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Digital Polaroid Doesn't Have Same Charm

Company is back with instant photos, but the fun is gone

By Sam Biddle, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 9, 2009 12:24 PM CST

(Newser) – Polaroid may be out of the film business, but it's trying to reclaim its place in the market of instant photos. With the goal of winning back the hearts of nostalgic point-and-shooters, Polaroid has unveiled the diminutive PoGo, combining a standard digital camera with an onboard, ink-free printer. But FastCompany’s Cliff Kuang says the $200 PoGo falls short of recapturing the original Polaroid magic.

"Instant printing is here to stay, but I doubt the Pogo camera will catch on for a simple reason: The original Polaroids were alluring because you never knew what you were going to get when the picture finally appeared. And if there's anything that the digital camera has eliminated, it's unpredictability," writes Kuang. "That was the biggest draw of a Polaroid; with digital pictures, there's no anxious curiosity pushing you towards the extra step of printing."

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The Polaroid PoGo instant print camera is demonstrated Thursday Dec. 31, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

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As Andre 3000 of Outkast will happily tell you, shaking a Polaroid picture is what elevated a dumb piece of tech into a cultural ritual, and made the product truly memorable.
- Cliff Kuang, FastCompany.com

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Digital Polaroid Doesn't Have Same Charm