Remember the days of the Polaroid camera. Those days have been over for quite some time. But Dell recently launched a 2009 version, named the Wasabi PZ310.
Although the idea of photo printing on the run is the same, the technology is quite different. The Wasabi is a mobile printer designed to work with Bluetooth-enabled camera phones and other wireless devices. It also comes with a PictBridge port for digital cameras and mobile PCs.
The hand-held printer is a “zero ink” printer. Instead the device uses ZINK printing technology, which heats dye crystals as the proprietary ZINK paper passes through the printer.
The device prints 2-inch by 3-inch, borderless colour photos on ZINK paper, which is a sticky-back photo paper and can hold up to 12 sheets of the ZINK paper at a time. A box of 24 sheets of ZINK paper is being sold for $11.99 on Dell’s website.
The Wasabi comes in three different colours – pink, black and blue – weighs 7 ounces and is being launched at a promotional price of $99 (regularly $149).
It is rumoured that more ZINK technology products will be released from other manufacturers, like Polaroid, later this year.