SiPix Pocket Printer A6

This black and white printer is certainly small and light, but is just a little too big to fit into your pocket - unless you happen to wear combat trousers, in which case you could probably fit three of these in one pocket.

Due to this tiny footprint, the printer is limited to depositing its output onto A6-sized sheets or continuous-feed paper.

Like all portable printers, the SiPix eschews traditional printing methods and opts for the thermal option. Instead of using ink to print the output, it physically burns it onto special heat-sensitive paper.

Although this has the advantage of never requiring an ink replacement, it has the unfortunate effect that the resulting output closely resembles a High Street till receipt.

Infrared capability is built in for both convenience when on the move, and also to allow printing direct from Palm devices (OS 3.0 and above). With the bundled IrPrint software, it is possible to print data from the standard Palm applications - Address Book, Memo Pad, To Do List, Date Book and Mail.

Bizarrely, unlike the full release of IrPrint, the bundled version does not allow for printing of Word and Excel documents from Documents To Go, thereby vastly reducing the functionality of the device.

Infrared-enabled laptops offer more hope, with no limitations in what can be printed: print exactly what you can on a standard printer, only at a quarter of the size. This size limitation can make actually doing anything with the hard copy, such as editing, a little difficult.

For those without infrared, a serial cable is included.

There are two paper options - single A6 sheets, or a continuous roll of paper of A6 width. The single sheets are OK, but the roll is a bit redundant. Yes, it allows for the printing of documents longer than one A6 sheet, but the resulting printout is curled up, again like a till receipt.

Frustratingly, if a continuous roll is inserted into the printer, single sheets cannot be used at the same time: one or the other only.

On a more positive note, the Pocket Printer A6 is small, and with a choice between a black plastic or translucent blue model, you should have no trouble matching it with your notebook.

Contact:
SiPix: 020 8899 6026 www.sipix.com