Thanks to the latest invention of Polaroid company, you can now print physical copies of your favorite digital photos in a matter of minutes with the “Polaroid lab.” 

According to TechCrunch:

It’s a $129 tower that uses the light from your phone’s screen, bounced off a series of mirrors, to make a proper Polaroid from the photos you’ve already taken.

Open your photo in Polaroid’s companion app, place your phone (any iPhone after the 6S, and ‘current models of Samsung, Huawei, Google Pixel, and One Plus’ Android handsets) on top of the tower, and push the red button. A few seconds later, out pops a grey Polaroid. Did it work? You’ll have to wait a few minutes for it to develop, just like the good (?) ol’ days.

For the cool kids or the fool kids? 

On the one hand, this easy digital-to-physical converter is awfully convenient, and looks pretty slick to boot. Consider how frequently home printers tend to run out of ink – and often at the most inopportune times possible, it seems. The idea of having all you need to instantly print photos in one device is enticing. 

But it’s hard to not feel like the gadget isn’t simply rehash with a non-solution on top, dressed up as innovation. Miss your Polaroid camera? We’ll help you solve a problem you didn’t know you had! And don’t forget the price: in addition to that initial steep price tag, the I-Type and 600 series film required by the Polaroid lab will wind up costing you at least a dollar or two for each photo.

When is it available?

For those of you tempted by this pricey apparatus, you’ll have to wait until October 10 before you can get your hands on it. To others, it may appear to be yet another iteration of the lucrative business to which we market analysts assign the technical term recycling.