Your Handy Guide to Using an NFC-Enabled Printer on a Mobile Device
Keen to print directly from your mobile device to an NFC-enabled printer?
We know how attractive that idea can be! Especially when you dread the following printing scenarios:
Needing to log on to your laptop just to print a few documents
Being confused by the convoluted set-up process involving wireless printers
There are many perks that an NFC-enabled printer can bring to your home or office. Read on to find out how you can print from your mobile device via an NFC-enabled printer, as well as the benefits that NFC enabled printers bring.
What is NFC printing?
As its name suggests, NFC printing, also known as Near Field Communication printing, works by establishing the wireless network connectivity between a mobile device and a printer when they are in close proximity. This is a form of short-range wireless technology that most modern smartphones, tablets and devices have.
With such technology, you can literally walk up to the printer, tap your phone on it and watch as your selected prints are printed right before your eyes.
NFC technology has made printing so convenient and fuss-free that you don’t need to log on to your PC or laptop just to print a document!
How to print from Android mobile devices using NFC printing
To use NFC Printing, both your printer and your mobile device must come equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Let us walk through the processes needed to activate it on both devices.
How to activate NFC on Android mobile devices
#1 Check if your mobile device supports NFC
Are your mobile devices already NFC-enabled? Well, you will be glad to know that the latest Android smartphones and tablets are mostly NFC-enabled. You can check by searching on your device settings for “NFC”.
(Unfortunately, as of now, there isn’t an easy way for iOS devices like iPhones to print using the NFC technology.)
#2 Activate NFC on mobile device
To activate NFC on your Android phone or tablet, follow the steps below:
On your Android device, tap on “Settings”
Select “Connected devices”
Select “Connection preferences”
You should see “NFC” and “Android Beam” options
Turn both of them on
Once NFC is activated on your mobile device, you can direct your attention to the printer.
How to use an NFC-enabled printer
#1 Check if your printer supports NFC
How do you know if a printer is NFC-enabled? Most printers will have an NFC icon located on the printer—this will also be the area where you should place your device to establish a connection.
#2 Enable NFC on Brother printer
To turn on the NFC capability on a Brother printer, follow these simple steps:
Select Settings (screwdriver icon)
Select “All Settings”
Select “Network”
Select “NFC”
Select “ON”
Select Home (house icon)
#3 Install and use Brother iPrint&Scan app to select the print job
To print via NFC on a Brother printer, you will need to install Brother iPrint&Scan App on your mobile device.
If you are printing a photo or a document, ensure that the memory card containing the image or document has been inserted into the mobile device.
To select the print job, here are the steps needed:
Open the Launcher on the mobile device
Tap the Brother iPrint&Scan icon (carefully read and accept the terms of the license agreement)
Select the document to be printed
#5 Establish NFC connection and print
When the Print Preview screen is displayed, hold your mobile device against the NFC icon on your Brother printer. Be sure to line up both the NFC tags.
Once your mobile device is connected, you will hear a sound and “Touch to beam” will be displayed on the mobile device’s screen.
Simply tap your device’s screen to proceed with printing, while maintaining the proximity, and voila! You have just printed directly from your mobile device to your NFC printer!
Benefits of NFC Printing
NFC printing has become a popular mode of printing because it is fuss-free and convenient.
What users appreciate the most is its fast and seamless connection. Thus, the quick tap-and-print process of NFC printing can help to optimize business productivity.
Brother’s NFC-Enabled Printers
Searching for the best NFC-enabled printer for your home or corporate office? Check out some of Brother’s best printers with NFC features!
Looking for the Best Black and White Printer for Your Home? Look no further!
Having trouble deciding on the best black and white printer for your home? Wondering if you’ll save more money replacing your old colour printer with a black and white printer?
Let us help you to resolve your dilemma!
In this article and infographic, you will discern the differences between colour printers and black and white printers, see how they compare in terms of cost, page-yield, and other variables, and learn how to choose the best monochrome laser or inkjet printers for your home printing needs.
Black and White Printer VS Colour Printer
If you already own a colour printer, but rarely ever print in colour, the question you may ask yourself is this: “Should I ditch my colour printer for a laser black and white printer?”
