WP 8.1 can't print wirelessly!?!

RustyU

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Without a 3rd party app, there is no phone on the market that can print to a network printer.

Android (KitKat) is most of the way there, it has native printing support, but it does need an add on from the manufacture of the printer installed (aka driver).
 

neo158

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Android (KitKat) is most of the way there, it has native printing support, but it does need an add on from the manufacture of the printer installed (aka driver).

Exactly, WP8 could have the same thing implemented as all it needs is the printing services from Windows 8 added, manufacturers to provide drivers and that's it. The NT kernel is a big bonus to WP8 in that respect but as printing from smartphones isn't common then MS chose to focus their efforts elsewhere.
 

fatclue_98

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Exactly, WP8 could have the same thing implemented as all it needs is the printing services from Windows 8 added, manufacturers to provide drivers and that's it. The NT kernel is a big bonus to WP8 in that respect but as printing from smartphones isn't common then MS chose to focus their efforts elsewhere.

I don't know why the OEMs don't ship their phones with the apps. Every single iPAQ phone I ever had, and I had them all at one point or another, came with the HP print app out of the box. Each OEM puts its own stamp on WP devices so I don't see what the problem is. The LG Quantum came with an onboard registry editor, the Dell Venue Pro had its own "Engineering Mode" app. It can be done if they want. My guess is Nokia or MS want you to buy a tablet as well.
 

neo158

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I don't know why the OEMs don't ship their phones with the apps. Every single iPAQ phone I ever had, and I had them all at one point or another, came with the HP print app out of the box. Each OEM puts its own stamp on WP devices so I don't see what the problem is. The LG Quantum came with an onboard registry editor, the Dell Venue Pro had its own "Engineering Mode" app. It can be done if they want. My guess is Nokia or MS want you to buy a tablet as well.

Ah, but your iPAQ with the HP print app only had HP drivers and as a result wouldn't work with an Epson or Samsung Printer. Microsoft would have to include drivers for ALL models of printer which would increase the size of the OS, by including printing support and getting manufacturers to provide the drivers then users only download the drivers they need.
 

fatclue_98

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Ah, but your iPAQ with the HP print app only had HP drivers and as a result wouldn't work with an Epson or Samsung Printer. Microsoft would have to include drivers for ALL models of printer which would increase the size of the OS, by including printing support and getting manufacturers to provide the drivers then users only download the drivers they need.

Actually no, my 914c was able to print to the Xerox 6400 in my office. Using the generic profile and the correct IP address and port was all it took. My home printer is a newer HP model not listed and would work fine with just about any HP profile. I'm guessing those models listed are for specific color schemes or photos but for printing a typical 8.5 x 11 PDF file it doesn't matter. My old Treo printed via BT and it didn't ask for any particulars. My favorite was IR printing but you rarely see phones or printers these days with IR ports.
 

Christopher Lindsay

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To be fair that is not something that you should ask seeing as you started a thread stating something that is plainly not true.
The phone can't natively print wirelessly. I have a regular wireless Epson workforce printer. Nothing special. I don't think I should have to work out some Gmail (or email) work around to print with a wireless printer that works perfectly fine printing from Windows 7 on my desktop and laptop. Barring the name Windows and not being able to print is like barring the name keyboard and having no space bar. Even my not so productive iPhone (the biggest reason I switched to Windows phone) could do that. My 7 year old's iPad could do that. I think I plenty of right to complain about a phone as powerful as the 1520 not having the ability to do so... And that's on top of over 2k votes for the feature in the Microsoft feature suggestion forum on their feedback site.
 

Christopher Lindsay

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Ah, but your iPAQ with the HP print app only had HP drivers and as a result wouldn't work with an Epson or Samsung Printer. Microsoft would have to include drivers for ALL models of printer which would increase the size of the OS, by including printing support and getting manufacturers to provide the drivers then users only download the drivers they need.

If this is true apple must have a ton of drivers in their OS.
 

quantum tao

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I agree, Microsoft should have some sort of cloud print, generic print or whatever it takes to print from wp8. it is supposed to be enterprise ready.
 

foxbat121

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WP8.x OS is not built for user installable driver installations. Drivers must be pre-loaded in the firmware.

There is no common industry standard for printing generically unless all you want is just plain unformatted text output (like back in '80s).

Apple introduced an Apple proprietary AirPrint protocol which works only with Apple products and expect printer makers to support such protocol in printers. As it goes, anything Apple introduces, device makers will support.

Microsoft has no such market force, nor did it introduced any such mobile printing protocol.

Yes, it is an oversight but even if Microsoft introduced it today, I suspect no printer makers will introduce any printer to support it within couple years. And don't expect your existing printers to ever support it.

EDIT: actually, Microsoft introduced XPS printing back in Windows 7 Desktop OS days and expected printer makers to embrace it but I have not seen anyone made any printer that supports XPS printing. So, I can understand why Microsoft doesn't want to include it in WP OS.
 

Christopher Lindsay

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WP8.x OS is not built for user installable driver installations. Drivers must be pre-loaded in the firmware.

There is no common industry standard for printing generically unless all you want is just plain unformatted text output (like back in '80s).

Apple introduced an Apple proprietary AirPrint protocol which works only with Apple products and expect printer makers to support such protocol in printers. As it goes, anything Apple introduces, device makers will support.

Microsoft has no such market force, nor did it introduced any such mobile printing protocol.

Yes, it is an oversight but even if Microsoft introduced it today, I suspect no printer makers will introduce any printer to support it within couple years. And don't expect your existing printers to ever support it.

EDIT: actually, Microsoft introduced XPS printing back in Windows 7 Desktop OS days and expected printer makers to embrace it but I have not seen anyone made any printer that supports XPS printing. So, I can understand why Microsoft doesn't want to include it in WP OS.

I'm pretty sure my printer is not made by apple and does not have any airprint protocol as my printer is older than IOS 7.
 

foxbat121

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I'm pretty sure my printer is not made by apple and does not have any airprint protocol as my printer is older than IOS 7.

Your printer HAS to understand AirPrint protocol. That's how it works.

Check here About AirPrint

And your printer is listed there.

Again, try to understand that there is no black magic in printing. Each manufacturer has their own native protocol, i.e. HP's PCL. For all these years, they are dependent on Microsoft Window's printer driver layer to interface with different applications on Windows.

That's why Apple introduced AirPrint protocol and Google tried to do something slightly different (cloud print).
 

Christopher Lindsay

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Your printer is definitely AirPrint compatible.

So with Microsoft being the leader in the enterprise world why is there not protocol for Windows? Or at least a universal protocol that works on all Windows products? And if there is one why is it not on Windows phone but on Windows rt and Windows versions for computer?
 

Will6371

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The phone can't natively print wirelessly. I have a regular wireless Epson workforce printer. Nothing special. I don't think I should have to work out some Gmail (or email) work around to print with a wireless printer that works perfectly fine printing from Windows 7 on my desktop and laptop. Barring the name Windows and not being able to print is like barring the name keyboard and having no space bar. Even my not so productive iPhone (the biggest reason I switched to Windows phone) could do that. My 7 year old's iPad could do that. I think I plenty of right to complain about a phone as powerful as the 1520 not having the ability to do so... And that's on top of over 2k votes for the feature in the Microsoft feature suggestion forum on their feedback site.

What part of "it is possible to wirelessly print for your 1520" do you find the hardest to understand. You are complaining about not being able to do something with your phone that it is possible to do.

Did you ever hear the saying "flogging a dead horse"
 

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