Product Reviews

The digital photography arena is getting increasingly more complex, realistic and affordable, so the need for a standalone printer like the Photosmart 1315 is all the more relevant. It offers the convenience of CompactFlash (including up to 528Mb on an IBM Microdrive), SmartMedia and now Memory Stick slots, so you can print straight from your digital camera's media. More importantly, the 1315 now has a colour 2.5in TFT screen to view your photos on before printing. Is this the true standalone photo printer the public's been waiting for?

The TFT screen is nothing new - Epson's Stylus Photo 895 (see Reviews, issue 83, p152) had it as an option for £67, but the Photosmart 1315 is one of the first, along with Kodak, to offer it as standard. It certainly makes life a lot easier and, unlike previous Photosmart models, the controls and interface are incredibly easy to get to grips with. The addition of a Memory Stick slot is also good news for Sony camera owners, but the omission of the up-and-coming SD media is curious and perhaps misguided.

Standalone printing is what the 1315 is primarily aimed at, and it succeeds. You can flick through the photos on your media, which look rough and jagged at first but smooth out after being displayed for a couple of seconds. You can then zoom in and out, crop, choose how many copies you want and what media size - all at the touch of a couple of buttons. You can also print out an index sheet, as with earlier models, which is still useful for quick reference.

The print quality hasn't changed from the Photosmart 1218 (see Labs, issue 77, p92), retaining the same options for either PhotoRet III or the slower true 2,400 x 1,200dpi modes on HP's Premium Plus Photo Paper. This is because the 1315 uses the same 990Cxi engine that HP has been using for over a year now. HP has decided that print quality has reached its peak and that we're now more interested in extra features.

This is a poignant, and possibly true point, although it would have more credibility if the HP offered the best photo quality on the market. Unfortunately it doesn't. Our photo test results, while adequate, looked dated compared to the superb results from Canon's S800 (see Reviews, issue 81, p151) or Epson's Stylus Photo 890 (see Reviews, issue 79, p178). The HP has achieved the right colour balance and can produce a photo that looks fine from a distance, but a closer look reveals a surprising amount of grain, banding and visible track

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marks that can't be found on the Canon or Epson.

The HP makes up for the Epson's advantages with faster print speeds - an A4 PhotoREt photo was printed in four minutes, 34 seconds, and it only took ten minutes, 44 seconds at its full 2,400 x 1,200dpi resolution. By comparison, the Epson Stylus Photo 890 took 24 minutes, 29 seconds to complete the same photo at its full resolution, albeit with superior results. Meanwhile, Canon's S800 can keep up on both the speed and quality front, producing a stunning A4 photo in just four minutes, 56 seconds.

That said, the 1315's photo print quality will satisfy for most purposes. What the HP really has in its favour is reasonable all-round printing in every area on all media types. Black text on plain paper, for example, was handled brilliantly in both normal and draft modes. In the latter, our 25-page test was completed in just two minutes, 12 seconds - equating to 11.4ppm - with sharp black characters that put the Epson's results to shame. It even kept up in normal mode, with an average speed of 4ppm, although while the text was darker, the quality ironically deteriorated with more ink streaks and scratches.

There are several advantages to having a single, good all-round printer. The first is that you don't need to buy several printers for each task. Another is that you can print high-quality DTP documents on coated paper, with both crisp black text and clear photos and graphics. Our four-page DTP test was completed in just 11 minutes, 37 seconds - not bad for the printer's highest settings. However, the quality was again behind the Epson. The text quality was superb, but photos and graphics suffered from visible grain and banding that became more apparent with smaller graphics on lower resolution paper, although the colours were clear and bright. Likewise, our colour fade and image quality tests had beautiful, bright colours, but suffered from an easily visible composite colour make-up and, again, evident grain and banding.

The HP doesn't offer the best print quality, but its class across the board is unrivalled, meaning there's nothing it does really badly and, while its colour and photo print quality can't match the Epson's, it makes up for this in other areas. This is what made the A-Listed 990Cxi (see Labs, issue 77, p92) a great all-round business inkjet.

But you expect something more from a specific photo printer, especially when Epson and Canon's photo quality has reached new heights. HP has achieved its goal of offering more and better features - the TFT screen, intuitive control system and media slots all make standalone photo printing easier, plus you get the bonuses of automatic paper detection and cartridge alignment for the meagre sum of just £255. This is great, but the real digital photography enthusiast will be disappointed once they see what Epson and Canon can do. The HP Photosmart 1315 is a good all-round printer with some well thought-out features, but the print quality needs improvement to be taken seriously in the digital photography world.