January 08, 2009

Ask and You Shall Receive: Two iPhone Printing Apps Arrive

By Kara Hiltz

HP's iPrint Photo and EuroSmartz's "Print" for iPhone Pave the Way

Printing from the iPhone seemed like a pipe dream. Our recent report generated lots of comments, all of them craving iPhone printing. Two companies — HP and EuroSmartz — have heard the call and stepped in to provide solutions.

HP Offers a Free iPhone Photo Printing App

HP recently released HP iPrint Photo (see photo on right), an iPhone app that prints 4 x 6-inch photos from iPhone and iPod Touch. While it's easy to use and free, it has a few limitations.

To use the HP iPrint Photo application, you need a networked HP printer. As HP explains, iPrint Photo uses Apple's Bonjour technology to find any HP printers on your network. It supports standard WiFi networks, which many HP inkjet printers now feature.

We tested the application with an HP Officejet J6480, and were impressed with the results. The app didn't require any additional setup involving the printer and worked exactly as HP's Web site described.

You've probably caught onto the app's biggest limitation: it only prints photos. So, while this free iPhone printing app can help you quickly print the picture you just snapped of your spouse dancing around the kitchen to Footloose (for blackmail purposes of course), you can't print documents, email, Web pages, etc. at full size. However, you can take a screenshot and then print the screenshot because the iPhone places screenshots in your photo library.

"Print" for iPhone App Requires Separate Software, Gets Mixed Reviews

Others have caught on to the fact that a market exists for iPhone printing applications. "Print" for iPhone by EuroSmartz also offers a solution for iPhone printing, although its reviews in the App Store prove mixed.

"Print" for iPhone seems a little sketchy because its Web site doesn't contain any information about EuroSmartz, the app's creator. It works through a server called "WePrint" that you install and run on your computer to access local or network printers. Once you have the server software set up, you should have no trouble using the app to print contacts, photos, and Web pages.

You'll find "Print" for iPhone in the iPhone Apps Store for $3.99 (EuroSmartz offers the necessary companion software "WePrint" as a free download). As of January 7, 2009, its average rating in the store was only 2.5 out of 5 stars. If you skim through the dozens of reviews, you'll see complaints about difficulties setting up or connecting to the software. Many users also gripe about the app's limitations — they want to print documents and email. But you'll also find reviews that praise the application and claim it works exactly as advertised.

iPhone printing has become a reality. While each solution has limitations, the two apps represent a huge step forward for iPhone users who have longed for printing capabilities. Kudos to both companies!

Our friend and printer pundit Jim Lyons covered this development too. Read his take on the birth of iPhone printing.

About Databazaar Blog
Virtually everyone who uses a computer uses a printer. But computers get all the glory. So we launched this blog to give printers their due. We hope you find our coverage enjoyable and useful, and encourage you to subscribe and participate.

• January 08, 2009 Jim Lyons

  Kara --

  Nice report and thanks for the link. I'll be visiting with HP tomorrow (Friday) at CES so encourage those interested to visit my blog for updates. I'm especially interested in how the company will be positioning the app and how show-goers are responding.

  Jim Lyons
  jimlyonsobservations.com