VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IP-P20-VP

The VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IP-P20-VP is similar to, but one step down from, the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IPWF-P30-VP that I recently reviewed. Like its more expensive sibling, it's a dedicated photo printer designed to print strictly from smartphones, tablets, and PictBridge cameras, and it can print both 4 by 6 photos and panoramas at up to 4 by 16 inches. As with the IPWF-P30-VP, if you want to print without moving files to your computer first, it can be a good fit.

It's easy to tell the IP-P20-VP from the IPWF-P30-VP from a distance, but only because it's white instead of black. Beyond that, the main differences are the IP-P20-VP's lower price and its lack of Wi-Fi. If you want easy photo printing from your camera or mobile device, either one can do the job. But if you don't need Wi-Fi, the IP-P20-VP's lower price makes it the preferred choice.

Basics and Setup

The IP-P20-VP is a thermal dye printer, a category that also includes the Canon Selphy CP900. At 5 by 6 by 7 inches (HWD) and only 3.1 pounds, it's reasonably portable. However, it's not as portable as the CP900, which is not only smaller and lighter, but has an optional battery available. The IP-P20-VP needs to plug into a power outlet.

Much like the print cartridge for the Canon CP900, the IP-P20-VP's cartridge includes both paper and ink, in the form of a dye roll. This welcome convenience lets you load ink and paper in a single step. Unlike the Canon CP900, however, the IP-P20-VP has the advantage of being able to print photos at different sizes: 4 by 6, 4 by 11, or 4 by 16 inches. The printer can manage this trick because the paper is stored in a continuous roll. When it's finished printing, its built-in automatic paper cutter slices the roll to releases the photo as the last step.

One other unusual feature, which the IP-P20-VP shares with the VuPoint IPWF-P30-VP, is a 30-pin connector for printing from iThings. The connector is on the top of the printer, with a raised rest behind it, so you can connect an iPad, iPhone, or iPod to print from. According to VuPoint Solutions, the dock works with iPhone models 4S, 4, 3GS, and 3G; the iPad, iPad2, and third generation iPads; and the second through fourth generation of iPod touch.

There's also a USB port on the side of the printer that you can connect to by USB cable. VuPoint Solutions says it works with all the same Apple models, plus the iPhone 5, fourth generation iPad, iPad mini, fifth-generation iPod Touch, and Android smartphones and tablets using OS 2.0 and above. In addition, it supports PictBridge cameras. There's no way to print from a computer, however.

Setup is simple. The printer comes with a 10-photo starter cartridge already installed. All you have to do is take the printer out of the box and plug it in. Replacing the cartridge is also easy. Slide the old cartridge out and slide the new one in.

Speed and Photo Sizes
To print a photo from a mobile device, you have to download the appropriate version of the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube Advance app to your phone, tablet, or iPod. You can then run the app, pick a photo, connect to the printer's dock or connect by USB cable, and print. To print from a PictBridge camera, you simply connect the camera by USB cable and use the camera's built in commands to print.

For my tests, I printed from a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone and a Canon PowerShot S60 camera. For testing the panorama feature, I used photos I took with Wondershare Panorama version 1.5.1, a free app available on Google Play.

For both the camera and phone, print speed for 4 by 6s in my tests varied from 1 minute 11 seconds to 1 minute 29 seconds, which is essentially the same range I saw with the IPWF-P30-VP. Keep in mind that these results aren't comparable to our standard tests, which use a specified suite of photos and print from a computer. One valid comparison, however, is to the Editors' Choice Epson PictureMate Charm, which took 43 to 52 seconds to print 4 by 6s from the same camera using PictBridge.

As with the VuPoint IPWF-P30-VP, the IP-P20-VP can print panoramas in three sizes, with the Photo Cube app giving you the choice of 4 by 6, 4 by 11, or 4 by 16. For each of these sizes, you can use the app to zoom in on the photo to print only part of it and drag the photo on the screen to choose which part to print. You can also zoom out to print more of the photo, with white space above and below. Not surprisingly, the times for each size were similar to the times on the VuPoint IPWF-P30-VP, at 1:15 for the 4 by 6 size, 2:20 for 4 by 11, and 3:37 for 4 by 16.

