Canon's Selphy line was designed to be fun, colorful, easy to use and fit for a family. It sits quietly on the shell waiting to be bought by the user that wants an easy photo printer, without all the headache involved in setting up a complex device, installing drivers, setting up a workgroup and so on. That same user will have lots of benefits when purchasing a Selphy. One of them is mobility. It's made for the family that wants to go out on a picnic on a Saturday and take along the digital camera and the printer, for some quick photo fun.



To make this even easier, the Selphy CP790 comes with an unique storage basket that can conveniently hold the paper, the ink and the printer itself. You could also fit in there the AC adapter, cable or optional battery pack (if you've purchased one). But more importantly, it's easy to carry around since it features a handle. A special locking mechanism guarantees that everything is in place in the basket.



Due to the dye sublimation technology, the printer might end up eating a lot of ink. But Cannon also claims that prints produced by the Selphy CP790 are water resistant and will last for 100 years before starting to deteriorate. And the quality the printer provides, combined with it's portability, might make it worth spending all that money on ink. The printer comes with two paper casettes. One is business card sized while the other one is for 4 by 6 inch postcard paper. Other sizes of cassettes and paper are also available for purchase, including 4 by 8 inches and 3.5 by 4.5 inches.

As design, the printer comes in a bright green color, and features a set of conveniently placed buttons. Controls include an on/off button, menu, a directional control key, edit and back buttons. Right in the center of the directional 'wheel' you'll find an ok button as well. Right above the buttons you'll find a 3 inch LCD that will display useful information like what memory card slot is currently in use, how many images are ready to be printer, the size of the images and so on.

Canon's Selphy CP790 is very versatile when it comes to devices it can print from. It works as a stand alone unit, and will print from memory cards or digital cameras. It can also be connected to a PC via USB. If the user is interested in printing straight from a mobile phone, there's also an optional Bluetooth module offered by Canon. When it comes to speed, the CP790 does a little better than previous model CP780. It will produce a 4 by 6 inch photo in 55 seconds. Not so fast yet not too bad either, for a portable dye-sub printer.



The only inconvenient to the Selphy CP790 is how fast it runs trhough ink and paper. On the bright side, paper and ink are sold as a kit. A 36 sheet set will cost $15 . If you print a lot and want to save a few bucks, the 108 kit goes for $35. All in all Canon's Selphy CP790 is one of those easy photo printers that offers great quality as well.