Lisa Photography Blog: Reinventing Instant Photography for the Digital Age

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Reinventing Instant Photography for the Digital Age

This appeared on the http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog/

June 24th, 2008

The new pocket-sized Polaroid mobile printer dubbed “PoGo” is about to hit the market. The Polaroid website says PoGo hits Best Buy stores (probably in USA only) on July 06, 2008, and in Target on July 20, 2008. Estimated price will be $149.

Reinventing Instant Photography for the Digital Age

Polaroid has reinvented instant photography for the digital age with the Polaroid PoGo™ Instant Mobile Printer. Sleek, stylish, and easy to use, the Polaroid PoGo™ Instant Mobile Printer lets you share photos whether you are on vacation or just hanging out with your friends. Bring Polaroid magic from your camera cell phone or digital camera with ZINK™ Zero Ink™ Printing Technology from ZINK Imaging. Mobile and easy-to-use, the Polaroid PoGo™ Instant Mobile Printer provides a new, innovative way to share digital photos directly from your camera cell phone or digital camera, instantly. The Polaroid Way.

No computer connections needed. Print directly from your camera's cell phone or digital camera. A new way to share -- Print and share. 2x3" borderless color images in under a minute. As mobile as you are. Pocket-size, sleek, stylish design
Instant magic. Prints without ink using ZINK™ Zero Ink™ Printing Technology from ZINK Imaging.

Camera Phone
The Polaroid PoGo™ Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer is the easiest way to print photos from a camera phone. Wirelessly transfer images from a Bluetooth-enabled camera phone to the Mobile Printer and print instantly. Using the built-in OBEX (object exchange profile) Bluetooth in the phone and the printer, connecting and printing becomes instant.

Digital Camera
Instantly printing images from a digital camera is as easy as connecting the USB cable to the PictBridge-enabled camera and printer. Once connected, follow the PictBridge screen on the camera display. Simply select what image to send to the printer and within 60 seconds, the print is ready to be shared.

This is the review form David duChemin

I will do a review as soon as I can. In the mean time think about how many times you’ve wished you could give a subject a copy of their photograph, think about how much easier it is to give a copy then and there, rather than waiting until you get home and hoping you remember. Think how useful this might be in getting that model release signed or getting a reluctant model to spend a few moments with you. In the places I work these small photographs would be kept as priceless family heirlooms - not bad for a thirty-cent piece of paper.

It will weigh 8 oz. (without battery) and measures about 1″ by 3″ by 4.5″. Each 2×3 print takes 60 seconds to make. Downsides? 15 prints per battery charge, but extra batteries are available. There’s no inks to replace and the paper pricing looks like it won’t kill us either. Here’s the website.

What You Get
• 2” x 3” borderless, sticky-back prints
• Bluetooth, PictBridge compatible
• Smudge-proof, water-resistant, tear-proof photos
• Fade-resistant, long-lasting images
• No waste – no ink cartridges
• Prints in about 60 seconds
• Rechargeable lithium-ion battery

see the full specs here: http://www.polaroid.com/pogo/us/specs.html

Curious about how they do this without ink???

ZINK™ stands for Zero Ink™ - a new and simpler approach to printing where high quality, colorful, durable and affordable prints are magically created – all without a drop of ink. The ZINK Technology, invented by ZINK Imaging, encompasses both the ZINK Paper™ and the intelligence embedded in every ZINK-enabled device. Over 100 patents and patents pending were generated in the development of this breakthrough technology.

The heart of this new "ZINK" category of printing is the ZINK Paper™. The patented ZINK Paper is an advanced composite material with embedded yellow, magenta and cyan dye crystals, activated with 200 million heat pulses, in 30 seconds, in a single pass. With 100 billion crystals in a 2x3" print, the paper is 100% inkless. A ZINK-enabled printer uses heat to activate and colorize these crystals. Because there is no ink, every ZINK-enabled device has the unique benefits of being small, simple, elegant, and eco-friendly.