Tuesday night’s CES Unveiled press event never disappoints when it comes to unique — and bizarre — new gadgets. One contender might be the Samsung-funded Korean startup Mangoslab, which demoed its inkless printer Nemonic for attendees. Its target? The traditional adhesive note when it launches in spring 2017.
Nemonic features a notetaking app which you jot down and organize handwritten or finger-drawn notes. But Mangoslab wants to take it a step further by including a companion printer to print these notes and stick them anywhere just like a traditional Post-it note. This way you’re not losing that analog feel of a handwritten note.
That comparison isn’t lost on Mangoslab. The printer’s design is reminiscent of the shape and size of a stack of adhesive notes and is designed to sit on your desk just the same. It wirelessly connects to your phone and the Nemonic app to print those notes out. The technology behind it? Good ol’ thermal printing.
Don’t worry about spending too much — at least on the paper. Mangoslab’s thermal note paper will cost about the same as the traditional adhesive note. The printer itself though will cost between $100 and $120 when it goes on sale. If that is a little steep for you, we tend to agree, but the company tries to justify the cost with a few added features.
A template gallery gives you options to start your notes on templates — perhaps a calendar for those notes on upcoming meetings, or print out QR codes, word bubbles, or grocery lists. Although it’s in black and white, the Nemonic app can also print out photos as well. The notes should last about three to five years, Mangoslab says.
Regardless of what you print, though, none of it requires ink or toner, and each printout — even the photos — pop out of the printer in less than five seconds. That is pretty impressive, even if the device itself is a bit kitschy.
The company is a spinoff of Samsung’s C-Lab. The Korean electronic company first launched the startup incubator last May, devoting a portion of its office space at Samsung headquarters to up-and-coming ideas. Samsung provides all the tools necessary to get them going and monetary funding too. Mangoslab is one of the first companies to show off its work since C-Lab’s opening.
