BERLIN -- Polaroid's new Snap camera that prints instant photos without ink is so hot right now, it could catch on fire -- and it's not even out yet.
We played with the $99 10-megapixel Snap camera at the IFA conference here, and if the photos look at least as good as the quality of the Polaroid Zip Instant Photoprinter, the company could have a huge hit on its hands.
Polaroid has other instant cameras, like the Z2300, which uses the company's ink-free Zink paper technology -- but they were all big, bulky and expensive. The image quality was also pretty crappy, despite the fact the cameras had the same resolution as the Snap.
The plastic Snap camera is totally toy-like, which is actually part of its charm. On top sits a big red shutter button and a self-timer button (for selfies, duh). To the left is a button to switch between modes (color, sepia, and black and white) alongside a smaller button to toggle frame on and off (vintage!).
The camera is much smaller than the Z2300 and about roughly the same dimensions as the Zip Instant Photoprinter. The unit that Polaroid had at IFA was an unfinished model, so we couldn't take any photos to examine the print quality. A rep for Polaroid said it would be comparable to the Zip Instant Photoprinter's, though.
The 2 x 3 photos come out of the right side. On the left side is a Micro USB port to charge the camera's built-in battery and a microSD card slot for storing photos; there's no internals storage. A tripod mount sits on the bottom.
The most charming part of the Snap might be the way you turn it on on and off: Just push down on the viewfinder, which is on the top of the camera. For its part, though, the viewfinder was close to useless -- blurry and impossible to see through. Hopefully, it's simply because the unit we handled was unfinished. Otherwise, it would be a real shame.
The company is aiming for a launch later this year.
