The Polaroid GL10 Mobile Instant Printer
The GL10 (I’ve been fondly calling it the Polaprinter) was designed to be the center of attention at any party, and as a mechanism to easily print the images we’re all making everyday on our mobile phones, point-and-shoots, etc. Until you’ve actually handed one of your friends a print from their 21 run, from a 2am escapade on the dance floor, from the birthday bash, or last night’s dinner party, you might not get it. But from that point on, you will. These days a little print is a rare treat. Now we’ve finally got some photos to put back on the fridge rather than leaving them locked up in a thumb drive or on Facebook.
So the GL10 is great for all that, but since I’ve been able to talk rather openly about it since January…[hit 'continue reading for more images & links]…you know it’s been a fresh little workhorse for me. I created the first piece of fine art with this new printer back in January (which I’m proud to say immediately sold to a patron on the board at the Seattle Art Museum) and–more recently–it’s one of the tools I have been using it to print the ongoing Dasein: Invitation to Hang show here in NYC. She’s a worthy steed. And until you’ve printed bunches with her, you’ll have to take my word how nice it is to A) never have to futz with formatting a basic snapshot before hitting ‘print’; and B) never have to shell out bank for costly ink cartridges that ultimately just add to the landfills.
Here’s the nuts and bolts you wanna know about the GL10:
_it prints on 3×4 inch Zink (zero-ink) paper
_the Zink paper comes–in heritage Polaroid fashion–in packs of 10 sheets
_it prints in two formats: full bleed or with the traditional Polaroid frame
_it is USB and bluetooth enabled for printing from computer or mobile phone
_is battery operated OR can be plugged in
If you’re a tech-spec geek, you’ll want to check on the tech sites in forthcoming days for all the detailed info. You should know that there’s desktop software available AND mobile app software in the dev pipeline. Also, to date, Apple has still not released its Bluetooth API for printing, so sadly the iPhone doesn’t enjoy the benefits of other platforms for direct printing. I’m…ahem…banking all that gets worked out soon.
Wanna buy one? They’re available for pre-order now at Polaroid.com for $169.99 OR if you’re really jonesing for one: I’ve heard they will be on shelves this morning in limited quantities in an exclusive sneak peek at Bloomingdale’s on Lexington Ave here in NYC. They’re in the Mens Accessories section. GL10 availability at Bloomingdale’s isn’t being highlighted to general public until later this morning when they unveil some posh storefront windows displays (check those out tomorrow if you’re into that sort of stuff), but by then you’ll probably have gobbled all of the printers up anyway.
Set to be unveiled tomorrow here on Lexington Ave. But you found out today.
Updated: here’s a couple snapshots of the prints with my iphone. Obviously no technical analysis here, just to give you flavor.
so nice! How much is one pack of Zink paper for this printer? U know that?
Found this : The GL10 Instant Mobile Printer will be available in the US for $169.99 (MSRP). Thirty sheets of ZINK GL10 photo paper will retail in the US for $19.99 (MSRP).
0.66$ per 3″x4″ print.
I’ve been waiting for this bad boy!!!!!! AW YES!
This is seriously awesome and raises my heart-rate. Let the parties begin!
When you first presented it at the CES, you showed a short video featuring yourself…thats available on your youtube channel?
Abhi.
haven’t posted that… I think polaroid might have it. lemme get back to you.
Sure. Thanks.
Chase, did you know if it works well with the iPhone?
i print my iphone shots via bluetooth from my mac since–as i mention in the post–iphone not yet opened it’s api for print via bluetooth. i hope it’s coming soon.
Awe yeah.
Very cool – thanks for the heads-up! I may have to grab one of these once it hits stores nationwide.
How is the quality of the prints btw?
I don’t get it.. why not just use a polaroid camera?
@rebekah: these are to print digital prints outta your phone, p&s, etc. for those folks not lucky enough to have a polaroid camera or folks whose primary camera is…ahem…the one thats with them
What’s the difference between that and the Polaroid pogo?!
I wondered the same thing. Apparently the Pogo prints on 2×3 Zink paper ($13USD per 30 prints) that turn into stickers if you peel off the backing. The new GL10 prints on 3×4 Zink paper (reported to be $20USD per 30 prints). I found more information on Zink.com. Apparently it’s available in 4×6 as well (requires Pandigital device).
Ahh so it’s a bigger pogo. I have a pogo, but this looks better… so do the prints.
Any idea on when we can see more on the GL30 Camera?
i’ve played around with it. sexy. watch this space and you’ll be the first to know….again
I’m wondering if they improved the quality of the Zink paper, about a year and a half ago I bought the Polaroid Pogo which uses the same technology and made some prints (unfortunately the device got stolen as it was really cool) and hanged them on a wall, in the meantime they have curled badly and don’t look as nice as the day I printed them.
Any idea if the problem is still persistent?
In the post before this one I noticed that the prints on Ace Hotel wall look like they have serious curling problems, and was wondering about this too.
Chase, can you link a picture from a photo printed with the new Pola-printer? My Pogo has a real problem with the battery length and all the pictures show stripes on them.. and i’m wondering if it’s fixed with this bigger update.
no striping here. i’ve been keeping them plugged in since i’m printing such a high number. since those deets are my forte, check out one of the tech sites for spec info on exact battery life, tech specs, etc. Only think I know from experience is that it takes about 40 secs to print one image. no ink necessary – thermal printing.
I normally don’t enjoy blatant product placement, but this actually seems like a fantastic idea/product so it’s cool
Might consider getting one myself.
Seems to fit in really well with the snapshot project you’re working on!
Oh! i’ve been waiting for it badly. sad to hear that we cannot print drictly from the iphone!
