Android-powered Polaroid Socialmatic coming this year
There are still quite a lot of people out there who associate the Polaroid brand with photography more than say Instagram (although on the flip-side there are plenty of people who have no idea that the Instagram logo was inspired by Polaroid.) Polaroid is aiming to reinstate its name as one to pay attention to in the photography game this year with the Android-powered Polaroid Socialmatic.
The camera will feature a 14MP front sensor and a 2MP rear sensor to handle all of your photography needs, including selfies. It will also feature either a 4.3-inch or 4.5-inch display (Polaroid's own materials differ on this) and stereo speakers on the back, and 4GB of storage (though there is microSD card expansion) and looks to be running a fully Google App-filled version of Android. It's unclear what version of the software is on the device, but the landing page shows Chrome and Gmail icons, so we assume that means you'll get the full Google Play Store. The real draw of the device is that because it is running Android, you'll be able to quickly share the pictures you take to any of your favorite social networks.
To do this, the Socialmatic has built-in Wi-Fi, and if you don't have a Wi-Fi connection you'll also have the option to connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth and transfer pictures that way. The other big draw of the camera is that it will feature instant printing (as per Polaroid tradition) of 2x3-inch full color pictures with sticker backs, using Polaroid's ZINK (zero ink) digital printing.
The one downside to the device is that it features an LED flash, which is fairly standard on smartphones, but isn't exactly what you'd want on a proper camera.
There is an interesting feature that isn't part of the announcement though. It looks like there is an LCD display on the front of the camera that can offers "Mood Assist A.I". In some promo materials, the display shows a smiley face, and others it shows a QR code. It looks like the QR codes can actually be used as geo-tags so you can share where you've put up printed photos.
No word on an exact release date (the older video on the Socialmatic site still says 2013), but the camera will be selling at $299.
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