Prynt wants to help us all get more from our smartphone cameras by adding an innovative attachable phone case that allows our phones to immediately print the images we just captured without having to send them away for processing.
If it works as described, it could be very cool.
Right now, Prynt, which the company calls the “next-generation of instant cameras,” has big hopes from its inventors and marketers at the Paris-based company. They essentially see it as a modern-day version of the Polaroid instant cameras that were popular in the 1960s and are still beloved by a dedicated group of enthusiasts today.
But in January 2015, when the company expects to begin its Kickstarter campaign to raise funds and excitement for the project, we’ll begin to see whether this cool idea gets off the ground and whether Prynt can essentially reinvent instant photo printing for a new generation.
Early test models have been built and used by the company, but none are yet ready for product reviews, wrote Clement Perrot, CEO of Prynt, in an email exchange with eWEEK.
Prynt is a smartphone case that prints out pictures instantly, according to Perrot. Users wrap the cases around their smartphones through a built-in connector and the phone transmits images to the case and prints them on special paper.
So where did the idea come from for the Prynt case?
“We are huge fans of Polaroid, and we wanted to make that unique and magical experience more accessible,” wrote Perrot. “Bringing it to the smartphone was the idea, and the case our solution.”
The project was inspired when friends at a party were using a Polaroid camera, he wrote. “This was so amazing to see that everybody actually cared to be in every picture when other digital pictures were boring.”
So far, Prynt has designed cases for both iPhone 5 and 6 handsets, as well as Android Galaxy S4 and S5 phones.
And this is just the beginning, said Perrot. “There is more to come. We really want to bring instant photography to the 21st century, and have great ideas for that.”
My dad, Irwin, was a huge fan of his Polaroid Land Camera 104. He used it to capture thousands of images of friends and family as I was growing up, giving us all the amazing feeling of instantly being able to see a photographic image in minutes.
I can’t wait to try one of these cases around my Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. This could be the start of a revolution in smartphone photography, if it works as advertised, of course.