- P1 is world’s smallest and lightest mobile printer and weighs just 92 grams.
- The inkjet printer can print on curved surfaces or vertical surfaces or even curved angles.
- To print different colours, you need to change the cartridges every time and it is a pain.
Dubai: California-based company Selpic is pushing the boundaries of digital printing. After S1 and S1 Plus mobile printers, the company is set to mass-produce P1, the world’s smallest and lightest handheld mobile printer.
Selpic P1 printer is currently up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo and comes in black and white versions.
I was surprised when I opened the box to see a small printer compared to the larger S1.
First of all, hats off to Selpic to keep the P1 so compact.
There are two well-known brands – PrintPen (255 grams) and PrinCube (110 grams) but P1 weighs 92 grams. At only 5.12×1.22×0.94 inches, it is small enough to fit into a pocket or a handbag.
To keep the body light, Selpic used plastic for the top half of the device and a light metallic shell towards the tip or the bottom side of the P1.
The handheld mobile pen printer works a lot like a label maker and it is fun to use. It can be used to print words, logos, QR codes and graphics on a variety of surfaces.
The wireless inkjet printer can print on curved surfaces or vertical surfaces or even curved angles. It has a roller on the base for a smooth roll and can print from left to right or right to left. It currently supports 10 languages such as English, Arabic, Japanese, German, Italian, French, Korean, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, etc.
The P1 prints at 600×600 dots per inch and its inkjet head is equipped with 300 nozzles and has a nozzle spacing of just 0.002 inches. Each nozzle can eject 18 million drops per second to get incredible quality.
Versatile printer
To get the printer connected, the app “Selpic handy printer” has to be downloaded from the Apple, Windows or Android app stores and has to be paired through WiFi or Bluetooth networks.
On the top half of one side, there is a power button and a USB Type-C charging port.
To turn on, you need to push the power button for two to three-second and wait for the green LED light. The green light will also flash when you are printing. The LED will flash red when the battery is low.
There is a round locking button which you need to press when you want to change the cartridge and a button to press when printing on the other side.
What you want to be printed has to be typed on the app or it can turn your voice into text using the smartphone’s built-in microphone. The speech recognition works well as advertised.
In the app, print settings can be done for the interface material such as paper, glass, plastic, leather or cloth and changing print directions.
With the app, users can change fonts and sizes and printing will happen as you scroll across the printing surface.
The device will print only what you can see on the app and if you enlarge a photo or a logo, zooming in will crop part of the image.
It has a library of images and icons and you can edit, print QR codes and customise barcodes. You can also take photos with your phone or photos stored on your phone to print but remember that it can print only in one colour.
Comfortable grip
The review unit I got came with a black ink cartridge but you can buy other colours such as magenta, cyan, yellow, light magenta, light cyan, red and green separately. The cartridge costs $39 currently; it could be retailed for $59, for every colour and it is expensive.
To print different colours, you need to change the cartridges every time and it is a pain.
However, the Selpic P1 has a comfortable grip and stable operating experience.
I tried on all the listed surfaces and it worked fine but the ink, sometimes, gets smudgy on very smooth surfaces and does not dry up fast.
With a single cartridge, it is capable of printing 90 pages of A4 papers and replacing the cartridges can be done in seconds.
The 7.4V lithium-polymer battery can provide close to three hours of working time. The box comes with a micro-USB cable and no 5V charger but you can use any smartphone charger. It takes more than 2.5 hours to charge the battery to full.
Conclusion
Selpic P1 is a printer targeting a niche segment and it cannot replace a normal printer to print documents. The P1 has its uses but they’re limited. It is worth considering when you want to print phrases and images to your gear or hobbyists or a niche of minimalist aficionados. It cannot print large images and the print area has to be within 12.7x500mm. The app can support JPG, BNP, GIF, PNG and Office documents.
A campaign for the Selpic P1 is launched on Indiegogo with the device starting from $99. There are also several other packages available. The retail price for the device is expected to be $199. A single colour cartridge costs $39 and will be retailed for $59. The device will be delivered to the backers in September and be available in retail stores in October.
Pros
- Sleek and lightweight
- Compact form-factor
- Quick-drying waterproof ink
- Can print on any surfaces with multi-angles
- Support multiple languages
- Built-in line break function
- Plenty of colour inks to choose
Cons
- A bit expensive
- Proprietary cartridge
- Ink does not dry fast on glossy surfaces
- Connectivity issues can happen
- Takes a long time to charge a small battery
- Cannot print large images
- Available only in October at retail stores