Phone Phun Stuff

Here's a little product that was lurking on the sales floor this morning in CE - the Kii Pix instant printer. It is the sort of device that is somewhat practical ad totally fun. And it will sit and fit with a lot more people than you'd imagine. The mobile phone - or smartphone, if you come from a part of the world where phones are more intelligent than their owners - contains a lot more of the imagery of the world than the average camera. It certainly contains more of the personal history - once the call records are subpoenaed...but it is rare that it ever leaves the casing. People do walkabout snapping with them, and showing them to others by flipping through the list ( Just let me go through 430 more shots and I'm sure the one you want to see will be there...maybe...). But it is rare to have mobile phone shots in prints in your hand. Enter the Kii Pix. It is a combination of an Instax camera body and a folding stand for your mobile phone. It essentially re-photographs whatever is on the screen at the time and runs it out on Fujifilm Instax pack film as a small print. Here's the thing folded. Now it comes open. Pop your mobile phone with the image you want printed onto the top of the frame. The little reflective rectangle you see on the bottom plate of the Kii Pix is to let you see that you've got the phone positioned squarely. The operating lever is the small tab you see at the front. When you shoot it, you then use the grey winding knob to squeeze out the Instax print. Loading the thing is easy - Instax packs only go in one way. This is going to burn up a bit of money with the Instax cartridges, but it will deliver a durable instant ( 90 seconds) print of anything on your phone screen. Given that phones go Phut! on a regular basis and some of your most treasured memories can be on them when they die...or get pinched...wouldn't it be a good idea to draw off some of those images in a hard copy while you can? Fujifilm instant prints are good and colourful and last for decades. I've got a fishbowl full of them in my studio from the old film days when they served as test shots. I threaten the models with them.