Technically, you could just print in black and white or grayscale by changing your print settings. However, that may not be the best solution going forward.
Here are the two biggest reasons why you should consider switching to a monochrome printer.
Cost
In the long run, your printing costs could go up as some printers require you to change the entire colour cartridge once a certain colour is low or empty. You’ll then end up paying for the colours that you are not even using!
That’s not all. If you only need to print in black and white but accidentally selected an incorrect setting, your printer will use up other colours too.
Contrary to popular belief, printing in grayscale actually uses colour to help create better tones, smoother transitions, and more print detail in the midrange. So think twice before you print with grayscale, expecting only the black cartridge to be used.
Ultimately, if you are sure that you only need black for your printing, getting a black and white printer can help you save costs on both the printer and its cartridges. A monochrome printer is generally cheaper than a colour printer. Black ink or toner is also cheaper than CMYK ink or toner.
Page yields
Monochrome printers also have higher page yields than colour printers.
As there is only one type of cartridge to cater for (i.e. black), the cartridges for monochrome printers can store more ink or toner of the same colour, resulting in higher page yields per cartridge.
Paired with its cheaper cartridges, you can look forward to a markedly reduced cost per page with a monochrome printer!
How to Choose the Right Black and White (Monochrome) Printer
So you’ve considered the pros and cons and decided that a black and white printer will suit your home printing needs to a tee.
But that’s not all there is in choosing the right black and white printer.
Knowing your printing preferences—such as whether you will need to print image-heavy documents or text-heavy documents most of the time—will also help you make the best decision.
Not Sure Which Color Printer Suits You Best? Here is Your Printer Buying Guide
Decided to take the leap and invest in a colour printer for your home or small office?
Perhaps you’ve created a gorgeous work of digital art and wish to share it with the world by displaying your art in your home. Or maybe you feel that having the right colour images can help to improve the impact of your work documents or presentations.
But how do you choose the best colour printer to meet both your professional and personal needs? After all, there are literally thousands of different colour printers out there.
The good news? Colour printers have evolved over the past few years—many models now offer superior photo-quality print results and convenient state-of-the-art features—so you are totally spoilt for choice. You will also be glad to know that most colour printers today include multiple functions like copying, faxing and scanning.
Types of colour printers
When searching for a colour printer, it’s generally a toss-up between an inkjet printer or a laser printer. This decision largely hinges upon what you print and how often you print.
Let’s consider inkjet printers first.
Qualities of an inkjet colour printer
An inkjet printer is a type of printer that works by expelling ink droplets onto paper. Such printers use liquid ink from individual color ink cartridges or internal ink reservoir tank, which are then expelled through separate nozzles—each one spraying a different colour of ink.
Pros of an inkjet colour printer:
Affordability
Cost is one of the biggest advantages of colour inkjet printers. Even the least expensive inkjet printers are able to produce images with great quality.
If price is a top-of-mind concern for you, then an inkjet printer would be your best bet for low-priced colour printing in a home/small office setting.
Excellent Print Quality
As we have alluded to above, the advancement of ink technology has enabled inkjet printers to provide high-quality output for both images and text. Due to their finer and smoother colours and detailing, inkjet printers are built for high-resolution photo printing.
With the level of quality of most colour inkjet printers today, it can be difficult to differentiate between a professionally-printed photograph and one that’s been printed using your inkjet printer – especially when printing on photo paper!
Smaller Footprint
Inkjet colour printers also tend to be more compact in size compared to laser colour printers. Even inkjet printers that are multi-functional do not have a large footprint. This makes them suitable for homes or workplaces that have tight spaces.
Cons of an inkjet colour printer:
Slower Speed
Most inkjet printers are designed for low-volume printing. Thus they may take longer to churn out large print jobs.
The slower print speed of inkjet printers, however, is slightly mitigated by the fact that an inkjet printer can start printing as soon as the printer is turned on, without needing any warm-up time.
