Printed photos are less common these days, most people just upload them and share them online. VuPoint have decided to challenge this by bringing back the Polaroid style instant photo printing ability for modern mobiles.
In terms of design this really is a portable printer, VuPoint have made this tiny enough it can be slipped into your jacket pocket or a bag. It has an inbuilt battery (charged via USB) so is usable even without a power socket in sight.
To use the printer you’ll need to download the app, available for iPhones or Android phones. The app not only handles the printing but also allows for limited photo editing. Tested on an Android mobile the app was found to be a little frustrating, in particular the resizing and placement of available stickers. Fortunately you can use your favourite app to edit your photo and just use this app to print them.
Watching the mini printer at work is fascinating in itself, the printer applies colours in layers and your photo will pop in and out of the printer several times before it’s completed. Brilliantly the printer gives the new photo a little wiggle to let you know it’s finished.
The final photos are the perfect size to fit in a wallet and are very good quality. Colour reproduction was very good, it handled both light and dark colours really well giving a very pleasing final result. You’re not restricted to using your mobile camera, you can print any photo that’s on your mobile, so you could print a photo taken with a DSLR camera if you wanted to.
You don’t need to add any paper, it’s all handled by the print cartridge. One is included with the printer, more are available on Amazon:
- Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/1LyyApE
- Amazon com: https://amzn.to/1tXEPep
The replacements give you 30 prints for £19.99; at 67p a photo this is a lot more expensive than using an online service (normally under 10p for a 6×4), but of course the results are practically instant in comparison.
This a brilliant little gadget, it does exactly what you’d expect and produces great photos. Just keep in mind you’re restricted to one size of photo and there are cheaper options available, you probably won’t use this as your main photo printer, but it’s great for special occasions where you want to give people a momento right there and then.
Available from Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/1NDf5Cb and Amazon com: https://amzn.to/1w0uK4Z
