Tomy beats Polaroid in digital instant photography race

Leonard Goh | Nov 07, 2008

The XIAO TIP-521 has a built-in printer utilizing Zink's technology. Picture credit: Tomy Takara

Japanese toy maker Tomy Takara has beaten Polaroid to manufacture a camera with a built-in printer. The XIAO TIP-521 utilizes Zink's inkless printing technology to replicate what Polaroid has done with its instant film shooters.

The TIP-521 houses a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor, and the internal paper tray can accommodate approximately 20 pieces of 2- x 3-inch photo paper. Printing a borderless photograph will take about 1 minute, and the digital file is stored in the 16MB internal memory or on an SD/SDHC card. This is unlike traditional instant photography where only one copy of the picture is made.

Tentatively, it will only be available only in Japan from end November. Pricing wasn't announced, but I'm pretty sure it won't be cheap. Personally, I'd rather wait for Polaroid's version, which the US company said will be unveiled next year.

Filed under: Digital Cameras
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Guwahati

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Guwahati says...
Cute gadgets....and sizewise looks handy too...hopefully price issues are taken care of....

Nov 08, 2008 21:22

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rigelstuff

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rigelstuff says...
This is quite neat.

If the tech becomes polished enough later on, it might make its way down to kid's toys (have you seen those kid tough digicams??? Wish we had them when I was a kid), I'll be first in line to get if for my sons ;-)

Nov 11, 2008 14:35

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