Qualities of a colour laser printer
Colour laser printers combine the speed of traditional monochrome laser printers with the ability to print in colour. In laser printers, colour is added to the page by melting toner powder onto paper.
The initial cost of laser printers may be higher than inkjet printers. Likewise, the toner cartridges used in laser printers are also pricier than the inks used in inkjet printers. However, colour laser printers could still be an economical option in the long run due to their lower cost per page and faster print speeds.
Here is a breakdown of the main advantages and disadvantages of colour laser printers.
Pros of a colour laser printer:
Faster print speeds
Laser printers are traditionally built for speed (around 50 pages per minute!) while inkjet printers print slower at about 16-20 pages per minute.
When comparing your printer’s pages per minute (ppm) rating, do bear in mind that such ratings usually depict printing under optimal conditions—usually with documents consisting of unformatted black text sent to the printer. Once factors such as document formatting, colour, and images are thrown in, print speeds will tend to slow down.
Cheaper printing cost per page
Everyone knows that the higher upfront costs of laser printers and toner cartridges are partially offset by their lower cost per page. This is because laser toner cartridges can print significantly more pages than inkjet cartridges—even in colour.
How do we calculate the cost per page?
Cost per page is the most accurate way of measuring your printer’s cost-efficiency. To calculate your printer cartridge’s cost per page, simply take the price of the cartridge and divide it by the expected page yield of one cartridge:
For black and white printing:
cost per page = cartridge price / cartridge page yield
For colour printing:
cost per page =(black cartridge price / black page yield) +( 3x colour cartridge price / colour composite page yield) + (drum price / total composite page yield)
High-volume print jobs
Colour laser printers are known to be workhorses—they simply come built with the capacity to quickly churn out large numbers of documents and pages.
Good colour print quality
With the technological advancements in laser printers, the quality of the colour prints has seen vast improvements in recent years. As such, whether you’re printing photos for personal use or professional use, you can expect excellent colour prints from your laser printer.
Cons of a colour laser printer:
More suited for document printing
Colour lasers are designed to print documents. While they can also handle graphics-and-text documents like brochures and newsletters, laser printers may not be optimal for printing photographs.
Larger footprint
Due to their relatively larger footprint, colour laser printers function best in larger offices and other professional work settings. If space is not an issue for you, you may want to consider colour lasers for your printing needs even in your home.
Quick and Easy Tips To Improve Colour Print Quality
How do professional photographers and designers create high-quality colour prints? This is the million-dollar question that we will address in this next section.
Vibrant colour yield (RGB to CMYK Colour Variances)
There are two ways to print in colour: RGB or CMYK.
RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue. The RGB colour mode combines these base colours in varying quantities to form just about any colour you can imagine. For example, if you want to create a yellow colour, you would simply combine green and red.
CMYK works quite differently from RGB—here, the printer uses subtractive colours, or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. In CMYK mode, all of the colours are subtractive which basically means that the more colours you add together, the darker the resulting colour is going to be.
When printing documents on CMYK printers, do ensure that you are creating your documents in CMYK colour mode. If they are not designed in CMYK, you can also convert them to CMYK through a photo editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, or layout programs such as Quark Xpress or Adobe InDesign.
● Print Resolution
Print resolution is measured in DPI (dots per inch). The more dots there are in an inch of paper, the sharper the resulting image.
Your printer needs to have a resolution of 600 dpi in order to print high-quality documents (and 1200 dpi to achieve sharp, detailed images).
When shopping around for printers, you may notice that print resolution is always presented as a set of two numbers, for example 1200 x 3600 dpi. This means the maximum resolution of that printer is 1200 multiplied by 3600 dpi.
● Paper Type
Substandard paper can result in substandard colour print quality so be sure not to overlook this small but important factor! Often, print problems such as excessive colour bleeding or colour dullness can be attributed to low-quality paper.
How to Choose the Right Colour Printer
Now that you’ve learned the characteristics of both colour inkjet and laser printers, your next task is to choose the best colour printer for your use.
1. Print Quality
If you’re expecting to print a lot of photographs on glossy or matte photo paper, a colour inkjet printer may be the best fit for you as the quality of the output is superior when photo paper is used.
