Polaroid - Hi-Print 3x3 Wireless Pocket Photo Printer - +10 Sheets (9196) - White

I'm old and still remember the joy (sometimes sorrow) of sending your film off to be developed and waiting to get the envelope back to see your shots. It was always a fun time to congregate around the 'picture flipper' to see what embarrassing, fun, or beautiful shots we managed to get (before anyone could hide or steal them). We've lost a lot of that fun with digital photography. Early on it was still kinda the same, with everyone crowding around screens; but now with everyone having a fabulous cameral in their pocket, unlimited 'film', and instant processing, its kinda lost it's charm and immediacy. Now with the Polaroid Hi-Print 3x3, we get a bit of that joy back. I've had other small printers before but there were usually some very big caveats to the prints, whether it was size, clarity, or longevity. This is the first printer that I genuinely see me using a lot. Here's what I like about the Polaroid Hi-Print: 1. Small and Light: This thing can actually fit into a jacket pocket. Makes it easy to have around for those random fun times with friends and family. 2. Easy Set-up: I unboxed it, charged it, downloaded the app while charging, loaded the film pack, and then paired it up with my phone. Every step was easy and intuitive. The printer was recognized almost immediately and is usually ready to go within seconds of me hitting the power button. 3. App Is Easy To Use: The app has lots of nice features to fix your photos if you haven't taken the time in your phone's photo app, and there are some really nice collage, frame, and scrapbook frames/filters. I'm hoping they drop some more on us in the near future but for now it's a great start. 4. Photos Look Great: The photos printed by the Hi-Print are nice and colorful and as sharp as they are on your screen. My one single quibble with the Hi-Print is that the cropped photo you see on the screen isn't EXACTLY what you will get. There is a bit of a bleed and I would give yourself about a millimeter all around what you actually want printed. Other than that, they're great. I can't speak to their longevity yet because I've had it for less than a week but they look like lab printed photos so I hope they hold up as well. 5. The Smiles You Get: There is something magical about handing someone a photo. It's a little mini surprise and a keepsake. They may have already seen the picture on an Insta feed or on a screen somewhere, but to hold it in your hands and have it all the time, is just cool. Conclusion: I'm super stoked about the Polaroid Hi-Print 3x3. This is coming with me to our next friends get-together and I'm gonna go crazy. I'm gonna be like Oprah: "You get a picture! YOU get a picture!"

