Wireless printers support BlackBerry

New Pentax PocketJet models add Bluetooth and support more handhelds

Pentax Technologies has announced new mobile printers with Bluetooth capability that will let staff print from BlackBerry handhelds and other mobile devices such as smartphones.

The PocketJet3 BT and PocketJet3 Plus BT, available from December, are updated versions of the existing PocketJet3 and 3 Plus models. They add a Bluetooth interface to support the growing number of devices equipped with this technology.

Martin Mogendorff, general manager of Pentax Technologies Europe, said there are new opportunities in the mobile market for Bluetooth printing. In particular, the firm hopes to appeal to many of the firms that have deployed BlackBerry email devices to staff in the last few years.

"This capability is important to support printing from BlackBerry and Symbian smartphones," he said.

Pentax's battery-powered PocketJet printers are compact and lightweight, and use thermal media to produce laser-quality A4 pages.

The current PocketJet3 and 3 Plus have both USB and infrared ports and already support a wide range of devices including Windows laptops, Pocket PC and Palm OS handhelds. The PocketJet3 prints at 200dpi while the PocketJet 3 Plus supports 300dpi.

With Content Beamer software from ThinPrint, users of Bluetooth-enabled Symbian handsets will also be able to print documents directly to the new PocketJet models.