HP Photosmart 3310 All-in-One (AIO) could be one-for-all!

reviewed by Robert Pritchett

First off, we bought this machine because my wife wanted an All-in-One (AIO) so she could work on her childrenÕs book projects and she wanted a printer/scanner/copier and occasional fax machine. We werenÕt really expecting a full-page photo printer as part of the package, but here it is! The real choice was Epson or HP. Epson doesnÕt have the printhead in the cartridge. ÔNuf said.

So this unit is a 4-in-one instead of a 3-in-one. Technically, it could be called a 5-in-one, because it does photos too.

I really think the wireless feature is what sold my wife on this machine. Since we bought it, she has move the iMac G5 it is paired with no less than 4 times so far, but I had a spare USB cable, so it isnÕt connected wirelessly to the wireless Mac. The wireless feature is designed for use with IEEE 802.11g environments.

But I am curious as to how well the I.R.I.S OCR software works with this machine and then there is the film negative (who still uses negatives? Oh, 35-millimeter film stuff) that can be scanned in. This works fine on the non-Mac systems, but may produce mixed results with Macs. It is a software issue and not a hardware issue. The hardware issue is one related to the paper tray (Out of Paper) error and I hope that has been resolved.

Should we have gone for the HP 7410 OfficeJet instead? That unit costs $500 USD, but has a duplex feeder for printing on both sides and has the Automatic Document Feeder I was looking for with the HP Photoshop 3310. The cover on that one is not removable. Reviews of the HP 7410 Officejet were not kind. Heck even CNET gave it a mediocre rating and gave the HP Photopsmart 3310 a better rating, but users were not as kind with their ratings.

The Vivera ink cartridges have smartchips in them so refills are not possible – yet. But for the price? $10 USD for cartridges? I realize the inkwells are rather smallish, but can you believe the bother of trying to refill any of 6 different colored cartridges? But really, they regionalized the cartridges so you canÕt use the ink if bought in a different part of the world? Oh, come on HP, IÕm sure this is due to anti-pirating schemes, but get real! After all, we are not paying $35 USD per cartridge with this system.

Now for the machine itself

The scanning cover has a holding bracket for a 6-transparencies ( or four 35 millimeter negatives) at a time. This feature negates the capability of being able to use an automatic sheet feeder for input. It would have been nice if this could have been an option. The cover is removable however, for those books or other items that require the cover not being there.

The HP Photosmart 3310 takes 6 ink cartridges (think Vivera) and the guy at CircuitCity convinced my wife to buy a set of ink cartridges for another $90 or so bucks (about the price difference between the MSRP and the Sale price), even though she got the unit as part of a back-to-school offer. HP Value packs for the same group of Ò02Ó cartridges and 150 4x6 sheets can be obtained online from then for $26 USD. No kidding! Otherwise, 5 of the 6 cartridges cost $10 USD each and the black goes for $18 USD by itself. I was concerned about the inkwells running out, since it took 5 minutes to initially charge the system after loading the no-muss, no–fuss cartridges. Apparently HP has technology that recycles the ink so it is not wasted. Is that cool or what?

You will need to get a USB cable separately or use the built-in Wi-Fi wireless function, assuming you have a wireless network nearby. The iMac G5 that this is intended to be paired with is set up on our wireless network and that system has been moved no less than 4 times now upstairs. I had a spare USB cable anyway. If we wanted to make it a network printer, we could, because it also has Ethernet 802.3 built in. And even if we didnÕt have a computer, this machine can work in stand-alone mode as it has 4 different memory card slots for; CompactFlash I and II, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard (MMC), xD-Picture Card, or Memory Stick, Magic Gate Memory Stick, MemoryStick Duo or Memory Stick Pro. It also has the ability to accept PictBridge connectivity.

And the paper tray unit doesnÕt hold much paper, because right above the 8x11 tray there is a 4x5 photo paper tray so switching between paper sizes is not an issue.

In front of this unit is a relatively large 3.6-inch color QVGA LCD screen that I wish digital cameras had for previewing pictures before they print. I just though that was so great! That and the fact that the control panel rotates up to about 45-degrees. Nice idea!

Installation was super-simple and the software installed without problems. I just followed the direction and heeded the cautions as I proceeded without incident.

The specs say this unit runs 32 pages per minute for black and white or 31 pages per minute for color – only the tray doesnÕt hold that much (supposedly it holds 130 pages), so HP has bragging rights to fastest printer but supplies of paper and ink probably donÕt keep up. The 4x6-inch full color prints can pump out at 14 seconds each. This beats the Kodak 4x6 printer we reviewed earlier with the Kodak camera that had the color transfer technology and multi-pass processes. Price per print can be as low as 24 cents per sheet vs. the 69 cents per sheet or so for the Kodak printer. And the combination of HP photo paper and the Õ02 series ink stands up to water.

The nearest competition for this machine would be either the Canon PIXMA MP760 Photo All-in-One or the Epson Stylus Photo RX620.

Just the Fax, Mam

The fax function allows for caller ID and can interoperate just fine with Vonage systems. It can even do color faxes at 200x200 dots per inch as well as black and white at 300 dots per inch. It has a junk barrier and can do fax forwarding.

Scanning

Try 4800x4800 dots per inch up to 19,200 dots per inch enhanced resolution with 48-bit color. The unit has a built-in memory of 64 MB. If you do the 35 millimeter slide or negative thing, the lid comes of to reveal a light for backlighting the film and negatives for copying.

Copier

Resolution is 600x1200 dots per inch for black and white and 1200x 4800 dots per inch for color resolution and printing is 1200x1200 for black and white and 4800x1200 for color.

Photoprinting

Redeye elimination seems to be a standard feature in photoprint software nowadays and it is here as well with the Image Zone software. Older photos that have not aged gracefully can also have the scratches and ÒdustÓ removed.

And our experience?

I really miss the manager that once-upon-a-time ran the printer department at HP who was pro-Mac. He did a great job marrying hardware to software. Recently HP has not faired so well in the software side of things and users have really dinged them hard for shoddy software implementations. Hardware-wise, I would have raised the printer a tad to give the unit a larger paper feed tray so it too cold hold a ream of paper instead of a small handful.

We had a PSC 2100 earlier that I gave to my Dad for his eMac and once the new drivers from HP became compatible for Mac OS XC Tiger, it worked again (it stopped working with Panther, so it was running on my MomÕs PC machine until we upgraded DadÕs machine to Tiger). They love that printer, but each of the ink cartridges are about the price of the Value-Pack for this printer.

The software for the HP Photosmart 3310 installed easily enough and seems to be functioning as advertised so far. HP is pretty ambitious with providing so much

Now that the printer has been out for over a year, I think HP may have been able to get the bugs out. As long as the paper tray plays nice, I think this one is going to be a keeper.