HP Photosmart A646 Compact Photo Printer
Home » Printers & Ink » HP Photosmart A646 Compact Photo Printer
- Related Articles
- Sponsors
- Best Deal
- Most Recent
- Brother MFC 255CW – Multifunction – 100 sheets – 14.4 Kbps – USB, 802.11b, 802.11g – AC 110 V
- Kingston ValueRAM 512 MB 333MHz PC2700 DDR DIMM Desktop Memory
- AU OPTRONICS B156XW02 V.2 LAPTOP LCD SCREEN 15.6″ WXGA HD LED
- Apple MacBook – Core 2 Duo 2 GHz – RAM 1 GB – HDD 80 GB – CD-RW / DVD – GMA 950 – Gigabit Ethernet – WLAN : Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, 802.11 a/b/g/n – camera – white
- HP Pavilion Elite HPE-310t customizable Desktop PC with Intel- R Core- TM i5-750 quad-core
- Psion-Teklogix Parts A29990053
- HP Mini 110-1113NR 10.1-Inch Pink Netbook – Up to 3.75 Hours of Battery Life
March 18, 2010
The HP A646 compact photo printer is the third inkjet printer I’ve used, and overall, is the easiest one I’ve used yet. My impressions are based on my past experience with an Epson Picturemate (another compact photo printer), as well as an Epson R800 (an 8 ink photo printer).
The installation and setup was very easy with the A646. All of the important instructions are literally on one sheet, and are very easy to follow – you basically just plug it in, install the 3 ink color cartridge, insert some paper (I started with the HP Glossy 4×6), and choose a language. . . then the printer does an alignment print on the first sheet, and when it completes, it is ready for photo printing.
For transferring photos to the printer, there is an SD/XD card slot, and an MS/Duo slot for reading from those types of storage cards – no CF slot is included. There is also a USB plug on both the front of the unit (the long flat kind) and on the back (the square kind). . . no USB mini adapter plug included, and also no USB cable included with the printer (though I don’t think that will be a big deal for most folks, as people seem to have a lot of spare cables lying around these days).
The printer is also capable of reading photos via a Bluetooth enabled device. However, that device must be capable of sending images via the Bluetooth Print service, and as of this review’s writing, the Apple iPhone is incapable of this type of transfer. I simply defaulted to using a spare SD card to transfer photos to the printer.
Once the photos are read by the printer, one uses the touch screen interface to select images, edit them, and then finally print them. I didn’t try all of the editing features, but one that I think most people would use, the crop tool, seemed to lack the ability to increase the size of the crop area to fully include one dimension of an image. In my case, I had some square format pictures taken with a medium format camera, and the crop tool would not grow large enough to fully encompass the area of the image – the rectangle was too small on all four sides to fully enclose either the full width or height of the image, so I ended up with a 4×6 that did not include as much detail as I would have had had I cropped the image on my computer first, then transferred to the printer.
I tried a variety of pictures that I had taken in Rocky Mountain National Park, and was mixed on the prints produced by the printer. First, an image that had a deep blue sky, which disappeared behind a very out of focus tree line, with an in-focus well lit rock in the foreground, replicated the colors very well – the blues are truly saturated, and the various white, gray, and orange colors of the rock come through very nicely. The part that I was a bit surprised about was in the transition between the sky and the tree-line – viewing the photo on my computer, there is a nice, even blending of colors. However, the print displays an abrupt, almost solid line, where the sky meets the tops of the trees. It is very visible under controlled lighting, but I think that if one were casually observing the picture, it might not be as noticeable. I point this out though to let those who really want the finest details of an image reproduced that this printer is probably not going to live up to very close scrutiny.
Other images I tried that were brightly lit and had fairly shallow contrast came out looking very nice. Ones that had more contrast, with a lot of detail in the shadow area as viewed on my computer, did not show the same level of detail once printed, however. A lot of them came out looking very splotchy in those areas, and were way too over-saturated with dark color. This is probably a limitation of the 3 ink cartridge that the printer uses, and could probably be compensated for beforehand by processing the images first, then loading them onto the printer.
