HP PHOTOSMART A636
£120
TYPICAL 6x4in PRINT TIME: 82SEC
The HP’s 4.7in touchscreen gives lots of room to view photos and an easy way to interact with them. The only inkjet printer on test, it offers the best photo-editing of the five we viewed, including great image filters and colour controls. It supports all popular memory cards, and upgrades to wi-fi and Bluetooth printing cost about £20 each. Despite the 4800x1200dpi resolution, the print quality doesn’t match that of the Canon or Sony, but this is the only printer here to also output 7x5in prints and 12x4in panoramas. Prints cost 18p a pop.

Verdict:Loaded with great features, but slow
www.hp.co.uk

SONY DPP-FP95
£140
TYPICAL 6x4in PRINT TIME: 44SEC
The Sony’s auto adjustment function and artistic filters let you customise prints through easy-use controls. It’s the fastest printer here, and one of the best, giving strong, natural colours and sharp detail using dye sublimation. All popular memory cards are supported, and prints cost from 17p using Sony’s photo paper and cartridge bundles. The 3.6in screen is excellent, but if you need a bigger preview, hook the printer to a high-definition television with the HDMI connection, then edit images or view a slideshow. The only disappointments are that a cameraphone-compatible Bluetooth dongle costs £35, and that it comes without ink or paper.

Verdict: Great prints, speedily delivered - at a stiff price
www.sony.co.uk

POLAROID POGO
£99
TYPICAL 3x2in PRINT TIME: 56SEC
It’s battery-powered, little bigger than a cigarette packet and weighs just 8oz. The PoGo connects to cameras via USB, and most cameraphones by Bluetooth. It’s small because instead of using ink cartridges it prints by activating dye crystals embedded in special Zink paper. The quality of the 3x2in prints isn’t great, but they have a high-contrast look, and with the peel-off backing they double as stickers. Still, at 27p a print, it’s a costly novelty.

Verdict:While kids will love the Pogo, the long-term costs will mount up
www.polaroid.com

FUJI FINEPIX QS7
£70
TYPICAL 6x4in PRINT TIME: 87SEC
This dye-sublimation printer is the cheapest on test, but has no screen and no memory-card slots, so you must rely on a PC or a PictBridge-enabled camera to control it via USB. However, owners of Fuji Finepix cameras can print over an infrared link. The prints are slightly fuzzy, with dull colours and lacklustre contrast, and they’re slow to emerge. They’re also very costly, at 30p per shot. The Fuji’s price tag is attractive, but it’s worth paying more to get a better photo.

Verdict: A disappointing effort for a specialist photo company
www.fujifilm.co.uk

CANON SELPHY ES20
£105
TYPICAL 6x4in PRINT TIME: 79SEC
If you regularly send snaps to family and friends, you’ll love the Selphy’s wide range of enhancements and effects, such as adding frames to photos or making pages for calendars. The print engine moves each photo through the machine four times before spitting it out, but while it’s fun to watch, this process takes a long time. Print quality from this dye-sublimation printer is very good, and running costs are excellent, at about 15p per print using the combined ink and paper cartridge. It takes most types of memory card, but the optional Bluetooth module costs £50.

Verdict: It’s not fast, but delivers good quality and low running costs
www.canon.co.uk

DYE-SUB OR INKJET?

DYE-SUBLIMATION PRINTERS Dye-sublimation prints consist of four unbroken layers of colour, one of which doubles as a protective, glossy coating, so they come out dry, unlike their inkjet equivalents.

The process accurately recreates the continuous tones of the prints you would get back from a professional laboratory. The printers are normally restricted to a single size of paper - in the case of all of the models on test, 6x4in - and they eat through their ink supplies quicker than inkjets do.

INKJET PHOTO PRINTERS Inkjet photo printers work in the same way as their desktop equivalents - by squirting microscopic droplets of ink in four colours.

Because the inks are opaque, they have to be laid down as dots rather than layers of colour, and that has left the quality of inkjet prints lagging somewhat behind that of dye-subs. But as it becomes possible to print smaller and smaller dots, inkjets are beginning to narrow the gap.

They remain better value for money and can handle more sizes of paper than can dye-subs.

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