-
Canon Pixma iP100: portable but pricey
Have you ever wanted a printer that is portable and that runs off a battery? If so, take a look at Canon Pixma iP100.
It’s a very compact printer with a footprint slightly smaller than an A4 page. A big battery is attached, which will give you a day of modest printing from anywhere you go. I guess I expected a portable printer that runs off a battery to not produce very good prints but I was pleasantly surprised in that regard with colors coming out bright and accurate, no smudges or smears and very crisp blacks.
It has a five-color ink system, which should be saving you some ink, especially if you print a lot of color. The resolution is up to 9600x2400 dpi which is more than enough for most business-purposes like letters and presentations.
Print speed is not the best though as one full A4 page with business graphics at the highest quality setting took about two minutes to appear. According to Canon the iP100 should print up to 20 ppm in black and up to 14 ppm in color.
In terms of connectivity the printer is also limited. You can print wirelessly with infrared IrDA but how many computers support that today? You can also connect with Bluetooth but that’s an extra piece of kit to buy. That leaves plugging in with a USB cable. A portable printer like this screams out for wireless printing and in that regard Canon disappoints.
Other complaints I have are that there is no case for it. Even buying a cheap PC notebook today you get a case but not with the printer, not even a simple sleeve.
What also puzzles me is that Canon didn’t see fit to equip the iP100 with a card reader. There’s nowhere to insert a flash memory card like SD or CF. That would require a display, which would add cost and power consumption, I guess, but it’s still something this sort of printer should have.
It’s somewhat of a consolation that you can at least connect a USB cable to a PictBridge-compatible digital camera and print from the camera.
If you’re considering buying this printer you do so for the simple reason that you can take it with you anywhere because you don’t need AC power. Print quality is very good but it’s lacking too much functionality for you to buy it if you don’t need portability. At 1,239 Dhs with battery you pay quite a bit extra for the pleasure of carrying it around but if that’s what you need, the Canon Pixma iP100 is a good choice.This article originally appeared in Khaleej Times. The articles are published here one week after they appear in print. You can find all my Khaleej Times articles here.
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Radio 2010-09-21
- Check this video out. The cool part is what they did it with and it all comes up in the credits!
- Will Nokia dump the old for Android?
- Twitter quickly fixes potentially dangerous links on their web site
- Sony has issued Blu-ray 3D update for PlayStation 3
- I want one!
- iPhone 4 coming to UAE Sept 25 (Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia “soon”)
- VLC now available for iPad
- Is Apple not supporting FaceTime in ME?
- HTC Desire HD and Desire Z launched
- Geneva Sound System Model S, AED 1,800
- Canon Legria HFR18 camcorder, AED 1,999
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Radio 2010-09-07
First, some miscellaneous items:
- I announced that I’m joining CPI and we’re starting up Macworld, PCWorld and GameWorld Middle East.
- The Buffalo NAS drive from last week, if you use it as iTunes server, don’t upgrade to iTunes 10.
- Sony has announced the release of up coming gadgets, including the VPL-VW90ES, a 3D projector.
- Developer of Hand Gesture Interface solutions for consumer devices eyeSight Mobile Technologies has announced the launch of the world’s first app that allows users to control a mobile phone MP3 player with hand gestures.
