Almost half of technology users are utilising cloud computing to sync music, images and emails between mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, according to a PC Advisor poll sponsored by Kodak.
The PC Advisor poll suggests that few people are taking advantage of mobile printing capabilities. Only 10 percent of respondents selected ‘Remote printing; wirelessly sending images / docs to print from any device’ as their primary use of cloud computing. This was lower than ‘Mainly storage; using the cloud as a back-up / extra server space’, which garnered 16 percent of votes, and ‘For work; synching files and data between computers / employees’, with 26 percent.
It is unsurprising that leisure, data storage and work are popular with cloud computers, and it reflects the general trend in personal computing. The days of wired, desktop-based computing appear to be on the wane, when even traditionally wired functionalities such as printing can be undertaken on the move, and using mobile devices.
Taking Kodak’s Hero range of printers as an example, using this range of inkjet printers you can print on the go from a smartphone, laptop or tablet using Google Cloud Print-enabled apps such as Gmail and Google Docs. They can also send emails and attachments to your Kodak printer from anywhere, using any email account, with Kodak Email Print Service. Using Google Cloud Print you can print from anywhere to any Cloud Print enabled device, with almost know setup required.
Cloud Print is available on many printer ranges, with the major printer manufacturers having their own dedicated mobile printing solutions. Staying with Kodak’s Hero range, with the Kodak Pic Flick App you can wirelessly send photos to print directly from an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Blackberry or Android OS Device. Also coming soon in HD for iPad and Android OS.
Pic Flick is great for capturing moments on your device and printing them instantly, and if you’re the owner of a compatible Kodak digital photo frame it can also flick your latest photos directly to the frame.
And Kodak’s Document Print App for Android OS lets you wirelessly print documents and webpages directly to your cloud-enabled Kodak All-in-One printer. Available for free from the Android market, you can send web pages, Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, text files, and most image files from your Android device to your Kodak All-in-One printer for free. A similar document print app for iOS is also on its way soon.