Output Quality, and Other Issues
Output quality, unfortunately, showed the same shortcomings I saw with the VuPoint IPWF-P30-VP. Photos in my tests tended to lose details based on shading in both light and dark areas, and many of the photos had a slightly soft focus, which is a known potential issue for thermal dye printers despite the true 300 dot-per-inch resolution with no need for dithering. This puts the quality at the low end of what you would expect from drugstore prints and is best described as snapshot quality overall.

I also saw an additional issue with panoramic photos. The panoramas are printed in sections, with vertical lines showing between sections, and with a noticeable color shift from one section to the next in some cases.

As I mentioned in my review of the VuPoint IPWF-P30-VP, VuPoint Solutions is aware of the problem and has temporarily addressed it by removing the ability to print panoramas from its latest upgrade the to Photo Cube app, version 3.59. At this writing, the company still plans to fix the problem before reintroducing the feature. Until the fix is available, however, panoramic printing with the IP-P20-VP will be limited to letting you create panoramic collages of 4 by 6 photos.

One final issue that the IP-P20-VP shares with the IPWF-P30-VP is the cost per photo. At $19.99 street for a 36 photo cartridge, 4 by 6 photos are 55.5 cents each. You can double that for 4 by 11 panoramas and triple it for 4 by 16 panoramas.

I'd like this printer a lot more if it had higher photo quality and a lower cost per photo. It would also help if it let you print from a computer. However, the snapshot quality is acceptable as long as you don't have too critical an eye. If you simply want an easy way to print from your phone, tablet, iPod, or PictBridge camera, that may be enough.

That said, what really makes the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IP-P20-VP different and worth considering is the potential to print panoramic photos. Even the flawed panoramas, with vertical lines and color shifts, would be good enough for some purposes. Any improvement will make the output that much more attractive. If the ability to print panoramas is enough to make you consider getting this printer, however, you'll want to be sure before you buy it that the feature has been added back to the app.

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VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IPWF-P30-VP

Dedicated photo printers are niche products by definition, but the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IPWF-P30-VP carves out an even smaller niche than most. It's designed for easy printing from PictBridge cameras and from both Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, but can't print from a computer at all. For many, that will be enough reason to pass it by. If you just want an easy way to print from your camera or mobile device, however, it can be a good fit.

In most ways, the IPWF-P30-VP is essentially identical to the IP-P10-VP, which was the first VuPoint Photo Cube and is still available at this writing. Both are thermal dye printers for 4 by 6 photo printing, both have docks with 30-pin iThing connectors, and both let you connect and print from Android devices by USB cable.

One significant difference between the two is the dock design. The IP-P10-VP dock is recessed, so although you can plug an iPhone directly into the dock, you have to connect iPads by USB cable, the same way you connect Android devices. The dock in the IPWF-P30-VP is flush with the top of the printer and includes a raised rest behind it, so it can take iPads also. Two additional features are PictBridge support and the addition of Wi-Fi as a connection option. Note that even with Wi-Fi you can't print from a computer, however, since there's no driver available for either Windows or OS X.

The most interesting new feature in the IPWF-P30-VP is its ability to print panoramas, thanks to upgrades in the printer itself, upgraded software, and a newly introduced print cartridge, the ACS-IP-P20-VP. The IPWF-P30-VP works with the original ACS-IP-P10-VP cartridge as well, but is limited to 4-by-6 output with that cartridge. With the new cartridge, it can print at up to 4-by-16.

One complication is that VuPoint Solutions has temporarily taken the feature out of the current software at this writing. But more on that later.

Basics and Setup
At 5 by 6 by 7 inches (HWD) and only 3.1 pounds, the IPWF-P30-VP is light enough to carry easily, but it's a lot bigger than the smartphone, tablet, or camera you'll be printing from. It also needs to plug into a power outlet to work, which makes it far less portable than it would be if it could use batteries.

Setup is trivial. The print cartridges include both paper and ink, in the form of a dye roll, with a 10-photo starter cartridge installed in the printer when you buy it. Initial setup consists basically of taking the printer out of the box and plugging it in. Replacing the cartridge is also easy: slide the old cartridge out and the new cartridge in.

