ball presented by Brookstone retails for around 15 US dollars, which is actually quite a bit much to pay for such a device, unless you're planning to make someone a rather useless, yet nice-looking gift.