From time to time I like to highlight interesting looking Kickstarter campaigns and the LifePrint printer is one that recently caught my eye.
It is a WiFi and Bluetooth photo printer for your iPad, iPhone (or other smartphone), which allows you to print photos TO (or from) your friends and followers anywhere in the world. Rather than just digital photos which all too often just sit on our phones and never make their way to physical form, the LifePrint is a fun way to send physical photos to your friends or get instant digital copies of your own photos.
You just connect the portable LifePrint printer to your iOS device (via Bluetooth or WiFi) and then you can print physical photos from your iOS device anytime, anywhere (up to 30 on a full charge).
Take a photo with your smartphone, open the LifePrint App, and print. Easy. Your photo will wirelessly print in about 60 seconds and be waiting for you when you get home. This will even work if you’re on vacation half-way across the world while your printer is on your desk at home. You will not be required to be connected to WiFi to print. As long as you have 3G connection or better, you’re good to go.
Aside from printing your own photos, you can also form your own social photo network where you can “follow celebrities, nature photographers, fashion models, sports teams, and so on” via the companion app and they will be able to send photos directly to your LifePrint printer as well. You always have the option of accepting or rejecting photos before they are printed.
There are image editing capabilities and the LifePrint uses thermal processing for the print engine (instead of traditional printer ink) to “yield the best quality for the best price”. According to the campaign details, the cost of 30 prints is expected to be around $20 or about 67¢ a photo.
Thus far the project has only reached about half its funding goal and there are still a number of the $99 Early Bird packages available which will get you a LifePrint Photo Printer in your choice of black or white and 10 pieces of film (a $200 retail value).
For more details about the LifePrint, you can visit the campaign page.
