The dizzying growth of the smartphone market has contributed to the spread of the digital photography, but just like any other technological advances, it has been done with compromises. And one of them is the death of good old printed pictures. I think you’ll agree with me that there’s no way for a digital picture to have the same impact as a physical one that you can hold in your hand.
And this is the philosophy behind Prynt, a new startup that is currently seeking crowdfunding on Kickstarter. To put it as short as possible, Prynt is described as the world’s first instant camera case for smartphones. But before you get too excited, at the moment it will work only with the iPhone 5/5s/5c/6 and the Samsung Galaxy S4/S5. But the team behind Prynt says they are working to bring support to more smartphones.
If you are familiar with Polaroid cameras, then this will seem very simple to operate. You just plug the smartphone into the case, snap or take an existent picture and then just print! The device comes with its own battery, works offline, doesn’t require a Bluetooth connection and even no ink. It is available in white, pink or blue colors and currently sells for a limited price of $99.
A drawback is that each case holds only 10 sheets of paper, but refills are available through the app, making this task quite easy. You can get one pack of photos containing 10 sheets with each Prynt Case reward on Kickstarter. Also, for every $25 you add to your pledge, you will get 50 extra sheets.
But printing pictures isn’t the single thing this useful gadget can make. When you are posing for a photo, the app records a short video and stores it in the cloud. So, when you will hold your phone over the printed image, the app will automatically scan and recognize it, showing a short movie on screen in augmented reality.