Product Reviews

There are some that still grumble away about digital cameras and the whole area of digital imaging. "A passing fad," they mutter into their pints of Best. "It'll all end in tears." Show them this month's digital camera group test and they remain obstinately defiant.

"Ah, well, it's all very well having your fancy high-resolution images for low prices," they mumble, "but what do you do with 'em? Can't stick a hard disk into a photo album, can you? Eh?"

But we have the answer, and its name is the PhotoSmart 1315. To the casual observer, it may just look like a typical HP DeskJet dressed up in swanky black and silver, but switch it on and the well-proportioned colour LCD screen lights up in readiness for your commands. You see, you don't even need a PC to use this printer - just remove the Memory Stick, SmartMedia card or CompactFlash card from your camera, slip it into the appropriate slot, and start printing.

Once you insert your card, the 1315 is clever enough to find the photos and display them, and then you can print an index of all the images, try and enhance the colours, adjust the size of the printed photo, crop the photo (for printing purposes) and even add borders - just remember that this last option is slightly sad. One nice touch is that you don't need to worry about telling the PhotoSmart what type of paper you're using: it detects this automatically.

We can't imagine that you'll use all the printer's functions - the sepia effect is a once-only choice, while the e-mail option doesn't really make sense. If you're going to do this, you might as well just use your PC. It's worth noting that using the 1315 to print pictures directly isn't just more convenient than using your PC - it also avoids draining the camera's batteries.

Where the 1315 isn't quite so impressive

Another problem is longevity. HP's results will fade after two or three years, while Epson's are guaranteed to be light-fast for 20 years. HP's printers also lack the ability to print from edge-to-edge, so there's always a white border that needs to be cut off. In the PhotoSmart's defence, you don't have to wait too long for the actual photos to appear. Even an A4-sized image printed on glossy paper will appear in under five minutes.

The 1315 also has its all-round performance in its favour. As with HP's range of DeskJets, it's one of the quietest printers around and the text and solid graphics printing is exemplary, even on plain paper. It's also quick - a 25-page document took just six minutes to appear in standard mode, while dropping to draft mode cut this time to just two minutes. And the results were still pretty good.

If you need to print the occasional presentation-quality document, again the PhotoSmart won't disappoint. You can expect to wait for around two minutes per page when using coated paper, but the end result is almost impossible to criticise. The 1315 picks up details extremely well, and even tricky challenges like white text on a black background are passed through without a problem.

But the problem for HP is that this printer isn't meant to be an all-rounder. It's there to print photos, and while it does this competently - and by the standards of a normal printer, extremely well - it's no match for the best photo printers from Epson and Canon. The absence of a MultiMediaCard slot (used by HP's own digital cameras!) is another black mark.

So if you're looking for a dedicated photo printer, think again. But if you're looking for a solid all-rounder that's quiet and easy to use, and has added convenience for directly printing photos, it's a great choice.