When we were given this product to review, there was a sinking feeling that this is just another unnecessary gadget built to plug a very small hole in the photo and printing market. But on closer inspection and past the 90’s inspired packaging emerged a rather delightful looking product, which has some promise.

The iMo Foto Frame Printer is essentially a digital photo frame combined with mini printer around the back. From head on, the eight-inch frame looks like any other digital frame, with glossy black surround and centrally located viewing screen. Turn the frame around though, and you’ll find an extra 2.5 inches of gadgetry attached to the back, which is the printer. This additional bulk adds some weight to the product, making it pretty sturdy.

The printer produces 4x6 inch photos, which are 300 x 300dpi print quality. It functions by using cartridges which host both the ink and card stock, which means there is very little for you to do other than slide in the cartridge and push print. Each cartridge prints 36 images and they cost a rather eye watering $19.99 a cartridge. To further the sting, the cartridge included in the box only prints 12 photographs.

Cost aside, this is a very easy product to use and there’s no denying it has a certain degree of appeal. It’s a great talking point if nothing else. Of course print quality by no means matches that of the Epson’s and HP's of this world, but for a product of such miniature proportions the prints are pretty good.

Prints are taken from a memory card (CF, SD, MMC, MS) or USB stick, which you insert on the top of the printer. This is covered by a rather stiff sliding door. The printer also comes with a remote control for armchair operation.

This product has charm and would make a great little gift for the gadget lover, although the price is quite high for this to be a whimsical purchase. Photography buffs will prefer to stick to their photo labs and home printers for quality prints, but for the one-off photos then this certainly does the job, if not at a high cost.

Final Verdict A fun little gadget with plenty of charm, but a little too pricey to buy on a whim OVERALL

Rosie’s big passion is travel photography, with a love of capturing different cultures on camera, from scenery and landscapes through to people and food. She studied photography at college and hopes one day find time to submit her images to the Royal Photographic Society for accreditation.