We also noted differences between colours reproduced on the LCD display and those printed. Graduated tints aren’t quite as smooth as we’ve seen before, however, and despite the automatic lighting correction, some shadow detail was lost. Colours came out natural and both bright and pastels shades are well reproduced. We’ve come to expect good quality from HP photo prints and in general we weren’t disappointed here. These times are not bad for a photo printer, but are a long way from HP’s claims. Finally, a 15 x 10cm print from a PictBridge camera took 2:01. To produce an 18 x 13cm print took slightly longer, at 2:11. Borderless prints took 1:49 from a card and only one second less when printing from a PC. Printing straight from an SD card, it took 1 minute 37 seconds to print our standard 15 x 10cm print with a border. We wonder what HP was printing to reach that speed. The Photosmart A618 is claimed to produce a bordered photo print in normal print mode ‘as fast as 53 seconds’. As an alternative to the USB connection the Photosmart A618 has Bluetooth built-in, so you can use this to connect to a PC, PDA or mobile phone. If you want to use the printer with a PC, this is adequate for day-to-day touch-up. Software includes a driver and simple photo management and editing. You can zoom in to select an area of an image and add simple effects like sepia or black-and-white colouring and a variety of jazzy frames. An automatic fix takes care of things like redeye and improves colour rendition in shadow. Just plug in a memory card or a PictBridge camera and you can display and select images to print. You don’t really have to install this printer at all it’ll work quite happily without being connected to any external device. You can optionally add a lithium ion battery pack for complete portability and a spring-loaded carrying handle is well integrated into the case design. There are also sockets here for an external power supply and a USB 2.0 cable. Sensibly, HP has coloured the paper support and width guide in a Day-glo green, so you can see them easily. The back panel opens only slightly, enough to slide up to 20 sheets of photo paper into the paper feed. Finally, there’s a row of three indicators showing Bluetooth activity, battery state and any error condition, and an illuminated power button. To the left of the screen, another four-way panel calls up the top-level menu, automated Photo Fixes, different print layouts and the delete function. To the right is a toggle button for zooming in and out of any displayed photo and a four-way toggle with an OK button in the middle, used to navigate the printer’s menu. In front of this is a rectangular button, marked Print and a smaller square one, labelled Cancel. On top of the machine is a 60mm LCD panel, which hinges up to any convenient angle. At the base of the front panel is a long slot where prints feed out. At the right-hand end is a flip-open cover giving access to the single, three-colour ink cartridge. In the centre is the latch, which holds the cover closed and to either side are memory card slots, together with a PictBridge socket, so you can connect virtually any kind of photographic storage. Once you’ve opened the black front cover of the Photosmart A618, its grey front panel still manages to look like the inside of something. It has to be that bit longer because it can now produce 18 x 13cm (7 x 5-inch) prints, as well as the 15 x 10cm ones its predecessors could handle. The length of the printer, which still looks something like a small, black and grey toaster, is the giveaway. □ HP Photosmart A616 Inkjet Cartridges '}įunction addLoadEvent(e)ĮlById("notify"+r)&(y=elById("notify"+r),y.innerHTML=""),o.HP’s standalone photo printers have been a big success for the company, but it’s not that easy to think of ways to improve them.
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