This week's round-up of the best gadgets
Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera
Paper is the new Jpeg, as we all realise we actually like to hold a photo in our hands occasionally. There’s an increasingly appealing novelty to flicking through snaps or being able to stick a moment captured up on a noticeboard. Polaroid, masters of the instant image, have been nibbling at the edges of the problem, but at last have produced a camera with old-school styling and bang-up brains. You frame on a proper LCD screen, snap and out pops the standard Polaroid 3 x 4 inch shot courtesy of their Zink heat-activated printing. You don’t have to go instant; it will store images like any regular digital camera, buy why bother? The quality is as softly familiar as the styling, but that’s half the charm of instant gratification.
Polaroid Z340 €284.99 from camera.ie
Shirt Shuttle
The cycling commuter used be something of an outlier, as rare as someone who might be growing their own vegetables in the back garden or sorting out their waste for recycling. And regarded with about the same degree of suspicion. Here’s an idea to keep the biking masters of the universe looking the part post-pedal. The Shirt Shuttle is purpose-designed to keep your shirt as crisply laundered as the moment the iron left it.
The trick is a folding board inside that helps keep the collar’s stiffness. You simply fold the shirt around it, then zip it into the laptop-sized, water-resistant case and toss it into your regular pack or pannier. Roundy edges and pressure-point pads inside resist creasing and keep your shirt worthy of Don Draper.
Shirt Shuttle £30 from shirtshuttle.com
SpareOne Back-up Phone
Even those of us old enough to remember a world without the always-on connectivity of the mobile phone can start to feel a bit uneasy if we’re out of battery. The SpareOne is set to offer a compelling back-up option: it’s a mobile phone that takes a single AA battery and, depending on the battery type, can keep its charge for up to 15 years if it’s not used.
It’s a dual-band GSM model specifically designed to be thrown in the glove compartment or stuck in your luggage, so you’ll always be able to make that vital call or text, even during a disaster or emergency, when the power grid is down and the only available power source is portable batteries. The phone itself is simple, practical, less likely to fail and easier on the juice.
SpareOne Back-up Phone $69.99 available soon from spareonephone.com