Well its still little expensive.
Hey Bro,
I love your stuff as always. This blog post reads like an ad; so I would appreciate it if you would disclose if you have a financial arrangement with the company. Because if you don’t; that makes it very cool. But, if you do – then really – you should make that note.
hi james. I’ve had a disclosures page on my blog (sidebar) since long before it was the norm and a thanks to polaroid in that sidebar for same amount of time – on every page of my blog. as it says in that disclosure, i’m excited to have a relationship with lots of brands. I choose them carefully and only thumbs up things/brands that I actually dig. take that as you will. specifically as such, i’ve had a relationship with polaroid that’s been well publicized in the media for at least 6 months (just checked and there are 65,000 results on google for those combined search terms). hope that helps.
Chase, thanks for taking the time to read the comments – yeah I checked out your disclosures before I commented but I wasn’t aware of your relationship with Polaroid. If you feel it is more than sufficient then dump my comment; I don’t want to rain on the Polaroid parade. I’m a big fan of Edwin Land and all the good stuff that came from his work (or the modern derivatives).
i hate you for making me want one of these!
This is almost a win. Too bad the Bluetooth API for the iPhone isn’t working yet!
Hey Chase,
This looks brilliant! Just a quick question, will this be available worldwide? If so would it be at a later date? If not is there a way to get one without going through ebay etc? I’m from Australia and would love to get my hands on one of these.
Love your work, (You and the Dasein project feature heavily on my new blog
)
Benny
Chase,
Is this the type of paper that they used in the old SX-70 film? I miss being able to “Polapaint” by manipulating the emulsion.
Thanks for sharing this… added it to the must have list.
Terry
nope this is different stuff entirely. thermal printing, not chemical. you can’t play with emulsion, but since it’s heat sensitive, you can play with that with some cool results. I’ve been taking a lighter to some of them at a distance and getting cool color fields…
brilliant.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/576318-REG/Polaroid_AZA_03011B_PoGo_ZINK_Photo_Paper.html
Is this the correct paper we’d need?
I love the look of the new Polaroid printer! But I can’t find information on what comes in the box with the printer…unless I’m looking in the wrong place (entirely possible!)…
I have the pogo printer that they released a few years ago. Prints 2×3. Love it and prints are okay. I am truly interested in this one. Can’t wait to get one ordered. Thanks Chase for the info and review!
That pic of the legs looks kinda creepy stalker mobile phone cam upskirt attempt-ish.
por fin! pero cuando llegara a Mexico:/
That thing is almost as big as my old SX-70 Alpha. I miss my old polaroid camera. This doesn’t have the same charm, but I have really missed being able to give away instant prints, so it’s becoming an appealing substitute. I’ll watch this space.
I would think seriously about buying one of these if it has an SD card slot.
Got mine today from bloomings http://harrirauhanummi.tumblr.com/post/5897860802/polaroid-gl10-propably-the-first-in-finland
I have the Canon Selphy CP800 for proofing and fun shots it also has a small foot print but not as slim line as the Polaroid GL10. The CP800 produces excellent dye sublimation prints 4″x6″. $90USD for the printer and a 108 print – ribbon ink pack costs around $29-34USD, the average print cost is roughly 33 cents. It has a small built in screen and can work without a PC / Mac.
The battery pack and the bluetooth adapter are optional extras.
I find it kind of sad but I am looking forward to the new fake polaroid digital camera. fun!
The new look is great!
Chase,
This printer looks great, but the 3×4 paper doesn’t seem to have the adhesive in the back that the 2×3 paper has. There is no mention of it on the official site. Being able to stick these anywhere is part of the appeal.
Anyone else pick one of these up yet? Got mine yesterday and I gotta say that I’m a little disappointed with the prints. The design and functionality of the printer are way cool, but the color reproduction is pretty bad, especially with skin tones and reds. Chase, your prints in the gallery look pretty good (and retro)… I’m wondering if you desaturate them or do anything special before printing?
Hey Jan. Bizzare. Strange to hear that. You probably know this but you will need to do any retouching, color balance, styling etc before you hit print. All of the images I’m running thru it have seen some basic color work up – not just raw. (as in mine or other peoples images before they are sent to me). Same would be true for any printer… Generally Im getting really good “looks like ita supposed to” results. Perhaps your monitor is way outta whack?
Thanks Chase. I don’t think my monitor is that far off, but I’ll keep fiddling with my images and see if I get better prints. I’ll be curious to see what kind of results others get as well.
Btw, lots of cool stuff on the blog, thanks for always sharing your insights!
this is so nice, I can’t wait to get one this. the photos very looks like the old Polaroid photo.
so good invention!
hi chase I went to Bloomingdale today, I got the printer but no the paper, do you know any place have it. thx
Im really enjoying my GL10 but the pack of 10 ZINK papers was fast consumed. Do you have any idea when the papers come available for order?
Hey Chase,
Thanks for sharing your insights. I recently purchased this little printer and was able to pair with my MacBook Pro but could not get any further. There is not a lot on the internet about support or software for this mobile printer. Could you shed some light on how exactly you print, what program you use and where to get it? Thank you so much.
Cheers!
Great post man!
There is a information that so good to know!
Sounds very interesting. Would it be sold in Canadian stores?
Nice article and so very interesting ! Thank you for good information.
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually realize what you’re speaking about! Bookmarked. Kindly also visit my site =). We could have a link exchange agreement between us!
there is an interesting blog post that explains all the annoying issues you can have using this Polaprint device here http://superfamicomtastic.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/polaroid-gl10-failure-review/
just for all of us to know “that glittering may not always be gold”.
A disclaimer here, I have not a Polaprint to test it !!!