Canon SELPHY Square QX10 Compact Photo Printer Reviewed.

Everybody knows that Canon’s commercial printers are pretty good. Hell, I personally reviewed the Canon PIXMA E3370 and Canon PIXMA TS8370 printers and found them really good. I’ve always wondered how their portable printers performed though, so when I had the chance to review the Canon Selphy Square QX10, I jumped at the chance.

I mean, just look at it! So cute, so compact! I was itching to find out if that impacted the quality of the prints!

So now, after a few weeks with the printer (and a few dozen prints), what do I think about it?

Read on to find out!

What is the Canon SELPHY Square QX10?

The Canon SELPHY Square QX10 is a portable photo printer meant to print compact images that you can store easily. The printer itself is pretty small, measuring only 102 x 143 x 31mm and weighing only 445g. It’s not exactly pocket sized, but is still small enough to comfortably carry around with you in your bag.

The only potential downside is that it charges via micro USB. That might be an issue down the road as we all migrate to USB Type-C. Then again, that’s what converters are for, no?

The photos it prints are 7.2 x 8.5 cm, which is about the size of a usual polaroid photograph (7.8 x 7.6 cm). It prints via a process called Dye Sublimation. That allows for superior image quality that lasts longer as the inks themselves are imbedded into the material.

Printing connectivity is done via Wi-Fi, through the SELPHY Photo Layout app. It’s an app exclusively for the printer, and is available on the Google and Apple stores.

The printer comes in Black, White, Pink and Green. Replacement packs come with 20 printing paper, along with a spare ink cartridge.

In Singapore, the printer costs SG$219, with each replacement pack going for SG$19. There’s a promo going on at Canon’s SG store at the moment, which has the printer bundled with 5 replacement packs (for a total of 100 prints), for only SG$255.

Printer Quality.

Despite it’s relatively small size and light weight, the Canon SELPHY QX10 doesn’t feel like a cheap piece of equipment. It’s quite sturdy, with a solid, hefty feel to it.

At the top is the Power button and the Status indicator (to show whether the printer is on and ready to print), at the side is the ink cartridge slot and the bottom has a compartment for the printer paper. Very compact, very self contained, no muss to fuss about with.

The device has just a single exposed port for charging and that’s pretty much it. I wish that Canon had included a cover for the charging port (so that it can blend in) as the opening spoils the look of the printer a bit.

There’s not much to the device to figure out, which is great for those who just want to turn the printer on and get down to printing pictures!

All you need to do is turn it on, download and run the app, and then scan the QR code. That’s it!

Honestly, I do wonder about the placement of the QR code. It’s a bit of a weird place to put it, but I guess that’s for safety reasons. You probably don’t want anybody with a QR reader to just come along, scan it and print while you’re not aware.

There’s no password protection or anything, so anybody with the QR code can simply use the printer. The good news is that multiple phones can be registered to print on the same printer, so you don’t need to keep using a single phone to print.

Photo Quality.

The printer paper’s the glossy kind that’s usually used for printing photos, so it’s a bit thicker and sturdier than regular paper. Since the printer doesn’t use liquid ink, smudges or other ink related issues aren’t a problem at all.

Printing an image takes about 15 seconds. Once the image is printed, you can handle it with no problem without worry.

Images come out pretty clear, with great detail and vibrant colors. It’s a bit of a shame you can’t fill up the whole paper with the image, as the app won’t let you.

Speaking of the app, while it’s passable to use, it certainly could use improvement. It’s quite decent in its current state, allowing you to add text, dates, frames and even filters but it’s lacking in options.

You only get a few options for what you can do (such as only a limited number of frames and filters), which is something I hope gets added to over time. Using the same visual enhancements over and over gets old fast.

The Bottom Line.

If you’re somebody who finds themselves taking a ton of pictures and wanting bite-sized physical copies, then you’re exactly the audience for the printer.

Using it is damn easy, the picture it prints are great looking and replacement paper and cartridges don’t cost an arm and a leg! It’s a good value all around.

Sure, the printer itself could use improvement (perhaps by adding an SD card reader or USB port and a screen so you don’t need to use a phone) but that’d probably raise up the price by quite a bit.

As it stands, it’s definitely a great piece of equipment to have, especially now that COVID-19 travel restrictions are starting to ease up.

TLDR:

Awesome portable printer that produces great quality image at a decent price.