How to print photos from your smartphone and tablet
The great thing about smartphones and tablet devices is that they provide us with so many easy opportunities to snap some great photos. Being able to capture those special moments when they happen is such a great convenience, but the photos can often languish in the digital space. Relegated to Facebook and Instagram, some beautiful pictures can be forgotten about because printing them seems kind of tricky.
That’s why we’re here to help with a simple guide to the different ways you can print photos from your smartphones and tablets.
In-store
This might seem like an obvious answer, but that’s okay, the simplest answer is often the best, right? If you visit stores like Big W, Kmart, or Harvey Norman, or even your smaller camera shops, you should be able to use a kiosk to quickly print out your favourite happy snaps. To do this, you’ll just need to have loaded your photos onto a portable storage device (like a USB drive or SD card) via your computer.
Many of these stores offer a one hour service if you don’t mind paying a little extra, or you can return the next day to collect your photos and then grab a few frames in which to put them.
At home
If you want to print your photos at home on your own printer, the exact method will depend on your printer and the program you use to store your photos. But most software will have an option to select “Print” for each photo. From there, you just have select the right settings for the kind of paper you’re using (if you’re opting to print your photos on blank 6x4 photo cards, for example).
Some wireless-capable printers will even allow you to print directly from your phone. If you’re not sure if that new printer you bought can do this, dig out the manual and check – most will list it as a major selling feature so it should be easy to spot.
This option is great if you’re just wanting to print one or two snaps to include in a birthday card or letter, but as ink for printers can be expensive, it’s often more cost-effective to opt for the in-store option.
With an app
There are loads of apps you can download that will help you print your photos straight from your phone. These will help for those of you unsure of whether you can print directly to your own computer. Apps like HP ePrint can connect to your printer or even publicly available printers (at places like airports, hotels, etc).
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