Coming this week from T-Mobile: A digital picture frame with its own phone number.

This could be the solution to bumbling grandmothers and grandfathers everywhere who got a digital picture frame from well-meaning family members but have yet to upload new photos.

The T-Mobile cameo comes with its own phone number so you can send photos from your camera phone straight to the picture frame.

This means anyone can send a camera-phone photo to the frame just like they would send a text message. No mussing and no fussing with memory cards, cables or Wi-Fi. 

However, the convenience comes with a price: $9.99 per month. That will make it one expensive picture frame. The monthly fee is to provide the frame with its own text-messaging plan so it can receive those images from cell phones all over the world. The extra fee will eliminate the cameo from most people’s wish lists but I know some people will think $9.99 is a good deal to keep grandma current.

The 7-inch  T-Mobile cameo frame will be available for $99 at T-Mobile stores beginning this week. Plus to buy it, you’ll need to have a T-Mobile voice plan with a minimum one-year agreement.

I haven’t tested this frame, but keep in mind that if you have a cheap camera phone that takes tiny photos, the resulting images may not look too sharp in the frame.

Here’s the T-Mobile cameo fact sheet.

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