Photo Printer Comparison

by John, allprinterreviews.com Expert Reviewer
(USA)

A Photo Printer Comparison provides consumers with side-by-side evaluation of compact inkjet photo printers among the top three brands. Dedicated photo printers became convenient compact gadgets when users found many uses for printers whether for work or for pleasure.

However, choosing was still difficult because there are numerous compact photo printers available in the market. Coming up with this Photo Printer Comparison will provide consumers with an easy reference guide.

Print Speed/ Print Cost /Print Resolution

HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer- prints 4 x 6-inch photos at the rate of 39 seconds per page at the cost of 29 cents per print in 4,800 x 1,200 optimized dpi.

Epson PictureMate Charm PM 255- it takes 54 to 70 seconds to print a 4-by-6 inch at the cost of 25 cents per photo at a resolution of 5760 dpi optimized.

Canon Pixma iP100 Mobile Photo Printer- 4x 6 inch photos get printed in 50 seconds with high resolutions at 9600 x 2400 dpi at the cost of 7 cents per page.

Photo Quality

HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer- Photo prints are eye-catching since details of its true images are captured in its exact color and vibrancy. Details of faces taken up-close or panoramic views of landscapes will improve using HP Photo Fix button with its ability to define lines and images that appear blurry. You can easily remove any red-eye flaw as well as automatically adjust the brightness and contrast of skin tones and colors. Although we noticed that the autofix failed to correct one photo in one of its output, as far as light details were concerned. Photos come out instantly dried, water resistant and can be expected to resist the elements of fading; this means other generations will still get to see them in their best quality.

Epson PictureMate Charm PM 255- We rate the photos as impressively lab-like quality because flesh tones looked natural and healthy looking. Each print captured the exact details even for photos taken in fast motion. There are no shady details when it comes to landscape shots either since light and dark hues are smooth and even. Auto-correct any red eye and enhance the colors the way you want them. However, you may get to experience some setbacks when photo editing. You'll have to check out your settings and options during page set-up and keep track of them through preview before actual printing is done.

You also have to make do with a limited selection of layouts to choose from. Nevertheless, the routine will be worth the effort since your photos will come out in its most excellent detail and color. The photos' special quality, like smudge and scratch free, water and fade resistance give it durability and long-lasting superiority to last several lifetimes.

Canon Pixma iP100 Mobile Photo Printer-Canon's photos have finally arrived in leading the competition for quality as every piece comes out natural looking by using color palettes with great accuracy and vivacity. Its ChromaLife color ink applied with the top of the line resolution at 9600 x 2400 dpi and enhanced by Canon's own Auto-image Fix is quite successful in coming up with near-perfect photos.

Photo printer Comparison still has some reservations when actual photos were compared side by side, since we noted that Canon iP100 photo prints, using its own brand of Photo Paper Plus Glossy II lacked the luster it was supposed to achieve with highly-specialized paper. The effect of high-technology using specialized ink and paper with an auto-fix capability at a very high resolution could not be heralded as high-tech achievement. It really didn't make any difference when compared to the quality of the photos produced by HP and Epson portable printers.


LCD Display

HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer- There's no LCD monitor but a 2.50 inch color TV-like display is located on top of the compact photo printer. Its location makes working PC less quite convenient. It allows for adjustable viewing when photo editing and applying the functions of HP Photo Fix and HP's wide selection of creative projects. It also makes the printing of different photo sizes from the regular 4 x 6 inch, 5 x 7 inch up to panorama or down to the smallest from wallet size to passport size-photos, possible and easy.

Epson PictureMate Charm PM 255- Unlike HP A716's viewing monitor, Epson has a tiltable color LCD screen that comes in the same 2.5 inch size. You have eight buttons to select, all properly labeled except that you have to be more intuitive with Stop/Clear button with its dual function. You'll find everything easy to manage when previewing, selecting or editing photos since there are on-screen instructions to serve as your guide. Enhance or modify your photos into sepia or black-and-white and produce them as wallet-sized or the regular 4x6 with classic border or borderless.

Canon Pixma iP100 Mobile Photo Printer-Unfortunately, ease of use gets dampened since the user has no LCD screen or monitor to view when printing direct and PC less. Again, Canon makers probably want to develop faith in Canon's Autofix ability to handle photo editing jobs.

Direct Printing Capabilities

HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer-You can print completely PC-less as it can be done by printing via memory cards, flash drives, iPods and your digital camera's Pictbridge. In fact, its hard drive has the capacity to store 4,000 photos with four GB of internal memory and you can also save them in CD/DVD by simply connecting the printer to an external CD/DVD burner using the front USB port. You can even organize and view the photos still PC-less.

Epson PictureMate Charm PM 255- It's wired but you can also work PC-less and print direct because the machine has two media slots to accommodate your CompactFlash, SD Card, and XD-Picture Card. You can also print direct from your digital camera via the PictBridge port but printing via cell phone needs a Bluetooth option at an additional $39 which will only add to the cost of an already high-priced printer.

Canon Pixma iP100 Mobile Photo Printer Canon iP100 user can print direct using the infrared port to connect to IrMC 1.1-compatible cell phones and a PictBridge port for compatible digicams. It-s a big turn-off that a portable printer cannot print direct with the use of memory cards since it has no built-in card reader. It's Bluetooth ready but you'll be forced to shell out additional $50 for the adapter so you can print wirelessly with your laptop or mobile phone.

Design and Structure

HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer- It's so easy to pick this printer up and take it anywhere you want to. Its built-in handle makes this compact printer exceptionally portable and totally user-friendly because of its lightweight and fold-up design. Controls are on the top providing total ease when using its functions.

Epson PictureMate Charm PM 255-The overall design and structure of PictureMate Charm as a compact printer are basic but accentuated with a 20-sheet input tray plus an optional battery. Its easy to pick-up-handle makes on the spur dash-for-the-door appointments possible with this Epson portable printer as your companion.

Canon Pixma iP100 Mobile Photo Printer- Compact and portable but you have to make sure you provide enough room in your brief case or traveling bag in order to transport it to where ever it is that you're going. For its price and other things lacking, a protective case could have been thrown in. The design is aesthetically sleek and simple with the top cover convertible as a 50-sheet input tray.

Additional Features

HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer-enjoy more than 140 creative features that will allow you to make your photos unique using frames and borders, clip art, messages and greeting. Use other photo options like printing in vintage black-and-white, antique or sepia and in any size of photo you'd want to print.

A handy remote control is at your disposal for viewing or browsing or printing the slide show or video clips as if watching your photo album in a mini-TV.

Epson PictureMate Charm PM 255- It's not as versatile as the HP A716 as it doesn't have much to offer except the ability to print top caliber photos.

Canon Pixma iP100 Mobile Photo Printer-Our Photo Printer Comparison couldn't find anything to compare in this aspect.

Price:

HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer- $149.90

Epson PictureMate Charm PM 255- $143.84

Canon Pixma iP100 Mobile Photo Printer- $166.95

Photo Printer Comparison Summary

This method of evaluating what the three printers had to offer the consumers really made it easy for us to arrive at our choice. HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer is hard to beat because quality and cost isn't anywhere below par if compared to Epson's PictureMate Charm or Canon's Pixma iP100, yet HP A716 leads in every important aspect. Be it speed, ease of use, direct printing capabilities, design and structure and most of all in add-on features that are like icings on a cake.

HP A716 Photosmart Compact Photo Inkjet Printer priced at $149.90, is definitely worthy of recommendation based on our Photo Printer Comparison.


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