Remember the days of passing around a photo album? Come on.. you remember what that was like right? Flip through a small album while your friend next to you waits for you to finish up. Pass it on when you’re done and work on the next album.  Seems like a long time ago doesn’t it?

Well, the folks at Digital Foci are trying to revive the photo album by bringing it to the world of digital images with the announcement of the “Photo Book”. Think of it as a slim portable digital picture frame encased in a soft leather-like (a.k.a. it’s not leather) case. Powered by a rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery, the Photo Book operates up to 2.5 hours, comes with an 8 inch 800 x 600 LCD color display, and a whopping 4 GB of internal memory.

Photo Book supports a number of picture transfer methods. You can transfer photos using a memory card or a USB flash drive OR you can connect the album directly to a computer via a USB cable and then transfer content that way. Memory card support includes CF, SD, SDHC, MMC, xD-Picture Card, Memory Stick, and MSPRO.

You can organize your picture content by albums and choose a specific album to view on the Photo Book. Yes, it even supports slideshow views with a supposed “elegant page-turning effect” (we’ll reserve final judgment until we actually see that effect).

More importantly, the Photo Book supports RAW images from high-end digital SLR cameras (though remember – you’re dealing with a display that has a resolution of 800 x 600). Other notable features for the Photo Book include:

• Copy albums directly from memory cards for USB flash drives to internal memory without needing a computer.
• Displays each photo album with folder name and photo preview.
• Optional displays show photo file name and slideshow counter.
• Run automatic Full-Screen or Photo Book photo Slideshows with adjustable time intervals.
• Scroll photos manually with zoom and rotate functions.
• Supported image formats – JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, RAW image files from a wide selection of DSLR cameras.
• Automatic photo orientation based on EXIF data.
• Supported audio formats – MP3, AAC, WMA – music will play in the background during photo slideshow .
• Supported video formats – MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 SP.
• Built-in 1 channel, 1.4W speaker.
• Runs on rechargeable Lithium polymer battery with 2.5 hours of battery life.

The Digital Foci Photo Book will be coming out in May at a price of $189. Expect to find the Photo Book at places like Amazon.com and Adorama.com.

Technorati Tags: Digital Foci, Photo Book, Digital Pictures