Samsung SPP-2040 review

Happily, the Samsung not only delivers superb quality from its dye-sub technologies - it looks stunning too.

From the moment we saw this printer, it oozed class.

Finished in gloss black and brushed aluminium, this petite unit looks stylish and ratrher expensive. Its beauty is more than skin deep too - the SPP-2040 feels superbly sturdy and is well built.

Samsung haven't skimped on the SPP-2040's features either. All the popular memory card formats are supported and a PictBridge port allows the direct connection of digital cameras. A crisp little 2-inch LCD display makes previewing photographs a doddle and a selection of brightness, sharpness and colour controls helps eke the most out of photos that need a little tweaking to look their best.

Installation was superbly straightforward. A paper tray slots neatly into the front of the unit and the ink ribbon is easily inserted into a bay at the side of the printer. Then all that's required is to plug the SPP-2040 into a spare USB port, insert the supplied application CD-ROM and install the software, which was a quick and painless process. Easy!

Printing photos was a delight - whether from a PC or direct from a memory card or digital camera. The smart menu system is also easily navigated.

The Samsung produced a print in an impressive 1 minute and 5 seconds - only the chunky Olympus did better. Print quality was exemplary. Although the Canon Selphy produced better prints over the entire range of tests, the Samsung still rendered our test photos beautifully. Fine detail was reproduced faithfully and colours remained vibrant while rarely appearing oversaturated.

A bundle of 120 sheets of photo paper and an ink ribbon costs £34. This leaves the Samsung costing an unremarkable 28p per print. Considering the quality of prints, it's good value though.

The Samsung SPP-2040 has enough features for gadget freaks and produces exemplary quality prints too. Only the Canon prints better photos. But for £150, it's one hell of a bargain.