There is no way to print on the iPod touch and iPhone and I remember people complaining about it to me all the time. Even though I’ve owned and use an iPhone and Palm Treo for 3 years, I have never once needed to use a printing feature and this had me a little confused. Usually if your within reach of a computer, than you are within reach of a printer. Isn’t printing from a computer easy enough? Modern day tablets and iPads include many applications such as Documents To Go, Pages and Numbers. These applications allow the user to “author” their own documents from the iPad. This makes the situation a little different. I see the iPhone as a way to consume documents not to make them. Once again, printing isn’t something I think about very much. It’s the same with the iPad. I do, however, still receive questions like, “Is there a way to print on my iPad?” So, here is the answer and a couple of options.
The iDevices Apple create don’t make print supports
In todays world, the iOS doesn’t have the functions to print like the MAC or PC do. The iOS Software Developing Kit (SDK) only allows certain 3rd party applications if you are looking to print out a document. If you want to move application documents on an iOS, it may be difficult since it does not contain a central nervous system. There is an “Open-In” Command in the iPad and iOS that has helped with this problem. For an example, we will use the Apple Pages application. Documents can be made from the bottom on up. Using the iTunes/USB, you can move your applications back and forth. You can save the Pages document on the iWork website or send it to yourself in an email. The Pages PDF still cannot be moved to another application through the “Open-In” command. So, to make this simple, you would need to save the Pages document from the iPad as an email in PDF or word.DOC and then print from a 3rd party printing application. Not much fun!
Which application should I use?
EPrint is what I am reviewing today. You can print anything with the ePrint application using Wifi and you don’t have to install anything onto your personal computer. Hooked up to my Ethernet I have a Xerox Phaser 8550DP with color printing. In order to drive the printer, you don’t need a computer. My Xerox Phaser and Epson Stylus R1800 (which both share a USB with my MAC) were immediately recognized by the ePrint application. It only took me a few seconds to Xerox and start printing documents.