Utility printers at work

GIZMO GALLERY

Machines like the IP 1880 and HP A516 are ideal for home and outdoor use provide a stress-free printing experience.

The Canon Pixma IP 1880 is an entry-level, photo-oriented, single-function printer. At Rs 2,995, it is equipped with the bare essentials to perform its duties "" a sheet feeder, a dual ink-cartridge system, a USB port to connect the printer to the PC and a roller that throws out your photos.

Though it lacks sophisticated imagery features such as media card readers and a PictBridge port (but remember the price too), it does come bundled with easy-to-use software that can help create photo projects.

Surprisingly, there is no output tray. So, the printed pages simply push themselves from the front of the printer and straight on to the ground. Be sure to set the printer far back enough on the desk or table so that the pages fall on the table.

Despite this minimal set of features, the printer does not really disappoint. Colours look accurate when compared with photos from printers like HP Photosmart and Lexmark.

The images were very crisp and clear overall. But black inks were too light, and thus shadow detail was lacking in depth. The black-and-white photos it printed had the same problem with shadow detailing.

Though the IP 1880 is essentially a photo printer, you may feel tempted to use it to print text documents, e-mails, or the occasional movie tickets. The gray-scale text documents, printed during review, were slightly grainy. The IP 1880 performed better with colour documents, preserving thin lines and distinguishing gradients quite well.

Canon Pixma IP 1880 could fit well for home users with basic needs and a tight budget.

Weighing in at less than 1.5 kg, the HP A516 features a 1.5-inch image display that allows users to view, edit and print photos without the need of a PC.

Ideal for 15x10 cm photographs, it can be connected directly to cameras via PictBridge. Pictures can be printed from a range of photo cards or even from a PC. When printing, around two minutes is required to select the image on the TFT to a virtually dry printed page being delivered.

Among the things it does is automatically check for red eye. The A516 does not include a kiosk-style menu to let you crop or edit as other photo printers do, but the LCD and front-panel buttons lets one choose which photos to print from a memory card, whether to print multiple copies, and whether to print one, two, four or more photos per page.

Of course, the single-most-important issue for a photo printer is output quality. And the good news is that photos printed with the A516""including indoor and outdoor shots, closeups of faces, landscapes, snowscapes, and more""qualified as true photo quality.

There were minor flaws on close inspection, including a slight loss of detail in bright areas on some photos, but the overall quality was satisfactory.

Priced at Rs 5,499, the HP Photosmart A516 is simple to use, quick to set up and makes photo printing a stress-free experience.

However, unless you really need the portability, consumers with a strong interest in print quality and speed will find more options open for them.