Pixuru smartphone app and digital printing service review

Pixuru (Pix-sue-roo) is an iOS and Android app that allows you to easily turn your snapshots from Facebook, Instagram and your phone’s image gallery into real canvas, wood, metal or framed prints. They offered to let me try out their app and print service, so let’s check out the results.

Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.

Here’s the image that I decided to use for the review. I snapped it with my Samsung Galaxy S3 one afternoon on my way home from work. It’s my driveway 🙂

The Pixuru app for iOS and Android is easy to use and exactly the same on both platforms. First you choose the type of print that you want to make and the size. The options are a wrapped canvas, wood print, metal print or a framed print. Prices depend on the type of print, as well as the size of the print.

Canvas prints are available in 6×6, 8×10, 11×14, 12×12, 16×20, 20×20, 20×6, 24×30, 30×8, 40×10, three 12×12 or four 12×12 inch. Prices range from $20 for the 6×6 inch print up to $120 for the 4 12×12 inch print.
Framed prints are available in 6×6, 8×10, 11×14, 12×12, 16×20, 20×20, 20×6, 24×30, 30×8 and 40×10. Prices range from $39 for the 6×6 inch print up to $130 for the 24×30 inch print.
Metal prints are available in 6×6, 8×10, 11×14, 12×12, 16×20, 20×20, 20×6, 24×30, 30×8, 40×10, three 12×12 or four 12×12 inch. Prices range from $25 for the 6×6 inch print up to $129 for the 40×10 inch print.
Wood prints are available in 6×6, 8×10, 11×14, 12×12, 16×20, 20×20, 20×6, 24×30, 30×8, 40×10, three 12×12 or four 12×12 inch. Prices range from $25 for the 6×6 inch print up to $129 for the 40×10 inch print.

Your image is imported into the app by either connecting to your Facebook account, Instagram account or by browsing the image gallery on the device. Once the image is chosen, there are only 2 ways to edit the image. You can rotate it or move/scale it. So if you want special effects, you’ll need to do them in another app before you import the image into Pixuru.

Once you have the image the way you want it with the type and size of print chosen, you can order the print directly from your device by using your credit card.

I was really curious about the wood print, so that’s I picked.

Two days later (wow, that was incredibly fast!) there was a box waiting for me on my door step. I opened it up and was immediately disappointed with what I saw. The image had a yellow tinge to it and seemed to be slightly blurry. I regretted choosing the wood print style… But I soon realized that it was my fault that I wasn’t happy with the outcome of the wood print. After browsing around on Pixuru’s website and seeing some examples of  wood prints, I knew I’d chosen the wrong image for that type of print… I read the following on their site:

Important note regarding wood prints. You have ordered a product that has been printed on an organic material. The beauty of the wood surface it is printed on comes from the variances in grain, color and texture. These variances are to be considered part of the benefits of this type of print and should note be considered a defect. The image you send will have a slightly different appearance than if it had been printed on a smooth white based material such as photo paper.

I think the image would have turned out a lot better if I would have first been converted it to black and white instead of leaving it in color, where the yellowish wood combined with the colors to give it a washed out vintage look that didn’t really appeal to me.

Even though I didn’t like the way the wood print turned out for that particular image, I was impressed with the actual materials used to create it.

The board itself is heavy and has a channel along the top back edge to make it easy to hang.

When I told the folks at Pixuru that I wasn’t that thrilled with the way the wood print turned out, they said to hang tight. I thought they’d probably just let me order something else, but 2 days later I received a 2nd package…

This time for a wrapped canvas print that you can see turned out much better than the wood print using the same image I had chosen before. The colors in the canvas print are significantly more vivid and the image appears crisp and clear.

The image wraps around the sides and the back is covered with thick black paper. There is a hanger attached at the top to make it easy to hang on your wall.

If you own an iPhone or Android smartphone, you probably use the device as a camera as often as you use it to make calls. Getting those priceless images off the device and on to your walls can be a hassle. Pixuru takes away the hassle with a simple to use application, competitive prices, crazy fast (and FREE) shipping, and a quality print that can be enjoyed for years to come.