communicate :: collaborate :: commemorate

New toy: Polaroid Pogo Printer

by Volker Weber

You all remember the Polaroid camera, don't you? Stick in a box of expensive blank photos, fire away, and have instant gratification with photos that develop themselves without taking them to a lab first. With the digital camera and publishing to the internets most of that appeal went away. Well, most but not everything. You still have to develop the photos if you want them on paper. Or print them with a bulky inkjet printer.

Enter the Polaroid Pogo. Hook up your camera with its USB-cable, or a mobile phone via Bluetooth and you are ready to "develop" your own prints on the spot. It's reasonably simple to set up. Instead of "printing" from your mobile, you just transfer the file with Bluetooth OBEX. (Which means it won't work with an iPhone.)

Sounds good? Well, not really. Polaroid sent me a retail package which contains the printer, a battery, a pretty huge charger, and a pack of ten blanks. I charged the printer in three hours and then it is good for a maximum of 15 prints before it needs a recharge. The small size of the printer also limits the size of the prints: 2 by 3 inches. And that is very, very small. The prints are soft, colors are washed out, they generally look like being taken with a mobile phone, even if you have a better source.

On Amazon.de the printer sells for 140€, but I can't seem to find any paper. Maybe everybody else is also printing only 10 photos before giving up. Update: As Sascha points out, paper is either 9 Euro for 10 or 22 Euro for 30.

Verdict: despite winning a best of CES award there is no chance to win the editor-refuses to give it back award.

There are some videos on YouTube if you want other opinions.

Comments

Hence, good idea, failed in execution. But in time we'll probably get the polaroid back when they manage to put the printer back into the camera.

had the same eperience with a Kodak which came with one of my mobile phones from my carrier of choice. It still sits in some dark corner and waits for an opportunity to be used. It actually came with a charger that had the same plug as the of my valued external Maxtor hard disk, and one day I mixed them up, frying my HD with a lot of important backups on it. Although I´m the guilty party here, I still hate the Kodak...

Amazon also offers the appropriate paper called "Polaroid [...] PoGo Media Paper".
A search for "Polaroid Paper" should do it.

Thanks for the information about the printer - looks like an expandable product.

its a shame... I was actually looking forward to this...

Thore, I did not find paper on Amazon.de and Amazon.com, but now i found it on Amazon.co.uk. 6 GBP for 30 sheets. 20p or 30 (Euro-)ct a pop.

Hm, when I click on the link vowe provides, then I get a neat little list of fitting accessories for the product that also includes paper in 1x10 sheet or 3x10 sheet packages (8,99EUR and 21,95EUR).

Scrolling down ... there it is. Thanks. What a bargain.

Ceci n'est pas un blog

vowe.net is a personal website published by Volker Weber a.k.a. vowe. I am an author, consultant and systems architect based in Darmstadt, Germany.

Click here to subscribe

About me
Contact
Publications
Certificates
Wishlist
Frequently asked questions

Local time is 11:43

172 visitors online

Archives

As most of my articles roll off the front page rather quickly, I am making an archive of previous posts available here. You can also use the handy search box at the top of the page if you are looking for something particular.

Last 30 days
More archives

Mobile tag for this page

© 1992-2012 Volker Weber.
All Rights Reserved.

Impressum