A Digital Photo can Never Replace the Tangible Joy of a Printed Photo! Now Print Photos on the Go with These 10 Best Portable Photo Printers (2020)

If you are an 80’s child, then you must remember the era of analog cameras which used film roll, and you can click only 30-35 odd photos at a time. Then you would provide the 35mm film roll to your neighborhood photo studio, and they will hand over the photographs after 2-3 days. Polaroid cameras were present even in the ’90s in which you’ll instantly get the printout of the photo from the camera itself, but they were costly, and the picture quality wasn’t as good as the printout of a portable photo printer.

With the advent of digital photography and now the simplest of phones loaded with 12-megapixel cameras, most of us carry our pictures on our cell phones. Digital or DSLR cameras are used only by professional photographers, and in general sale of cameras has gone down drastically. However, no digital photo frame or photo in a tablet/phone can replace the beauty, gloss, and feel of a beautiful paper photo stuck in a photo album or hung on an elegant photo frame on the wall of your living room.

Visiting a photo studio to get the printout of the photo(s) will soon be a thing of the past. With the fast-paced life and technology, we want something compact, light, handy, and quick. A portable photo printer does precisely that by printing your cherished moments on a glossy paper instantly. A portable photo printer is a standalone inkjet printer that can print only 4” x 6” or 2” x 3” size photographs and thus can’t replace a standard inkjet or laser printer. Most of the compact printers can be connected through USB, Bluetooth, or simply a memory card can be inserted to get the pictures out of it. These compact printers would easily fit into your bag, and some are small enough to be slipped into your pocket.

Now we know that a portable photo printer is compact and easy to carry; let’s check a few more benefits associated with it. A portable photo printer uses recyclable and non-toxic paper, so you would be happy to use it while doing your bit for the environment. Also, these printers produce no waste as they don’t use cartridge or ribbon, etc. You get instant satisfaction to hold the photos just after they are being shot, and there isn’t a need to visit a printer shop. These printers can bring a smile on the face of everyone in a party or an outing as you take out the print photographs of the ongoing fun moments. You can also hang these on your refrigerator or keep them in a photo album to cherish the memories later.

This portable photo printer is especially for the iPhone users as it is compatible with almost all the versions of iPhones including Apple iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5. The Prynt Pocket is almost half of the size of any latest model of iPhone and comes with an easy to install and remove the paper cartridge. You can print photos from your phone and get a clear printout in just 30 seconds.

You can also add a video through the Prynt app and watch it turn into a beautiful picture. When your friends use the Prynt app to unlock the video clip in the photo shared by you, they can magically see the photo come alive. There is no risk of any ink spill as the pictures are being printed onto the ZINK (Zero Ink) sticker paper, which is the only paper compatible with this device. The portable photo printer by Prynt is 8.3 x 7.2 x 4.8 cm in size, weighs just 163 gm, and is available for Rs. 13,348 on amazon.in.

The small pocket photo printer by Xiaomi is just 3 inches in size and would easily fit into the pocket of your jacket or laptop bag. The pocket photo printer supports Augmented Reality (AR) photo scanning, and you can shoot or simply upload a video while printing photographs. The picture would have a small video clip of about 3 seconds, which can be unlocked by the Mijia app, and you can even hear the sound behind the photos which are embedded in the video.

The printer has multiple photo sticker templates, so you can use your creativity and imagination to beautify your photos. The printer has a multi-user sharing option through Bluetooth and can print in sequences for up to 3 users. The photo paper can be loaded easily by merely sliding the printer tray cover and putting the paper in the tray. The carton capacity is ten sheets at a time, and a single print of size 2 x 3 inches and resolution 313 x 400 dpi takes about 45 seconds to print. The pocket photo printer by Xiaomi supports JPEG and PNG file formats and can be purchased from banggood.in for Rs. 6,233.

This beautiful and portable photo printer by Canon can be easily connected via Bluetooth, and you can print directly from your phone or social media by installing the Canon Mini Print app from the App Store and Google Play Store. The wireless printer prints amazing photographs of size 2” x 3” with peel and stick back. The mini photo printer is compatible with Android devices running Android 4.4 or later and Apple devices running iOS 9.0 or later. You can even customize your photos with the help of the Canon ivy mini photo printer app and add stickers, frames, text, collage print, tile print, and more filters. The product dimensions are 11.94 x 8.13 x 1.78 cms, it works on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and is available on amazon.in for Rs. 15,999.