I think overall this is quite a capable little printer. It’s built-in Bluetooth feature, multiple card slots, and USB connectivity pretty much cover all the ways an image can be loaded from just about any device currently out there (camera, cell phone, computer, laptop, etc). It is worth reading up on your current phone to make sure that it supports the Bluetooth Print functionality if that is what you are buying this printer for, so that you avoid disappointment if it doesn’t work when it arrives. I only noticed a few minor issues with it, but overall, I think casual photographers looking to create prints to share with friends and family will find this printer to be a good value, very easy to use, and very easy to maintain.
One final note – the printer comes packed in a carry case, which I must say makes it very easy to just pack with you. . . it would make a great addition to a party or family gathering where people who take photos during the event can make a few prints within a few minutes.
Rating: 3 / 5
March 18, 2010
This printer does what’s expected for the price. If my wife can use it, it’s easy to use; and I get a real kick out of printing photos upstairs from my laptop downstairs with Bluetooth. “Anything with Bluetooth is cool. ”
Rating: 5 / 5
March 18, 2010
Nice printer. At first a bit worried over the no black ink cartridge, but prints are fine for what it does. After using a Canon version, I have to say the bells and whistles (wi-fi from camera) are much better than the Canon 780 Printer. Again, cost is a detail here. . . needs to be decreased. Rating: 5 / 5
March 18, 2010
A Bluetooth device is a bluetoth device right, no. Do not buy this if you plan to print via bluetooth with your computer or if you want quality prints. This printer will recognize and pair with a phone, but NOT a computer. If you do want to hook it to your computer make sure to buy, yes, buy a standard USB cable as one in not included.
I am not an expert photographer, but the other comments that the print quality are less clear due to no black ink are fair assessments.
I am really disappointed and would NEVER recommend this printer. Get one with two ink cartaridges, a USB cable, and spend a little more for a quality photoprinter.
Rating: 1 / 5
March 18, 2010
Digital cameras are both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, they allow you to take great quality pictures ad nauseum without having to buy film, lug the rolls with you on vacations/family gatherings or wait for the pictures to be processed. On the other hand, how many of you have SD cards FULL of unprinted memories? Me too.
I have a nice HP Deskjet hooked up to my home network, but it always seems like a pain to copy the pictures over, load the printer with 4×6 or 5×7 paper and set it up for borderless picture printing. Well, I am pleased to say that the HP Photosmart A646 Compact Photo Printer has solved that problem. It has SD card slots so I can just remove my SD card from my camera, plug it in and there are all my pictures. The LCD display is very nice quality and allows you to make (minor) on the fly adjustments to the pictures (i. e. red eye reduction, contrast, dark/light etc). Then just print and like a flash it prints out very nice quality prints. It’s incredibly easy to use and set up. It has a port in the back for a USB printer cable, should you choose to print from your PC. I use Windows 7 and had no problems with recognition. The bluetooth was a bit temperamental with my fiancé’s G1. It would pair but had trouble connecting. Not a big deal, as anything we take a picture of with our camera phones is probably not worth printing anyway. If it is, we can just email it to ourselves and print it out from the PC in a matter of minutes.
It comes with a nice compact carrying bag that will hold an extra cartridge and the power cable and, of course, the printer. It’s all very lightweight, but solidly constructed. The cartridges apparently print 50 photos. Not great in my opinion, but the quality is at least as good as if you took them to your nearest drugstore or retailer to print. The price for the ink and photo paper may exceed taking them somewhere however. You’ll have to weigh cost vs. convenience in this case.
Ultimately, for a printer in this category, the HP Photosmart A646 Compact Photo Printer does the job and does it VERY well. The only negative thing I can say about it is the cost of use may outweigh the convenience. However, the quality of the product, the features it offers and the quality of prints it produces will make this a great choice for those who want a compact photo printer that can be thrown in a bag and taken wherever they need to go.
Rating: 4 / 5