Deflating the hype: CNET reviews HP's Web-connected TouchSmart printer

(Credit: HP)

We've been hearing a lot of hype surrounding HP's new touch screen printer, the Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web, and finally got a unit into the CNET Labs for a full set of tests. It's HP's flagship printer and the first of its kind to allow wireless Web connectivity directly from the printer itself, courtesy of a large 4.33-inch LCD display. To kick off the launch, HP also debuted an App Studio for users to browse and download custom shortcuts and widgets for the printer.

Now that we've had a week to thoroughly review the HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web, we're feeling underwhelmed by the lack of overall features and usability. We ran into several snags during the testing process, on top of our disappointment at the lack of an autodocument feeder and the letter-size scanner bay. For example, the display feels dull to the touch and lacks the responsiveness that we've come to expect out of an interactive screen. We found ourselves struggling to firmly select an icon, which often resulted in misguided navigation. On top of that, many of the applications had a tendency to freeze up during our tests, requiring a sluggish restart time.

Our main issue with the printer is that the touch screen and app studio just don't offset the $400 price tag, especially when you can purchase a perfectly capable HP multifunction Photosmart for $270 that actually has physical buttons--as long as you're willing to sacrifice the gimmicky touch screen and app store. As it stands, the App Studio doesn't quite offer the functionality and ease of use that we expected. Each app, like Google Maps or USA Today, has its own submenu...with sub-submenus...with sub-sub-submenus, to the point where we started wondering why anyone would bother tapping 15 times on a 4-inch screen when an actual computer (with novel hardware like a keyboard, mouse, and large monitor) can't be too far away.

We even performed an anecdotal timed test to further prove how the app store and a touch screen without any hard buttons can overcomplicate an otherwise easy-to-use machine, but you'll have to read the review for the unsurprising results. One final note: HP has informed us that an SDK will soon be available for developers to make their own apps for the printer, which we hope will add more exciting and useful apps to the line-up, but judging from the poor reception to its desktop TouchSmart SDK, we're not holding our breath.

Check out our full review and video for the HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web.

[kormiko]

Good. Maybe some nice developer will come up with an app that will allow us to use our ink cartridges for as long as we want and not when HP says it's time to change.

I just don't see how HP (or any printer company) gets away with it. It should be illegal.
If I want my magenta to be used up until there are faint streaks on the paper, that should be my choice.
You have to still let us print.
Preventing us from printing so that we have to buy another cartridge just makes us angry.
And it makes us tell other people not to buy any product from you!!!

[joshsc]

Kormiko,

Although I understand what you are saying, there are a couple of reasons for this. One, with individual ink tanks, if the tank runs completely dry, it will send air through the print-head and eventually ruin it. On HP individual ink printers, they have a closed loop system and need some ink to continuously move through the system for proper maintenance. Other brands usually have an open end system where to prime the print-head, the printer sends ink through the system and dumps it out. If you use an HP printer with individual ink tanks, the first NOTICE a user gets "the ink is low" there's about 10% left. You DON'T have to change it then. You can run it until it says you must change it. Many mistake that message to mean you have to change it...but you don't yet.

As far as being illegal?? That is quite a nutty thing to say. If HP allowed you to run the printer completely out of ink, in turn ruining it, then you'd be first in line wanting HP to fix your printer blaming HP (or some other company) for the problem.

Secondly, While many people complain about ink prices, they are either LOWER than 10 years ago or about the same. It is just people are using their printers more. HP, Kodak, Canon, and Epson ink prices are all close in price DEPENDING ON WHICH PRINTER YOU GET. HP has some ink jet printers that are rated at 1.5 cents a page in black, Kodak's is about 2.5 cents a page in black, and then there are a smattering of printers that are about 4-8 cents a page in black with Dell and Lexmark and Brother being the most expensive. I recommend educating yourself before making the purchase so that you don't buy the wrong printer for YOUR needs since YOUR needs will be different than MINE.

And finally, if you want to save on ink, print everything possible in fast draft mode.

In closing, buying electronics isn't like going to Burger King- You DON'T get it your way. You get it their way and you'll LIKE IT. :)