The smartphone could well have been the best thing to have happened to photography, maybe not so for camera companies. While photography initially did not have a presence without touch and feel, digital photography pretty much killed the printed photograph. As billions of smartphone photographs started being clicked, the percentage of printed photos must have become so insignificant. Despite all this, some companies seem to think there are still those who would like to see their photos in a printed form. So the latest to launch a portable printer for the smartphone is HP with its new Sprocket 100. The HP Sprocket 100 is a small wireless printer, about the size of a portable battery charger, and uses ZINK Zero Ink printing technology. The phone connects to the printer via the Sprocket app using Bluetooth. Once the two have connected, the printer is linked to the phone every time the device is switched on. The HP Sprocket 100 comes with 10 sheets of HP Zink paper in the box and you just need to load this set into the device to start printing. The app gives you the option to select photos from the camera roll or from social media accounts like Instagram, Facebook and even Google photos, which is good. However, I was not all that impressed by the prints. One after the other, everything I printed was a watered down version of what I had actually shot. I have reviewed a similar printer from LG a few years back and that one seemed to have offered much better prints, some of which are still on the fridge in my house. While this is relatively cheaper, I don’t see the point if the pictures lack the quality. For those who want to keep the photos for their trophy effect, this might be a big dampener. Given the price, I think HP has to improve the results to get people to pick this printer up. HP Sprocket 100 price: Rs 8,999 HP ZINK paper: Rs 539 for pack of 20, Rs 1249 for pack of 50
