KODAK Mini 3 Square Bluetooth Photo Printer

It worked great for the first few uses but now is riddled with issues — ranging from completely discolored photos to not printing at all. Kodak was a trusted brand for me before this but not anymore. Would not recommend.

Gift for my lady. She loves it

I think there’s a lot to praise about this mini photo printer. It’s really perfect for a person like me who is NOT a photographer and doesn’t want to carry a clunky camera around. I always take photos on my smartphone, and it is really nice to be able to print out my favorite ones now with this mini printer (since I scrapbook).

I already had a mini photo printer, the Polaroid Zip, which prints in 2×3 in photos using Zink photo paper (the kind of photo paper that has dye crystals embedded inside so you don’t need to buy ink cartridges for your printer). I attached a couple images showing the difference in quality, with the original unedited photo that I took on my phone and showing the Polaroid Zip 2×3 next to the Kodak Mini 3 3×3 printed photo.

There’s definitely a BIG difference in the coloring – the Polaroid Zip for some reason always prints my photos with a duller, more reddish palette than I like. For me, since I have the original photo to compare to, I don’t like that weird printed effect altering the colors. It’s not so much nostalgic and aesthetic as it is just ugly looking. I really prefer the brighter colors that are popped out in the original image, and the Kodak Mini 3 does a really good job of capturing those nice bright colors.

The Kodak Mini 3 also has really clear detail that it’s able to capture in print. You can actually still read the tiny little words in the background of the photo I took! I think this is because the Kodak uses real ink cartridge. You watch the photo as it prints go in and out 4 times before it’s done, each time with a new “layer” of color added on. The Zink photo printing process that I’ve noted with the Polaroid has had really disappointing prints for me. You can see that with the Zink printed 2×3 photo, the photo is blurrier/has more “bleeding”/loses the nice details especially with shadows and light. Also, a LOT of times you can see pretty noticeable striations/horizontal lines that develop with the Zink printing, and it’s super ugly. Zink printing is convenient because there’s no ink cartridge you have to refill (that’s why I bought the Polaroid Zip printer) , but you lose so much image quality, so I really regret my Polaroid Zip purchase. Again, the Kodak does a REALLY nice job with the image quality and I think the colors, the quality of the paper, and details are super lovely. It has a nice classic vibe, it reminds me of photos you get from an Instax (which I don’t have, but a few of my friends do).

In terms of print time, the Kodak definitely takes a little longer because it has to do the 4-passes through before it’s completely done. But that’s not something I mind because I’m not printing hundreds of photos every day, just my favorite selected ones every once in a while.

The printer itself is definitely bigger than my Polaroid Zip, you can see that it takes up almost my whole hand to hold it. It doesn’t feel heavy though. And for my purposes, in which it will mostly be sitting on my computer desk, I don’t mind. I could imagine that if I needed to carry it around in a bag or something it wouldn’t be a huge pain. Definitely not able to fit in your jeans pockets though, unless you have huge pockets. It’s pretty cute, pretty plain, but feels very modern.

The app was easy to use and intuitive, I had not problems connecting to the Bluetooth on my phone. One last thing to note, the price in my opinion is really good especially in comparison to my Polaroid Zip, which was also about $100 ON CLEARANCE when I bought it, and as I said above, the Polaroid quality Zink photos really weren’t worth it. I’m super pleased with this Kodak, and if you’re like me and you want nice printed photos from your phone, it is totally a great purchase!

The printer is alright given that it’s the only one I could find that does full-bleed (no border) square photos. You do have the option for a border if you want one.
Pros:
-It holds its charge if it’s off quite well. I fully charged it on Tuesday, printed a few photos, turned it off and left it until Saturday and it’s still at 80%.
-There’s an option for a border if you want one, or you can do full-bleed.
-Print time is quick, from start to finish it’s maybe 20-30 seconds. The photo is instantly dry, too. No smearing ink.
-There are filter options, borders, and sticker options in the app if you want to add things to the photo before printing.
-The cartridges are easy to change and it only takes a few seconds. They’re a little pricey but they’re convenient and it’s the only one on the market (for now).

Cons:
-You have to manually connect through Bluetooth every time in your device’s settings. It doesn’t automatically pick it up.
-The printer turns off really quickly- sometimes while I am selecting and editing the next photo I want to print. Every time it turns off, you have to manually reconnect the Bluetooth. It turns off in two minutes if you don’t keep printing.
-You can’t do anything else with your phone while the photo is printing. It very clearly warns you of this and the photos print quickly, but it’s an easy mistake to make if a notification pops up.
-This thing is LOUD. It makes a lot of noise while it’s printing and it beeps loudly when it turns on/connects to Bluetooth.
-There are often firmware updates. They don’t take long to install but they turn the printer off when they’re finished (meaning again, you have to go to your settings and reconnect the Bluetooth). You don’t know about these updates until after you hit print. It would be nice if there was an indication once it connects and the app was open instead of after your photo is resized and ready.
-There is a perforated strip on the bottom of the photo (see attached photo). It comes off okay usually, but not all sheets are perforated evenly across and sometimes the edge isn’t clean.
-Photos print darker than they look on the screen. It’s only a problem if you don’t have the best lighting in your original picture and can be fixed with filters, but it would be nice to have more accuracy.
-It would be nice to have a grid in the app when editing/resizing for centering/thirds purposes.

Overall, if you’re looking for something portable that will give you square photos with an option for no border, this is decent. It will not give you professional quality photos but it’s good for basic use, scrapbooks, desk photos. It’s not perfect but it serves its purpose. It would be helpful if some of the cons were improved. I would recommend this product because it’s the only of its kind so far.

Gave this to my daughter for a xmas gift and it never worked not even 1 time. Wasted 2 cartridges of photos in it trying to get it to print. They and the paper just keep getting stuck inside. What a let down as this was supposed to be her big special Christmas gift this year. Sending back. Hoping the replacement works better.