World's first modular handheld inkjet printer claims revolutionary print-on-any-surface capabilities — Chinese startup makes big promises but watch out for the price of consumables

Printisian
(Image credit: Printisian)

If you ever wished you could print on anything, Printisian could be for you. The handheld inkjet printer lets users print on various materials and surfaces, including wood, paper, metals, fabric, leather, stone and even food and skin. 

Its modular design allows for easy switching between different accessories, such as an edge positioner, laser aligner, and code scanner, to meet specific printing needs. 

The printer has a 5-inch touchscreen, runs on SianOS (powered by Android), has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, and a 300mAh replaceable battery.

Beware ink costs

The device can print text, pictures, date and time, and QR codes or barcodes at 35CM/s. To use it, connect it to your phone via Bluetooth, add a file, and slide the printer across the area you want to print on. 

Printisian supports two sizes of ink cartridge and offers variable printing heights and a resolution of 600DPI. It can cover up to 39.3 inches per print, and you can expect "up to" 1,531 yards of print per cartridge.

As is the case with all printers, you need to factor in the cost of the ink. A small color cartridge for the device will currently set you back $59 (usual price is $79), while a large cartridge is $129 (usual price $169). The creators say you can use any compatible ink cartridge from other manufacturers - it’s designed to take standard size cartridges - although they (obviously) recommend their own cartridges as some inks may not print so well on certain surfaces. 

As with any crowdsourced projects, you should be aware that backing a product doesn't mean that it will be completed or that you will receive the item you backed. That said, at the time of writing $65,601 had been pledged, well above the $6,385 goal, so it's looking positive. 

You can pledge for a choice of available rewards, with the basic Printisian Standard coming in at $399, for which you get the printer itself and one small black ink cartridge (0.5 Inch). The price increases significantly if you want to back a version with the various accessories included, but extras can be purchased separately.

You can find out more and back Printisian here.

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Wayne Williams
Editor

Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too.