However, if printing on plain printer paper, the print quality of a colour laser printer is on par with an inkjet printer.
2. Print Volume
Colour laser printers also work well if you need to churn out many documents per day—for most home printer buyers, this usually isn’t a dealbreaker as they normally only print a few documents every few days.
Thus, as you can see, the right colour printer for you really boils down to your expected print usage and your preference in terms of print quality.
Types of Colour Printers from Brother
Considering getting an inkjet or laser colour printer? Take a look at these recommended models from Brother.
Best for Affordability
The DCP-T420W is an affordable colour inkjet printer that offers cost-savings in the long run due to the ultra high yield ink bottles, which allows you to print 7,500 pages in black and 5,000 pages in colour. It also delivers professional quality prints with crisp black text and vibrant detailed images.
Best for Features
The DCP-T520W combines multiple functions of printing, scanning and copying into one nifty printer. It uses the same ultra high yield ink bottles as the DCP-T420W, thus allowing you to enjoy better page yields and lower costs per page.
Best for Efficiency
If you have a need for speed, the HL-T4000 might be your ideal choice for a printer. It features automatic 2-sided printing, prints up to A3 size, uses ultra high yield ink bottles, and is able to print up to 22 images per minute or 35 pages per minute (in fast mode).
Best for Versatility and Overall Performance
Brother’s latest inkjet Multi-Function Centre MFC-J3530DW delivers business-class performance at a reasonable price. With low printing costs, you can print high volumes without constantly worrying about your bottom line. Furthermore, it also offers A3 paper printing capabilities, so you can expand and showcase your work without having to lose any details.
Best for Speed
Brother’s colour laser all-in-one MFC-L8900CDW delivers excellent colour performance with fast print/scan speeds. It also offers lower cost thanks to super and ultra high-yield toners. This intelligent multi-tasking printer is equipped with a dual CIS Automatic Document Feeder that allows you to scan up to 70 sheets directed to your preferred medium. It also comes with advanced security features.
Best for Home and Small Business
The Brother MFC-L3770CDW colour laser printer delivers superior colour performance and fast print and scan speeds, making it the perfect companion for your home or small business printing needs. This workhorse is able to boost your productivity with fast colour print speeds of up to 24ppm.
Conclusion
Deciding on the best colour printer for your home or office will depend on your specific printing needs and the factors that stand out the most to you.
We hope this detailed comparison between inkjet printers and colour laser printers will help you to make the right buying decision for yourself!
I wanted to share with you all how you can take a basic sewing pattern and use it as inspiration to create the look you want. Before I start a crafting project, I have already found an inspiration photo that I want the final product to look like. I take that photo and then find or create a design pattern that looks similar to the one I aspire to make. From there, I purchase the materials based on my inspiration photo (with a few tweaks in color to match my style and my personality).
This DIY tote bag is a two-part project. I’d love for you to check out how you can customize this tote bag and make it your own. Click the link below for the second part to this post.
Create your pattern according to the measurements given (or draw right on your fabric with a removable pen or chalk).
Cut out your bag pieces (2 main body, 2 facing)
Starting the with the main body of the tote bag, with right sides facing, sew the side seams and the bottom of the bag.
Take the facing and sew down the sides. Make sure the right side of the fabric is facing each other.
With the wrong side of the bag facing out, attach the Facing to the top of the bag. The right side of the Facing should be facing the wrong side of the bag. (See image) Sew in place.
Turn your bag right side out and pull the facing to the outside. Press the seam down.
Fold the facing under about 1/2” and press. Pin and stitch in place.
It’s time to attach the handles! Before we do that. Mark the placement of your handles with a fabric marking tool. Markings remain the exact same on the opposite side.
Let’s move on to the rivets. With the rivets, you want to make sure you gather the correct rivet pieces for the handles on your DIY bag. You’ll need a front and back for the canvas and front and back for the leather.
You’ll connect the rivets to the bag and strap according to the instructions on the back of the rivet packaging. When connecting, you’ll need the snap pliers.
That’s it!
This article has been republished from Brother Sews USA.
