Lexmark Genesis S815 review

The world of all-in-ones tends not to be the place to find excitement, but every so often a brave manufacturer attempts something that really grabs our attention. You’ll already have noticed from the photo that the Lexmark Genesis S815 has a totally re-imagined physical design, but the real interest lies in how it scans: inside sits a 10-megapixel camera.

To be more specific, it's a 10-megapixel monochrome CMOS sensor with an RGB LED positioned on either side. To scan, the LEDs perform a quick double flash of red, then green, then blue and, with a tacked-on shutter noise for effect, the Genesis produces a composite colour preview image in just three seconds. It’s a scanner, Jim, but not as we know it.

Even when you add the process of getting that scan to a connected PC, the time barely rises. We scanned an A4 colour page into Photoshop at 150ppi in just six seconds, and an A4 photo at 300ppi in just eight – and there’s a range of on-device options for colour fixing, cropping and all sorts before you finish the job. Along with that blistering speed, the accuracy of the colours in our test images was excellent, with deep blacks, vibrant reds and the many graded blues of a summer sky detected and faithfully reproduced.

On the flipside, the 10-megapixel resolution and A4 platen size mean the maximum possible scan quality is 300ppi – this is very much a consumer rather than a professional device. Fine detail was its only notable weakness, with soft, frayed edges on text and small elements of busy photos blending into each other a little in places. Given the short distance between the platen and the lens – we’d estimate around 8in – we’re impressed with what Lexmark has pulled off, but it isn’t quite perfect yet.

The scan technology entirely dictates the unusual upright shape of the Genesis. The standard printer part remains at the base with a 50-sheet output tray at the front; above that, the platen sits almost upright, with a 100-sheet input tray also upright behind the main body. Open the lid towards you and, deep behind the glass, you’ll see the camera and LEDs, reflected via a 45-degree mirror at the rear. It makes for a tall and bulky body, but its desk footprint is no larger than a normal printer.