How to print your email or favorite image directly to printer in Android or iOS

How many time have you felt the need to print a certain image, email or web page directly from your mobile and have fumbled for printing options.   You might have transferred the file to your PC via usb or bluetooth and then taken a print.   You will be surprised to note that both iOS and Android devices support most of the modern day printers for printing via Wi-Fi.

Yes what I am saying is true most modern day wi-fi enabled printers can be paired by your iOS or Android device and you can get print of pretty much everything.  The process for the above is also very simple. 

 

iOS supports printing through a App called AirPrint.  iOS devices supporting printers are

Pad (all models)

iPhone (3GS or later)

iPod touch (3rd generation or later)  but you have make sure it is running on latest iOS version.

However not all printers are supported by iOS.  The list of the printers supported and other details can be got here.  Once you have a iOS supported printer, pair the printer with your iOS device via wi-fi and go to sharing actions menu and give a print command from there.  Rest is a piece of cake.  iOS supports around 450 printers of all the major brands.

 

Google also has a Android app called Cloud Print.  Though it only supports around 50 printers as of now, it is also pretty easy to set up.  Visit the Google Cloud Print website for further details.

 

Now a days, the Printer manufacturers also ship their own iOS and Android printing apps.  Canon, HP, Epson, and Kodak, to name a few.  For others go to App Store or Google Play Store and type the name of your printer and you may get lucky. 

 

If you only need to print screenshot of the image on your iOS or Android Device there is a more simple option.

You can take a screen shot in iOS by holding down the power and home buttons and in latest versions of Android by prssing power and volume down keys for a second. The image would be available in iPhoto library or Window's Picture library via Apple's PhotoStream. In Android devices  Google+ app will also automatically upload it, or you can use the share menu's Bluetooth to send it to your computer.

Printing is also possible through Nokia phones for which I will write a separate blog. 

 

Kindly post your comments/suggestions. 

 

Vijay Prabhu