Home > Consumer Reviews > Coby 1.5-Inch Digital Photo Keychain (White)

This device is awful. The picture quality is pretty grainy, and the software included is just about useless. It appears some reviewers had more luck than others with this keychain. I had a lot of problems getting the photos to upload to the keychain. I outlined the steps I used to get it to work. For me, on Windows XP using the provided Windows software, that was the only way I could get the uploads to work.

The PhotoViewer Desktop software has horrible navigation. The menus are very confusing and the phrases used haven't been grammar checked. "Upload completely!" for "Upload complete", for example. "Upload completely!" makes me think they want me to do something additional to ensure that the photos get "uploaded completely!" It makes it very difficult to do what should be very simple. About 1 hour of quality control on Coby's part could have made this process much easier and more intuitive.

For two days, the upload to the keychain kept failing. The only message on the computer screen was "Upload failed". Nothing more, no explanation, etc.

I eventually figured out that the upload is three separate processes:
1) select the pictures you want to load from your hard drive
2) move those to a "staging" location (again in the desktop software)
3) upload to keychain

If you don't do each of these things, it doesn't work.

*******STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR GETTING THE UPLOAD TO WORK:******
1) load the PhotoViewer Desktop software off the CD BEFORE connecting the keychain. If the software will not load onto your computer, try selecting the "remove" option when you put in the CD, and attempt to reload the software.

2) Connect the keychain. When you connect it, you should get two menu choices "USB Charge" and "USB Upload". Select "USB Upload".
BEWARE: If you try to start the photoviewer program without connecting the keychain, you get the message "Can't find any photoviewer, or another program owns it. The program will exit!". Once again, horrible grammar. What this apparently means is that you have not connected the keychain to the computer via the mini-USB link. Therefore, the software will not start. Digital camera companies resolved such issues about 10 years ago.

SUGGESTION: You may have to charge the keychain overnight (at least 4 hours) first, close the software on your computer, reconnect the keychain, select "USB Upload", and then launch the software for all of this to work. I know that is a mouthful, but try it exactly that way, and it worked.

3) Once your keychain is charged, the PhotoViewer Desktop software is loaded, launch the PhotoViewer software. It should start.

BASICS ON NAVIGATION OF DESKTOP SOFTWARE: The left half of the software screen is where you select pictures from your desktop and upload them to the PhotoViewer software (not to your keychain!). The right half of the software screen is where you select the pictures from the left side that you want to "stage" for your keychain (again, it does NOT upload to your keychain, although the menu messages imply otherwise).

4) Select the photos you want to move to the software using the the yellow folder button that is called "Select images from disk". Select the pictures you want. You can hold down the shift or control key to select multiple pictures (Shift, click on the first picture, click on the last picture, or control, and click on only the pictures you want)These are "loaded" on the left half of the screen.

5) Click on the "Add selected images to device" button (it is on the left side of the screen). BEWARE: This does not mean the pictures are being added to your device. It actually means that it is "copying" the pictures to the right side of the screen, from where you will eventually be able to upload them to your keychain.

6) IMPORTANT: Save the album to your hard drive by clicking on the "Save images to local disk" button. Save the pictures to a new folder (I called it keychain pictures). It will not remove them from your original locations. The pictures did not upload for me if I did not do this. Once you save them, they are converted to BMP files.

7) Close the PhotoViewer Desktop software.

8) Disconnect and reconnect the keychain again. Select "USB Upload" from the two menu choices.

9) Start the PhotoViewer Desktop software again. Open the pictures from the recent location where you saved them. (again you can use the shift key to "select all" the pictures - click on the first picture in the folder, hold down the shift key, click on the last picture in the folder).

10) Again, Click on the "Add selected images to device" button (it is on the left side of the screen). When you close and open the desktop software, it does not save where you were before. AGAIN, BEWARE: This does not mean the pictures are being added to your device. It actually means that it is "copying" the pictures to the right side of the screen, from where you will eventually be able to upload them to your keychain.

11) NOW, FINALLY, Click on the "Download images" button on the far right side at the top of the right side of the screen. It should finally start the upload. Again, horrible grammar. "Download images" actually means "upload images to keychain".

12) You will get the message "Upload completely!". This means the upload to your keychain is done.

13) Unplug the keychain from the USB. The pictures should start to scroll automatically. If you want to adjust menu settings, click on the top middle button on the key chain.

I know this is a lot, but when I did this, it worked for me repeatedly and I was able to load up 3 different keychains. I wouldn't buy these again, that being said. These were a gift.

I recently purchased two of these keychains to give as Christmas gifts this year. I read all the reviews and even though they aren't stellar, I decided to give it a go. Now I'm sorry I did. I have Windows XP and even with all the assistance given here in various reviews I was still unable to get the pictures loaded into the keychain. And it took FOREVER just to get the message that the software installed. This is really waaaay too much work for just a simple keychain. If I were you I would look elsewhere for a digital keychain. There's a reason this one costs under ten bucks.

I hate to do bad reviews, but I bought it as a present, and It didn't work.

My Mother had gotten this for Christmas last year. I helped her by putting her pictures on it. It was ok.
I purchased one recently for my husband as a birthday gift. I couldn't get my computer to recognize the software. I tried another computer...still didn't work. I gave up. I looked at other feedback and saw that others have had this problem.

I do not recommend buying this keychain. Save your money.

Gifted this to my husband and he is thrilled to now have pictures to see and show at the tip of his fingers! Very stylish product and easy to upload images. A good gift!