For at least the last two Christmas’, there has been a bewildering number of digital photo albums available that have either been ugly, too small, required a plug, or which were simply not good enough in terms of picture quality. This year, however, the ALBUM, a truly portable digital photo gallery, is setting new standards for viewing and sharing digital photos anytime and anywhere.

The generous screen (an inch larger than the Kindle 2) presents the images in vivid, sharp colour with no compromise on size or quality. It holds an astonishing 40,000 photos in its internal memory which can be downloaded onto the ALBUM’s huge 4GB memory, directly from digital cameras, memory cards, flash drives, other ALBUMs or via a computer.

One of the distinctive features of the ALBUM is its style. It has a leather protective cover – which also serves as a support stand – and comes in three attractive colour combos: black leather/silver metal, tan leather /silver metal and an eye-catching black leather/fuchsia metal, so there is an ALBUM to suit every family member.

The lightweight ALBUM (it weighs under a pound), is so slim that you can easily keep it in a coat pocket or handbag and yet so powerful that it will run a constant slideshow for three hours, from a single battery charge. Its large screen means that the entire family can see the kids’ travel pix, all the wedding snaps, Mum and Dad’s favourite holiday photos and even the distant relatives’ home pictures, downloaded off the Internet.

With its unique capabilities, its stylish appearance and its ability to share all your photographs, the ALBUM is set to be one of this year’s must-have Christmas presents.

Widely available, the ALBUM’s RRP is £179. More technical information can be found at Album online here.

Available from (High Street): Fenwick’s (Brent Cross & Newcastle), John Lewis, Dixons Duty Free, Micro Anvika at Harrods, Westfield Shopping Centre & Tottenham Court Road, House of Fraser (Croydon).

Available from (online): Amazon.co.uk, Bagsoflove.com, Findmeagift.com, Firebox.com, Iwantoneofthose.com, PC World, Play.com, PrezzyBox.com & TheInsideMan.com.