PrinterShare for mobile devices...Print right from your phone!

Have you ever been sitting in a waiting room or perhaps had a little downtime while in a restaurant or airport and wanted to do a little work on your smartphone?  Easy right?  Whip out the phone and fire up any one of a number of apps such as Google Docs (GDocs), Thinkfree Office, and more.  BUT...let’s say you wanted to print your document to share with someone else...or perhaps you have an itinerary or ticket you need to print.  Easy...if you have a computer.  Now you can use your Android (even iPhone) phone!  

PrinterShare Mobile is a mobile printing solution that allows you to print almost anywhere there is a networked printer.  This includes “shared” printers on a PC/Mac.  Print via Wi-Fi, bluetooth, bonjour, and even over the Internet!  PrinterShare features “Nearby Printing” which will allow you to scan the local network for available printers and print to them.  No need to load drivers or additional software.  You can print to Wi-Fi printers on the local area network (LAN) as well as printers that are connected to a computer and shared via Bonjour.  If you happen to be away from a LAN and still need to print something you can use Remote Printing.  For Remote Printing over the Internet, you need to either log in with your existing account or create new one right from your phone...no worries...it’s free.  Next you need to find and select the printer you want to print your document to.  The computer connected to the printer needs to have the PrinterShare software installed.  It’s a quick and easy download.  If you intend to print to your own printer, you should install the computer software first, create an account, share the printer(s) and then use the same account on your smartphone (Android or iPhone) to login.  This way you will see your shared printers automatically.  You can also look for printers shared by others.  

I’ve been using PrinterShare for a little over 3 weeks now and I’ve found it to be very handy.  I even upgraded to the premium version ($4.95) for the extra features.  There is a free version, but trust me, if you get hooked it’s worth the money to upgrade.  Recently I was out of the classroom for a day attending a funeral.  I do my sub plans on Google Docs Spreadsheet.  I had forgotten to leave my sub plans prior to leaving and thus my substitute teacher would have had a difficult time figuring out what to do.  No problem.  The moment I realized what had happened I pulled over to the side of the road and printed my sub plans to both my computer lab printer and the printer in the main office.  I then called the office and let them know.  Problem solved.  Sure...I probably could have emailed them, but printing was easier and more direct...after all, that’s what they needed in the end.  

Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, my son made the local high school varsity basketball team (as a sophomore).  He was excited and telling Grampa all about his upcoming schedule.  While we were at my fathers house for Thanksgiving, I simply turned on printer sharing on his PC and printed the schedule right from my phone.  Handy!

Go ahead and check out PrinterShare for your Android phone or your iPhone.  Learn more here:  http://www.printeranywhere.com/mobile.sdf  or grab it from the App Store (market).  Let us know of any great uses you find for PrinterShare in the comments!  Enjoy!