There is a USB cable included to connect to your PC, with the printer installing directly on connection with no CD having to be installed.įor those up for a more creative challenge, HP has thrown in a lot of creative elements into the mix. The A646 also includes Bluetooth, so all those pics residing on your phone are ready to be printed out. Images can be selected directly off the most popular memory cards, USB flash disks or from PictBridge enabled cameras. It seems like HP is serious when it comes to computer free printing, slapping a massive 3.45” touch-screen on top of the A646 to make it easier to select images to print. The new Bluetooth-enabled A646 is no exception. They’re easy to operate, can print from a wide array of sources, and are small and compact enough to easily pack away when not in use. On the other hand, it lets you print on more sizes of paper than the competition, and it offers lots of fun, on-board editing options.We’ve always enjoyed these little toaster size printers from HP. It falls a little short on flesh tones and ink costs. Is the HP Photosmart A646 the snapshot printer for you? Weigh the trade-offs. After my first attempt, an error message appeared on the LCD, and an animated clip showed how to insert it properly. Simple colour labels inside the cover illustrate how to remove and insert the cartridge, but it can still be tricky. The print cartridge is housed in a front compartment. HP’s 140-sheet paper-and-ink combination pack, on the other hand, costs $47, or 32 cents per print. A replacement 50-photo ink cartridge costs $24, or a ridiculous 48 cents per print–not counting paper. The unit comes with an introductory, 15-print ink cartridge. All images showed a nice level of depth and detail.įor the best possible ink costs, buy the combination ink/paper packs. Aside from flesh tones that were orange enough to be jarring, most colors were bright and well balanced. It kicked out each of our test photos in less than a minute at normal settings. The Photosmart A646 performed pretty well in our tests. However, the ease in which the touch screen’s interface seems to make up for all that. The loading of the paper tray can be a bit confusing, as it looks like you have to actually dismantle the printer just to put in more paper. The Photosmart A646 also has the option of knowing how many more prints the cartridge roughly has left, informing you when it is a good time to purchase new ink. However, it seems like these options are more accessible when printing directly from a memory card rather than on the Mac. After installing the printer driver, you can use the printer’s touch screen and stylus to navigate through the many editing options such as creating greeting cards, panorama prints and photo stickers. Operating on a Mac, the printer is as easy to set up as it is to print. The Setup menu contains an extensive set of animated and text-based help topics. HP makes the Photosmart A646 easy to use. It’s fun to try the many available photo enhancements you can also create a doodle overlay or apply a posterized or retro look. You can browse and select menu options using your finger or the included stylus. On the display panel is a 3.45-inch colour touchscreen LCD, flanked by touch-sensitive controls. However, while the case design implies portability, HP doesn’t offer an optional battery pack. Interestingly, the printer chassis is made from more than 30 per cent recycled plastic the carrying case is constructed entirely from recycled plastic bottles. The unit also has a PictBridge port and built-in Bluetooth support. On the inside front panel are two media slots for Memory Stick, SD Card, and XD-Picture Card. Most snapshot printers take only one size of media, but the Photosmart A646 accepts three: four by six inches (the size of our test photos), four by 12 inches (panoramic), and five by seven inches. The Photosmart A646 has some impressive features. Compared with Epson‘s PictureMate Charm PM 225 ( Macworld rated 3.5 out of 5 mice ), which costs the same, the Photosmart A646 offers more versatility, but it falls slightly short in speed, print quality, and ink costs. HP’s (NYSE: HPQ) Photosmart A646 compact photo printer offers a few surprising features for its mid-range price.
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