Although the US version of Mother's Day is still pretty far, various consumer electronics manufacturers are already preparing a few new offerings, in the hope of cashing in as much as possible on this special event. And today we'll talk about two simultaneous announcements (from Memorex and ViewSonic), which target pretty much the same market segment: that of digital photo frames.

The first announcement comes from Memorex, an Imation brand with a rather limited experience in the area of digital photo frames but with some pretty high expectations for the future. Thus, the company has unveiled two different frames, built mostly with the female consumers in mind, namely the Special Occasions and the Floral Digital models. Both models have a MSRP of 90 US dollars and are slated for an early May release.

The Special Occasions features a high-gloss, white finish, plus four interchangeable inserts, one with a silver metallic finish and three with wedding, baby boy and baby girl motifs. The frame features a seven-inch widescreen LCD display and supports photos in JPEG format with 480x234 screen resolution. The frames also include an USB port and a 2-in-1 memory card slot that's compatible with Secure Digital and MultiMedia Card.

The second model from Memorex, Floral Digital, features an elegant blue silkscreen floral design on a sleek brown frame and a seven-inch widescreen LCD display for viewing JPEG photos in 480x234 screen resolution. Other product features include a mini USB port and cable, AC adapter, and a 4-in-1 memory card slot that supports most of today's popular memory card formats.

ViewSonic, on the other hand, has introduced no less than 10 customizable frames, available in 7-, 8- and 10-inch versions and supporting resolutions of up to 800 x 600 pixels. The devices' main point of attraction is represented by the stylish, interchangeable bezels (including wood, black and silver, or black and white) that allow consumers to customize the frame to their home décor.

All of the frames are a snap to set up with this standard, easy to use, menu system. Additionally they come with either 128MB or 256MB of internal memory, which enables the rotation of nearly 4,000 photos. Photos can be uploaded to the frames through a USB cable, directly from a thumb drive or with the camera's memory card. The 7-, 8- and 10-inch models come equipped with a built-in battery that provides freedom to display digital photos anywhere in the home or office without wire clutter.

Additionally, some of the models also include built-in speakers, thus being able to play MP3 files and Motion JPEG, MPEG1 and MPEG4 video. JPEG and BMP photo formats remain standard for photo displaying, though.

The frames are currently available with estimated street prices of $139 for the 7-inch, $149 for the 8-inch and 10-inch models starting at $179, which makes them quite OK gifts for the aforementioned holiday.

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