When I saw the name of this item, my first assumption was that this somehow integrated to Polaroid cameras, which currently are massively overshadowed by digital cameras. Instead, this device accesses the digital photos from your cloud library of pictures, and prints it to an actual photograph. Just like you used to have in albums, picture frames, on your desktop at work, or the mantel over your fireplace. Certainly over the last couple of decades, the taking of pictures has changed to digital and more portable. Now everyone has the ability to quickly grab a shot of whatever they choose using an ever-present mobile phone. Maybe you intended to share these pictures with friends and relatives, business associates, clients, etc. But most of the time life gets in the way, and you forget. If you have your Polaroid printer close at hand, you can print a photograph that you just snapped with your phone in under a minute. And this is a real, hold it in your hand, actual photograph. The Polaroid 3x3 is not the first printer for them, but was preceded by both “2 x 3” and “4 x 6” Hi-Print printers. Those two produced rectangular prints, whereas this returns to the original Polaroid production of a square photograph. The “brains” of the process reside in your mobile device: a phone or tablet, with the app loaded in it (both iOS and Android are supported). When you open the Hi-Print app, you can choose which one of the 3 Polaroid printers you own. There are several adornments that you can choose in the app, which are optional. Cropping your digital photo to fit into the square finished photograph is definitely required, but easily accomplished. Some touch ups can be done with the app’s editor as well. Starting out, I just printed a few unmodified photos from my photo library, subsequently using a template into which two photos can be inserted. A collage of 3 or 5 photos can be combined, for example. This printer is completely portable, using a USB-C port to recharge the internal lithium battery, and Bluetooth connectivity to send the photo to the printer. So no cables or cords need travel with you. The topping up the battery is necessary only after about 20 prints. The USB-C port is for charging only; do not expect the printer to be controlled by the cable. Plugging the printer into the USB-C port on your laptop, for example, achieves nothing. The controls are all via the Bluetooth link to your phone or tablet. The printer will be a hit addition to gatherings: a party, family get-togethers, holidays, special events. The quality of the output is really quite good, and very speedy. The printing out of a photo is almost a show in itself. The print is ready in about a minute, showing you the progress as it goes through yellow, cyan, and magenta layers of color. There is a final protective coating to render the print smudge proof, durable from light moisture attacks, and fingerprint protected, ready to handle. The easily inserted cartridge that houses a stack of 10 prints and the dye sublimation printing inks, along with the final clear top coating. The printer comes with one cartridge to get you started. I would suggest that you purchase one of the bundles that include a supply of additional sheets (mine came with 30 more sheets). The price per print is about $0.85, cheaper if you purchase in bulk from your retailer. Your mileage may vary… Since most cameras usually do not take square photos, some cropping of the image will be necessary when using the 3X3 printer. It's easy to center the image before you start the printing, to optimize the resulting photograph. There are several creative options to adjust brightness, contrast, & saturation with sliders, and to add stickers and text if desired. The printer is bit bulky to slide in your pocket, but compact enough to carry in a coat pocket, small tote, or a generous purse to go with you most everywhere. It weighs just under a pound (13.8 oz). The dimensions are 4 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches. The use of a dye-sublimation printing process has an advantage over ink jet printers. Since there are no liquid inks, there is no risk of leaks, smears, or spills as you travel with this portable printer. The output of the picture is on par with ink jet micro-droplets, and to my eye indistinguishable between the two. For larger prints, where the details are blown up, ink jets are more precise. But since these tiny photos are not going to be enlarged, the rendition is quite acceptable. The final print has a white strip at the bottom, which is perforated, and detaches cleanly and easily. You could leave it attached, for noting dates, names of the subjects, locale, or your pleasure. An added charming feature is the ability to display the “photo of the week” in the printer’s front face. It is quite a jolly little picture frame, and easy to swap out the photos between your favorites. If size, weight, and portability were a greater concern, you might consider the smaller Polaroid 2x3 printer, which costs slightly less, and fits easier in coat pockets, etc. It outputs a smaller print, and therefore some detail. And you loose the iconic square format of the original square Polaroid photos that transformed picture taking for an entire generation.

This little dye-sublimation printer is fantastic. It’s been years since I had my last one, which had similarly great print quality. It’s just that like many other people, we moved away from standard prints for a while. That said, I’ve always been drawn to the fun, square prints from Polaroid… but their instant cameras always let me down. Even their newest cameras struggle to print anything that isn’t very vintage looking (washed out, muddied). Some people love and want exactly that, but for the rest of us, Polaroid made this awesome little printer. __ Design __ Compact and battery operated, it still feels like it fits the ethos of Polaroid’s spur-of-the-moment instant prints. It’s very easy to throw into a bag and take along to print a new or existing photo from your phone for a friend on the fly. It also sits on a desk well, acting as a cool little frame for the print of your choice when not in use. I love this feature, it’s playful and the industrial design on the printer allows it to be an effective way to keep it handy and top of mind. This design is very straightforward, Polaroid’s signature chromatic strip adorns the top short edge while a simple power button and cartridge bay are easy to manipulate on the long sides. Like mentioned above, keeping it a simple white box allowed it to serve double-duty as a frame as well. __ Ease of Use __ It’s extremely easy to use. I downloaded the dedicated Polaroid printer app and it found my new printer instantly. After a quick firmware update, I could easily pick one of their frame or grid options and pop in a photo from my camera roll. Editing is simple, with familiar cropping and filter options. The app does a great job of showing your end result in a very 1:1 way from start to finish, all the way down to rendering the color passes the printer is doing to your print in real time. My only gripe is that if you don’t like the frame you initially chose, you can’t change it without starting over from scratch, which includes having to hunt down any photo(s) you may have selected, again. Hopefully Polaroid will fix this with an app update soon after release (and provide a recent photo view or similar.) One additional nit is that the options for frames at launch are somewhat limited (about 50-60 styles total, over several categories - sounds like a lot, but doesn’t feel that way.) __ Print Quality __ If you’re unfamiliar, dye-sublimation is a great printing technology to get very professional-quality prints at home. It works by heating up separate layers of ink on film and transferring them to the print over 3-4 passes. The end result is an instant print that’s vibrant, with good color reproduction and sharpness and just as durable as the prints you used to get from the store. Polaroid’s prints from this printer are unique in that they're always square - a perfect size for sharing and placing around the home. I’d choose these over instant camera prints any day. There’s no comparison, these are far superior. __ Overall __ This printer is the first from Polaroid in a while to feel more like a well-thought product for everyone, and less like a toy for niche enthusiasts. Print quality is great, the app works well and very nicely captures the fun of one-button simplicity that Polaroid is known for, even if you have more options at your disposal.

