End Your Battery Panic By Printing
A new innovation from Japan that might just catch on is the portable Rolto printer. It was launched there last week. Its sole purpose is to do screen prints from iPhones.
We carry, look up, send and receive a lot if information on our phones these days.
There are times when it would be handy to be able to print something out on the move. Route information to a place I have never visited before, but am aiming for, just as a ‘low battery’ warning comes up for the third time, is an example that comes to mind.
The Rolto is just 75mm wide by 84mm deep by 49mm high and weighs 150g. It communicates with the phone by Wi-Fi and prints on tear-off, till roll style thermal paper, 48mm wide. A matching iPhone App captures the screen and allows some basic editing, if required, before printing out.
For the moment it is only available here by ordering from Japan via eBay at about £170. This is expensive for a device that delivers a similar quality to a retail receipt.
However, the Rolto sells in Japan for 16,500 yen, about £90, so prices are expected to drop if it starts shipping to the UK in volume.
The manufacturer, King Jim, an office products company, is not well known here. The chances are, though, that some bigger manufacturers are already watching and will pick up on the idea if it looks likely to succeed.
The market for cheap, App driven, portable printers would then expand, spreading quickly to other phones and tablets.
If the cost comes down, folk are likely to want one.
