Android has long transcended its smartphone roots, but Samsung is now taking the Google-led operating system to the printing realm, with what it’s calling the world’s first Android-powered printer. Straight out of left-field, this news falls hot on the heels of the Korean technology giant launching its first tablet for enterprises earlier today, and a virtual reality headset yesterday, so it’s been a busy and diverse week for the company.
If you thought the Edge took the cake as far as exercises in impracticality go, you haven’t seen Samsung’s Smart MultiXpress printer series. Versatility is the name of the game, apparently. Billed as the world’s 1st printer powered by Android, MultiXpress printers feature a 10-inch touchscreen with haptic feedback for printing directly from on-device software like web browsers, email clients, and mapping applications. Preview, edit, and annotation functions are also built in for convenience, though whether using these apps is advantageous to, say, a PC is certainly up for debate. Hardware-wise, the MultiXpress series features a dual-core CPU and contains NFC hardware for “easy” printing from smartphones and tablets, plus authentication capabilities for enterprise. As you’d expect, the printers plug into Samsung’s printing platforms and cloud solutions for business.
