I was wandering around one of the many halls at IFA over the weekend when something caught my eye — the Polaroid booth. There was something there that surprised. Something I had never seen before…
A suite of Polaroid smart phones. And they have been around since 2015.
Who knows what I was distracted by during Mobile World Congress three years ago, but I definitely missed this camera manufacturer moving into the smart phone space.
But perhaps I shouldn’t be overly surprised, because they don’t seem to be available in Australia. In fact, its difficult to dig up substantial information on them at all.
Both the previous generations and the ones I units I saw at IFA are clearly being marketed as budget smart phones, some of which are unlocked and referred to as Polaroid LINK.
The Poloroid LINK phones offer users the freedom to choose any carrier they want without being locked into a plan or contract. They can also be used with pre-existing SIMs.
Being budget phones, the specs exist on the lower end of the smart phone spectrum. And this may be perfectly fine for someone who is after the basic functionality of a smart phone without the additional bells and whistles. They’re reminiscent of the likes of Alcatel and the cheaper new Nokia phones.
I couldn’t find these models on the Polaroid website.
Interestingly, the ones that are on the site out to Amazon when you click on the ‘buy’ button. And at the time of writing they’re all unavailable.
So while this is all a bit odd, and you’d have to jump through some hoops to get one in Australia anyway, it’s at least nice to know that Polaroid is out there trying to make its smart phones happen.