That means that they don’t use ink, per se instead there are particles of colors that reside inside the photo paper until activated by the printer. In contrast, the HP Sprocket, the Lifeprint 2×3, and its sibling, the Lifeprint 3×4.5 (stay tuned for the full review), and the Polaroid Insta-Share are all zero-ink, or ZINK printers. You get a cartridge with enough ink and paper to print eight photos in the box. With dye-sub machines, the ink is solid until print time, which, in this case, occurs when your mobile device starts sending data to the printer. The Mini 2 is a thermal-dye-sublimation (often called dye-sub) printer. The right edge opens up to reveal a compartment where the combination ink and paper consumable cartridges go. It has very little by way of a control panel-just a power button and two status LEDs (On and Connected) on the left edge, and there’s a mini-USB port, a Reset button and a charging status LED on the back edge. Like the other pocket photo printers mentioned here, the Mini 2 works wirelessly from only your iOS- or Android-equipped smartphone or tablet. Though it may not sound like much, that inch or so makes a lot of difference when toting the device around-especially if you’re carrying it in your pocket. The HP Sprocket is nearly an inch shorter and weighs about 2.5 ounces less than the Mini 2. Shrinking the MiniĪt 1 by 3 by 5.2 inches (HWD) and weighing 8.4 ounces (the same weight as the original Mini), the Mini 2 comes in either all-white or all-black, and is closer in length to the Polaroid Insta-Share. The output, however, isn’t nearly as good as photos printed on a few closely priced five- and six-ink consumer-grade photo printers from Canon and Epson. And, much like its predecessor and the other portable photo printers, it prints passable photos. While it still prints 2-by-3.4-inch photos (other photo printers of its ilk print 2-by-3-inch pics), it’s almost an inch shorter than the original Mini, and very close to the Lifeprint 2×3 Hyperphoto Printer and its other competitors in size and girth. Kodak has fired back with its new Kodak Mini 2 HD Instant Photo Printer ($99.99).

The problem for the Mini, though, is that, at 6 inches long-or an inch or so longer than these other models-it’s just big enough not to be all that miniature. Earlier this year, we looked at the Kodak Photo Printer Mini, a portable snapshot photo printer that, like the highly rated HP Sprocket, or the Polaroid Insta-Share, churns out small photos (in this case 2 by 3.4 inches, or business card size).

How to use a kodak photo printer mini 2