According to VuPoint Solutions, the IPWF-P30-VP dock works with iPhone models 4S, 4, 3GS, and 3G; the iPad, iPad2, and third-generation iPads; and the second- through fourth-generation of iPod touch. The USB connector works with all the same models, plus the iPhone 5, the fourth-generation iPad, the iPad mini, the fifth-generation iPad Touch, and Android smartphones and tablets using version 2.0 and above of the Android OS. In addition, the printer works over Wi-Fi with this full list of models, and it works with PictBridge Cameras.

To print from a camera, you connect by USB cable and print using the camera's PictBridge commands. To print from a mobile device, you first download the appropriate version of the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube Wi-Fi app. Then you can run the app; pick a photo to print; connect to the printer by docking, using a USB cable, or using a Wi-Fi connection; and then print.

One surprising oversight is that there doesn't seem to be a way for the printer to work with a phone that offers Wi-Fi Direct, so the only way to use Wi-Fi is by connecting through a Wi-Fi access point on your network. More precisely, VuPoint Solutions couldn't come up with a way to make the printer work with Wi-Fi Direct, although the company also couldn't definitively confirm that it can't be done.

A more annoying issue is that printing from the phone over a USB connection can be frustrating. Most of the time the USB connection worked as promised in my tests, but occasionally the app couldn't find the printer even though the phone was connected to the printer and charging. Turning both the printer and phone off and then on seemed to solve the problem, but I ran into it several times.

VuPoint Solutions confirmed that this is a known issue. The company also says that the problem is limited to USB connections with phones, which is consistent with my testing. I didn't see the problem with either a Wi-Fi connection or a PictBridge camera.

Speed and Photo Sizes
For my tests, printing from a Samsung Galaxy S3 and a Canon PowerShot S60 camera, print speed for 4 by 6s ranged from 1 minute 12 seconds to 1:34. These results aren't comparable to our standard tests, because we couldn't print from a computer. As a point of reference, however, the Editors' Choice Epson PictureMate Charm took 43 to 52 seconds printing from the same camera.

Panoramas are a special case. What lets the IPWF-P30-VP print different size photos is that the 4-inch wide paper is in a continuous roll. The printer includes a paper cutter that can cut the roll where needed. In addition to printing standard format photos at 4 by 6, the Photo Cube Wi-Fi app lets you print panoramic photos at 4 by 6, 4 by 11, or 4 by 16.

For any of these sizes you can zoom in on the photo to print only part of it or zoom out to print more of the photo, with white space above and below. You can also drag the photo left or right on screen to adjust which part prints. I timed the 4 by 11 prints at 2:22 and the 4 by 16 at 3:30.

Output Quality, and Other Issues
Output quality is not a strong point. Photos in my tests tended to loose details based on shading in both light and dark areas. In addition, despite 300 dot per inch resolution with no dithering, many of the photos had a slightly soft focus, which is often an issue for thermal dye printers. Even so, most photos were acceptable by most people's standards, and best described as snapshot quality overall.

Panoramic photos, which are printed in sections, showed vertical lines between the sections in my tests and, in some cases, an obvious color shift from one section to the next. As I was finishing up this review, VuPoint Solutions noticed the problem independently and addressed it by removing the ability to print panoramic photos from its latest upgrade to Photo Cube Wi-Fi, version 3.59.

The company plans to fix the problem before reintroducing the feature, and at this writing is hoping to do that within several weeks. Until the fix is available, however, the panoramic printing will be confined to letting you create and print panoramic collages of 4 by 6 photos.

Also demanding mention is cost per photo. With the cartridge price of $19.99 street for 36 photos, the cost per 4 by 6 photo is 55.5 cents. You can roughly double that for 4 by 11 panoramas and roughly triple it for 4 by 16 panoramas.

It would be a lot easier to give this printer an enthusiastic recommendation if the quality were just a bit better and the USB-connection worked more reliably. Although the quality isn't suitable if you want professional level output, however, it's good enough for snapshots. More important, the panoramic print feature, once it's available in the software again, will count as a strong plus even with the quality I saw as tested.

This printer would be of interest to a lot more people if it could also print from a computer. But if what you want is easy printing from your phone, tablet, iPod, or PictBridge camera; and you also want a Wi-Fi connection option, the VuPoint Solutions Photo Cube IPWF-P30-VP offers enough to at least make it worth considering. Before you buy one, however, you might want to check to make sure that the panoramic print feature has been restored to the app.

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