The Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2 is a portable photo printer that produces 2" x 3" pictures. It only works with Android and iOS smartphones and Chrome OS devices via a Bluetooth connection and its Hi-Print mobile app. It's compatible with Polaroid's proprietary Hi-Print Generation 2 cartridge, which contains photo paper and dye film. You can get this printer on its own or in a bundle with packs of photo paper.
Our Verdict
The Polaroid Hi-Print is bad for family use, as it's a portable print-only unit that can only produce 2" x 3" photos, which means you'll need another unit if you want to print documents or scan. Also, you can only connect to the printer via Bluetooth using a smartphone, tablet, or Chrome OS device. As for photo printing, the print quality isn't terrible for small pictures that you keep in a wallet or stick on a fridge door, but know that the recurring costs are very high.
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Produces detailed photos.
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Requires very little maintenance.
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Can't print documents.
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Only works with smartphones, tablets, and Chrome OS devices via Bluetooth.
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No scanner.
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High cost-per-print.
The Polaroid Hi-Print isn't designed for office use, as it's a portable print-only unit that can only produce 2" x 3" photos.
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Can't print documents.
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Only works with smartphones, tablets, and Chrome OS devices via Bluetooth.
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Slow printing speed.
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No scanner.
The Polaroid Hi-Print isn't designed for student use since it's a print-only unit that can only produce 2" x 3" photos. That said, it can be a fun novelty item to bring to parties and gatherings; just keep in mind that the photo paper is quite expensive.
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Can't print documents.
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Only works with smartphones, tablets, and Chrome OS devices via Bluetooth.
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Slow printing speed.
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No scanner.
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High cost-per-print.
The Polaroid Hi-Print is a portable photo printer that can't print documents.
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Can't print documents.
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No scanner.
The Polaroid Hi-Print is a niche portable photo printer. Although it produces nicely detailed photos, it still isn't nearly as good as most budget desktop inkjet models. Also, its use case is very limited since it can only print 2" x 3" pictures. It doesn't help that the proprietary photo paper is very expensive, making its cost-per-print extremely high.
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Produces detailed photos.
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Requires very little maintenance.
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Can only print on 2" x 3" proprietary photo paper.
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High cost-per-print.
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Narrow color range, mediocre accuracy.
This printer's color performance is sub-par. It has a narrow color range, resulting in a noticeable loss of fine details and rough, blocky gradients. It struggles particularly with bright, saturated colors, so most pictures look darker than the originals. The color accuracy is mediocre; many colors, like reds, blues, and purples, are visibly inaccurate.
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Narrow color range, mediocre accuracy.
This printer can't print documents.
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Can't print documents.
This printer doesn't have a scanner.
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No scanner.
This printer is slow, as it needs to do four passes to produce a photo, taking roughly 80 seconds. The score is also low because it can't print documents or double-sided.
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Slow printing speed.
This printer has high recurring costs because its cartridge, which contains 10 photo paper sheets and dye film, is expensive.
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High cost-per-print.
- 3.7 Family
- 3.2 Small/Home Office
- 3.3 Student
- 1.3 Black & White
- 5.8 Photo
Performance Usages
- 5.5 Color Quality
- 0 Document Quality
- 0 Scanner
- 0.8 Speed
- 4.8 Recurring Costs
- Updated Oct 02, 2024: Review published.
- Updated Sep 27, 2024: Early access published.
- Updated Sep 23, 2024: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Sep 12, 2024: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2 in 'White;' it's also available in 'Black.' There are no other variants.
See our unit's label.
Compared To Other Printers
The Polaroid Hi-Print 2x3 Pocket Photo Printer is an okay portable printer. It can reproduce small details better than other portable printers, like the Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer and the Fujifilm instax Link WIDE, but its recurring cost is among the highest.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best small printers, the best photo printers, and the best iPhone photo printers.
The Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2 and the Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer are both portable photo printers that produce 2" x 3" pictures. The Polaroid has better print quality; it produces finer details and more vibrant, saturated colors, and the pictures have fewer visual artifacts. It also wins when it comes to convenience, as it charges faster via USB-C, whereas the Canon charges over Micro-USB.
The Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2 is much better than the Fujifilm instax mini Link 2. The Polaroid produces nicer pictures with a wider range of colors and significantly more fine details. However, it's much slower than the Fujifilm, taking nearly a minute more to produce a single photo, and its cost-per-print is higher because its photo paper is more expensive. As for battery life, the Fujifilm can print around 100 prints on a full charge, almost five times longer than the Polaroid, but it also takes much longer to charge and uses a Micro-USB cable, whereas the Polaroid uses USB-C.
The Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2 and the Canon SELPHY Square QX10 are both portable photo printers that produce 2" x 3" pictures. In terms of print quality, the Canon produces a slightly wider range of colors, particularly brighter tones, but the Polaroid is better at reproducing fine details. The battery life is about the same on both; each can print around 20 photos on a full charge, though the Polaroid charges much faster and has a USB-C port, whereas the Canon uses a Micro-USB cable.
The Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2 is better than the Fujifilm instax Link WIDE. The Polaroid produces significantly more fine details and can print borderless. However, the Fujifilm has a wider color range and superior accuracy, and it gets closer to that vintage look if that's what you prefer. The Fujifilm has a longer battery life, as it can print almost five times more photos before it runs out of charge, but it also takes much longer to charge to full and requires a Micros-USB cable, whereas the Polaroid uses USB-C.
Test Results
The Polaroid Hi-Print's build quality is good. Its plastic body doesn't feel particularly premium or overly cheap; the only parts that feel flimsy are the side door and its hinges. The side door gives easy access to the cartridge, though. The cartridge itself is well-designed to protect the paper from dust and debris, which can affect the print quality if they get on the paper before the printer applies the final protective coat. Unfortunately, dirt can still get into the device through the exposed output slit on the side, especially when carrying the device in a bag. Another downside of the design is the cassette's ink ribbon, which is also exposed and could tear if you aren't careful.
The posted weight includes the photo paper cartridge.
This printer requires very little maintenance since it uses Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer technology to produce pictures. The only thing you need to do is change the cartridge, which contains the paper and film. You can do so through a side door; just be careful, as the exposed ribbon could rip, rendering the entire cartridge useless. In the case of a paper jam, you only need to turn the printer off and on again, which will cause the paper to eject automatically—Polaroid recommends contacting customer service if the problem persists.
See the Quick Start Guide on Polaroid's website.
This printer doesn't have a display. It only has three LEDs for Power, Bluetooth, and Charge (beside the charging port). The Quick Start Guide doesn't explain the LEDs' behavior or color, though the Charge LED's color is obvious; it turns red when the battery is low or charging and turns green when it's fully charged.
This printer uses Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer to produce the picture. The cartridge is a tray that includes the photo paper and a thin roll of film. The latter has four rectangles, with three containing a dye (cyan, magenta, and yellow) and the fourth containing a protective coating, each applied sequentially in four passes (see Printing Speed video). You can't buy the photo paper and film separately. Each cartridge holds 10 sheets of photo paper.
This printer doesn't have a scanner.
- Quick Start Guide
- 4x Hi-Print 2" x 3" Paper Cartridge Generation 2 (10 sheets each)
Note: You can get the printer on its own or in a bundle with one or more photo paper cartridges. Polaroid's website only offers a bundle with 20 sheets of photo paper (two 10-sheet cartridges). The printer doesn't come with a USB-C charging cable.
This printer has an auto-sleep function—it turns off after five minutes of inactivity.
This printer can't print documents.
This printer's cost-per-print is high, as the photo paper is expensive. We made the calculation based on a pack of 20 sheets, the bundled pack size that Polaroid offers on their website.
This printer can't print documents.
The Polaroid Hi-Print has a poor color gamut. It can't reproduce bright, highly saturated tones, making pictures look noticeably darker than the originals. Its narrow color range also results in loss of fine details and rough, blocky color transitions.
This printer has mediocre color accuracy. Many colors, like blues, greens, purples, and reds, are visibly off. That said, images still look decent for this type of small, Polaroid-like pictures.
This printer is excellent at reproducing small details. Fine elements are easily recognizable, and background objects aren't obscured by ink drops or halftones. There's some over-sharpening and dark-color outlines (at the edge of objects) affecting the clarity of small details, though these issues aren't as visible in darker areas.
This printer can only print on Polaroid's Hi-Print Generation 2 photo paper sized 2.1" x 3.8" (54 mm x 97 mm). The picture measures 2.1" x 3.4" (54 mm x 86 mm) if you remove the white border on the right side of the picture. The border is a non-printable area designed to give you a place to grab the photo; you can easily remove it by tearing it. The Hi-Print Generation 2 photo paper is also a sticker with pre-applied adhesive on the back.
You can only connect to the printer via Bluetooth using an Android, iOS, or Chrome OS device. The USB-C port is for charging only.
The Polaroid Hi-Print mobile app is pretty basic. It lets you access your photo library, take a picture with your smartphone and print it, and apply some image processing (adjust colors/size, and add a filter, text, sticker, or frame). You can also access the support page and buy more paper. Unfortunately, the support page has very little information and doesn't even provide a guide to the app itself. The app doesn't show the printer's status or the number of sheets remaining in the cartridge; the latter is a bit of a problem because the photo paper in the cartridge isn't accessible, so you can't take the sheets out to count them.
You can use this printer with Chrome OS devices, but only for .jpg files, not .tiff files. The latter appear as white images, even though they work fine on Android devices. Also, printing .tiff files causes the app to crash. These issues are likely due to the app being designed for Android devices.