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Believe it or not, I know many die-hard fans of the old Polaroid camera that were sad to see it go. Well, it looks like there just may be some cause for rejoicing if the new survey put out by Polaroid is any indication. They were recently asking for feedback from readers of Amateur Photographer to help design their new digital camera with built in printer.

Not too much is known at this point about the new camera other than the fact that like the Pogo Instant Mobile Printer, it will implement Bluetooth technology and a USB connection to print photos. Polaroid was asking opinions on whether they should include options such as an external battery, a hotshoe for an external flash, and a higher pixel count than their previous version.  One of the other differences between the PoGo Printer and the Polaroid PoGo ProSeries camera (as it is slated to be called) is the fact that the camera’s photos will print out at 4x3 as opposed to 2x3.

It is scheduled to hit the market next year and be marketed mainly to “professional and business users”. There is also going to be a lower-end (ie less expensive as well) ZINK-enabled camera that prints 2x3 inch prints coming out around the same time as well.

Via [Yahoo! Tech]

Polaroid has given their ZINK printer a price tag and release date - July 6th at Best Buy and July 20th through Target—both selling it for $149. The pocket-sized product will be marketed as the Poloraid PoGo, which is short for Polaroid-on-the-go. The Polaroid PoGo supports full color printing through cell phones and digital cameras via Bluetooth or USB (PictBridge compatible). The PoGo weighs a measly eight ounces, but don’t let the size fool you. It can print 2x3-inch borderless photos in less than 60 seconds. It’s a shame that Polaroid has quit the instant film market, but if you miss those old school Polaroid cameras, this is as close as you’ll get to sharing your photos instantly. 

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Polaroid had announced they were leaving the instant picture business and with that many people thought they would just quietly disappear. Well it seems that has been quite the opposite, just recently they had announced the ZINK printer and now they have announced the Freescape 4360 portable media player.

The Freescape 4360 features a 4.3-inch 16:9 widescreen display, 60GB of internal storage, Wi-Fi, FM tuner and TV-out. With a rechargeable Li-ion battery it will offer up to 16 hours for audio playback and 4 hours for video playback. The Freescape 4360 has support for MPEG4, WMA, WMV, MP3 and JPEG formats, with some speculation that there will be a future plugin for DivX. While the Freescape 4360 is not yet available, it is expected to retail for around $400.

Via [CrunchGear]

While Polaroid may have dropped their instant “film” production they have not left the instant “picture” business entirely. Polaroid has just announced their ZINK printer. This pocket sized printer will still offer instant gratification, just with some better image quality. The ZINK features both USB and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity that is said to be able to print your pics in as little as 60 seconds.

While some, myself included, may miss those instant camera’s the ZINK printer seems to fit with the current times just a little better. The Polaroid ZINK printer is expected to be available this May and retail for around $200.

Via [CrunchGear]

This was clearly inevitable with the rise of digital technology in the late 20th century. Polaroid is closing its instant film producing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands some time next year. If you own a Polaroid, you’d better enjoy it while it lasts as you won’t be able to buy any more instant films.

Polaroid now focuses on generic consumer electronics such as digital cameras, printers and scanners as it tries to survive “for the next 30 to 40 years,” Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid’s president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said.

Read [BusinessWeek]

Polaroid and Storage Appliance Corp. are joining forces to create an external image backup device based on Polaroid’s ClickFree software. The to-be-named plug-and-save device will use a USB port to connect to a PC, search the PC for all images and instantly transfer them to the storage device without the need for software configuration. SAC’s ClickFree Backup currently works the same way, but for entire systems. Expect to see more partnered products - aka “other media verticals” - from Polaroid and SAC down the road. The release date and price have not yet been divulged. I wonder if it’ll be “instantaneous” for those still using Windows 95 and Mac OS 8. If it does find every image on your computer, you might want reconsider your folder of celebrity nip slip images.

Site [Storage Appliance Corp.] Site [Polaroid]