Samsung is being modest in calling its app Mobile Print. Use it with an MFP, like the Samsung CLX-4195FW ($450 street) that I used for my tests, and it can scan too. I'm not convinced that scanning directly to my phone is an improvement over the scan and email command in most MFPs that lets you send scans as email attachments, but it's certainly at least as useful as an alternative.
The BasicsSamsung says the Android version of Mobile Print will run on any Android phone or tablet with any recent version of the operating system up to 4.0.4. On the printer side, it will work with all Samsung printers announced since January 2011, although some of the earlier 2011 models require a firmware update.
For my tests, I installed version 1.03.08 of the app on an HTC Droid Incredible. Basic setup is standard: download the app from Google Play and install it. Using it wasn't much harder, although finding it in my list of apps was a minor challenge, because it gets sorted alphabetically under M for Mobile Print rather than S for Samsung.
The app communicates using Wi-Fi, but it doesn't matter if the printer supports Wi-Fi or not, as long as the printer is connected to a network that includes a Wi-Fi access point. For printers that offer Wi-Fi direct, like the CLX-4195FW, you can connect directly to the printer as an alternative, which is usually easier, and which I did for my tests.
Whichever approach you take, the first step for using the app is to make sure Wi-Fi is enabled in your phone or tablet and that you're connected to the network or directly to the printer. Once you set up a connection the first time, the phone or tablet will automatically reconnect whenever it's in range of the printer, as long as you have Wi-Fi turned on.
PrintingUsing Mobile Print is simple. When you launch the app, it shows tabs on the bottom of the screen for printing and scanning. Tap Print and you'll see six icons, thankfully labeled with identifying text. The two that you might expect are Gallery, for printing image files, and Documents, for printing an assortment of Microsoft Office documents (DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX) plus PDF and TXT files. The other four icon choices let you find and print a Web page and print from Google Docs, Facebook, and Twitter.
To print, you start by choosing one of the icons. Tap Gallery, for example, to find JPG files, or Documents to find document files. In either case, after you pick a file, you'll see a preview image, a Print button, and a button with the name of the currently selected printer.
To change print settings, including the printer to use if there's more than one available, you tap the button with the printer name. Among the options you can then set are the number of copies, paper size, and whether to print in color or black and white.
One option that's missing is a setting for landscape versus portrait mode. Most of the files I printed were already defined to print in the right orientation. However, one Excel file was set incorrectly for portrait mode. With no way to change it to landscape, my only choice was to print it with the left and right sides of the spreadsheet on different pages.
The Web Page, Google Docs, Facebook, and Twitter print options work essentially the same way as the Documents and Gallery choices, except for additional steps you need to take to navigate to the Web page or document you want to print. Note that if you're connected to a Wi-Fi network that's connected to the Internet, the phone can take advantage of the network's Internet connection. If you connect directly to the printer, however, you won't be able to connect to the Internet at the same time. The workaround is to turn off the phone's Wi-Fi, find the Web page or document to print, download it to the phone, turn Wi-Fi back on, and print. The process is a little clumsy, but it works.
One other useful feature Mobile Print offers is the ability to print email messages (but not attachments) using the Android Share Via menu choice. If you open a message, select the part you want to print, and then tap Share Via, Mobile Print shows up as one of the Share choices.
ScanningThe starting point for scanning is similar to the equivalent screen for printing but with just two icons, labeled Scan and My Documents. Tapping Scan takes you to a screen that includes a preview area, Preview and Scan buttons, and a button with the MFP name.
As with printing, if you choose the button with the MFP name, you can choose a different MFP as well as change settings, including options for color or grayscale mode; JPEG, PNG, or PDF format; and low, normal, or high resolution (but without any hint about the actual resolution for each choice).
I had no trouble scanning from either the flatbed or the automatic document feeder on the CLX-4195FW. However, I ran into a potentially annoying issue trying to view the scans. If you pick the My Documents icon on the main Scan screen, you can pick from a list of scanned documents to view. If you scanned the document upside down, however, there's no way to rotate it.
You can rotate the phone, of course, but then the phone flips the picture, so it's upside down again. The best workaround I found was to use the phone's camera app, which lets you both view the scans and rotate them. That's less convenient than being able to view the image from within the Mobile Print app, however.
Despite the minor issues I ran into for both printing and scanning, Samsung Mobile Print earns a reasonably high score overall. Quite simply, it's a useful tool that makes printing to and scanning from Samsung printers almost as easy with an Android mobile device as with a PC on the network. If you have Samsung printers in your office or in offices you visit regularly, the app is easily worth a spot on your Android phone or tablet.
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