There was a time when printers first became the latest in technological advancements. The time when everyone was excited to print black and white pictures and whatnot, but that soon changed when color printers became available and prices dropped significantly after a while. Then, of course, we weren’t impressed with merely knowing the fact that we could print our documents and images in color. We, as consumers, wanted something more, a lot more that was being offered to us at the time. Gradually, we were introduced to quality photo printers that could print pictures at high resolutions to pretty much prevent us from physically going to the store to actually get our pictures printed. Of course, the innovation of printers was met by the introduction of digital cameras, which made taking and printing pictures even more effortless and cost-effective. Being the hasty consumers we are, we kept demanding more and eventually our expectations (up to a point) were met by leading peripherals manufacturers. What’s the hottest in printers today? Mobility. Believe it or not, companies are working tirelessly to bring mobile printers to fulfill our needs. Since we couldn’t take our precious printers with us on trips and vacations, we needed something that was lightweight, navigational and longer lasting, hence, the perfect solution of mobile printers. Now, our demands or rather necessities don’t end there. When camera phones started getting popular to the point that every phone had one – even if it was mediocre at best, we needed to print those low-quality images. While enlarging them isn’t much an option, what did we need this time? Definitely a mobile printer that could print pictures directly from our camera phones. It appears as though Fujifilm has a solution.

Fujifilm is the first manufacturer to bring a portable printer that prints credit card sized images directly from a certain group of cell phones via infrared technology (wirelessly). According to Fujifilm, the printer weighs in at mere seven ounces (without batteries). The MP-70 requires two CRT2 lithium batteries to operate and prints about 130 images with fully charged batteries. In addition, Fujifilm’s Image Intelligence technology allows the portable MP-70 to print images at 256dpi resolution. The Image Intelligence technology auto exposures the image in low-light conditions to enhance the overall quality. The peripheral supports images only in JPEG format no larger than three megapixels (or 900K).

Those who do not have infrared enabled phones can still take advantage of the printer via an USB adapter, which is included with the printer. Fujifilm claims that the MP-70 prints a single image in 20 second after the initialization process is completed. The operation of the printer is rather self-explanatory and requires no technical knowledge. Simply press the power button and then the print button to print the picture. Thankfully, to avert the battery from accidentally running out, the MP-70 offers an auto power off feature, which is a nice bonus.

Fujifilm has a great idea, especially since they are the first ones to come up with something like this, but it makes us question one thing. How many people are really looking forward to printing low-quality images from their camera phones? Camera phones are fun to take quick shots, but would you really want to have a pile of credit card sized images that were only taken as part of free-style photography? And while Fujifilm might be optimistic about their MP-70, at a price of approximately $99, it would be interesting to see the kind of attention MP-70 gets when it debuts the market in summer of 2005.

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