Product ReviewsPolaroid i-Zone Webster Handheld Scanner

Fun, Cheap, Not-To-Practical Toy

OK gang, so you'd love to have a practical use to justify a toy-type purchase? Well, with a little stretch, here is one: Old photo zoom head shot gizmo (alias: Polaroid i-Zone Webster Scanner). Since my wifey and I upgraded our 6 year old fold-out cellies to those new-fangled Smarties, we were supposed to have transferred over all internal pics before decommissioning them. I always save photo shots to my phone's SD micro disk, but Wifo's basic clamshell had no such provision. Thus, we didn't get her's out in time. (Oh, I know - let the techies in the cell store do it for us, but she objected to the couple of nudies I snuck on her dashing out of the shower...go figger.) Saw this item and thought "Last Chance". I also envisioned I could transfer over all my old 35mm negatives and slides as they are about the same size as one of those iZone instant prints it was actually supposed to scan in the first place. That turned out to be much of a headache without a light box to evenly illuminate those pesky darker shots I took (and there are many...sigh). Worked OK with the phone pics on her tiny display because they are backlit, but watch out for some of the brighter ones being overbaked because of the scanner's own light source annihilating the sandwiched images into unrecognizable stuff. Instead, and here's the kicker that makes it all happen, grab the print of Auntie Martha off in the background of the picture your parents took of you and your cousins fighting over who's going first into the cold water while standing next to the above ground pool (circa 1978). Hover the handheld contraption around her face and scan that puppy into your 'puter. Then when she comes over next time (assuming she's not incapacitated or dead), you simply flick on the monitor and exclaim "See how young you used to look!". Don't forget to run like hell after her eyes cross and before she rises out of the rocking chair.

Well, enough of that nonsense. Here's some things that you might find more useful. Don't forget that the scanned images are in 320x240. In today's terms, that's Way Tiny. Important! the connection on the end of the scanner is a FEMALE RS-232 serial plug. You will need an older type computer in all probability to be able to hook it up. A VIDEO serial hookup WON'T WORK! The counter will flash from 20 on down to zero. It remains steady when you press the button for several seconds (I believe that is when it is actually scanning, however I'm not 100% sure about that). You must delete the photos after downloading them if you want to scan more as there is no external memory like SD cards and such. You do that with a button on the software's main screen. I've downloaded the software that comes with it (and has the basic drivers on it) to an XP operating system. I've had no problems even though it's really set up for Win95. I suppose you can reset the computer to accept the drivers by way of the Control Panel, but I didn't have to go that route. The software is basic, but it worked for me. Hey folks, this is one fun little geeky toy...for awhile anyway! (Did I mention you can blow up Auntie Martha's face? LOL!)Read full review...