Hard Copy: Print your smartphone photos with Windows Phone apps

Free your images from your Lumia by printing them or making cards, posters, calendars and more out of them with these free Windows Phone apps.

Call me nostalgic: While digital images on my Lumia or other tech gadget are great, sometimes, there’s no substitute for photos that I can actually hold in my hand.

I’ve pinned my favorite vacation photos taken with my Lumia on my office bulletin board, and I’ve created photo books and photo calendars as gifts.

I’m far from the only one who feels this way. Printing smartphone photos to send to friends and family, and making analog photo books, personalized greeting cards, invitations, calendars and more is a trend that shows no signs of stopping.

So here are three Windows Phone apps that make it easy to print photos from your Lumia camera roll and your social-media accounts, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Free Prints: Brought to you by the folks at PhotoAffections.com, this recently updated app gives you up to 85 free 4X6 prints each month. Yes, you read that right. Free–you just pay shipping and handling ($1.99 to $9.99, depending on the number of photos in your order).

You can also order larger prints, from 5 X 7 to a poster-size 20 X 30. Price per photo ranges from 49 cents to $18.99. After placing your order, expect to receive prints within five to 13 days. If you live outside the United States, transit time may be longer.

Want to create invitations, birth announcements, greeting cards, or even canvas prints from your Lumia photos? Upload them to OneDrive first, then head over to the PhotoAffections.com website to design your cards and place your order.

PhotoMart:, Get your printed photos within an hour with this photo-printing app—exclusive to Lumia devices–supported by international retailer Wal-Mart. I’ve tried PhotoMart myself and I’ve got to say, it’s very convenient.

What’s key: You need to live or work near a bricks-and-mortar Wal-Mart store because that’s where you’ll pick up your prints. You can order prints ranging from 4 X 6 (19 cents each) to 8 X 8 ($2.84 each).

My experience: After I created an account in the PhotoMart app, I selected a handful of 4 X 6 photos, chose the Wal-Mart Photo Center near my house, and placed the order.

Within an hour, I received an email from PhotoMart stating that my photos were ready. Easy! The printed photos, which I picked up on my way to the office, looked great. The images were sharp and the colors were true.

Printicular: This U.S.-only app also makes it easy to order and get printed photos within the hour—you can pick them up from Walgreens or Duane Reade, a national drugstore chain.

You can also have the prints mailed to you if you don’t need them immediately, or if you don’t live or work near a Walgreens or Duane Reade store. Prices start at 29 cent per 4 X 6 print, and you can easily print photos from your smartphone’s camera roll as well as from your Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Have you printed some of your photos or do all of them live in the digital world? If you have printed them, what do you do with them—put them into a photo album, pin them onto a bulletin board, or given them to friends or family?