HP Photosmart A526 review

Despite being one of the cheapest compact photo printers we've ever reviewed, HP's Photosmart A526 still has a colour screen and support for direct printing from memory cards and digital cameras with PictBridge support.

It doesn't have as many extra composition and editing features as some of the more expensive printers here, but it's easy to use. With an integrated handle, it is designed to be portable, but there's no battery pack available, so you can use it only if you have access to the mains.

The printer opens to reveal a rear paper tray that can take up to 20 6x4in sheets at the back, and an output tray, memory card slots and access to the ink cartridge at the front. Most configuration and quality settings menus aren't available once you've inserted a memory card, so you'll need to set up options such as borderless printing and Photo Fix image enhancement beforehand. These settings can be switched on or off but there are no options to fine-tune them, and only red-eye correction is available when browsing photos. For multiple copies, you press the print button repeatedly.

It can print at its maximum resolution of 4,800x1,200dpi only when connected to a PC. Direct printing from a memory card is limited to the Best quality setting of 1,200x1,200dpi. Inkjet prints are more likely to be grainy than those produced by dye-sub printers, but this wasn't a visible problem with most photos. Prints were usually sharp and clear, and only our picture of a blue sky suffered from a slightly speckled effect. Colours were bright and accurate, although some detail was lost in dark, low-contrast images. You can buy a multipack containing consumables to print 120 photos for around £21, which means each photo costs 17p to print. The A526 was the second-slowest in the group, taking 14 minutes and 25 seconds to print six 6x4in snaps.

Although this is one of the slowest printers in the group, it's also very affordable to buy and easy to use.