Skip to main content

HP DreamScreen Puts Music, Video, and Social Media in Photo Frame

HP-DreamscreenHewlett-Packard is ramping up for the end-of-year buying season with its new consumer-friendly DreamScreen, a new device that looks like a photo frame—and, indeed, can be set on an end table and be used to display images. But the DreamScreen aims to be much more than that: it can stream music, play video, tap into Web-based information sources, and even let people keep up with their social networking, becoming a living-room friendly digital media hum without the need for a full-blown PC.

“Constant, always-on access to friends, information and entertainment is a common expectation today,” said HP Personal Systems Group’s worldwide marketing VP Satijiv Chahil, in a statement. “With HP DreamScreen, social media, web services, and digital entertainment can be enjoyed in more areas of the home.”

Recommended Videos

The DreamScreen will be available in 10- and 13-inch sizes sporting an 800 by 480-pixel display. The systems offer 2 GB of onboard memory for photos and video and a multi-in-one media reader for loading up the onboard storage—users can also hook up USB devices. But there the DreamScreen really shines is by latching onto a home network via 802.11 Wi-FI networking or wired Ethernet: then the unit can tap into things like Pandora streaming music, HP’s Snapfish photo service, and pick up up dates from Facebook. Once attached to a network, HP says users can load media onto the DreamScreen via simple drag and drop from a PC. The DreamScreen features built-in speakers, can play digital video (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264 formats), and features a handful of utility applications that pull in weather forecasts, display calendars, and offer clock functions.

The 10-inch version of the DreamScreen should be available online shortly and through selected retailers for about $250 in mid-October; the 13-inch version will arrive later for roughly $300.

Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
Volvo’s much-anticipated EX30 EV to reach U.S. before year end
Front three quarter view of the 2025 Volvo EX30.

Volvo is switching gears again, this time to accelerate deliveries of its much-anticipated EX30 subcompact electric SUV so that it reaches the U.S. before the end of 2024.

The Swedish automaker last summer had postponed the U.S. launch of the EX30 to 2025, citing “changes in the global automotive landscape." The move followed the Biden administration’s 100% import tariff on electric vehicles made in China.

Read more
Rivian R2 EV’s new LG battery boosts storage capacity sixfold
Rivian R2

The Rivian R2, the EV maker’s much-anticipated affordable electric SUV, will be powered by U.S.-made batteries promising to store six times as much energy as those currently used.

South Korea’s LG Energy Solutions announced it will be supplying LG’s 4695 cylindrical batteries to Rivian as part of a five-year agreement.

Read more
Hyundai 2025 Ioniq 5 is under $44,000, with more range and NACS port
hyundai ioniq 5 44000 nacs 64149 large631652025ioniq5xrt

Hyundai is on a roll. In October, the South Korean manufacturer posted its best U.S. sales ever, largely driven by sales of its popular Ioniq 5 electric SUV.

Now, all eyes are on the Ioniq 5’s 2025 model, which is set to become available at dealerships before year-end. As Digital Trends previously reported, the crossover model adds a more rugged-looking trim level called XRT and provides additional driving range as well as new charging options.

Read more