HP Photosmart A636 ’sets a high standard’

People wanting a quick and versatile photo printer should look no further than Hewlett Packard’s Photosmart A636, according to a review.

Melissa Riofrio from PC Advisor said that the photo printer "sets a high standard" and issued a warning to potential competitors.

The HP Photosmart A636 features a range of printing options and a number of editing tools, which the reviewer described as "easy to use" overall.

During printing tests the device printed 6 x 4-inch photos in less than a minute, with the colours of the print-outs looking "realistic" with "good detail", according to Ms Riofrio.

"In connecting the HP Photosmart A636 to a computer, you must provide your own USB cable (HP doesn’t include one), but the driver, stored in the printer’s firmware, automatically installs itself," adds the reviewer.

"No computer? No problem. Insert a media card into one of the HP Photosmart A636’s many slots to start."

Rival printing manufacturer Canon recently launched two new photo printers, the Pixma iP4600 and the Pixma iP3600, which it claims produce "stunning, long-lasting photos".