Panasonic introduces standalone paperless fax machine

Standalone fax machines may have long ago lost the momentum game to multi-function devices, but it looks like Panasonic is doing its best to pry things back away from the printer and scanner, with its new PW608DL offering one stand-out feature that's sure to attract a bit of attention: paperless faxing. Apparently, you can either send faxes cellphone-style using the machine's built-in keypad, or send documents stored on an SD card (but not a USB drive, it seems). Any faxes received are simply displayed on the device's 3.9-inch LCD and, yes, they can be printed out as well. Unfortunately, it looks like this wonder of technology is exclusive to Japan for the foreseeable future -- please try not to be too envious.

[Via Tech Digest]

[Boarderwoot @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:48PM]

I email PDFs and they accomplish the same thing, they can even be printed out!!!11!!

[216 @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:49PM]

LIES

[npChaos @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:50PM]

Simply oversight, your PDF's can't print themselves...

[coffee @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:52PM]

what are you, some sort of Wizard?

[Flashpoint @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:51PM]

Fax machines should have died by now. Email was suppossed to kill it dead.

I can't think of any message method more inneficient.

[loosely_coupled @ Jan 2nd 2009 10:05PM]

eFax.com ... best solution by far..

[PyRo1509 @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:51PM]

was this hiding in someones closet since 95?

They going to release a new HiFi cassette tape too?

[tom @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:53PM]

I don't know what world do you live in, fax machines are still used extensively in the business world.

[Boarderwoot @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:02PM]

@tom

The only thing my architecture firm uses faxes for is to recieve all the pathetic resumes from potential employees. It's extremely inefficient and one more expense we really could get by perfectly fine without.

[Electromodo @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:20PM]

For all of you guys who thinks fax is dead. I had to send 2 faxes to my bank and 1 fax to book a camping site in December. They did not have a email-PDF option for that type of papers and their timeline was the following: 3 days for fax, 10 days for ordinary mail (+time to send a response).

And if I said "heck with fax, I will wait for USPS mail", then I would be fined by IRS in the first case, and would get my money 7 days later in another. Sure, I went to Kinko's and paid $6 to send faxes.

Why many organizations don't accept PDF as an alternative to fax is beyond me. But this is a reality.

I was thinking of efax.com, but they want $15 monthly, no, thank you. It's cheaper for me in Kinko's.

[jinsei888 @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:26PM]

@electromodo

Do your taxes earlier next time. People should put responsibility over technology, the fax should and will die

[Boarderwoot @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:32PM]

@electromodo,

I give you props for camping in december, that takes some hairy balls.

[KilgoreTrout @ Jan 2nd 2009 6:15PM]

No matter what, NOBODY needs a fax machine anymore if he's got a pc.
And that's even if he has to send a fax to some silly office of organization that insists on using a deceased instrument.
All modern PC's can send and receive faxes ( at least those using XP or Vista) and even if you don't have a phone landline (xp's and vista's fax app will not work on a broadband only connection) you can use one of the dozens fax servicesavailable online.
I have sent faxes (cartaceus kind) from my netbook while laying on the beach using Pam fax , which is just one of the fax apps offered to Skype users, every Voip provider has at least a fax app, and even if you don't use Voip the possibilities abound.
I gave away my fax machine nearly 2 years ago and never missed it once.
Apparently I'm not the only one: A big electronics store in my town is selling an Olivetti FAX/telephone/telephone-answer/modem combo ,for the equvalent of 11 USD (original price last september was 45 $)

[Garst @ Jan 3rd 2009 2:22AM]

@KilgoreTrout
That is not true. My PC does not have a modem in it. That was kind of an oversight when I built it. But I have an all-in-one printer that works great. No, it's not a standalone and cost a little bit more than the 3-in-1 option, but completely worth it. Mainly, because it also pulls quintuple duty as a caller ID unit for the phone it's next to, because the CID is out on the phone.

