Polaroid PoGo CZA-10011B > Reviews (5)

The printer itself is small, sleek and stylish, featuring a smooth black case and metallic lettering. It looks and feels like a modern, contemporary product.

The Media Paper onto which the photographs are printed out has what is known as Zero Ink (ZINK) technology. As the name suggests, this means that the printer does not require ink cartridges or anything similar, as all of the colours required are generated by the paper itself. This technology works by heating special dye crystals that are embedded within the paper in order to create different colours. The photographs are dry and waterproof once they have passed out of the machine (so you don’t need to worry about the colours being smeared or anything like that).

Another neat feature of the Media Paper is that every single photograph you print out is sticky-backed, meaning that you can easily stick the photographs into albums or onto walls or any other suitable surface. This is a feature that I believe makes this product a particularly suitable gift for children.

The portable nature of this product is quite remarkable. It markets itself as ‘the world’s smallest digital portable photo printer’, and it certainly lives up to this. You don’t need to hook it up to a computer to print off photographs – you can attach your digital camera directly via USB, and there is even the option of printing off photographs wirelessly – using the Bluetooth function of your mobile phone. It is lightweight and portable, and has a rechargeable battery so it doesn’t need to be hooked up to the mains in order to work. It is an ideal product for printing photographs on the move.

The product itself is incredibly simple to use; my younger cousins found little difficulty in hooking up their cameras and printing off various snaps. This definitely is a child-friendly gadget.

One of the major disadvantages of the Polaroid PoGo is that it only has the ability to print pictures in a very small size (currently 2 x 3 inches), however this is something that could be improved in future models of the product. They do make great photos to include in wallets/purses, but this is still one of the key limitations of the product.

A further disadvantage is the fact that the Media Paper that the printer uses is quite expensive, meaning that this is a product that should not be used to print out an entire photo collection, but is one that should be used sparingly to showcase the best of the user’s photographic talents.

The product is clearly not designed to produce professional quality photos, so it is important to bear that in mind before you buy. Aside from the fact that the photographs are very small (as already mentioned), often the colours produced are not wholly accurate (a number of my photos turned out looking quite dark).

The length of time it takes to print photographs is also longer than I would expect. It takes around a minute to print off most pictures, and being used to the fast speeds of modern printers, I found that this took a lot of getting used to.

However it is important to bear in mind the restrictions of this innovative technology, and the convenience of not having to replace ink cartridges must come at a cost. It is up to you to decide whether it is worth it.

If you are the sort of person who loves to own the latest gadgets and technology, then you could do a lot worse than the Polaroid PoGo. It is a clever, innovative product that would be great for kids, but unfortunately it cannot replicate the quality of more expensive photo printers.