The photo printer looks elegant in gold, white, and beige colours and comes in a matching gold case. Equipped with a re-print button, the Instax printer by Fujifilm has a capacity of 10 sheets at a time, and it draws its power from lithium-ion batteries. The dimension of this portable printer is 13 x 8.6 cm and weighs about 800 gms. The Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 Gold with gold case Photo Printer is available on flipkart.com for Rs. 12,995.

The mini Zink printer by Huawei uses Zero ink technology, and no cartridge, ribbon, or ink is used, which means no carbon emission or waste discharge after usage. The latest AR technology enables users to select a video and embed it with the photograph. Once this photo is scanned by anyone using the Huawei Printer app, the pictures seem magical as they come to life with action and sound.

You get multiple size photo options, which are 22 x 32 mm, 25 x 35 mm, 33 x 48 mm, and 35 x 45 mm, respectively. The printer connects within seconds to your Bluetooth enabled device and can print a picture in about a minute. The printer can accommodate ten printing paper sheets at a time, has dimensions 4.72 x 3.15 x 0.88 inches, and weighs only 195 gms. The printing papers are peel and stick style and produce 313 x 490 dpi 16.7 million resolution images. The package contains ten sheets of paper, the printer, and one micro USB charging cable and is available for Rs. 6,582 on banggood.in.

Kodak is a well-known name in the camera and related accessories segment and is trying hard to regain its lost glory. The mini photo printer by Kodak uses a different printing mechanism compared to its market contenders and has named it as D2T2 Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer technology, which uses cyan, magenta, and yellow as the primary three colours to produce 16.7 million colours. They claim that the ink on the photos will not fade for about ten years under normal conditions.

The printer can be connected to a smartphone or other devices using Wi-Fi, NFC, and Micro USB interface and can provide one print in about a minute. The print size is 2.1” x 3.4” and the printer places a protective shield over the photo print, which protects the image from fingerprints and water etc. The built-in integrated battery is rechargeable and gets fully charged in about 1.5 hours, after which it can easily provide power for 20 printouts. The free mobile app of Kodak Printer supports both iOS and Android devices and provides the option to choose photos to print from their personal library, Google’s image library, use collage mode, apply different types of frames, templates, and borders, etc. to their photos. The Kodak Photo Printer Mini is available on tanotis.com for Rs. 8,745.

Polaroid is a well-known name in the photography segment, and its innovative Zip mobile printer can provide a brilliant printout of a photo in less than 60 seconds. The mobile printer uses NFC or Bluetooth interface and provides smudge-proof 2” x 3” photos, which have a peel-off sticky back. The ZINK technology prints bright and colourful pictures without any hassles of using ink cartridges, toner or ribbons, etc.

The printer measures only 2.9 Inches x 4.7 Inches x 0.9 Inches and the Polaroid ZIP App for iOS and Android can be downloaded from App Store or Google Play Store to make it compatible with your iPhone or Android phone. The Polaroid ZIP Mobile Printer weighs just 187 grams and is available on Amazon for Rs. 12,761.

The HP Sprocket 200 Photo Printer allows you to instantly print 2 x 3 inch photos (313 x 400 dpi resolution) and even stickers from your smartphone. The portable photo printer by HP is almost the size of a cell phone and can easily slide into your pocket or fit into the small zipper pocket of your bag. Multiple users can connect to the HP Sprocket 200 photo printer at a time with Bluetooth interface. Be the rock star of any party by creating a shared Google photo album for the event, and everybody can view and share the photos. Using the free HP Sprocket app, you can share all the photos printed to your photo printer, view all the pictures of a particular event in one place, and even get recommendations for the best photos.

The app also lets you add filters, stickers, graphics, emojis, and text and even edit photos before printing from your phone’s storage or social media. The inbuilt AR capability enables bringing the photos to life with AR Video and 3D animations. What more, you can even assign different LED colours to different users, and that particular light will glow whenever the user prints their photos. The printer has a loading capacity of 10 sheets at a time; dimensions are 4.6 x 3.1 x 1 inches, and it weighs only 172 gm. The HP Sprocket 200 photo printer can be purchased from tanotis.com for Rs. 16,895.

Equipped with NFC and Bluetooth compatibility, the LG Pocket Photo printer provides fast printing in just 45 seconds. You simply need to tag your mobile phone on top of the printer, and it would start printing using the NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. This printer also uses the ZINC technique to provide high-resolution photos without using ink cartridge, and the LG Photo app allows you to edit, add frames, and decorate your photos before printing. The LG Pocket Photo PD233 can be purchased on lg.com for Rs. 14,990.