Review: HP Photosmart Premium C310a

The PR people for HP asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to try out and review their new HP Photosmart Premium printer, as it allows you to print from your iPad etc.

I actually have a current wireless printer – the Brother MFC-255CW. I do not have a desktop PC, so wanted a wireless printer so I don’t need to plus the laptop into a cable everytime I want to print. The Brother isn’t bad, but has been a bit frustrating as my firewall software often blocks printing to it. Also you can only print to it, when connected to the same wireless network.

So I said I would get the HP e-printer a try. A big box turned up a couple of days later and I unpacked it. The instruction manual was missing for it, but that actually proved sort of useful as it tested me on whether I could get it to work, without needing to RTFM.

Setup was pretty simple. A couple of the parts needed some firm encouragement to fit into each other, but overall nothing too difficult. Then after one has tested the physical printing, it was time for seeing how it prints wirelessly. To connect it up, you just detect your wireless router connection, and connect to it with the password. Again, pretty simple.

Then I discovered the key difference with my current wireless printer. The Brother requires you to then install the drivers and software on your laptop, so you can print to it. The HP e-printer actually has a unique e-mail address assigned to it – at an HP domain. So all you have to do is e-mail the photo or document to that e-mail address.

I e-mailed a letter from my laptop to its e-mail address. Started printing within seconds. Did the same with a photo from my iPad. Now this is a photo printer so it comes with a postcard sized printer tray, and 100 or so photo cards. It automatically printed the photos onto the photo card.

The one negative was that the colour settings seemed a bit out – the prints were red tinged. I’m sure it is solvable, but was noticeable.

Back to the iPad, it really does work well with them. Because once it has printed once to the e-printer, then the printer is listed on the iPad as a printer. So from then on, you can use the print rather than e-mail function.

The really good thing about it, is you don’t have to physically be at home to print to it. I tried printing a photo from the iPad from town – it was waiting for me when I got back. This means I can have a quick glance at a document on my Blackberry or iPad, and if I want a hard copy, instruct it to print to my home printer immediately. That’s a great feature, as it means you can print when you see it, not have to rely on finding the e-mail later on the laptop.

It occurs to me that if one was doing a big overseas trip, you could give this printer to your folks, and as you travel around you could e-mail a couple of photos a day to their printer, and they would see the sights you are seeing. Anyone who knows its e-mail address can print to it, which can be useful for flatmates etc.

The printer is relatively compact and my one is a nice shiny black. As someone with no desktop PC, I find it pretty brilliant. Printing used to be quite a hassle, and now it is literally as simple as e-mail, and can be done from anywhere.

The official HP page on the printer is here. I suspect in the future more and more printers will be like this one – printable from anywhere or anything.