HP Sprocket Portable Photo Printer Review, User Experience, And Analysis

You might be in search of a printer that could be available for you at your home or business place at the time of need for instant prints.

In such conditions, you cannot rely on big bulky models; instead, you can go for some lightweight and portable options like HP Sprocket Portable Photo Printer.

Having such a printer in your home, you can use its features to get instant prints in your hand to finish up an assignment or print notes from the office at any point you like.

It’s not easy to maintain printers when they have a lot of technical additions. Luckily, the HP Sprocket Portable printer saves you this trouble.

To get into a deeper discussion for a better analysis of this printer, we have brought you the HP Sprocket Portable Photo Printer Review.

The HP Sprocket is a small but useful printer that has gotten a lot of attention over the years for its performance and stability.

This is a printer that makes a lot of tasks simpler for a person who is always in a rush to deal with paperwork.

It connects to your phone through Bluetooth and prints credit-card-sized photographs on Zink paper with a sticky back.

The HP Sprocket Select is a third-generation upgrade to the Sprocket 200 that produces bigger prints than its predecessor, the Sprocket Plus, but without the added weight.

The Sprocket Select is delightfully lightweight, portable, and, as its name indicates, tiny enough to slip into your pocket, weighing in just a somewhat insane 18g.

The Sprocket Select is somewhat bigger than the normal Sprocket, but it is lower in height.

The print sizes are increased from 2×3 inches to 2.3×3.4 inches or about the size of a credit card. The Sprocket Studio transfers layers of color onto the material using a technique known as ‘dye sublimation.’

It’s a more time-consuming procedure than normal inkjet printers, but the results are superior to what you’d get with a typical printer.

To get started, download the HP Sprocket companion app to your smartphone, which includes a variety of editing capabilities to make your prints stand out.

Read and find here- Best Portable Printer.

Dimensions and weight	: 116 x 75 x 23 mm (4.53 x 2.95 x 0.87 in)0.172 kg (0.379 lb)
Connectivity	: Bluetooth 3.0 Passive near field communication (NFC)
Printer management	: HP sprocket app
Power supply	: Up to 35 prints per charge Internal rechargeable battery Two-cell 500 mAh Li-Polymer 7.4 V
Charge time	: Up to 90 minutes
Power consumption	: 0.9 W (standby)Average 15.91 W (based on first print)Maximum 34.49 W at 25° C (77° F)
Print technology	: Thermal printing with a ZINK® Zero Ink® printer (note)The printer does not use ink cartridges to print.
Supported paper	: HP Sprocket Photo Paper 5.0 x 7.6 cm (2 x 3 in)
Borderless printing	: Yes
Support file types	: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF (iOS only) (note) If you send a non-supported file type, the print job does not print.
Paper tray capacity	: Up to 10 pages with the blue Print Quality Card (formerly Smartsheet)
Memory	: Up to 512 MB
Print quality	: 313 x 400 dots per inch (dpi)
Print speed	: Up to 40 seconds
Mobile operating systems and devices	: Supported by Android mobile devices with OS 4.4 and later, and iOS 10.0.2 and later
Control panel	: Power button, Reset button, Charging Indicator Light, Status Indicator Light
Environmental parameters	: Operating humidity  5% to 70% RH (recommended)
Non-operating humidity	: 5% to 90% RH
Operating temperature	: 5° to 40° C (41° to 104° F)
Recommended operating temperature	: 15° to 32° C (59° to 90° F)
Storage temperature	: -30° to 60° C (-22° to 140° F)
Warranty	: One-year limited hardware warranty

Talking about some features and advantages, there is a lot to discuss the HP Sprocket printer. We will be discussing all of them one by one.

Body Design

Blush, Luna Pearl, and Lilac are the three colors available for the Sprocket. Each version includes a speckled pattern on the top of the casing that functions as a QR code, allowing you to connect to the Sprocket, check its status, and see how much battery life it has left.

Usage

The Sprocket printer is quite simple to use. It connects through Bluetooth and the Sprocket app and runs on a rechargeable battery via a micro-USB cord.

Inserting the paper, which comes in packs of 10, 20, or 50 sheets, is straightforward. Simply remove the magnetic cover and place the pages inside.

It’s also simple to print a photo using the in-app photo grid, in which you can select one or more photos to print. The Sprocket will spin up in a second, and the photo will be printed in around 10 seconds.

App Support

The HP Sprocket app (for Android and iOS) guides you through the printer’s initial setup, from loading picture paper to charging the battery and pairing it with your phone through Bluetooth.

There is no Wi-Fi Direct or connected connectivity, and the printer is designed solely for mobile use, with no support for Windows or macOS.

The Sprocket app is compatible with a number of social networking networks, including Facebook and Instagram.

You may now print your social network photos without ever having to leave the Sprocket app. You may also add many sticker-style designs, and the app includes a seasonal selection that changes on a regular basis.

The printer also enhances one of the most intriguing features of the Sprocket printer/app combo: the ability to add a video to your photos.

The software enables you and other Sprocket app users to scan a printed image with your camera without any apparent QR code or another visual tagging mechanism, and the app will call up an attached video clip.

Performance

The HP Sprocket promises rapid and simple mobile printing, and it succeeds on both counts. The images are smaller (2×3 inches) and have a lower resolution (313×400 dpi) than those taken by your phone’s camera, but the printer is a fun way to receive near-instant prints from your phone or social network accounts.

