So what else do we possibly need?
Introducing the Polaroid ZINK Mobile Printer. After it debuted at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, I discovered this must-have tool reading the blogs about the event. Clearly, the ability to simply message those shots around to your friends isn’t enough anymore.
The Polaroid/ZINK Mobile printer allows you to print photos without wires, electricity or ink — in less than 60 seconds. It’s no larger than a deck of cards, so it really will fit in your pocket or purse. The printer spits out cute little “peel n’ stick” pictures, which you can stick on your friends’ fridge or on their back when they aren’t looking. Images are delivered “dry,” so there’s no waiting for the ink to dry and no smudging. And you can use just about any device that takes pictures with this printer — cell phones, digital cameras and anything else that has either Bluetooth or a USB port.
So how does it work? For the geeks and the curious, here are the technical specs: ZINK stands for Zero Ink, a new technology developed by ZINK in 2005. The ZINK product utilizes a special composite paper made up of colorless dye crystals. When you place the paper in the printer, it appears white. When you print your image, the ZINK printer heats the crystals, creating the picture in millions of colors. Any ZINK printer will never need ink and will never need dry time.
To transfer the photos to the printer, you have two options. Almost all new cell phones and some digital cameras come integrated with Bluetooth, a wireless peer-to-peer technology. For a long time, the only electronics that worked with Bluetooth were those tacky ear pieces for your cell phones. But now you’ll be able to use this technology for transferring your pictures to your rechargeable ZINK printer, making this truly an “on-the-go” printer.
If you don’t have Bluetooth on your camera phone, or are using a digital camera without it, you can still transfer the photos to print using a USB connection, the same way you transfer photos to your computer.
On its website, ZINK is promoting the Polaroid/ZINK Mobile printer as well as a concept Integrated Digital Camera/ZINK Printer. It appears that no one is currently manufacturing the integrated gadget, but Polaroid, thankfully, got the jump on the mobile printing market.
All of this instant gratification comes for relatively small change — $• for the printer and a about 30 cents per picture. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to purchase the ZINK until fall. Perhaps by then you’ll have found a larger purse.
Melissa Harris is currently employed as a Technical Quality Assurance Manager in South Portland. In her spare time, she plays for Maine Roller Derby, does web & print design, and basically never sleeps.