[Wwhat @ Jan 3rd 2009 6:13AM]

Hey Electromodo, you can say hell you know, even the FCC approves.

[dcar85 @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:53PM]

Way to not provide USB connectivity to your PC ... I definitely want to download the doc to a SD card and then mess around with the card on the faxing machine.

Ridiculous.

[htd @ Jan 2nd 2009 3:53PM]

fax to email service like http://www.efax.com/

[pablo_paul @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:01PM]

I love the Japanese they try to keep dead technologies alive well after the sell by date. How often do you send faxes i sent one last year from memory.

[bjsguess @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:01PM]

What's a fax?

[PyRo1509 @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:09PM]

Freaking Agonizing eXperience

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:06PM]

Fax has been outdated for over 10 years.

Every time I send a fax at 14,400 baud I want to spit. Why don't fax machines support sending faxes over the internet?

Hey, don't look like I just said something incredibly stupid. If I had my way, I wouldn't ever send another fax again. But when some place wants me to send one to them, I'd rather be able to send it over the internet at 500kbits/sec with feedback instead of 14,400 baud half-duplex!

[zimstlyes @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:44PM]

Our fax machines can send faxes over the internet or via dial out. The internet fax gateway using protocol H323 I believe.

so umm yeah.

[Jim Nichols @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:08PM]

Faxes are NOT dead, we still get and send many per day where I work. What gets me is the client sends an e-mail with their ad copy yet wants their proof faxed to them. Computers are still too advanced for many of these clients.

[electron @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:14PM]

whats a fax machine?

[Wwhat @ Jan 3rd 2009 6:11AM]

Find a fax faq friend

[Spencer @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:17PM]

I wonder if it will use E Ink?

[BigTeebo @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:26PM]

I would be happy with a straightforward fax machine that doesn't "store" a fax when I want to send it now, only to find out 3 days later I get a printout in my box that the fax didn't go through. Any time I had to send a fax(since corporations think it is the be-all end all authentication mechanism), it has been one random problem after another. It's 2008 already.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:29PM]

It's more like 2009, Teebo....

[wickliffe @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:36PM]

We have a fax machine built into our printer and everything's electronic. We can scan stuff and send it to a network share or e-mail address. The whole paper fax thing is just a moot point. This machine is a bust because of the SD requirement and the screen being the only thing to read faxes on. That's ridiculous.

[LapsedUnitarian @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:38PM]

The office fax machine is near my desk. We seldom send any, sometimes receive one, but mostly we get junk faxes -- it would be great to glance at a little screen, see another "Affordable Health Insurance" offer, and just delete it.

[Darkroom @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:05PM]

no no... fax is suppose to die out... no no... don't do this...

[DaveyNC @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:25PM]

Sorry, the fax still has it's uses out here in the sticks. If this little gadget could capture a fax, and deliver a PDF via USB to your desktop, that would be excellent. Most of the multi page scanners that are out there cost much more than a fax, so when I need to scan more than 2 pages, I just fax it to my e-fax. But then, quality isn't a big issue for 99% of the documents that I work with.

If anybody knows of a good, cheap multi-page scanner, I'd like to know about it.

[Kai @ Jan 3rd 2009 2:36AM]

Couldn't you just buy one of the cheap multi-function devices (look for one with a sheet feeder though)...

Anyway any of these devices can actually connect to the computer to forward faxes from the device to the computer electronically, and send faxes from the computer through the device's phone connection. It may cost more than a fax... but it can print, copy, scan and fax!

[Don McCuiston @ Jan 4th 2009 3:27PM]

Some of what you want already exists in the Sharp UX-B800SE and UX-D1200 Broadband Fax machines. The devices get mixed reviews because of initial installation difficulties. I installed one for computer illiterate relatives and it does the trick. These puppies are the easiest means to create PDFs for home users. Combine Faxaway with one of the broadband fax machines and you don't need a landline.

