LG has announced their own take on the late trend of instant photo prints, called the Pocket Printer. While instant cameras are certainly still a popular item for photography enthusiasts and options like Prynt augment that same capability into smartphones, LG’s new Pocket Printer is their first shot at giving users the ability to instantly print up photos taken by their smartphone camera. It is also one of the most portable such options on the cheaper end of the market, weighing in at only 177 grams and being about the size of an average smartphone. It achieves this by using special zink paper, which includes ink and thus eliminates the need for a separate ink cartridge. The printer itself costs about $119, with a 30 pack of the special zink paper costing around $13. It comes in white and pink, and is already available in South Korea, along with some unnamed other markets.
The Pocket Printer has a 470mAh battery in it, which can charge in about 30 minutes, and should hold enough juice for 20 prints. The outside of the device is translucent, and it can be opened up like a hatch to check on the remaining paper. The device comes with a special companion app that lets users edit photos before sending them over to the printer. The app allows a user to make all sorts of edits to a photo, including adding in objects from other images, making it perfect for adding a QR code, watermark, or other info to a photo for a fairly interesting business card.
The app also allows for a quick and easy connection with the printer, requiring only one button press on the printer to connect to a phone running the app. From there, the companion app controls the printing. LG’s first foray into portable printing is compatible with both Android and iOS devices through the companion app, and works over Bluetooth. JPEG and PNG formats are the only ones supported for the time being, so those who like to shoot in RAW format and other higher-end imaging standards will have to sacrifice a bit of detail in order to make their photos usable with the printer.
