"From the country that brought us the Big Mac comes another convenience — not quite as tasty, but definitely a product that the team at D-Photo agree you should sink your teeth into"
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“From the country that brought us the Big Mac comes another convenience — not quite as tasty, but definitely a product that the team at D-Photo agree you should sink your teeth into”
Printicular is a photo-printing app, created by Hamilton-based app developer MEA, that allows users to select and print photos straight from their mobile device, and have them delivered directly to their door. It’s currently available on iOS and Android, and is free to download.
Printicular calls itself the “world’s fastest-growing photo-printing app”, and for good reason. They’ve grasped hold of the US market with a collaborative deal with Walgreens, and have received an encouraging nod from the Harvard Business Review. Printicular’s initial hype escalated in a frenzy of Instagram addicts, who have, for the first time, been able to print their square, digitally filtered snaps on the go. However, the app actually offers a whole lot more — you can login and upload images from wherever they are stored; with available sources such as Flickr, Facebook, Dropbox, and Picasa, to name a few.
There’s no syncing, cables, or account registration involved — simply open the app and connect to your platform of choice. From here you can select photos to upload and create a print order, with sizes from 4×4 inches to 8×12 inches, in both matte and gloss stock. Worldwide shipping is offered free with purchases over the value of US$25, which actually equates to a decent stack of prints with prices starting at only 32 cents each.
At first this app can appear as a bit of a novelty, however its success relies in its very simple solution to a common problem we face in dealing with images. Due to the increasingly ephemeral nature of digital photography, we often find that physical prints are only reserved for the winning image, that single moment of brilliance or masterpiece. A lot can be said for the tactile photographic print, in consideration of variable screen resolutions and colour calibrations. With the cost and time involved in ordering test prints, Printicular offers a nifty alternative with very little effort involved.
The single setback to this app is that it isn’t overly user-customizable, though an update to fix this probably isn’t far away. We found that you can only select images in a single size and paper type per order, meaning that you can’t order a single image in a variety of sizes in one purchase. We also found that once images were uploaded, there was no function to edit these selections, instead having to recreate an order from scratch. Still, if you had a series of shots on Flickr to compare in print, or perhaps some visuals sent to you via Dropbox for an upcoming meeting — this app would provide an easy printing solution.
Like anything, this app will be what you make of it. However, there’s no doubt that it could add real value to the photographer on the go.
Check out Printicular via the App Store and Google Play.
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