Color Consistency

The color quality of this printer is all over the place. Color is dramatically distorted in several photographs, such as a red rose in most cases.

The red shade mostly loses all of its fine red tones, making the print look more like a disturbing photo. In some cases, the printed colors were so faint that they appeared to be practically pure white.

We noticed the same difficulties when printing these photographs a second time while experiencing no such issue on previous Sprocket versions or other photo printers.

Read also– Brother PJ773 Review.

Augmented Reality Features

The Sprocket is openly riding the AR bandwagon. Augmented reality is one of the hottest buzzwords in the IT industry right now.

You may use the tool to add contextual information to images, as well as a variety of borders to make them more interesting.

The AR effects are only visible through the Sprocket app, and while they aren’t really practical, they are entertaining – which is the main purpose of the Sprocket.

Design

In this section of HP Sprocket Portable Photo Printer Review we will now discuss the design of this printer in detail. With a sleek form and fresh, speckled paint job, the 2nd Edition Sprocket changes the aesthetic of the original generation, making the pocket-size printer look more like a designer product.

The Sprocket prInter by HP comes in pink, noir, and Luna pearl (black, peach, and gray, too). The printer’s rounded rectangular form makes it simple to tuck away.

The Sprocket is small enough to fit into a coat pocket or pocketbook, measuring 4.63×3.15×0.98 inches and weighing only 6.1 ounces.

A little nylon tag with an HP logo adorns one corner. However, that tab has a purpose other than decoration.

It also serves as a grip when you’re reloading the ZINK picture paper by opening the printer’s top panel.

Read also here- HP Officejet 250 Review.

• The footprint of the Sprocket 2nd Edition is similar to that of a smartphone; however, it is somewhat larger.
• This category includes the original Sprocket, as well as the competing Kodak Mini 2 HD, Canon IVY Mini, and Lifeprint’s Hyperphoto Printers. They all cost $35.99 and include 108 printing sheets, resulting in a lower per-print cost.
• The Canon Selphy CP1300 costs $109.99 against which this one is cheaper.
• When compared to other mobile photo printers such as the Kodak Photo Printer Mini, or Polaroid ZIP Photo Printer, the print quality isn’t bad; but, digital noise produces artefacts in the photographs.
• The Sprocket 2nd Edition is lightweight with only 4 ounces and is 1 by 4.6 by 3.2 inches.
• The continuing expenditures, like with any printers, may quickly pile up, and the Sprocket Studio doesn’t compare well to certain other photo printers.

See Price at Walmart.

Talking about the user experience of HP Sprocket, we noticed a lot of mixed reviews. The Sprocket is a fun, easy-to-use gizmo that would make it a suitable choice for homes or small businesses.

It isn’t the pinnacle of photo printing quality, but neither is it intended to be. Instead, it’s a gadget aimed at persuading individuals who don’t print anything to do it again, creating lasting memories from digital files on their phones.

The Sprocket is ideal for this purpose, as indicated by many users. But some users still had issues. Unfortunately, the Sprocket isn’t perfect, and the photographs it generates are washed-out for most reviewers.

Using photographs shot with the devices like Google Pixel 3 XL, they discovered that the Sprocket’s photos had a significant blue shift.

While it did a good job of maintaining contrast between bright and dark colors, it had trouble distinguishing between identical hues, especially at the dark end of the spectrum.

However, it’s worth noting that Sprocket’s rivals, the Polaroid ZIP and Fujifilm Instax Share SP-3, have similar limitations.

You can use the Sprocket’s color correction features to try to fix some of the flaws, but this won’t totally fix the prints.

Customers had a fun experience with this portable printer. Some said, “The design of the Sprocket 2nd Edition is simple.

On the front side, there’s a print-out slot with a small status light right above it, and on the back edge, there’s a power button, a micro USB charging connector, a reset pinhole, and battery status LED.”

Another customer wasn’t satisfied with that, and he said that “The print size is very small, and it distorts the bright colors in some cases, which isn’t very likable.”

These reviews say a lot about this printer’s final evaluation overall.

In this section of HP Sprocket Portable Photo Printer Review we will now discuss how to evaluate this printer. For those who prefer rapid pleasure from printing images, the HP Sprocket provides infinite entertainment.

While Zink (or zero ink) printing isn’t flawless, it’ll suffice for scrapbooking and other keepsake creations. The HP Sprocket is a small picture printer aimed at the printer-averse millennial generation.

This means it’s still a smart choice for many to go with the HP Sprocket Portable printer for printing photos and documents at ease.

Is the HP Sprocket a high-quality product?

While instant prints on film are still costly in the long term, the Sprocket Select, which utilizes a less expensive Zero Ink paper, is a great, cost-effective alternative.

The image quality isn’t as sharp, clear, or vivid as a shop-bought inkjet print, but that’s not what you’re paying for.

What’s the difference between HP Sprocket 2nd Edition and HP Sprocket?

The Sprocket 2nd Edition’s operating expenses are lower than the original Sprocket’s initial 65-cent cost per print, thanks to a better bargain on HP-branded ZINK paper.

Due to the fact that these two items utilize the same medium, a price decrease for the new Sprocket paper also lowers the price of the other.

This was a completely detailed HP Sprocket Portable Photo Printer Review in which we shared details of this printer with its adaptability and portability.

The printer is proved to be good in many aspects considering a small business or home, but it can be a headache for some users too.

We hope this HP Sprocket Review came to use for you. For further details on this type of printer or such models, you can see our site.

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