The TouchConnect WPF-588 has 802-11n Wi-Fi built in, and it connected to my home Wi-Fi network without a hitch. Once you're on the Internet, you can access a few Internet services: Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, Google Calendar, Picasa, RSS feeds, and Twitter. For Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa, the frame access your photos, which is handy, especially if you've decided to use one of those sites as your central online storage location for your photos. You can play slideshows from those sites and never actually insert an SD Card into the TouchConnect WPF-588.

WIth Google Calendar and Gmail, you have only read access; you can't write an e-mail, nor can you add an appointment to your calendar. With Twiiter, you can see your Twitter feed, and you can post updates as well. But there's no character counter to help you figure out how close you are to Twitter's 140-character limit.

It's probably a good thing you can't write e-mails or create Google Calendar entries. An on-screen keyboard pops up when you have to enter user names, passwords, or Twitter entries, and trying to type long entries can be frustrating. If you type too fast, the character you tried to type will not register, even though the respective key blinks and the frame makes a click-like sound to indicate that the button was indeed pressed. As an example, I created this using the frame; it's supposed to read, "testing touchscreen digital frame that offers Twitter access." I found it best to pause for a beat before pressing the next key to let the frame catch up with me. Using such an approach, I was able to type .

At first, the TouchConnect WPF-588's interface was a bit slow to react. It would often take a couple of seconds for something to happen after I made a selection. But a firmware update that was released during testing dramatically improved the response time. According to a eStarling representative, the company is always working on improving the user interface, and will offer firmware updates over the Internet that will address any issues. The frame automatically checks for firmware updates when it is connected to the Internet.

The high point of the TouchConnect WPF-588 is its display. Overall, pictures look very good, with accurate, natural-looking colors, and great shadow detail. If you get very close to the frame, however, you can notice a jaggies through your pictures, but you can't notice them from 3 feet away. The TouchConnect WPF-588 has only a brightness image control; it doesn't have image controls to adjust color, sharpness, etc. But I thought the image quality was so good that I didn't need to make such fine adjustments.