Why You Can Trust CNET Polaroid Zip delivers instant prints for your smartphone snapshots
Debuting at CES 2015, the nearly pocketable printer connects wirelessly to your mobile for on-the-go mementos.
- More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
LAS VEGAS -- The Polaroid Zip is a small box about the size of a large smartphone, weighing 186 grams (6.6 ounces) and it' s just less than an inch thick. And it's a photo printer.
Similar to the Fujifilm Instax Share SP-1, the Zip connects to your iOS or Android device via Bluetooth and using a free app, you can take photos you shot with your phone and create small, 2x3-inch prints. The app has several editing options like adding filters, frames, stamps and stickers, but you can also make business cards or even make edits private so they can only be viewed by scanning a QR code printed on the original image.
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The Zip uses Polaroid's Zink zero-ink printing technology, which uses special Zink paper embedded with cyan, yellow and magenta dye crystals. The crystals start off colorless, but as the print is being made, heat activates the crystals changing them to the appropriate colors. The rechargeable battery is good for up to 25 prints. A pack of 100 sheets of Zink paper runs about $25 (£15, AU$65).
The Polaroid Zip mobile printer will be available this spring for about $130. Australian and UK pricing was not available, but the price converts to roughly AU$160 and £85.
