Gear Announcements
After Almost 3 Years in Development, Polaroid’s Socialmatic To Start Shipping In January
Hipsters Rejoice! The funky looking Polaroid Socialmatic instant print digital camera, the same one we first shared with you around two years ago, will finally be available next month.
For those of you unfamiliar, the Polaroid Socialmatic ‘Instagram camera’ concept began back in 2012 and is intended to be a real life representation of the famous phone app/social network. The camera would share pictures taken on the social network as well as print physical copies – just like the old Polaroid cameras did.
The initial concept specs included 16GB of SD storage, a 4:3 touch screen, an LED flash, optical zoom, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and the built in Polaroid printer. The final specs, which will be in the model coming out in 2015 are listed below.
Polaroid Socialmatic Specs
- 14 Megapixel Forward-Facing Camera; 2 Megapixel User-Facing Camera
- Socialmatic Network Compliant (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc)
- 4GB Memory, Expandable to 32GB
- 4.5-Inch Full Color LCD Touchscreen
- Stereo Speackers and a microphone
- GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth
- Remote Printing Capabilities
- ZINK Zero Ink printing technology
- 2″x3″ Zink Instant Filters feature a sticky back for easy posting on most surfaces
- Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
- Box Includes: Socialmatic, ZINK Photo Paper, Charger, USB Cable, Manual
This Polaroid Socialmatic was originally supposed to start shipping in 2014, but some delays have lead to it not being available. According to Amazon’s product page for the camera, the Socialmatic will begin shipping on January 1st, 2015 and be purchased for a price of $299.
$299 seems steep for a sort of gimmicky product like this, but at the same time, it is almost niche enough that interested parties will likely be fine that that price tag. In my mind though, $299 definitely takes this out of mass appeal, since most people aren’t going to want to fork over that kind of money on an item like this. Especially with Fuji‘s Instax Mini available for something like $90.
You can find more details on the Socialmatic over on the Amazon product page.
What are your thoughts on the Socialmatic camera? Would you buy one? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think!
[via PhotoRumors]
Another camera on a chip.
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How to order ?
Oh, I should also add I find it interesting Polaroid is getting back into the Instant market after giving up on it a few years back :)
To put it bluntly, it’s a very different Polaroid that has gone through two bankruptcies and two ownership groups since then. The original one not only gave up on film they turned out Land, so they really had no idea what they were doing.
Personally I’d probably sooner invest in the Fuji Instax Printer. To me that is more practical, as I could use it to print images from a variety of cameras.
Just a question — of all of these cameras…
Sony’s QX line of lenses/mounts that strap on to a cell phone
Canon’s Powershot N / Facebook camera
Dedicated ‘selfie’ cams like Casio’s EX-TR__ cameras
…do any of them sell well? I don’t ask as a cynic so much as a guy that doesn’t understand the ‘I don’t want a dedicated camera… but I want something better than my cell phone’ market. Are these making money?
As for film/prints, the photographically-inclined hipsters I see in LA are far more likely to tote a conversation piece like an old 35mm, rangefinder, or some of the Fujifillm Instax cameras than go for this new Polaroid, but I could be wrong.
I completely agree with you. Maybe if this was cheaper and sold at lets say a store thats trying to bring the 80’s back like urban outfitters (?) or wherever teens shop nowadays I could see it gaining more traction. Although it probably would be extremely annoying if a herd of teens were taking selfies with these.
…or younger folks at music events? Drives me NUTS. They need to develop a temporary EMP weapon that shorts all phones for the duration of a concert.
This seems better for events than it does for personal use. Like at “drink the district” (DC beer festival, really great event, $20 unlimited cups of over 30-50 craft beers + wine) they thrive off of memorable moment so a free shot glass/tshirt/ and a photo would be a nice giveaway. But that’s assuming multiple units can access the same account at the same time.
Is it sponsored by Instagram or something? The IG logo is identical to the brown model…
There’s a lot of that going around — the old Instagram logo was a very slightly stylized picture of the Polaroid Land Camera 1000 (a fixed-focus SX-70 type released decades before Instagram existed), so the who’s copying whom question is a little muddy. But yes, it is deliberately styled to look like an iOS app icon (or, at least, an iOS app icon as they were when the product styling was set in concrete).
Wow – I can’t believe I never noticed that the IG logo was based on Polaroid. But you’re totally right – the rainbow stripe should have been a dead give-away. Thanks for pointing that out!
Not my thing but I think the price isn’t too bad considering it has a built in printer. The extras like GPS, WIFI, bluetooth and a giant 4.5″ touchscreen packs a lot of value into this. I could this being a big seller for the teens/young adult market.
Or you could buy a printer that uses the same Zink technology for about $30 and print them via Bluetooth from your phone camera that already has GPS, WiFi and a 6″ touchscreen.
Teens and young adults have $30 for something like this, not $300.
You’d be surprised how much disposable cash teens have nowadays. Much more than I had when I was young. I see them with the iPods, iPads, game consoles. If they want something – they’ll find a way to get it. I still think the rather than printing to a portable printer via Bluetooth (that probably also needs a power source) – it’s just fun and convenient to print from the camera.
Again – I’d never use this but I do see a market for it.