![]() Most recent pocket photo printers, including all three Sprockets, the Canon IVY Mini ($79.99 at Best Buy) (Opens in a new window), and the Lifeprint models I mentioned, make use of a technology known as Zero Ink, or ZINK. Everything else-configuring the printer, pairing it via Bluetooth, photo editing and enhancing, and much more-is handled from the Sprocket App on your Apple or Android mobile device. HP says that you'll get 35 to 40 prints from each battery charge. You'll see a print-output slot and a small status light just above it on the front edge, and a power button, a micro USB port for charging, a reset pinhole, and a battery-status LED on the rear edge. Like most other pocket photo printers, the Sprocket 2nd Edition's design is basic. The patterns break up the monotony of these otherwise solid-color printers, but they have another, more interesting function: When you scan them with your smartphone camera from inside HP's Sprocket App (which I'll discuss more in a moment), status information shows up on the screen, a limited implementation of augmented reality. (Info on exactly what colors and where wasn't available yet, at this writing.)Īs you can see in the image above, each of the different-colored tops has a pattern of dots or flecks. Beyond these, HP says that versions of the Sprocket 2nd Edition in more colors, including Lilac, will be available from specific retailers. ![]() According to HP, its market research says that the primary users of portable photo printers like these are young women aged 16 to 24, and it says it geared these new colors to that demographic. We are talking about a machine here, right? Right. In addition to the head-scratcher names, each color has a description. These sound more like lipsticks or perfumes. (Opens in a new window) Read Our Canon Selphy CP1200 Wireless Compact Photo Printer Review That's in line with the original Sprocket, as well as the competing Canon IVY Mini, the Kodak Mini 2 HD, and Lifeprint's Hyperphoto Printers. The Sprocket 2nd Edition measures 1 by 4.6 by 3.2 inches (HWD) and weighs about 4 ounces. Because the HP Sprocket Plus ($149.99 at HP) (Opens in a new window) prints slightly larger photos than the original Sprocket and the Sprocket 2nd Edition (the pics are 2.3 by 3.4 inches, versus the more common 2 by 3 inches), the Sprocket Plus is slightly wider than the other two. The Sprocket 2nd Edition is about the footprint of a smartphone, but chunkier. Our new Editors' Choice, the HP Sprocket 2nd Edition ends its sibling's short reign as PCMag's top portable photo printer. The Sprocket 2nd Edition's beefed-up feature list, funky augmented-reality angle, and impressive output-quality overhaul represent big steps forward for this fun device. Since then, we've tested similar models from Canon, Kodak, and Lifeprint, but we didn't find one worthy of our Editors' Choice nod until the HP Sprocket Plus came along in mid-2018. The HP Sprocket 2nd Edition ($129.99), a pocket-size portable snapshot printer, is the company's third by that name, replacing the popular original Sprocket reviewed in December 2016. Get Dieter and Helmut out of your head: You're thinking of the wrong Sprockets (Opens in a new window).
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