Computer Shopper - UK (2019-10)

ISSUE 380|COMPUTER SHOPPER|OCTOBER 2019 35

THEZOEMINIPHOTOprinter is Canon’s
answer to the HP Sprocket (Shopper378).
About the size of athick, small smartphone,
it’s highly portable yet contains everything
you need to print 2x3in photos, beamed via
Bluetooth. We reviewed the standalone
printer,but the range includes the Zoemini C
and Zoemini S, each of which combines a
printer and digital camera in asingle device.
This printer’s similarity with HP’s first-
generation Sprocket is striking, and probably
not acoincidence.Like the Sprocket family,
the Zoemini uses Zink’s specialised ink-free
paper,available in packs of 20 or 50. Slide
open the cover,load abundle of 10 sheets, and
the printer spits out the blue information page

and is ready to go.You’ll also need Canon’s
Mini Print app,available foriOS and Android
phones; there are no PC or Mac drivers.

ONAIR

Pairing the phone and printer is painless, but
you maythen encounter afirmware update;
although ours was handled seamlessly,the
data took several minutes to transfer.After

CANON Zoemini

★★★★★

£90•From http://www.currys.co.uk

PORTABLE PHOTO PRINTER

that you can use the app to browse

through the photos on your device,

selecting and printing as you would

with any other printer.

Links on the app home screen

cover the camera and gallery,and

connected social platforms including

Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos

and Dropbox. Elsewhere the app is

overrun by icons forits various

editing functions, and it takes time

to understand what all of them do.

Youcan apply arange of colour,

border,sticker and text edits to

photos, and experiment with

augmented reality ‘enhancements’ in the

camera view.These are similar to,but more

limited than, Snapchat’s filters: mostly you

can just add glasses, or some borderline-

unpleasant facial distortions.

Zink paper combines distinct yellow,

cyan and magenta layers. Initially the dyes

are in clear crystals, but by applying heat

pulses of different length and intensity,the

printer can melt them, revealing the dyes to

createafull-colour picture.Unlike dye-

sublimation printers, it happens in asingle

pass. With the Zoemini we timed asingle print

at 48 seconds, slightly faster than the HP

Sprocket New Edition. Although it’s quiet, the

noise of printing has aharsh edge.

Print quality isn’t astrength of the Zink

system –you’d get better results from an

inkjet –but photos from the Zoemini were

noticeably better than those from the

Sprocket. While the latter tended to

overexpose prints, bleaching out some lighter

areas and adding areddish tint forgood

measure,prints from the Zoemini are more

neutral, manifested most noticeably in

natural-looking skin tones. There’s aslightly

darker bias, preserving more information in

light skies and lightly exposed faces, but the

flipside is aloss of shade detail in some prints.

TRAVELLING COMPANION

The Zoemini isn’t designed as ageneral-

purpose printer: it’s aimed at kids,

backpackers, students, and anyone else

who might want to produce and share

instant photos. While we could grumble

on about it being an indulgence,and how

each print costs 44p,that would be missing

the point. The Zoemini is afun wayto

remember and share good times, and it’s

slightly better at it than HP’s Sprocket.

SimonHandby

⬆The Zoemini app includes links to avariety of
social media platforms

VERDICT

It’stiny,funandslightlybetterthanHP’sSprocket,
butCanon’sZoeminiisstillabitofanindulgence

SPECIFICATIONS

Monospeed

Mixedcolour

speed

Monopagecost

Colourpagecost

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage90forperformancedetails

TECHNOLOGYThermalphotoprinter•MAXIMUMPRINT

RESOLUTION314x400dpi•DIMENSIONS19x119x83mm•

WEIGHT160g•MAXIMUMPAPERSIZE2x3in•

WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.canon.co.uk•

PARTCODE3204C006

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Zoemini is aimed at kids, students, and anyone else

who mightwanttoproduceand shareinstantphotos