HP Photosmart A636 review

HP's Photosmart A636 is a compact photo printer with some innovative features.

It doesn't come with an installation disc. Instead, as soon as you connect the printer to your PC's USB port, it shows up as a virtual CD drive. A wizard automatically installs all the drivers needed to use the A636. It's a brilliant idea, and one we'd like to see implemented in every USB printer. With a carrying handle and optional battery, this printer is designed to be used on the move, and the installer makes it easy to use on any Windows PC.

The A636 prints photos at the same speed and resolution of 4,800x1,200dpi whether you're printing from a computer or directly from a memory card or USB flash drive. Several paper sizes are supported, including 7x5in and panoramic 4x8in and 4x12in formats. Six 6x4in prints took eight minutes, 14 seconds to print at Best quality, while six 7x5in prints took 12 minutes, eight seconds. These speeds are slow for a compact printer, and compare poorly to others we've seen. We had to wait an average of one minute, 27 seconds per 6x4in photo.

The 3in touch screen is bright and clear, which makes it great for previewing and modifying your photos before printing. The Create menu is packed with editing utilities and novel features to spice up your photos with custom captions, borders and the kind of customisable colour tints and artistic effects found in many graphics programs. You can also print passport and identity photos.

Photos were clear and sharp, without any banding or graininess. Even the dull grey and brown tones of our low-contrast image tests were brought to life, and blacks were among the best we've seen from a printer that uses cyan, magenta and yellow inks to form black. The prints looked stunning even next to those produced by Epson's superb PictureMate 240 (see 'Also consider...', below). The vivid colours in some of the A636's photos didn't always look completely natural, but were pleasing to the eye. Print were immediately glossy and dry to the touch.

We calculated 6x4in print costs based on the price of the 140-sheet ink and paper value pack (Q8700AE), which costs less than £25. This equates to a reasonable 17.5p per page. There aren't any 7x5in value packs, so you'll have to buy HP's 110 tri-colour ink cartridge (Q8700AE) at £6.50 and a 25-sheet pack of 7x5in photo paper (Q8696A), which costs about £3.75. This means 7x5in prints cost 41p each; Photobox.co.uk charges just 10p.

With the A636, HP has exceeded the print quality of its already excellent compact Photosmart printers. The USB installation wizard is a brilliant addition that we'd like to see adopted as an industry standard. However, the slow print speeds mean it misses out on an award. For most people, Epson's cheaper PictureMate 240 is a better choice, but stocks are running out fast.