Polaroid iZone WiFi camera with optical zoom works with Android, iPhone

Some companies want to help you take better photos with your camera by building better cameras into smartphones. Others are taking a different approach… by offering separate camera modules that you can control with your phone.

Polaroid is now in the latter camp, thanks to the introducing of the Polaroid iZone. It’s a small 18 megapixel camera with an 8x optical zoom and an LED flash bulb.

You can pair the iZone with your iOS or Android device and use it instead of your built-in camera when you snap photos.

The Plaroid iZone connects to your mobile device over WiFi, letting you use your phone’s display as a viewfinder. And while the iZone has a little built-in storage (just 32MB), when it’s paired with your phone pictures can be saved directly to your mobile device.

While his certainly isn’t the first WiFi-enabled, smartphone-companion style camera to hit the market, it’s one of the smallest thanks to a 2 inch square design. It’s also expected to be one of the cheapest: the iZone camera will sell for $180 when it launches this spring.

Note that Polaroid doesn’t really make hardware anymore… instead the camera is built by Sakar International, which licenses the Polaroid name.