Belkin Move TopLoader
- Full of pockets and little storage compartments
- Not terribly stylish
- Has rubber bottom so you can safely set it down
- Non slip shoulder strap
- Models for 13 and 15-inch models
- Final price not set, expected around AED 300
Panasonic HDC-TM700
- Full HD 1920 x 1080
- 60p, full 60 frames per second
- Full manual controls
- External mic input (3.5mm)
- Small and easy to operate
- Accessory shoe requires adapter, sits on the side
- To get to battery you have to flip open the display
- AED5199
Canon PowerShot SX210IS
- 14x optical zoom (equivalent to a 28mm to 392mm range on a 35mm)
- 14.1-megapixel
- ISO 80 to 1,600
- Fish-eye, Miniature, Face Detection self-timer, Smile and Wink modes
- 720p HD movie recording
- Mini-HDMI port (but no cable included)
- On the previous model (SX200), the flash wouldn’t close, now it does
- You can zoom while shooting video
- A big sluggish (starting up, between shots)
- AED 1,399
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Radio 2010-08-31
- HTC’s version of Google Nexus One (HTC manufactured Nexus One for Google)
- 3.7-inch 480 x 800 pixel display, very bright, clear
- 1GHz processor, fast
- 512MB RAM
- micro-SD card slot (up to 32GB)
- Feels high-quality (only exception is the back, which you have to take off with a small measure of violence)
- Android 2.1 (update to 2.2 OTA, Over The Air)
- No Android Market in UAE
- 5MP camera, good quality, face detection
- Would have liked camera button on outside
- 1280x720 HD video recording
- FM radio
- Portable Wi-Fi access point
- Fast web browser, easy to zoom in/out, scroll around
- HTC Sense, proprietary UI, I wish this could be disabled. User should have a choice.
- Adobe Flash 10.1 is avaialble for 2.2 but I’ve not managed to get it installed yet.
- “Broadly available by the end of August 2010”
- AED 2,299
- Network Attached Storage (NAS))
- Room for 2 x 3.5-inch hard drives
- Lockable compartment
- Easy to swap drives
- Display with status, IP, etc.
- Admin via web browser
- FTP, Torrent, iTunes, DLNA.
- Buffalo has service which lets you connect to the TeraStation from over the Internet.
- Price: 1TB AED 2,299 ($609.99), 2TB AED 2,899 ($759.99), 4TB AED 4,599 ($1,199.99)
- Battery-operated printer
- 5-color ink system let you print at 9600 x 2400 dpi
- Speed according to Canon: black up to 20 ppm, color up to 14 ppm
- Print 1 color page, high photo quality, 1min 52sec
- Connect with USB cable
- IrDA (infrared)
- Optional Bluetooth interface
- PictBridge compatible (connect directly to camera to print)
- There is no case for it
- No card slot (SD card, CF card)
- No display
- AED 1,239 with battery
Some Eid gift ideas:
- MP3 player: New iPod nano (if rumors are true)
- Smartphone: Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Desire
- Notebook: Apple MacBook, Sony Vaio Z
- Desktop: Apple iMac, Asus EeeTop PC ET2010PNT (all-in-one with touchscreen)
- Accessory for Mac users: anything from Just Mobile or Twelve South, or Apple’s Magic TrackPad
- Hard drive: G-Technology G-Drive, Buffalo
- For PC gamers: Belkin Nostromo N52te control pad
- PC/Mac game: StarCraft 2
- Console game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Digital camera: Sony CyberShot NEX-3/5
-
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Radio 2010-06-01
- 18MP
- HD video 1080 29.97fps
- Switch for video and still modes, seems to take video more seriously
- 3-inch LCD
- 1.6x crop factor (50mm becomes 80mm)
- 19-point AF with “color metering”
- 3.5mm jack for external mic
- Up to ISO 6400 (12800 if you push it)
- Video sample, photo sample
- Amazon.com: $1576 (body)
- 7D body AED 7,000. With 18-135mm lens AED 8,400.
- 12.3MP
- HD video 720 24fps
- 3-inch LCD
- Complicated video recording controls (enabled Live View, then press OK, press a third button to focus)
- Up to 8fps shooting
- 51-point AF with “3D matrix metering”
- Crop factor 1.5x (50mm becomes 75mm)
- Dual card slots (CF and SD)
- Up to ISO 3200 (6400 if you push it)
- 3.5mm jack for external mic
- Amazon.com: $1521 (body)
- D300s Body AED 6,999 (just reduced from 7,999). The l8-200mm VR II lens is priced at AED 4,499 if bought with the body.
