Even in our digitized, cloud-data age, it’s still fun to print and trade photos with friends and family. Plenty of home printers can churn out quality photos, but what about those times when you’re out and about and want to take a photo that you can share with someone on the spot? For years, the only reasonable option would be an instant camera — until now, that is. Enter the HP Sprocket Photo Printer, a slim, portable printer that you can connect to any smartphone via Bluetooth.
Small enough to fit in your pocket and capable of printing long-lasting, colorful photos in seconds, the HP Sprocket is a neat piece of tech that’s a great travel companion. Let’s dig into what gives this printer a major edge over your standard instant camera.
HP Sprocket 2×3″ Instant Smartphone Photo Printer, $79.99
The beauty of the HP Sprocket Photo Printer is its portability. At a size that’s smaller than a smartphone, you can carry it anywhere. Its print quality is impressive, as well; the camera comes with 10 sheets of Zink photo paper which embeds colors inside the paper when it’s printed. That means zero ink costs, as well as prints that are resistant to water and smudges and take longer to fade than those from an instant camera. The sheets also have an adhesive backing so you can stick them anywhere, and with a pack of 50 refill sheets going for under $25, producing photos isn’t an expensive proposition compared to other printers.
Using the HP Sprocket Photo Printer is a snap — just connect it to your phone using Bluetooth and you’re ready to print 2-inch by 3-inch photos. As you’d expect from a device that connects to your smartphone, the Sprocket has some social-media savvy options, as you can use the accompanying HP app to customize your printed snapshots with stickers, text, borders, filters and emojis.
You can charge the printer anywhere using the included USB cable, and one charge gives you up to 35 prints, which is more than enough to last you through a fun photoshoot day. The Sprocket is also meant for sharing; you can connect more than one user to it, with each user differentiated by personalized LED lights when using the printer.
Sounds fun, doesn’t it? That’s what the HP Sprocket Photo Printer is: a device that’s simple to use and made for group outings, vacation snaps or any occasion in which you just want to share photos without needing to wait until you’re home to print. Amazon users recommend it as the perfect choice for anyone looking for a portable printing solution, and we give it a thumbs-up as a cool gift for yourself or others!
