Top 5 portable photo printers

Hands up if you still make frequent trips to the nearest photo-developing kiosk to print your pictures from the last holiday. Unless you are still living in the Flintstones era, chances are you will probably stash your pile of digital photos in a separate hard drive on your desktop. No matter how expensive your digital camera may be, how big its screen is, or even how it can play a slideshow of your recent pictures with transitions that can win an Oscar, sometimes it just feels different to have a copy of a prized shot in your hands. That's entirely possible, thanks to the availability of portable snapshot printers in the market.

For your convenience, we've rounded up our top five picks for these carry-around photo printers. Some of them have built-in hard drives for you to store your images while others have memory card slots. However, to be truly portable, we would advise you to go with one that's able to run on a battery pack instead of AC power. How else are you able to find a power outlet when you are in the jungle?

Click here for a feature comparison table.

	1.	Canon SELPHY CP730   First take Printing on-the-go isn't new. Yet, one thing most people often overlook is whether the portable photo printer supports battery packs so it can actually work without having to plug into an AC outlet. Canon has recently added the CP730 and the CP720 to its SELPHY lineup of photo printers. You won't be able to tell the pair apart from afar since both look relatively similar. The main differences between both are that the CP730 sports a larger 2-inch color LCD and an optional battery pack. First take | See full specs | Rate this
	2.	Epson PictureMate PM250   First take This Epson looks no more than a simple picnic lunchbox, but open up the lid and paper tray and you'll have a portable photo printer. What makes this PictureMate tick is the optional battery pack which allows you to print untethered. You can preview your images and do basic image editing on the 2.5-inch LCD screen. With a Bluetooth adapter, you can print directly from your handheld. Alternatively, you can slot your media into the built-in memory card reader or your USB thumbdrive to the PictBridge port. First take | See full specs | Rate this
	3.	HP Photosmart A616   CNET Asia rating: 7.5 out of 10 The good: Compact size; 2.4-inch color LCD for picture preview; built-in editing functions; onboard memory card reader. The bad: Slow start-up; external battery pack has to be purchased separately. The bottom line: The Photosmart A616 is a portable photo printer which you can tote around, except that you'll have to bring the power charger with you as well if you don't have the external battery pack. Review | See full specs | Rate this
	4.	Samsung SPP-2020   CNET Asia rating: 7.7 out of 10 The good: Simple design; easy-to-use software; great prints. The bad: No LCD display on printer; some formatting issues; paper feeder dramatically increases printer size. The bottom line: Samsung's first digital photo printer is a sight to see as it runs the paper in and out of its innards. The spectacle is matched by the product, as the finished pictures look amazing. This is a printer that can be operated by anyone, and as long as you're not printing out masses of photos, it's an economical way to keep updating that photo album. Review | See full specs | Rate this
	5.	Sony DPP-FP55   First take When it comes to dedicated photo printers whose sole purpose in life is to print 4R pictures, there are many to choose from. Canon has the SELPHY series, Epson has the PictureMates, HP has the Photosmarts and, of course, Sony has the PictureStations. In June this year, Sony announced two new models--the DPP-FP55 and DPP-FP35--as its latest digital photo printers. The two are alike, except that the FP55 comes with a 2.0-inch LCD and built-in memory card slots. First take | See full specs | Rate this