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You know how a traditional photo lab works, right? You go into a red room with your film negatives and treat them with developer, stopper, fixer, and clearing solutions until you get a visible, accurate result. Well, what if you want to develop and print a photo taken with your phone? It's simple: buy Polaroid's $130 optical scanner-printer called the Polaroid Lab.
Ah yes, Polaroid - once a major force in the world of photography is now just a brand name slapped on random products (like home security cameras and TVs). Back in May, the company was sold again to another group of investors. But it looks like the new owners are happy to continue Polaroid's current product lines, as two new phones and a tablet were just announced.
Making Android-powered cameras isn't something new for Polaroid, but that doesn't mean it's the first company to come to mind when thinking of capturing digital photos (and for good reason). On the other hand, the company's old instant printing cameras call upon an altogether different set of memories. So now the company is shaking things up by re-introducing the premise it's known for. Not only can the Socialmatic instantly share pictures to social networks like any other Android-toting camera out there, it can instantly print them out to a 2"x3" sheet of paper.
Remember when Apple was up in arms about Samsung swiping their look for the first generation of Galaxy phones and tablets? Prepare for a case of design patent infringement that makes that look pretty tame. Today Nikon issued a press release stating that it had won a preliminary sales and import injunction against Sakar International, a current licensee of the Polaroid brand name, for the Android-powered Polaroid iM1836. See if you can guess why.
We're going to keep this weekend's poll simple: how big do you think your tablet should be? We've asked this question before, but that was quite a while ago. I'm curious to see if the dimensional preferences of the average AP reader have changed since, and what influence devices like the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 have had on people who are in the market for a tablet.
Not to be outdone by Nikon and Samsung, Polaroid has taken the wraps off of its previously leaked new Android-powered camera, the iM1836. Past its super-clever and easy-to-remember (not really) name, this offering weds an 18.1MP mirrorless body, 3.5" display, and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Android 4.1 for an out-of-the-box hoot of a good time.