By: Jonathan Kwan
August 30, 2008
There's something that I always look for in regards to the main keychain that goes with my primary set of keys -- for one thing, it must be of a certain size and weight. If it's not 'this size' or 'weighs at least this much', then it won't act as the main unit. Since my car's keyless entry remote is integrated into the key itself, I used to use a somewhat promotional unit that I obtained from the car dealership I purchased my car from. After a year, things start to get ugly, and in terms of practicality -- next to none. I'm a particularly practical kind of guy, and if I were to carry something with dimensions and weighs a certain amount, it'd better be more practical than a useless car dealership keychain that's not-so-decorative either. Searching for something high and low that fulfills the geekiness inside (After all, I'm the Editor in Chief here at APH Networks), I finally found something. A digital photo keychain! Idea from a genius for the geeks of this world? We'll have to see about that. For this purpose, WholesaleKeychain.com sent us two different units manufactured by TAO Electronics. Enough chit-chat, let's get to the review.
Our review units of the TAO photo keychains came from WholesaleKeychain's offices at St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Using USPS Priority, the corrugated cardboard box and its contents arrived in great condition. It was left in a parcel mailbox for me to pick up when I returned from a trip.
We were sent two photo keychains; of which one is a TAO 1.4" Square, and the second one a TAO 1.5" Polished Silver unit. Retail boxes for both were identically sized, and are packaged inside a separate WholesaleKeychain box wrapped in bubble wrap (Yeah I know that sounded kind of repetitive haha). Tons of packing material are used; in addition to what you see above, the box is also filled with styrofoam packing peanuts.
The first thing we would look at is the TAO 1.5" Polished Silver photo keychain. Priced at approximately $50 at press time, this is the more expensive unit of the two. The packaging is black in color, made out of thick cardboard, and styled as a gift box -- its contents are secured by a PET shell for the keychain, and a small box inside for the AC adapter. Speaking of which, out of the box, you will receive the following:
- 1x TAO 1.5" Polished Silver photo keychain
- 1x USB cable (Proprietary)
- 1x AC adapter
- 1x Driver mini-CD
- 1x Instruction poster
Specifications as follows:
Screen: 1.5" OLED LCD - 128 x 128
Internal memory: 8 MB
Photos: 31 pictures
Battery: 1.5 hours
PC interface: USB port 1.1 (for photo transfer)
Software: Image Transfer 4.3 for both PC and Mac
Weight: 1.9 oz
Dimension: 1.8" x 1.8" x 0.5"
Packaging: Gift box
Packaging dimension: 4.25" x 5.45" x 2.25"
Warranty: 1 year Domestic RMA
Our Polished Silver TAO 1.5" photo keychain is a product that encompasses entirely of a chrome finish. The length and width of the unit is quite appropriate in my opinion -- but it would be excellent if it was thinner. The front face of the TAO 1.5" hosts an OLED screen (Measuring 1.5" diagonal, as the product name suggests) that spans roughly 80% of the total surface area. At the bottom is a small proprietary USB connector for charging and transferring data. It would be excellent if it uses a standard mini USB connector, as I'm never quite a fan of proprietary interfaces.
Flipping the TAO 1.5" photo keychain around reveals three control buttons -- two directional ones, and a center power button. Holding the power button for four seconds turns the device on and off; hitting it quickly while the photo keychain is turned on will toggle autoplay on and off. The metal band at the top connects to a key hook that can be disconnected near the bottom on one side. The entire back is silver in color to match the case color of the rest of the unit -- and it's pretty shiny too.
The TAO 1.5" photo keychain actually weighs a tad too much for my likings, but generally acceptable -- the metal construction makes it feel very solid. I felt the metal band is a little too long though, and the key hook lock can be more secure.
The other product examined in this review is the TAO 1.4" Square photo keychain. Priced at approximately $30 at press time, this is the cheaper unit of the two. The packaging is black in color, made out of thick cardboard, just like the TAO 1.5" Polished Silver keychain -- except less styled as a gift box with flap openings on both ends. Its contents are secured by a PET shell for the keychain, and a small box inside for the AC adapter.
