It took a while, but Smart Home voice activated technology has finally spread to printers and multifunctional devices (AIOs), printers for printing, copying, scanning, and sometimes faxing.
Considering what needs to be done to make a device, especially a device that already has wireless technology built in, smart, this should have happened a long time ago. Plus, given how long ago voice activation has been around, you’ll probably be surprised at how under-supported this technology really is.
For example, Brother, a major printer manufacturer, still does not have smart home printers at the time of this writing.
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The best smart home providers are, of course, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Siri, and Microsoft Cortana. These services rely on devices that contain speakers and microphones that connect to the Internet through your wireless router, as well as computing devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.
Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. Smart devices like the Alexa Echo, for example, often require multiple devices for the service to spread throughout the home. To activate your smartphone, you must have your phone with you.
It’s important to note, however, that so-called “smart†devices that are voice activated via Alexa and other services are not much smarter than similar devices without Smart Home technology.
For example, smart bulbs simply contain wireless radio modules capable of understanding and executing IFTTT technology (if this then then). In other words, the listening device hears: “If you hear Alex, turn on the living room light (if this), then turn on the light (then that),†which is very simple, basic programming.
Thus, a wireless printer only needs to understand and perform IFTTT, which it already does anyway in order to become Smart or voice activated. In other words, you are not actually talking to the printer itself.
The smart device or your computing device interprets and sends the IFTTT command, sometimes directly and sometimes over the Internet. So when you say, “Google, print my schedule,” all the printer does is respond to a Print command followed by the data needed to print the schedule; in fact, he “hears” nothing.
The point is, all a printer really needs to be smart is a few more lines of code in the internal firmware. Then you might think that more printers will be voice activated. In any case, below is a list of the major printer manufacturers and what each company offers in the form of smart home printers.
Brother
As I mentioned earlier, Brother, a maker of entry-level AIO inkjet printers for home and higher-end business models and entry-level and high-volume laser printers, does not offer voice-activated technology.
The company does offer a series of AIO Business Smart devices, but this brand was named long before the advent of smart home technology.
Canon
All Pixmas for home and home office that Canon has released over the past few months come with support for Amazon Alexa and Google Home, as well as IFTTT support for those inclined to create their own scripts for other services (it’s not as hard as you could count).
These include the Pixma TS9520 and TS9521C high-performance wide-format consumer-grade all-in-ones (the latter is a “craft†printer for scrapbookers), as well as the consumer-grade Pixma TS8220, TS6220, and TS702 photo printers. as a home office oriented TR4520 AIO.
Canon renews its entire portfolio of inkjet printers and all-in-ones, and there are many, about every 12-18 months, and the entire line is updated and replaced about every four or five years. As such, it’s safe to assume that from now on, all of his consumer-grade inkjet machines will have similar IFTTT support, as well as any advancements in that technology.
The company also manufactures an entry-level to mid-range line of laser printers and all-in-ones. Some of them are intended for small and home offices.
So far, Canon hasn’t released any information on whether it plans to add IFTTT support for these machines, and a public relations representative responded to my request: “Sorry, you’ll have to wait and see,†which is not unusual for any company that keeps their plans for new products a secret (they all do it).
Epson
Epson has widely adopted Alexa and IFTTT voice activation. Not only will it be included in all upcoming Epson EcoTank, WorkForce and Expression printers and AIO all-in-ones, but Epson has also released a firmware update for all of its current and past Epson EcoTank, WorkForce and Expression models that support Epson Connect, which entails just about each machine manufactured by the company over the past few years.
So far, the company has only implemented Alexa support; although there are solutions for Google Home and other voice activation services. Google, for example, provides help here on creating your own IFTTT teams. And all the help you need and more can be found at IFTTT.com
As for when Epson will expand its support to include Google Home and others, a representative from the company answered my question, well, you guessed it, “I don’t know anything!”
HP
HP offers several home and home office AIOs, but so far only provides direct support for Alexa, Google Home, and IFTTT on its Tango and Tango X AIO home AIOs. The difference between the two Tangos is that the latter comes with a book-like wrapper that essentially disguises the machine so the home decor won’t be spoiled by the humble printer.
Note that you can activate Alexa on other HP devices connected to the Internet through a unique email address that HP assigns to each of its printers and by enabling what HP calls the HP Printer Skill.
You can find instructions on how to set up Alexa on this website. Google Home will work with other HP Internet-connected devices through the HP Printer App and Google Cloud Print by following these instructions
The Future of Smart Printers
If you ask me, many of today’s AIOs are already pretty darn smart, with or without voice activation. Is there an advantage to printing documents from the comfort of your couch? You bet there is, but let’s face it, you can’t do anything else with a voice printer other than printing.
Of course, you or your printer manufacturer can enable IFTTT scripts for scanning and making copies, but you cannot do any of them without placing the original on the scanner roller or in the automatic document feeder (ADF), which, with the exception of some very specific scenarios like hitting a target.
In any case, Brother (which, by the way, makes excellent printers and all-in-ones, by the way) will probably soon be on board with voice-activated machines.
Epson will eventually add support for other services and Canon will increase its Smart Home offerings, most likely all of its future home machines. After all, we may even see this technology in business-oriented printers. We just need to wait and see.
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