Hands on with the Polaroid Instant Digital Camera

Desperate to try to replace the instant-developing film that made it famous with something for the digital age, Polaroid has finally launched a camera that snaps digital pics and gives you a printout within about a minute.

The Polaroid Instant Digital Camera is as big as its name (weighing 10 oz.), a clear first-generation product that will appeal to relatively few buyers, due to the generally poor quality of the prints.

The camera itself is a five megapixel model with a fixed focus lens (digital zoom only), and quality is about what you'd expect from something with such low-end specs. The focus here, of course, is fun, on-the-fly pictures, with a feature that lets you add goofy borders to your shots before you print them out.

Once they slide out of the printer slot (paper runs $4.99 for a 10-pack), picture quality is decidedly grim. The sample shot taken of me (at right) makes me look like Casper the Ghost (hey, even I'm not that pasty), and the color reproduction is dismal. It's probably fine if you're shooting pics as souvenirs for your four-year-old's birthday party, but anyone thinking they'll replace their standard digicam with this is going to be sorely disappointed.

The good news: The camera itself is only $199.

Here's hoping for a 2nd generation product that improves the quality!