[design natin @ Jan 2nd 2009 6:52PM]

Who killed the fax? hehe

[Alex Keen @ Jan 2nd 2009 7:20PM]

Fax machines are still used as one of the only ways to send official documents because you know an original is on the other end.

[cwj @ Jan 2nd 2009 7:38PM]

This only available in Japan only, right? Maybe there's a market for it there? Internet access is still not ubiquitous. Seems to me it could be useful for a rural field office somewhere in the world.

Calm down. You don't have to buy it.

[tone @ Jan 2nd 2009 8:22PM]

When I set up my business I didn't bother with a fax, however you would be surprised how many of my clients couldn't believe I didn't have a fax, I had no option but to get one or lose business, yes sadly they are still used a lot in business and I don't think that's going to change for a while to come, there are still generations out there that don't use email that much.

[Marc @ Jan 2nd 2009 9:23PM]

After many good years with a HP LaserJet 5MP, I forked-up the coin and got the Brother MFC-9840CDW color laser printer, copier, scanner, and fax machine with (inhale) .....Ethernet, USB 2.0, 802.11b/g wireless, PictBridge, 50-page ADF, duplexing, 21ppm (Black&Color), Windows/Mac drivers, PC Fax Send / Receive, I-Fax, Corporate Address Book (LDAP)... 83.2 lbs. of goodness...yeah, I gained another inch or two....ahhhhhh.

[Wwhat @ Jan 3rd 2009 6:11AM]

You could have condensed that with 'wifi&fax'

[Minilap @ Jan 2nd 2009 9:24PM]

It should have had WIFI.

[tekdroid @ Jan 2nd 2009 10:23PM]

Products like this are released because there's a market out there. We are talking about big companies doing business with fax and it's gonna take a LOT for them to change their 'systems'. This is what makes people have to still use (and buy) these things. That and the security aspect.

I think they're costly, wasteful, slow and horrendous, but try to convince some companies to switch the way they've done business for years; it isn't going to happen overnight (or in 10 years for many of these guys, for that matter).

[Wwhat @ Jan 3rd 2009 6:09AM]

Yeah big companies never release silly outdated or pointless devices that nobody buys, not ever, no way.

[tekdroid @ Jan 4th 2009 6:41AM]

Wwhat @ Jan 3rd 2009 6:09AM
Yeah big companies never release silly outdated or pointless devices that nobody buys, not ever, no way.
----------
Ah, confusion. You mis-interpret. Big companies meaning customers of Panasonic, in this instance. ie. the people buying their products. I can speak from first-hand experience just how 'backward' some companies are regarding their methods of accepting purchases, etc. In a past life not too long ago, I dealt with several companies 'stuck in their ways'.

In more recent times, an issue with PayPal made them *insist* I fax them bank statements. They had no means to accept attachments, they told me.

I was like "whaaaa..."?
Faxing hell, indeed ;)

[Cargo Jack @ Jan 2nd 2009 10:36PM]

I have a Brother MFC series machine that plugs in to my WiFi router.
You can send FAXes directly from Word or OpenOffice.
That Panasonic machine really does not even have a niche to fit in to.
I wish though that I had a fax that adheres to that Internet protocol.
The only time I ever FAX anything is when it is a CV for a job.

[Terry Thomas @ Jan 3rd 2009 4:56AM]

Faxing is still popular in the Far East due to the many languages which use non-English letters.

It's easier for them to send documents that are translated on the other end.

Plus as mentioned, you have a legal copy of a document that exists elsewhere.

I use faxes myself to send invoices to my clients as a backup to the ones I send via email. With two different technologies being used a client can not say they never received my invoices.

Terry Thomas...
the photographer
Atlanta, Georgia USA

[Wwhat @ Jan 3rd 2009 6:07AM]

The whole point of FAX is to have a quick no-frills hardcopy from a standalone device, the paper and no computers needed is what keeps fax usable .