HP PhotoSmart 245

Welcome to the first of hopefully many HP printer reviews that I am going to write. Let me introduce myself and how I got to get familiar with so much of HPs printer. I worked for HP on a part time basis and have the opportunity to mess around with tons of their products and the reviews that I will be writting will be totally from what I feel and not trying to promote the company for no apparent reason. I am not being paid any commissions ok! Well, since that is out of the way, let me get a kick start.

Since the end of 2003, HP has been trying to promote its range of digital photography products and its photosmart range was launched. It is a set of specially made for digital photography products which ranges from the digital camera, photo printers, scanners and all in ones.

"What HP Says"

The HP photosmart 245 compact photo printer is designed for families who own a digital camera and are looking to take advantage of the fastes and most convenient way of viewing, printing and sharing photos.

"What Benny Says"

HP photosmart 245 printer is a dedicated independent 10x15 photo printer. You do not need to connect it to a PC to do prints. Since it is small, it is portable and fits into ones luggage without taking much space. I can picture it in my bag somewhere comfortably between my clothes.

One of the best features of the printer is that it has a 4.6 cm colour displays. This allows you to preview the pictures before printing them. A minimal level of editing can also be done like adjusting the brightness and zooming in. You can have the option to print 1,2 or 4 pictures on one standard 10x15 photo paper. You can also set it to make multiple copies. An index page can also be done of all the pictures in the memory card.

After removing it from the box, you can plug it in directly and all the instructions will appear on the display for you to slot in the cartridge and select your preffered language. It is a piece of cake to set it up. There are no big manuals to read.

The printer also takes all the media cards (Sony Memory Stick, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital Card & others) that are available in the market. The card reader is in front of the printer. You can see multiple slots for the different cards available.This clearly means that no matter what digital camera you have, you can still use this printer just by removing the media card and slotting it into the printer. It is an added bonus if you have a HP digital camera as it can connect to printer directly via a cable and do the printing directly.

The downside to the printer is that it does not do anything bigger than the standard photo size. If you are looking for a portable printer to print your documents too or larger photo prints, I suggest you go for the HP Photosmart 7260 and above range.

Technical Specifications:
- HP photopret III Precision Technology
- Up to 4800 x 1200 optimised dpi
- Colour photo 10 x 15cm 140 sec
- Borderless printing on 10 x 15 cm photo papers with tab ( 10 x 16.5 cm)
- 1.8" Colour Display
- Photo Sizes: 10 x 15cm, collage (4 or 2 per sheet),index
- Photo Editing: Brightness, Colour, Zoom, Crop Image, Library of Frames
- Zoom and crop up to 5x
- Upload and cancel buttons
- USB for PC, Mac and direct print enabled HP Cameras.

Compatability:
-Windows: Windows 98 and above
-Macintosh: MAc OS v9.1 and above

Retail Price: £199-£250

Available at Comets, PCWorld, WHSmiths and other high street stores. I have seen a few being auctioned off at a very low price on ebay.co.uk.

Use cartridges: No. 57 and No. 59

My Conclusions
If you are into digital photography and is required to do lots of printing while travelling, this is the perfect printer for you. If you have the comfort of a home office to do your prints, then give this printer a miss and go for the Photosmart 7260 or higher range which allows you to do printing of up to A4 size.

Additional Information:
There is a website for all sales professionals to get information about their products which are www.hp.co.uk/infolab

I hope this helps.

Have A Nice Day!

xxx Benny Ong
bennyong@velocityspark.net
http://www.velocityspark.net