Fine image quality. The 7” diagonal, 800x480 LCD touchscreen is crisp and bright. The viewing angle compares favorably to that of the best digital picture frames we’ve tested, though it’s inferior to that of the iPad, Apple’s tablet computer—which, at $500 and up, costs much more than the Dash.

The free apps. There are more than a thousand of them, Sony claims, organized into themed “channels.” Some are borrowed from Chumby, another older Net appliance, including Picasa to view your photo collection, NY Times Business to track business news, an app for your Twitter and Facebook accounts, and Accuweather and WeatherBug for local weather. You can also access Sony’s Bravia Internet Video apps, including streaming video service from Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and CBS and the Internet radio stations, Slacker and Pandora.

Compact size. The Dash’s size and form factor are arguably more convenient for tabletops or countertops than a netbook or even an iPad. Without the need to hold the device, a few (well-placed—more later on that) presses of the touchscreen allow you to listen to music or a podcast while you wash dishes, say, or view youtube videos as you eat breakfast.

But here are its downsides:

It isn’t easily portable. The Dash has no battery. Tethered to a power cord, it can’t be carried around the house unless you unplug it, locate an outlet in the other room, and wait an interminable two minutes for the thing to boot up again.

The screen is small. Good as images look on the Dash’s screen, their limited size hampers enjoyment, since you typically aren’t as close to the screen as with a smartphone. And reading text is often a challenge, due to its size.

Performance is sluggish. The Dash is slow, even apart from its glacial startup. At times, we found ourselves tapping the screen a second, or even third, time before the Dash finally responded to our first tap. And the thumbnails for the host of apps in a particular channel tend to load slowly onto the screen.

The Dash’s slowness, along with its compromised virtual keyboard, is likely to frustrate you when trying to send tweets or e-mails or update your Facebook page. You may find in quicker to grab your smartphone, if you have one, or get up and head for your computer.

Navigation is quirky. The Dash’s klugey interface quashes some of the fun of its apps. You can install apps on the “desktop,” as with a smart phone. But to find other apps, you must scroll through channels for them, and it’s all too easy to inadvertently launch apps as you do so. If you do launch an app in error, aborting it requires pressing the snooze bar atop the device, which also doubles as the menu button.

Also, you can’t multitask—and, say, continue to listen to music as you check the weather forecast. It would also be helpful to have a button for switching quickly between channels of apps, instead of having to dig through the menu system to do so. [Note: Apologies; I erred above. The Dash can in fact continue to play music as its plays other apps, although most other multitasking is not possible. —PR]

It’s compromised as both a digital photo frame and radio. With its limited slideshow options, and absence of built-in memory or an SD card slot, the Dash falls short of dedicated photo frames. If you want a versatile photo-display device, you’d be better off with the HP DreamScreen, $200, a Net-connected, 9-inch digital frame that allows access to Facebook, Snapfish photo albums, Pandora and SmartRadio Internet radio stations, along with the ability to stream music and photos from your PC. (Its photo capabilities are scored in our Ratings of digital photo frames, available to subscribers.)

There’s no AM/FM radio, so you can’t listen to favorite local stations. And the sound quality for music listening is barely passable, on a par with a middling clock radio.

The Dash might be worth considering if you’re prepared to endure some shortcomings to access online news and radio stations, and perhaps view photos and the occasional video, on a device that’s well-suited to a kitchen, bedroom, or bathroom and costs less than a computer, including an iPad.

The weak points of the Dash will be easier to tolerate the more it’s used in only one location and with only one or two apps. And it’s possible some of the device’s navigation problems might be fixed with future software upgrades.

—Rich Fisco and Paul Reynolds