Take the opportunity to pull down those grainy pictures of the folks taking up all that wall space, and give them a sleeker, more digitally enhanced home.

When those long distance relatives make an unexpected visit, make sure you can show off your favourite snaps with a photo frame that does that little bit more.

Read below to see our six of the best digital photo frames
  


Best for..smaller budgets
Nutouch
Simply touch the rim of this gorgeous seveninch frame and blue, touch-sensitive buttons appear, semi-magically. There’s no connectivity beyond USB and 128MB of storage isn’t much, but the NuTouch is compatible with a sterling range of memory cards including CompactFlash, Secure Digital and Memory Stick. It also tinnily propels MP3s from its stereo speakers.
Price: £120, IWOOT

 

Best for...style
Kodak Easyshare D1030
If you find the dark grey colour of this ten-inch frame a bit dull, simply whip off the outer edge and hey presto: it’s now exciting light grey. A motion sensor illuminates buttons on the Quick Touch Border so you know exactly where to put your fingers. The 512MB memory is enough for 4,000 low-res pictures, with two slots accepting pretty much all your favourite card types.
Price: £170, Kodak

Best for...travelling
Philips SPH8208
If you simply must share photographs of the key moments in your life from the past 12 months with everyone you meet, this battery-powered, eight-inch Philips is ideal. It runs for two hours per charge for fuss- and cable-free photo viewing and there’s also Bluetooth and a docking station. To save money and power, the frame can also be set to turn itself off at specific times.
Price: £180, Philips



Best for...multimedia
Samsung 880P Swan
Samsung’s newest entry into the digi-frame market is the notably un-birdlike, eight-inch Swan. Bluetooth enables you to transfer pictures directly from a mobile phone and there’s 2GB of storage for your MP3s and MP1 and MP4 video, which you can control via a remote. A USB port means you can attach a keyboard to browse the web and view Yahoo and Google Gadget widgets.
Price: £160, Samsung
 


Best for...big spenders
Sony DPF-X1000
With 2GB of storage, repetitive slideshows are a thing of the past on this slick, 10.2-inch TruBlack screen. Auto Touch-up smooths skin, corrects dodgy white balance and remedies red-eye, just in time for you to hook it up via HDMI to a hi-def telly, albeit only at 800x480 resolution. It’s also got a remote control. So is it worth 300 quid? That would be an ecumenical matter.
Price: £300,  Sony

Best for...connectivity
Toshiba JournE Air 1000
The JournE has 801.11g Wi-Fi for easy upload of snaps from your PC, as well as from the likes of Flickr or Picasa. It also gives access to RSS feeds, making this eccentrically-spelled, ten-inch frame better connected than some mobile phones. It comes with 1GB of storage and speakers through which you may play MP3s or internet radio, again thanks to the Wi-Fi.
Price: £180, Toshiba