At a press event at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, a crowd gathered around what appeared to be a pile of toy cameras, perhaps keychains. But no, they were real cameras -- and impossibly cute ones at that. Polaroid's C3 was enough to make several grown men "aww."
The tiny cube, about one and a third inches per side, is in fact an "action cam," meant to be worn running, swimming, and so on. It's waterproof, has a super-wide-angle lens, and won't break if you drop it (I did).
But does the C3 have anything to offer besides cuteness? Not image quality, that's for sure: as competitors are shooting in 4K, Polaroid's pocket cam only goes up to 720p. And you'll have to provide your own micro SD card for storage. But there is one other interesting feature.
Each cube is equipped with magnets on the top and bottom, meaning they'll be stackable. Stick two on your helmet and get the view ahead and behind, or put three at slightly different angles and swap between perspectives. It's a fun idea, although the ones on display were only prototypes, and had extremely weak magnets.
The devices should be available this summer for $99 each. Its hard to capture just how cute these little things are in person, but if you get a chance to hold one, you'll understand why they drew such a crowd.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.