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Engadget Daily: LittleBits unveils BitLab, hands-on with the Socialmatic camera and more!
Today at Photokina 2014, we go hands-on with the oddly shaped Polaroid Socialmatic, and well, a lot of seriously expensive Leica shooters. But that's not all -- read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Polaroid's real-life Instagram logo camera can also print your photos
When we first saw Polaroid's Socialmatic camera, the obvious conclusion to make was that the company had simply decided to turn the Instagram logo into a device. Of course, given that the social network's logo was based on Polaroid's device designs, it's a surreal case of pop culture eating itself. Polaroid's jumping on the bandwagon of connected cameras - devices that straddle the line between point-and-shoot snapper and smartphone, but there's one small tweak that'll see this hardware stand out against the Lumix CM1 and Lumia 1020: this one's also got an old-school photo printer tucked inside.
Polaroid's Socialmatic camera to fuse retro style, instant prints and Android this fall
Last we heard of Polaroid's Socialmatic camera, which promises to bring back instant prints with a modern flair, it was bound for store shelves in the first quarter of 2014. Here at CES, the firm's announced that the hardware is cruising for a fall release now that it's finalized the necessary legal agreements to make it a reality. For those in need of a refresher, the device runs Android to make sharing images a snap and packs a 14-megapixel cam on its front, a 2-megapixel rear-facing sensor, 4GB of storage with expansion via microSD, a 4.5-inch touchscreen and built-in WiFi. Zink's ink-free paper will do the heavy lifting when it comes to printing photos, so any vintage film can stay stowed in your closet. Polaroid's Socialmatic shooter is out in the wilds of the CES floor, so stay tuned for a hands-on.
Socialmatic camera priced at $300, channels Sting for marketing tagline
Polaroid's second chance has a price, and it's $299. At that amount though, it's hard to tell how much the novelty of instant-printing is worth in comparison to less kitschy and more capable options. What's more, Socialmatic is confirmed to ship with Android. Just imagine what a sepia-tinged faded print will look like six months on. [Thanks, Christian]
Polaroid to make Socialmatic Camera a reality for fans of Instagram, recursion
Instagram owes its distinctive identity to Polaroid's OneStep cameras; it's now time to return the favor. Socialmatic has signed a deal for a production, Polaroid-branded version of its 2012 Socialmatic Camera concept you see above, which translates the mobile app's retro icon to a real-world, instant-print shooter. While technical details are scarce, the agreement will see accessory maker C&A Marketing build and sell the design sometime in the first quarter of 2014. If the finished Polaroid work is anything like the concept, it could be more than a novelty with its interchangeable lens system, 4.3-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth, WiFi and 16GB of storage. We don't know if the camera will ship with Android, but we hope it does -- there would be an appropriately Xzibit-like aspect to running Instagram on top of an Instagram-shaped camera.
