T-Mobile's connected Cameo digiframe plummets in price, gets reviewed

Man, that was fast. Really fast. Not like we're shocked at all to hear that T-Mobile customers weren't really digging the idea of paying ten bones per month to keep a digital photo frame alive, but hey -- it was worth a shot, right? As of today, T-Mobile's quickly forgotten Cameo connected digiframe has dropped from $99.99 to $39.99 up front, while the recurring charge to keep the media flowin' has nearly vanished by going from $9.99 per month to just $1.99 per month. Reviewers over at ZDNet seemed to be quite pleased with the value proposition at the new price point, noting that it was perfect for technologically illiterate family members who yearned to see digital images of you and yours. Sadly, you still have to walk into a T-Mobile retail store to actually buy one, but at least it's finally worth your while to do so.

[(Unverified) Posted May 1st 2009 8:06AM]

Looks like you need an existing t-mobile line to get one of these. Such a shame, I can think of at least three people I would get one for...

[(Unverified) Posted May 1st 2009 1:01AM]

this happened like 2 months ago....

[(Unverified) Posted May 1st 2009 10:46AM]

Just spent a long while on the phone with a T-Mobile Store and 1-800-T-Mobile customer service. They are all confused about this product, plan, and pricing. I recieved 3 different answers to the same question.

It's not a stand alone product without a currently active T-Mobile account.

Pricing varied from $199.99 to $39.99 depending on who you spoke with.

Plan was $9.99 to $1.99 depending on who you spoke with.

I'm not impressed with T-Mobile's customer service nor it's marketing folks.

Too bad, it could have been a great gift for my grandmother as a stand alone product.

[(Unverified) Posted May 1st 2009 7:57PM]

let me clear things up for you Brad:

Device cost is $39.99 (no longer $99.99), monthly service is $1.99 (requires existing T-mobile postpaid account, prepaid and flexpay are not eligible at this time). The service does not have an activation fee or Early Termination Fee (even though the paperwork shows a contract, when you go to cancel it the "ETF" is auto credited)

[(Unverified) Posted May 2nd 2009 3:04PM]

I stopped by T-Mobile ready to buy one of these for Mother's Day.
Sending photos of the grandkids straight to it would've been epic.

I got the same confusion. I wasn't told I needed a T-Mobile account.
I was told it was $99.99, he checked with the manager but didn't have one to ring up anyway, and the monthly was $1.99.

This was after waiting for one of the three free salesmen to stop talking and looking at the female customers asses.

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 10:23AM]

I purchased a Cameo since the price for device+service was reduced recently, and I've found it to be quite good and painless. It is, by far, the best frame in terms of connectivity, since it does not rely on local wifi networks - send an image from any phone or any email address without a computer as intermediary. I've written about it here :

http://thinkmoreinc.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/78/

The T-Mobile new customer regarding the Cameo is puzzling - my local stores claim that anyone can be a Cameo customer, while a call placed to T-Mobile by one of my readers suggests that either the sender or the recipient [if given as a gift] needs to be a customer, but not both. In any case, T-Mobile is shooting itself in the foot because of such policies. The device is simple and painless to use - why should the buying experience not be the same?