If you’re a crafter, journaller, scrapbooker or card maker looking for the best pocket photo printer for journaling in the UK, this NeLKO pocket printer review covers everything you need to know before you buy. I paid £72.99 for this NeLKO printer myself, and have been testing it for travel journaling, scrapbooking and card making, so this is a genuine, hands-on look at how it performs, not just a spec sheet.
In this review, I’ll walk you through the unboxing, the setup process, how the app works, print quality, battery life and running costs, so you can decide whether a pocket printer is the right addition to your craft bag.
This post may contain affiliate links. Which means I may receive a small commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended at no extra cost to yourself. As an amazon, Cricut and Glowforge associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
What You Will Find Here
What Is the NeLKO Pocket Photo Printer?
The NeLKO is a small, colourful, pocket-sized photo printer (it comes in some gorgeous shades) that connects to your phone through a companion app. I’d been looking for a mini printer to take on our Nevada and California road trip, something small, portable and in colour, so I could print photos on the go for my travel journal and planner.
I bought mine on Amazon, also available on TikTok Shop, for £70, which included 100 sheets of glossy photo paper. A smaller bundle with 20 photos is available for around £60.
What’s in the Box
- The printer itself, mine is in pink to match my planner and journal
- Instructions
- A USB-C charging cable
- A tiny ink cartridge, rated to print up to 80 photos
- Glossy photo sticker paper, sold in sealed packs of 10 ( I bought the bundle with 100 photo sheets)
Setting It Up: Step by Step
Setup was genuinely simple, even for a first go.
- Install the ink cartridge. Slide the printer open, wait 10 seconds, peel the tape off the cartridge, then clip it in.
- Load the paper. Glossy side down, with the arrows pointing the right way, then close the cover.
- Download the app. Available on both the App Store and Google Play.
- Connect the printer. Mine paired with my phone in seconds.
Using the App To Work With The NeLKO Pocket Photo Printer
Inside the app you can print, edit and even add frames or text to your photos before printing, which is brilliant for on the go journaling. A few features stood out.
Rotate and flip. Most of my phone photos are landscape rather than portrait, and the app lets you turn them so they print the right way round.
Crop and round corners. You don’t lose any of the photo, which is a small detail that makes a big difference.
Frames and text overlays. Handy for adding little flags, icons or captions straight onto the print.
Editing tools. Brightness, retouching, and background changes are all there, though I skipped anything that changes people’s faces.
There are some in-app purchases for extra features, but everything I used to actually print was free.
The Print Quality of the NeLKO Photo Printer
The prints came out in a minute each, and the results genuinely surprised me. They’re not quite the quality you’d get from a proper photo developing service, but for planner and journal use, they’re excellent, sharp, well-saturated, and small enough to fit neatly onto a page.
One thing worth knowing is that I edited a couple of photos in Lightroom before printing, and the quality dropped slightly compared to editing directly in the NeLKO app. If you want the best print quality, it’s better to edit within the app itself.
The prints also peel like stickers, so you can lift them straight off the backing and stick them into your journal, planner or card, with no glue needed. But they are not thin; they are sturdy like a mini polaroid would be.
Battery Life
The app shows a simple battery indicator, either green or red, which I found really useful. NeLKO states the battery lasts for around 40 photos, or 12 consecutive prints if you’re printing back-to-back, though continuous printing understandably uses more power.
For journaling and travel use, where you’re printing a handful of photos at a time rather than dozens in one sitting, this is more than enough. You can top up the charge in the car or overnight at a hotel.
Ink and Running Costs
The included cartridge is rated for 80 photos. A replacement ink refill costs around £20, which isn’t the cheapest, but if it genuinely lasts 80 prints, it works out reasonably fair for the convenience. I’ll be tracking exactly how many photos I get from mine and will update this post once I know the real world number.
Pros of the NeLKO Pocket Photo Printer
- Fast, easy setup, with no fiddly pairing process
- Genuinely pocket sized and lightweight for travel
- Good print quality for journaling, planning and card making
- Prints peel off like stickers, ready to stick straight in
- Crop, rotate and frame tools built into the app
- Clear battery indicator
Things to Consider
- Print quality isn’t quite professional photo lab level
- Editing outside the app, for example in Lightroom, can slightly reduce print quality
- Ink refills aren’t the cheapest, and the cost per print isn’t fully confirmed yet, but going off the estimate, it would cost 50p per picture for ink and paper, which is not bad when you break it down.
- Some app features are locked behind in-app purchases
See My Full Video Review
The NeLKO Pocket Photo Printer In Short
For anyone into travel journaling, scrapbooking, planning or card making, the NeLKO pocket printer is a genuinely useful addition to your craft bag. It’s quick to set up, easy to use, and produces prints that are more than good enough for sticking straight into a journal or onto a card.
The combination of fast phone pairing, simple editing tools and sticker-style prints makes it a practical choice for anyone who wants to add real photos to their crafting without a full-sized printer at home. I love mine, and will be taking it on my next road trip and will share an update once I’ve properly tested the ink’s lifespan and real-world cost per print.
