HP is the producer of some of the most convenient printers on the market. Doesn’t matter if you’re looking for an office printer, a home printer, a professional photo printer, it’s very likely that HP has already designed and is selling the perfect printer for your needs. Like many other manufacturers, HP too has specific product lines and the devices in each line all tend to look just about the same. Improvement usually means a couple of extra features or slight modifications when it comes to design. However, there is one printer that doesn’t look like any other HP product. This is the Photosmart A826.



First thing that a potential buyer needs to know about HP’s Photosmart A826 home photo printer is that, while the device is small as size, it doesn’t mean that you can take it around on your trips. In fact, this particular printer measures 14.7 x 15.1 x 10.4 inches and is somewhat larger than most compact printers on the market. The design doesn’t imply portability at all. There’s no handle to carry it around with and no battery pack either included or optional.

The idea behind this design is simple. A826 HP home photo printers are meant to sit on your desk and serve as a personal photo kiosk. The design is more than odd. The A826 actually resembles a miniature photo kiosk. It features a 7 inch touch screen display which serves for all of the navigation. The printer ships with a stylus for people who prefer not to use their fingers and smudge the display.

Right as you flip down the front cover (serving as a paper output tray) you’ll discover the four memory card slots it features and a PictBridge USB port. The menu you get on the screen is highly intuitive and you’ll be able to make quite a lot of adjustments to photos (remove effects or add them, modify the size of photos, check ink levels etc).

HP Photosmart A826 has a tri-ink system (the usual three colors, magenta, cyan and yellow) but no black (which is made out of the three previous colors combined). Since black is processed it obviously lacks the depth and quality that actual black ink would provide. Quality of the prints is however good towards great, despite the less intense blacks. One great thing about the A826 is that it works just fine without a PC. You can print photos straight from a PictBridge compatible device (digi cam, mobile phone) or even wirelessly if you purchase an optional USB Bluetooth adapter.

HP’s Photosmart A826 home photo printers can handle 4 by 6 inch or 5 by 7 inch media. Paper can be inserted through the top (you’ll see a small hatch there). Its paper holding capacity is of about 100 sheets. As a contrast to most other photo printers, the paper is fully contained within the shell of the A826 which also protects against dust. As a conclusion if a personal home photo kiosk is what you have in mind this little photo printer is a great choice. A print will keep you waiting a bit under a minute and the price of the printer isn’t that bad either.