We all have them – tons of photos on our tablets and smartphones. Here’s how to print them out to enjoy them without cables or batteries.
Check Your Printer’s Capabilities
Many new printers have built-in card slots and other connector types for printing directly from tablets and mobile devices. Most of these peripheral connection types make printing easy, with some printers allowing for wireless printing from mobile devices.
Depending on what kind of setup you have, printing could be easy or difficult.
Set Up Your Printer For The Prints
Every printer is a little different. There are also a variety of different wireless printing technologies out there, so pull out your printer’s owner’s manual. Preparing your printer for printing from a mobile device is usually pretty easy. In general, you’ll have to launch the software that came with the printer and look for either AirPrint (Apple) or “Cloud Print Setup” (Android and other devices).
Check Ink Levels
Before you start printing, check your ink levels. If you have to find a supplier of Brother ink cartridges, look online at places like Stinky Ink Shop, which sells ink at a discount. Photos use up a lot of ink, so don’t be surprised if only a handful of photos drains your ink cartridges.
Printing From Apple And Android Devices
Printing from Apple devices is, not surprisingly, easy. But, you must have an AirPrint compatible printer. Apple lists compatible printers on its website. Any application capable of printing photos will allow you to tap on a curved arrow icon which will bring up available sharing options. One of those options in “print.”
Tap “print” and the mobile device will start searching for an available printer on the network.
For Android devices, you will use the printer’s own printing technology and available apps. For example, many HP printers include a wireless printing technology called ePrint. Samsung, Canon, Lexmark, and Epson also have their own respective apps.
Using Google Cloud Print
Printing from Google is another option. If your printer manufacturer doesn’t offer an app for printing from a mobile device, you can use Google Cloud Print. Cloud Print sends any document from any web-connected device to your home printer.
You will need a Google account to use the service, but if you’re like most people, you already have one. Visit the Google Cloud Print website and log into your account. Now, click “add a Cloud-Ready Printer” and follow the on-screen prompts. You can also click “Add a classic printer,” which will let you set up most non-compliant printers. Either way, you should be good to go with your photos.
Print From High Street Booth
High-street shops also offer self-service printing booths. In many booth stores, you can find either Kodak-branded and Boots’-branded printing booths. If you’re printing from a smartphone or tablet, you’ll need them copies to a memory card (sorry Apple fans).
Just put the SD card into the slot on the booth and follow the prompts on the screen.
John Sollars runs a successful printing ink business. Whenever he has the chance, he likes to share what has worked for him with others. You can read his articles mostly on business, marketing and technology websites.