To no surprise, this new version of the Polaroid Hi-Print was outstanding. As someone who also owns a Polaroid Now+, I appreciate the compact size of the Hi-Print because it makes it way more portable than a typical Polaroid camera. The printer does require a separate app from the typical Polaroid app, but it wasn’t too much of an issue because the Polaroid Hi-Print app is straightforward and works well. Immediately after downloading the app, you are automatically logged into your Polaroid account if you were originally logged into the main Polaroid app. You have several options for photos: you can upload photos from your photo library or take photos directly within the app, which is a nice touch. But my favorite feature of the app is the customization options. Before printing, pictures can be edited in various ways so that each print is unique! The app allows fonts, stickers, and shapes to be added to photos, and there are even templates to make collages, or you can design your own collage. Printing is super easy, and once the photo is printed, there is a white strip at the bottom that can optionally be removed (removing it does not damage the photo), and you are left with your printed 3x3 photo. The sheets appear to be of good quality. They have a protective film on top. Each sheet cartridge holds 10 sheets of paper. I recommend printing brighter photos because I found that darker ones can be a bit more challenging to print correctly. I took a photo at night and attempted to print it, but the result was much darker than what the photo had looked like on my phone. I expected this. But just be aware that printing darker photos (especially those captured at night) will most likely not turn out super clear when printed. But as for brighter photos, the printer does a fantastic job at capturing the details, and I love that you can use the printer as a frame! I would recommend the Hi-Print to anyone who enjoys scrapbooking or crafting because the app allows you to be more creative beyond just normal photo printing. There are blank templates that can be customized with dates, stickers, and text. These can then be printed and used for crafts. Note that neither a power brick nor a cable is provided with the Hi-Print. The Hi-Print uses USB-C for charging, which is more universal now, so you may have a cable lying around. My only downsides are that neither a charger nor a charging cable is provided, and a separate application is needed for this Polaroid product. But neither of these downsides aren’t dealbreakers, and the versatility of this printer and its app is exceptional. This printer is definitely worth the purchase if you are looking for a photo printer that is portable, fun, and unique!

When I heard about the Polaroid Hi-Print printers, I was intrigued. There are several sizes of this diminutive photo printer, and this one produces 3X3 square prints. The thing is tiny. It is about the thickness of a paperback book, but not even as tall as my larger iPhone. It is a sleek monolithic device with almost no visible controls and openings other than an on and off switch, a USB-C port for charging and a slot on the top where your prints emerge. There is a plexiglass frame built into the front surface where you can display your favorite prints. What can it print? Any photos you have stored on the phone or in the cloud. through iCloud or Google Photos available to your device- whether taken 30 seconds ago or years in the past. The Hi-Print Photo app connects with the printer via Bluetooth. You must first charge the battery on the printer and download the latest firmware for proper operation. The download was quickly accomplished. Although not apparent at first blush, there is a side door on the printer that opens to allow installation of your print cartridge which holds 10 sheets. You just slide it in and shut the door. Using the software, you select the picture you want to print. You can then crop it and adjust the image as you please (or as you would with any other photo you were editing on your smartphone) by changing brightness, contrast, saturation and so forth to get the look you want. Then you press the print button. The print goes through several passes and partially emerges from the slot on the top of the printer on each pass. The technology is called dye-sublimation. The whole process takes less than a minute. To my eyes, this Polaroid produces prints of excellent quality, limited only by the source material you feed it. I was about to print a photo and got a a warning from the software that I might be disappointed with the results because the resolution of the photo was too low. Indeed, I remembered that the particular picture had been digitally zoomed in to fill the frame after I had snapped it on my smartphone. We are about to take a family trip in several weeks, and this printer will accompany us. It is simple and fun to use and produces quick prints that are instantly exchangeable among family members. A package of cartridges holding 30 sheets for printing runs about twenty five dollars, so each print will cost about 84 cents. Not cheap, but well worth the cost for the convenience and fun this printer offers. I highly recommend it.