Out of the box, you will receive the following:
- 1x TAO 1.4" Square photo keychain
- 1x USB cable
- 1x AC adapter
- 1x Driver mini-CD
- 1x Instruction poster
Specifications as follows:
Screen: 1.4" CSTN, LCD - 102 x 80
Internal memory: 8 MB
Photos: 56 pictures
Battery: 2.5 hours
PC interface: USB port 1.1 (for photo transfer)
Software: Image transfer 4.0 - for both PC and Mac
Weight: 1.2 oz
Dimension: 1.8" x 1.8" x 0.5"
Packaging: giftbox
Packaging dimension: 4.25" x 5.45" x 2.25"
Warranty: 1 year Domestic RMA
The black and silver unit takes advantage of a primarily black painted design, with silver trims in various areas. A 1.4" LCD screen occupies a sector near the center of the front face, with TAO's logo right underneath it. The screen actually looks a lot smaller than it actually is comparatively. Again, it would have been nice if it was a bit thinner. One thing though -- due to the plastic construction of the TAO 1.4" Square, it feels a lot flimsier than the metal constructed 1.5" Polished Square photo keychain.
The back of the TAO 1.4" Square photo keychain completes its black finish on plastic. Three control buttons are on one side of the keychain, while another side hosts a standard USB connector port for battery charging and data transfer. The control buttons functions exactly like the TAO 1.5" Polished Silver photo keychain -- two directional ones, and a center power button. Holding the power button for four seconds turns the device on and off; hitting it quickly while the photo keychain is turned on will toggle autoplay on and off.
A metal chain, rather than a metal band, is attached to the top of the TAO 1.4" Square. A small hook/clip is implemented at the top for attaching to your main keychain or holding a really small amount of keys (Not recommended).
Due to its plastic construction, I felt that the TAO 1.4" Square photo keychain is a lot more flimsy than the TAO 1.5" Polished Silver photo keychain. A side benefit is that the TAO 1.4" Square is really light.
The TAO 1.5" Polished Silver photo keychain is designed more for holding your keys by itself, while the 1.4" Square is designed to attached to your main set of keys. A quick comparison between the two -- despite the fact that the 1.5" unit is heavier and more expensive, the build quality is much better than the 1.4" unit. Secondly, the 1.5" Polished Silver photo keychain's OLED screen produces much better image quality and a great viewing angle. The 1.4" Square suffers from terrible color shifts at any viewing angles other than 90 degrees.
Using the included software, loading photos is fairly easy, but only if you're using Windows XP. In Vista, the software will close without warning once a folder with compatible image files is attempted to be opened. It works well under XP, but the GUI is quite 'retro'. Write speed is pretty slow on both drives, but it's not really that much of an issue (The software automatically resizes/crops and compresses images for you) for products of this nature.
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If you're geek enough, then a photo keychain is something you can't miss on. The TAO 1.5" Polished Silver photo keychain is more expensive of the two, but offers a nice screen with wide viewing angles, and excellent built quality. The downfalls includes the user of a proprietary USB port; as well as limited to 30 photos storage limit. The TAO 1.4" Square has a standard USB connector as well as higher storage limit -- but cheap build quality and poor screen does not justify its price tag; despite being significantly lower than the 1.5" unit. Generally speaking, the software has room for improvement in both GUI and underlying code; and with flash memory this cheap nowadays, it probably doesn't cost much to install larger flash memory chips inside. Especially when flash drives can be this small in size and that large in capacity. Oh yeah, and if they were all more scratch resistant; after all -- they go with your keys.
Update: After 3 months of real-life testing, the TAO 1.5" Polished Silver photo keychain resulted in a cracked screen surface with no explicit abuse. We regret saying that this product incorporates "excellent built quality", as this is obviously wrong and it is our mistake. The rating, as a result of this, should be normalized to 6.0/10 as per APH standards.
Special thanks to T. Krone over at WholesaleKeychain.com for making this review possible.
TAO 1.5" Polished Silver
APH equal.balance Award | APH Review Focus Summary:
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks; but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 7.0/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
TAO 1.4" Square
APH Review Focus Summary:
4/10 means With disadvantages that slightly outweigh its advantages, you should not get this product unless there are no product alternatives that does its job.
3/10 means Disadvantages are pretty significant, and seriously considered before purchase. Disadvantages interfere with the product purpose, and if better alternatives are available, get the better alternative.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 3.5/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
