VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IPWF-P30-VP

Dedicated photo printers are niche products by definition, but the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IPWF-P30-VP carves out an even smaller niche than most. It's designed for easy printing from PictBridge cameras and from both Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, but can't print from a computer at all. For many, that will be enough reason to pass it by. If you just want an easy way to print from your camera or mobile device, however, it can be a good fit.

In most ways, the IPWF-P30-VP is essentially identical to the IP-P10-VP, which was the first VuPoint Photo Cube and is still available at this writing. Both are thermal dye printers for 4 by 6 photo printing, both have docks with 30-pin iThing connectors, and both let you connect and print from Android devices by USB cable.

One significant difference between the two is the dock design. The IP-P10-VP dock is recessed, so although you can plug an iPhone directly into the dock, you have to connect iPads by USB cable, the same way you connect Android devices. The dock in the IPWF-P30-VP is flush with the top of the printer and includes a raised rest behind it, so it can take iPads also. Two additional features are PictBridge support and the addition of Wi-Fi as a connection option. Note that even with Wi-Fi you can't print from a computer, however, since there's no driver available for either Windows or OS X.

The most interesting new feature in the IPWF-P30-VP is its ability to print panoramas, thanks to upgrades in the printer itself, upgraded software, and a newly introduced print cartridge, the ACS-IP-P20-VP. The IPWF-P30-VP works with the original ACS-IP-P10-VP cartridge as well, but is limited to 4-by-6 output with that cartridge. With the new cartridge, it can print at up to 4-by-16.

One complication is that VuPoint Solutions has temporarily taken the feature out of the current software at this writing. But more on that later.

Basics and Setup
At 5 by 6 by 7 inches (HWD) and only 3.1 pounds, the IPWF-P30-VP is light enough to carry easily, but it's a lot bigger than the smartphone, tablet, or camera you'll be printing from. It also needs to plug into a power outlet to work, which makes it far less portable than it would be if it could use batteries.

Setup is trivial. The print cartridges include both paper and ink, in the form of a dye roll, with a 10-photo starter cartridge installed in the printer when you buy it. Initial setup consists basically of taking the printer out of the box and plugging it in. Replacing the cartridge is also easy: slide the old cartridge out and the new cartridge in.

According to VuPoint Solutions, the IPWF-P30-VP dock works with iPhone models 4S, 4, 3GS, and 3G; the iPad, iPad2, and third-generation iPads; and the second- through fourth-generation of iPod touch. The USB connector works with all the same models, plus the iPhone 5, the fourth-generation iPad, the iPad mini, the fifth-generation iPad Touch, and Android smartphones and tablets using version 2.0 and above of the Android OS. In addition, the printer works over Wi-Fi with this full list of models, and it works with PictBridge Cameras.

To print from a camera, you connect by USB cable and print using the camera's PictBridge commands. To print from a mobile device, you first download the appropriate version of the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube Wi-Fi app. Then you can run the app; pick a photo to print; connect to the printer by docking, using a USB cable, or using a Wi-Fi connection; and then print.

One surprising oversight is that there doesn't seem to be a way for the printer to work with a phone that offers Wi-Fi Direct, so the only way to use Wi-Fi is by connecting through a Wi-Fi access point on your network. More precisely, VuPoint Solutions couldn't come up with a way to make the printer work with Wi-Fi Direct, although the company also couldn't definitively confirm that it can't be done.

A more annoying issue is that printing from the phone over a USB connection can be frustrating. Most of the time the USB connection worked as promised in my tests, but occasionally the app couldn't find the printer even though the phone was connected to the printer and charging. Turning both the printer and phone off and then on seemed to solve the problem, but I ran into it several times.

VuPoint Solutions confirmed that this is a known issue. The company also says that the problem is limited to USB connections with phones, which is consistent with my testing. I didn't see the problem with either a Wi-Fi connection or a PictBridge camera.

Speed and Photo Sizes
For my tests, printing from a Samsung Galaxy S3 and a Canon PowerShot S60 camera, print speed for 4 by 6s ranged from 1 minute 12 seconds to 1:34. These results aren't comparable to our standard tests, because we couldn't print from a computer. As a point of reference, however, the Editors' Choice Epson PictureMate Charm took 43 to 52 seconds printing from the same camera.

Panoramas are a special case. What lets the IPWF-P30-VP print different size photos is that the 4-inch wide paper is in a continuous roll. The printer includes a paper cutter that can cut the roll where needed. In addition to printing standard format photos at 4 by 6, the Photo Cube Wi-Fi app lets you print panoramic photos at 4 by 6, 4 by 11, or 4 by 16.

For any of these sizes you can zoom in on the photo to print only part of it or zoom out to print more of the photo, with white space above and below. You can also drag the photo left or right on screen to adjust which part prints. I timed the 4 by 11 prints at 2:22 and the 4 by 16 at 3:30.

Output Quality, and Other Issues
Output quality is not a strong point. Photos in my tests tended to loose details based on shading in both light and dark areas. In addition, despite 300 dot per inch resolution with no dithering, many of the photos had a slightly soft focus, which is often an issue for thermal dye printers. Even so, most photos were acceptable by most people's standards, and best described as snapshot quality overall.

Panoramic photos, which are printed in sections, showed vertical lines between the sections in my tests and, in some cases, an obvious color shift from one section to the next. As I was finishing up this review, VuPoint Solutions noticed the problem independently and addressed it by removing the ability to print panoramic photos from its latest upgrade to Photo Cube Wi-Fi, version 3.59.

The company plans to fix the problem before reintroducing the feature, and at this writing is hoping to do that within several weeks. Until the fix is available, however, the panoramic printing will be confined to letting you create and print panoramic collages of 4 by 6 photos.

Also demanding mention is cost per photo. With the cartridge price of $19.99 street for 36 photos, the cost per 4 by 6 photo is 55.5 cents. You can roughly double that for 4 by 11 panoramas and roughly triple it for 4 by 16 panoramas.

It would be a lot easier to give this printer an enthusiastic recommendation if the quality were just a bit better and the USB-connection worked more reliably. Although the quality isn't suitable if you want professional level output, however, it's good enough for snapshots. More important, the panoramic print feature, once it's available in the software again, will count as a strong plus even with the quality I saw as tested.

This printer would be of interest to a lot more people if it could also print from a computer. But if what you want is easy printing from your phone, tablet, iPod, or PictBridge camera; and you also want a Wi-Fi connection option, the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IPWF-P30-VP offers enough to at least make it worth considering. Before you buy one, however, you might want to check to make sure that the panoramic print feature has been restored to the app.

View the original article here