Wireless Printing Requires Tinkering

It may be vaunted as state-of-the-art technology, but trying to print wirelessly from an iPhone has left one man "worn out" after a "outright chore".

Writing for clarionledger.com, Earnest Hart said that after he bought an Epson Artisan 835 he was looking forward to trying out the machine's Wi-Fi capability, and particularly wanted to print from his smartphone.

While the signs at first seemed promising, Mr Hart writes that wireless printing from a mobile can be achieved, but it involves an awful lot of hassle.

Detailing his "trial and error" process, Mr Hart explained the hurdles he had to overcome, including adding the printer to a Wi-Fi network, downloading a mobile printing app, setting up an IMAP email account and enjoying a string of error and 'not verified' messages.

"Wireless printing sounds good in concept, but the reality is a different story, depending on your setup and type of equipment," he wrote.

So while it does work, it might take you all day.

"Printing from my iPhone was just an outright chore. In the end, I decided that there was nothing worth printing on my iPhone anyway and just gave up."

A recent survey of businesses by Lexmark recently that the majority of European office workers have wireless in the workplace but do not get the best out of it. Seven out of ten staff surveyed said they still use cables to link up with their printers.

Judging from Mr Hart's experience, that isn't all that surprising...

Posted by Jamie Foster.