Review Of The Polaroid Pogo Photo Printer
I ordered a Pogo printer from Amazon on Tuesday and it arrived today. For those that don’t know what it is more info can be found here.It’s a pocket photo printer that uses special ZINK photo paper 3×2 inch (slightly smaller than an average business card). The paper has three layers of coloured crystals that are activated during the printing process by firing pulses of heat at the paper. This means that there are no ink cartridges to refill or replace, you just load it up with a 10 pack of paper and you’re ready to print.
The printer is Bluetooth enabled so photos from most camera phones can be sent directly to it, or you can print via USB from any PictBridge enabled camera or phone. Polaroid quote it as being able to print a photo in 60 seconds, this maybe the case via USB but using Bluetooth it will take longer. I did two test prints today, both from my N95-8GB using Bluetooth, the photo’s were 956KB and 983KB and both took just under 90 seconds to print. A break down of this time was roughly 40 seconds to send the photo to the printer, 15 seconds while the printer processes the data before it starts printing, 25 seconds to print the photo.
It can be powered from the mains or from the built in (replaceable) rechargable battery, a fully charged battery should be enough for 15 prints, I can’t confirm this though as I have only done 2 prints.
If you are wanting realistic prints like you would get from a full sized photo printer then the Pogo is not for you. If you want a small compact printer that fits into the back pocket of a pair of jeans and allows you to print out photos/stickers wherever you are and have a bit of fun then the Pogo is perfect. Of the two prints I have done so far the one of the pink flower is the best, it has near perfect colour reproduction and the clarity of detail is fantastic. The other one is not as good but it’s not poor either, the bread roll is a bit yellower than it should be but other than that the photo is fine.
As a fun little printer the Pogo is a fantastic device, I really hope that it takes of so that Polaroid will continue to develop the technology.
——–Update——–
I’ve now tested the battery life of the Pogo. Polaroid claim it will do 15 prints, from a full charge, I got 20 prints and the battery was still going. As I was using it away from a power source most of the time I didn’t want to risk the battery going flat on me while I was out so after the 20th print I recharged it. Even if the battery had died at that point it still exceeds Polaroids quoted number of prints by 25%.
Thanks for the impressions.
Could you take close up pictures of the flower print, maybe with a real print out (photo printer or whatever) next to it??
Also, how long does the battery last and how big is the power source?
Hi Marius
Unfortunately I go away on holiday tonight so I won’t have time to do any comparison photo’s or update my blog tonight. I’m at work at the moment and don’t have the power brick with me but I would estimate it’s roughly a similar size to the printer, slightly narrower and slightly deeper, so the over all volume is about the same.
As I’m keeping most of my paper (only got a 30 pack) for printing while on holiday I haven’t done enough prints to test the battery life, I’ll do this and post an update while I’m away.
The printing time is under 60 seconds! The 60 seconds does not include the sending time.
And it is 60 seconds. I sended a 7MPixel image from a Sony Vaio which was 3,9MB in size via Bluatooth. And it took minutes to send but exactly 20 secons (and that is what Polaroid quotes) to calculate and start the printing process.
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
The zink corporation poloroid photo print looks good and great because I like that working process.The image size should be 5X4 sizes..
could you tell me number on back of pogo battery. looking to buy a spare, thanks les.
The battery part number is 2ATL462849-ALP and its a 7.4V 450mAh
hola me gustaria saber donde se puede comprar un repuesto de bateria pogo ya que a mi se me descarga sola.
gracias from spain
I don’t speak Spanish so this reply has been done through Google Translate.
I don’t know of any stores that sell spare batteries but I have seen them appear on ebay from time to time.
Yo no hablo español así que esta respuesta se ha hecho a través de Google Translate.
Yo no sé de ningún tiendas que venden baterías de repuesto, pero los he visto aparecer en ebay de vez en cuando.
I have a POGO and I really like it. It really needs further development to become a useful tool, but it makes for a moderate amount of fun. I am curious if you know where to find extra batteries. Searching for the part number only brings up your blog :( It seems these batteries are only available if you purchase a new POGO. Any thoughts?
Hi Joel
Unfortunately I have no idea of anywhere that sells the spare batteries. I have however seen big sales on from time to time for the Pogo printer, some times as low as £20 new (I think that was play.com about 6 months ago) so if you are desperately in need of a new battery it might be easier to find a new cheap printer, an official battery bought separately if they were available would probably cost just as much as the whole unit has been sold for on sale.