The HP Photosmart A826 is a stall - shaped compact photo printer that feature a seven - inch touch screenland and a stylus . Designed for what HP calls “ busy momma , ” the A826 streamlines the process of printing photos : it ’s as easy as inserting a photo reposition poster , tapping a silver screen , and touching the Print image . Though the A826 ’s sense of touch - projection screen interface is a smashing foundation , its print quality could employ some body of work : in our examination , dark prints looked flat and a minuscule bland . Despite this imperfection , the A826 is a unanimous gimmick with a unparalleled interface that should set a positive precedent in the printer marketplace .
There ’s something important to take down about the A826 : even though it is a compendious photo printer , that does n’t mean it ’s portable . Measuring 14.7 by 15.1 by 10.4 inches with its output signal and paper tray open and ready to use , the A826 is magnanimous than other compact pic printers we ’ve test . The printer also miss a handle , so it ’d be airy to adjudicate to stock this gimmick around on trip or to event . Rather , the A826 is designed to serve as a personal kiosk or house photo centre . Still , the printing machine could employ something to make it easy to grip , in case you wanted to move it from one room to another in your home , for lesson . The tranquil , egg - shape pattern make the A826 slippery and hard to halt .
The A826 ’s strength lies in its innovative user interface . It ’s so innovative , in fact , that it caught the attention of several passersby , who stopped by my kiosk just to look at it . The computer menu is very intuitive , and I was able to crop exposure , add or remove effects , character caption , lend frames , and insert clipping artistry with zero tussle . I never had to confer the exploiter manual because the printer operation was completely straightforward . The printer ’s ink - storey status is clearly displayed in the upper - left hand corner of the screen , so you ’ll know when it ’s almost time to alter the pickup . To top it off , the A826 offer an option to regard your photos in a slideshow , beautifully display on the printer ’s large , shiny screen .
The A826 use a tri - color ink system ( cyan , Battle of Magenta , and yellow ) , which mean that its blackamoor are process — that is , made up of the aforementioned three colors coalesce rather than coming from a disjoined pickup of black ink . As a result , vestige look to miss depth , prepare paradigm look a little flat and dull . The printer performed better with brighter image , and you ’ll get the best effect when print on HP ’s Premium Plus photo paper . Despite my complaint about process blacks , the A826 ’s pic look pleasing overall .
When it came to stop number , the A826 ’s performance was about average ; it took 1 minute and 29 endorsement to print a single photograph in our examination at best setting . By way of comparison , the Epson PictureMate Zoom ( ) — our Top Product in the portable exposure printer category — took 42 instant , less than half the time , to perform the same test .
jury tests
Scale = Superior , Very Good , Good , Fair , and Poor .
timed trials
weighing machine = second : secondment
How we essay : We print all test files from a SanDisk Compact Flash identity card insert in the pressman . We register the time it took to print a 4 - by-6 - inch photo and the time it took to print five 4 - by-6 - in photo . A panel of experts examined sampling of the printer ’s end product to rate its photographic print caliber as Superior , Very Good , Good , Fair , or Poor in compare to the turnout of retiring succinct photo printer we ’ve tested.—Macworld Lab testing by Brian Chen
specifications
Macworld’s buying advice
The HP Photosmart A826 is a great choice for get down lensman who need to impress their digital photos as easily as potential . The printer ’s case design could use some improvement for greater informality of handling , and dark print appear a fiddling dull ; but overall , the A826 is an attractive , fun gimmick made just for its intend consumer group — shutterbug hobbyists and scrapbookers . At $ 250 , the A826 is n’t cheap , but its advanced , exploiter - friendly interface makes this printing machine a worthy investment .
[ Brian Chen is an adjunct editor program atMacworld . ]
