TakaraTomy Xiao Digital Camera with Printer

Doesn't it just make sense to combine a portable printer into a digital camera? We thought so too.

Now that Polaroid cameras have all but disappeared from store shelves, film for them has reached the price of dirt in Waterworld, and digital quality makes their prints look downright awful, what’s the instant photo lover to do? Grab a TakaraTomy Xiao, of course.

Much like the Polaroid PoGo printer we looked at back in June, the Xiao uses zero ink technology, or Zink, which produces photos from dye crystals embedded in paper. Quite unlike the PoGo, the Xiao has no need for an external camera or phone to print pictures from – everything you need to make memories on the spot has been rolled into one device.

Image Courtesy of TakaraTomy

The Xiao’s Flip-Video-like form factor features a 5-megapixel camera sensor in the top corner, a 2.48-inch LCD for previewing photos on the back, and a slot on the bottom that the finished product slides out from: a two by three inch print. Specs on the camera are modest – it only has 16MB of internal memory – but there’s room for expansion up to 4GB with an SD card, and with a printer built right in, the number of photos you take is only limited by the amount of paper you carry. The hopper in the camera holds 20 sheets.

Right now, the Xiao is only technically available in Japan, but anxious U.S. customers can pick up imported models for $500 through AudioCubes. More information for fluent Japanese speakers can be found on TakaraTomy’s Web site, or for those more inclined to English, on the translated version of the company’s press release.