Instant prints have remained popular, especially among young people, with instant cameras, printers, and film continuing to sell well among certain demographics. Problem is, those costs add up, with a 20-sheet pack of Instax Mini film, for instance, costing $29.99. If you enjoy the physical aesthetics of instant print, but wary about the recurring costs, you might want to check out the VidaBay Snap.
No, it’s not an actual instant print. Instead, it’s a picture frame and fridge magnet with an e-paper display that’s designed to resemble the appearance of instant prints. Since it’s e-paper (just like our favorite e-readers), you can update it multiple times as needed, all while permanently displaying whatever image you put on it without needing to be charged, since it doesn’t use any kind of lighting.
The VidaBay Snap is a slim e-paper device that sized and styled to look like a standard Polaroid print or any of its modern counterparts. Except, it’s not made from paper or cardboard, instead being clad in a plastic housing while sporting a small E-Ink Spectra 3100 display out front. To the unfamiliar, this is an e-paper display that uses a quartet of colored particles (black, yellow, red, and white) to create highly-saturated, high-contrast images. That’s right, it can only reproduce four different hues, so you won’t be able to show off your photographs as vibrant full-color visuals. Still, looking at the images, it looks really nice for something that’s very limited.
Designed to be stuck onto fridges, it has magnets in the back that let you simply snap it on and off the fridge door and any other ferromagnetic surfaces. You can, of course, also set it down upright on a shelf or desk surface, although you’ll need to figure out a way to prop it up (like using a phone stand or something similar).
The VidaBay Snap doesn’t have any buttons or controls right on the device. Instead, it’s designed to work with a companion app, so you simply pair your phone with the device to access it from there. From the app, you can change photos, add filters, add overlays, and even add effects. Once you’ve settled on a final image you want to appear on the E-Ink panel, you simply tap it with your phone, which will transfer the image via NFC. According to the outfit, the e-paper device itself doesn’t require any power source (it has no batteries), as it can take enough power from the NFC transaction to update the image, which is all it needs to do a screen refresh. It’s pretty convenient.
The picture frame comes in four different colors for the housing, namely red, yellow, white, and black, which are the same colors it can display onscreen. Will there be a more advanced version with wider color support? We don’t know, since they seem to be prioritizing the ability to function without an integrated battery, since that makes it way more convenient and affordable.
The VidaBay Snap is available in packs of three for $88.99 and individually for $30.99.
